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When Faiz
Ahmad Faiz, a recipient of Lenin Peace Prize, was
imprisoned in Pakistan
in 1951, he wrote a number of inspiring poems. One of them was:
If they snatch my ink and pen
I should not complain
For I have dipped my fingers
In the blood of my heart
I should not complain
Even if they seal my tongue
For every ring of my chain
Is a tongue ready to speak
During his stay in the prison Faiz also wrote a series of love letters to Alys, who was his British wife. Years later, when his
friends insisted on publishing those letters, Faiz
translated them in Urdu. In the introduction of the book Faiz stated that although those were personal letters
but if one day someone wanted to study Habsiaat,
the lives of political prisoners, those letters might provide some
psychological insights in their lives. Being a humanist and a
psychotherapist I thought it would be a novel idea to study those letters
from a psychological perspective as they might provide us with a few
glimpses of the dynamics of not only the personality, politics and
philosophy of Faiz Ahmad Faiz
but also other socialist poets and philosophers, reformers and
revolutionaries who were sent to jail for their ideals. It has been my observation
and experience that psychological studies of revolutionaries are generally
overlooked in the socialist literature.
When
we study Faiz’s nearly one hundred and thirty
five letters written during those four years, from June 1951 to April 1955,
when he was imprisoned, there are a number of themes that emerge in his
writings.
When Faiz
was in prison it did not take him long to realize that it was not easy to
balance his personal and political lives. He realized that a poet was also
a husband, a writer was also a father and a socialist leader was also a
son. Rather than ignoring those conflicts Faiz
spent some time in introspection. He acknowledged that his wife Alys had to shoulder all the family responsibilities on
her own. Faiz was lucky that his wife, unlike
wives of some other Urdu poets, was not only well educated but also
financially and emotionally independent.
There
were times Faiz felt guilty that he was not
fulfilling his fatherly and husbandly duties. His sense of guilt as a
father, husband and son even made him question the moral basis of his
idealistic lifestyle. In one of his letters he wonders whether idealism is
one form of selfishness (Ref 1, p 29). Faiz is
not the only socialist leader who struggled with that question. Many other
leaders were troubled when they saw their friends and family members suffer
because of their ideals and involvement in the revolutionary struggle.
Mandela, who spent quarter of a
century in prison, reflecting on the conflict between family and political
lives stated, “ I wondered…not for the first time…whether one was ever
justified in neglecting the welfare of one’s own family in order to fight
for the welfare of others.” (Ref 2 p 181). Many revolutionaries were
married to their cause before they married their sweetheart. That is why
when Mandela proposed to Winnie, her father had affectionately warned her,
“You are marrying a jail bird.” For Alys, like
wives of other revolutionary personalities, it was not easy to face the
social and political pressures when her husband was separated from her and
their children and kept in prison for years.
In
one his letters Faiz shared his sense of loss and
sadness that he could not see his children grow. He asked Alys to bring them for a visit with her but then
realized that spending money on transportation might not be the best way to
spend limited funds. In his letters Faiz
expressed a lot of faith and confidence in their marriage and admired Alys for being courageous and steadfast.
In
the beginning Faiz believed that his stay in the
prison might be short and he might be released in a few days or weeks but
when weeks turned into months and months into years, he realized that he
was facing a long term crisis and tragedy. As a student of human psychology
I am well aware that long term tragedies and sufferings are very stressful.
Many people who spend extended periods of time in prison have negative and
detrimental effects on their personality. They either become sad, depressed
even suicidal, or become angry, resentful and bitter. Interestingly enough,
Faiz was an exception. He absorbed all the
feelings of imprisonment including indifference, boredom, longing and
loneliness in his personality and transformed his pains into poems and love
letters.
Faiz shared in his letters that on one hand he felt
helpless in prison but on the other hand his own sufferings helped him
identify with the sufferings of his countrymen ( Ref 1, p 71) especially
those women who spend most of their lives at home as if they were under
house arrest. (Ref 1, p 72)
In
his letters Faiz highlighted how his time away
from his dear ones helped him change his perspective about life. He
realized that the same things that used to irritate him started to amuse
him. He could rise above the adversities and develop some insights in life.
He could see himself maturing and growing.
While
Faiz was in the prison he requested a number of
books to read. He was a scholar of Urdu, Arabic and English languages.
Other prisoners used to gather around him and Faiz,
who was a great teacher, used to give lectures on Ghalib,
Shakespeare, even taught Quran to the enthusiasts.
Faiz also developed a keen sense of humor while he was
in prison. His letters were full of comical comments. In one letter he
mentioned that since the prison was in a desert, people’s faces and heads
were frequently covered with sand and they looked older than their real
lives. He wrote to his sweetheart that sometimes he wondered he might lose
his ‘sex appeal’ (Ref 1, p 40) and then people would not be able to tease
him about flirting with women and there would not be any more scandals. In
another letter he jokes about becoming a saint during his imprisonment.
One
of the breakthroughs for Faiz was his realization
that his prison experience was making him a peaceful person. He quoted his
friend and colleague Surjeet Singh who had stated
that ‘ peace comes from within’ (p 40). Faiz shared with Alys that
only that person was at peace whose conscience was clear. Not having a
guilty conscience was a significant part of being at peace with oneself. Faiz knew that he was not a criminal and he had not
done anything that was illegal, unethical or immoral. (Ref 1 p 132) He did
not care what others, whether politicians or political activists of rival
groups, thought of his actions and ideas. He was genuinely, honestly and
sincerely dedicated to his ideals.
It
is amazing to see how Faiz remained optimistic
and full of hope in spite of adversities. He believed that sooner or later
justice will win and the poor and the downtrodden will get their rights. He
dreamt of a just and peaceful world and for that world he was ready to
sacrifice his health and happiness, even his life. Faiz
started believing that happiness was not only his right but also the birth
right of all human beings. ( Ref 1, p 71)
Faiz shared his philosophy of human suffering in his
letters. He believed that human beings can endure a lot of physical and
emotional pain if they give it a meaning and connect it with a cause or an
ideal that is worth living for and worth dying for (Ref 1 p 114). Faiz’s philosophy is not much different than the
philosophy of famous psychotherapist Victor Frankl
who gave birth to the tradition of Logo-therapy after spending a number of
years in Nazi prisons. He also believed that human suffering becomes
bearable when it finds a meaning.
Faiz’s letters provide us a few glimpses of that
remarkable poet who was never intimidated by the powers of kings, dictators
or generals. His commitment remained with the poor, the oppressed and the
working class people. Faiz gradually became aware
that his sufferings, like the sufferings of all humanity, are temporary. He realized that the darker the night of
oppression, the brighter will be the dawn of freedom. Night might be long,
very long, but morning is worth waiting for. ( Ref 1, p 76)
Faiz’s letters from prison are a goldmine. They provide
many psychological insights in the psyche of revolutionaries and political prisoners.
With passage of time they became a symbol of hope not only for his family,
his community and country but also for all of the suffering humanity. No
wonder, even after his death, he lives in the hearts of millions of men and
women from all walks of life all over the world.
Let me end by a stanza from one
of Faiz’s poems titled A Prison Evening, that is an island of optimism in the sea of
pessimism.
From every corner, dark – green
shadows,
in
ripples, come towards me.
At any moment they may break over
me,
like the waves of pain each time
I remember
The separation from my lover
This thought keeps consoling me:
though tyrants may command that
lamps be smashed
in rooms where lovers are
destined to meet,
they cannot snuff out the moon,
so today,
nor tomorrow, no tyranny will
succeed,
no poison of torture make me
bitter,
if just one evening in prison
can be so strangely sweet,
If just one moment anywhere on
this earth.
REFERNCES
1. Faiz
Ahmed Faiz
Saleebain meray dareechay main Maktaba-e-Daniaal
Karachi Pakistan 1976
2. Mandela Nelson The Struggle is
my Life Pathfinder New York
1990
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