Syed Agha Sadiq Hussien Naqvi (25 September 1909–1977) was a Pakistani writer and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, based in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, from 1943 up to his death in July 1977.

History

He was born in

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, in 1909 as the Son of Syed Khair Ali Shah and grandson of Syed Ahmed Ali Shah from one of the great houses of the area. Mostly self-educated and schooled in the family compound, he began to take up posts in the education establishment as the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

withdrew from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Works

He was responsible for 40 works through his lifetime, in four different languages, dominated by

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

but including

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Middle-Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg (Inscriptional Pahlavi, Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Iranian languages#Middle Iranian, Middle Iranian langu ...

. His work is distinctive if in its balance, elegance and depth of thought and is modelled clearly on his great hero Iqbal. He acknowledges his debt in his extensive analysis of Iqbal's poetry "Iqbal Shinaasi". Through collections such as "Parishaan" and the

sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

stic/religiously inspired "Chasm-e- Kauthar" demonstrate that he had a

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

and voice uniquely his own. Although born to a privileged home and enjoying a comfortable life he was always driven by the needs of the poor and oppressed. This meant he steered a course away from poetry based on love or courtly form to focus on the needs of those he considered

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

. He was known as a poet but his work was not limited to poetry. He was an expert in the

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, rhythm and its relation to poetry writing "Arooz" still regarded as one of the premier works on the technical aspect or Urdu poetry. "Nikaat-E-Fun" was a posthumous publication of "Arooz" and two other volumes and essay on Music and poetry by his sons Syed Hasan Javed Naqvi and Syed Naveed Hasan.

Conclusion

Although he has since been largely forgotten due to literary fashions and time, as a man he was respected by colleagues like Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and students such as Ashoor Kazmi and Akbar Ahmed. His ability in the Urdu language and his linguistic expertise, as well as his knowledge seeking nature made him one of the most respected men in his field and a man whose work lives on in the minds and hearts of those who truly love the Urdu language. He served as Professor of Persian language in Government College Quetta, Principle of Government College Gojra (Punjab), Principle of Government College Mustong (Baluchistan), Principle of Government College Muzaffar Ghar (Punjab) before his retirement from Government service. He was survived by two sons: * Syed Javed Hasan Naqvi (b. 1935 d.2006) * Syed Naveed Hasan (b. 1940 d.2007) 1909 births 1977 deaths Pakistani writers Writers from Jalandhar People from Quetta {{Pakistan-writer-stub