Faiz - Hum Dekhenge

Someone just gave me a CD of Hum Dekhenge - a collection of poems by famous Pakistani singer Faiz Ahmad Faiz sung by some famous singers of our times.

The title song of the collected just blew me away. Its been a long time since I heard anything like that. The poem is titled "Hum Dekhenge". It is set against the backdrop of the Martial rule in Pakistan in 60s. The Urdu in the poem is quite complicated and I had to google to find the meaning of many of the words. But after a couple of hearings, when I could understand it better, I was happy to have made the effort. Interestingly, I made a new friend in the evening who happens to be from Pakistan. I mentioned this poem to him and he said it is a legendary song in Pakistan.

Faiz was not a religious poet but in this poem, he has made very interesting references to allah and other religious words for a completely different meaning. Here are my favorite parts of the poem and some rough translations, if my understanding of Urdu can be called translation :-)

Jab arz-e-Khuda ke kaabe se
Sab but (statues) uthwae jaenge
(When all the false idols are removed from God's place)

Hum ahl-e-safa mardood-e-harm
Masnad pe bethae jaenge
(We, the people of truth, from forbidden places, will be put on the throne)

Sab taaj uchale jaenge
Sab takht girae jaenge
Hum bhi dekhenge
(All crowns will be flung away, all thrones will be made to fall and we will see)

Bas naam rahega Allah ka
Jo ghayab bhi hai hazir bhi
Jo manzar hai nazir bhi
(Only God's name shall remain, one who is absent but yet present, who is the view as well as the viewer)

Uthega ANAL HAQ ka nara
Jo mai bhi hon tum bhi ho
Aur raaj karegi Khalq-e-KHUDA
Jo mai bhi hon tum bhi ho
(Anal Haq means "I am the truth". It was a famous (blasphemous at that time) utterance by one of the ancient sufi saints who was given death sentence for this. Faiz says the cry of truth will rise which is mine and yours too and ultimately God's people shall rule which is me and you.

Hum dekhenge
Lazim hai hum bhi dekhenge
Hum dekhenge ...!

You can watch Iqbal Bano sing this nazm on Youtube
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6kiQjZePbc)