Pakistan Here and Now: The Language of the Heart – V

The Significance of Hope

Navid Shahzad

Lyrical as Hikmet’s poetry is, it can be just as chilling in its matter of fact narration of the brutality that human beings are capable of:

“But Selim was no Communist.

He didn’t even know what communism was.

…But the cops thought different.

They laid Selim on the floor.

And when Selim got up, he couldn’t step on his feet.

They laid Selim on the floor.

And when Selim got up, he couldn’t see.”

Like Hikmet, Faiz’s poetry also maps its way through an enormous diversity of people and violence such as his poem “Ham jo tareek raahon main maare gaey” (We, who lost our lives on the dark pathways) referencing the execution of the Rosenbergs in the US for their communist beliefs and alleged anti-state activities, or his rousing African anthem “Come back Africa”. Post his release from prison, which ironically garnered enormous prestige and fame for him rather than any kind of ignominy, Faiz, in what can be seen as his ‘second’ phase of poetic maturation, began participating at international forums like the Asian Writers and Afro-Asian Writers’ Conferences, which greatly increased his standing internationally. While Hikmet wrote in the only language he could, Faiz, who was comfortable in English as much as he was in Punjabi, Persian and Arabic, chose to write in Urdu despite arguments such as Achebe’s to the contrary. The author of Things Fall Apart opined that in order to do justice to the African experience there was a need for “a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings”, adding an ominous “Let no one be fooled by the fact that we may write in English for we intend to do unheard of things with it.” Anyone who has read Achebe can see that he does just that, using dialogue and phrase in English in unconventional ways to capture the native spirit of his people. Rich with metaphor and aphorism, Achebe uses “the language of the centre” to draw allusions between the life of humans and a fecund nature, e.g. “[Ikemefuna] grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season, and was full of the sap of life.”

Despite the visible leap across worlds between the phrases “my spirit tells me” and “I have a hunch”, Achebe’s views on English have not been accepted widely by writers who write in their own languages as Hikmet and Faiz have done. The present essay therefore, in limiting itself to two writers who consciously resisted the temptation to write in a language other than their own, celebrates a Turkish and an Urdu poet’s leonine efforts to create what can only be called ‘the language of the heart’ – requiring nothing more than an alphabet consisting of love of humanity, justice and inexhaustible hope.

Pakistan and Turkey have more things in common than two poetic voices rising in a crescendo and breaking like enormous tidal waves against shorelines at home and abroad. The civil and military conundrums that both countries have had to steer through have resulted in an extreme polarisation of society, a dangerous shrinkage of space for intellectual activity and independent thought, a widening gap between the medievalism of rural populations and the 21st century digital space readily embraced by urban centres as well as increasingly hostile confrontations between the lure of global modernity and Islamic tradition. Turkey’s attempts at reviving an Ottoman past and the rise of a militant religious fundamentalism in Pakistan are reflective of the political and cultural crossroads that each country finds itself at.

While the prime criteria for any work of art and the imagination to survive beyond its own time is its relevance, which effectively ensures its timelessness, Hikmet and Faiz pass the test with flying colours as they are as relevant today, if not more so, than when they first put thought to paper. On the one hand, their continuing presence is visible in the efforts of young poets struggling to emulate the imaginative worlds of Hikmet and Faiz while on the other, and perhaps more importantly, their influence can be traced to the manner in which their linguistic innovations have helped change the idiom of their respective languages. Simple as it may seem, the staggering quantum shift from the folk tradition of Turkish poetry and the Indo-Persian tradition of the ghazal to the razor sharp precision of powerful free verse and the nazm, the moving, unforgettable metaphors and images created by both men have monumentally restructured the linguistic landscape of Turkish and Urdu poetry for all time.

Secondly, in a world so bereft of hope, so mired in the quicksand of sustaining daily life, the voices of Hikmet and Faiz nourished by their belief in the dignity and inherent ability of man continue to trumpet the promise of a new dawn of freedom for every careworn human being burdened by crippling misery. Fifty-eight years after the passing of the legendary Turkish poet, the man who was loved as much as he was vilified enough to have had his citizenship cancelled, makes the optimism he swore by appear even more significant in a world ravaged by a killer virus. Rediscovered and idolised today by his countrymen as well as the world, Hikmet can be credited not only for his unique style, but also for his impact on the Turkish language, which has influenced his native Turkish as well as progressive Urdu and Persian poetry since the early nineties. On the global front, Hikmet’s footprint can be traced in his universal call for hope in a world beset by a hydra of challenges ranging from terrorism, war, disease, hunger and horrific poverty. The man whose books were banned in his country is now ironically seen as a 20th century literary giant straddling across continents as he writes about countries, people and places as diverse as Abyssinia after the Italian occupation and China. Honouring the poet whose humanism can most easily be seen as he plays the role of a world historian in verse, UNESCO declared 2002 the Year of Nazim Hikmet to mark the 100th anniversary of his birthday.

Similarly, Faiz’s extensive writings about universal issues such as human misery, inequality and injustice raised the standard for all mankind, just as much as the rhythm and structure of his poetry has impacted modern Urdu at home. Thirty one years after his death, the poet’s work remains as fresh and relevant as it was when he first wrote it. In blurring the boundaries between the erotic and the revolutionary through the constructive power of the word, both poets used their verse to raise awareness about real issues such as access to a morsel of bread and a productive, peaceful life on a planet that has enough resources for all if shared equitably.

Hikmet and Faiz’s greatest legacy lies in their influence on a generation of young men and women growing into adulthood in a century other than their own. In ancient times, societies with no canonical texts turned to poetry as the chief source of all stories about the gods. Plato’s extreme position in banning the poet from his perfect Republic allowed only for didactic poetry since he attributed imaginative and lyrical poetry with a seductive transient beauty powerful enough to mislead the unwary. Hikmet and Faiz’s poetic works are as seductive as they are beautiful because they celebrate universal truths viewed through the lens of the life of every man. Rather than mislead, their poetry offers counternarratives to imperialism and structures of power and exploitation in their search for universal truths. Even Plato would have approved of such divinely inspired verse, which reflects a syncretic spirit reinforcing itself across time and place as it speaks of resilience and courage in the face of adversity. Perhaps life itself has ironically exacted the greatest revenge against the constant vigilance of modern day states that fear the word of the poet as much as they fear a powerful enemy. A younger generation of Pakistanis may not be as well versed in the Urdu language as an older generation was, but in some inexplicable way, they appear to have imbibed the very essence of Faiz’s view of life. The state’s minions who hounded both poets during their lifetimes, are now captive audiences seeing their own children belting out the poetry of Hakim and Faiz written in Romanised Urdu and Turkish to the accompaniment of percussion and bass guitars at festivals and local melas!

Throughout their lives, Hikmet and Faiz remained eloquent first-hand witnesses to the travails of the heart in exile. While it is tragic that two of the most important figures of 20th century Turkish and Urdu literature should have had to watch their children grow up in black and white photographs longing to hear their voices, it is equally ironic that for the many nameless, faceless people who lived far removed from them, the voices of the fathers once heard, cannot ever be forgotten. Replete with hope, sorrow, anger, and yearning, Hikmet and Faiz’s Turkish and Urdu fuse into a common language that negotiates across the world’s lands, languages and identities in songs celebrating all humanity.

While accepting the Prince Claus Fund for Literature and Culture award in Amsterdam 2004, the celebrated Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in his acceptance speech thoughtfully remarked: “A person can only be born in one place. However, he may die several times elsewhere: in the exiles and prisons, and in a homeland transformed by the occupation and oppression into a nightmare. Poetry is perhaps what teaches us to nurture the charming illusion: how to be reborn out of ourselves over and over again, and use words to construct a better world, a fictitious world that enables us to sign a pact for a permanent and comprehensive peace…with life.”

In living just such lives, Nazim Hikmet Ran and Faiz Ahmed Faiz used only words to create a better richer world not just for themselves, but for all humanity. Not many men can hope for a better epitaph.

The writer is a Pakistani academic, Film/TV actor, writer and director. Her book Aslan’s Roar: Turkish Television and the Rise of the Muslim Hero (2019) is an extensive study of Turkish popular culture and its rise in the modern world. She is the recipient of one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, the Pride of Performance for Literature and the Fatima Jinnah Award for Artistic Excellence. As Associate Pofessor she taught English Literature at the University of Punjab before helping to establish Beaconhouse National University where she set up the Department of Theatre, Film and TV and is designated Distinguished Professor of Performing Arts.  She is currently the Academic Advisor at Lahore Grammar School system.

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