Majeed Amjad
| Majeed Amjad مجید امجد | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 29, 1914 Jhang, Punjab, British India |
| Died | May 11, 1974 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Urdu poet, Bureaucrat |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Ethnicity | Punjabi |
| Alma mater | Islamia College Lahore |
| Genre | Ghazal, Nazm |
| Notable works | Shab-e-Rafta Ke Ba'ad |
Majeed Amjad (Urdu: مجید امجد) (June 29, 1914 – May 11, 1974) was an acclaimed [1] Urdu poet[2] from Pakistan.[3] In popular culture Amjad's poetry readers are less than Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Noon Meem Rashid, Nasir Kazmi or Meeraji but amongst many critics he is regarded as a "philosophical poet of depth and sensitivity".[1][4] His ghazals have also been sung by various Pakistani singers.[4]
Personal life
Background
Amjad was born on June 29, 1914 in Jhang,[1] a small town in the Pakistani province of Punjab into a reputable family. He was taught by his maternal grandfather. Then for a few years he studied Arabic and Persian at a local mosque before enrolling in first grade in a government school. He obtained his Matriculation certificate in the first division from Islamia High School, Jhang.[1] Two years later he completed his Intermediate exam, also in the first division from Government College, Jhang.[1] Later he moved to Lahore for higher education that was not available in Jhang. He eventually received his bachelor's degree in 1934 from Islamia College, Lahore.[1]
During the great depression economic opportunities were limited even for educated people like Amjad, who returned to Jhang and joined a weekly newspaper named Arooj.[5] He remained as an editor of the newspaper until 1939 and regularly published his own prose and poetry. At the advent of the Second World War, a poem of his against the British Empire was printed on the front page of Arooj and he was forced to leave the newspaper. After that he found a job as a clerk in the Jhang District Board. In 1944, the government set up a civil supplies department to ration food and clothing.[1] He passed an entrance exam and joined this department and served on with the Food Department until his retirement in 1972. He lived in many small and large towns all over Punjab during his employment with the Food Department including Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Gojra, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Montgomery. He married his cousin in 1939,[1] she was a school teacher, but they had different opinions that resulted divorce. Amjad lived the last twenty eight years in Sahiwal while his wife stayed in Jhang. He died on May 11, 1974.[1]
Literary career
Amjad's first collection of poetry, Shab-e-Rafta, was published in 1958[1] for which he wrote a preface in verse. This was published by Naya Idara in Lahore and was the only collection published in his lifetime even though he had written steadily throughout his life. After his death, the manuscripts of his unpublished poetry were preserved by Javaid Qureshi who was then the deputy commissioner of Sahiwal. In 1976, Javaid Qureshi and others published a second collection of his poetry titled Shab-e-Rafta Ke Baad. It was not until 1989 that the Urdu critic Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya edited and published a complete collection of his works called Kuliyat-e-Majeed Amjad.[4]
Bibliography
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Majeed Amjad remembered". Daily The Nation. 2011-06-27. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
- ↑ "The politics of exclusion". Herald.Dawn.Com. 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-07-2012. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - ↑ "Majeed Amjad: The Poet Less Remembered". Pakistaniat.Com. 2009-12-13. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "MAJEED AMJAD". Daily Sajjan Lahore. 1989-02-03. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
- ↑ "Majeed Amjad:Translated from Urdu by Mehr Afshan Farooqi". Eleven Eleven Journal.com. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
External links
- Works by or about Majeed Amjad in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Remembering the lost voice – Majeed Amjad