Hum Dekhenge
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Original titleویبقی و جہ ر بک
Written1979
First published in1981
LanguageUrdu
Lines21

Hum Dekhenge (Urdu: ہم دیکھیں گے - In english We shall see) is a popular Urdu nazm, written by the Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.[1] Originally written as Va Yabqá Vajhu Rabbika (And the countenance of your Lord will outlast all),[2] it was included in the seventh poetry book of Faiz -- Mere Dil Mere Musafir.

Background

The nazm was composed as a medium of protest against Zia Ul Haq's oppressive regime.[3] It gained a rapid cult-following as a leftist[4][5] song of resistance and defiance,[6] after a public rendition by Iqbal Bano at Alhamra Arts Council[7][8] on 13 February 1986,[9] ignoring the ban on Faiz's poetry.[10] [11][12][13][14][15][16]

Themes

Faiz employs the metaphor of traditional Islamic imagery to subvert and challenge Zia's fundamentalist interpretation of them; Qayamat, the Day of Reckoning is transformed into the Day of Revolution, wherein Zia's military government will be ousted by the people and democracy will be re-installed.[15][17]

Media

The song was recreated in Coke Studio Season 11 on 22 July 2018, under the aegis of Zohaib Kazi and Ali Hamza.[18][upper-alpha 1] In the movie The Kashmir Files (2022), it was depicted as being sung by students of a left-leaning Indian university to as a song of protest [20]

Protests

The poem gained importance in protests against Pervez Musharraf in the early 2000s.[21][22]

During the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in India,[23] faculty members of IIT Kanpur took issue with Hum Dekhenge being sung by protesting students in the campus, and alleged it to be "anti-Hindu".[24][upper-alpha 2] The IIT instituted a commission to look into the issue.[25] The student media body rejected the charges as being misinformed and communal, which divorced the poem from its societal context.[26][27]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ The Coke Studio rendition however removed some lines, which were arguably the most controversial part of the poem.[19]
  2. ↑ The line "sab but uṭhvāe jāenge" and "bas nām rahegā allāh kā" respectively translates to "when all the idols will be removed" and "only Allah will remain", from a very-literal reading. It was thus perceived to challenge idolatry and polytheism, which many Hindus adhere to.

References

  1. ↑ Vincent, Pheroze L. (2 January 2012). "Faiz poetry strikes chord in Delhi". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Kantor, Roanne (2 July 2016). "'My Heart, My Fellow Traveller': Fantasy, Futurity and the Itineraries of Faiz Ahmed Faiz". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 39 (3): 608–625. doi:10.1080/00856401.2016.1189034. ISSN 0085-6401. S2CID 148081857.
  3. ↑ Ali, Tariq (2000). On the Abyss: Pakistan After the Coup. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 198. ISBN 978-81-7223-389-1.
  4. ↑ Hanif, Mohammed (19 December 2019). "Opinion | The Dictator and His Death Sentence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Dutt, Bishnupriya (3 July 2015). "Performing Resistance with Maya Rao: Trauma and Protest in India". Contemporary Theatre Review. 25 (3): 372. doi:10.1080/10486801.2015.1049823. ISSN 1048-6801. S2CID 192583044.
  6. ↑ Korpe, Marie; Reitov, Ole (September 2010). "Banned: a Rough Guide". Index on Censorship. 39 (3): 36. doi:10.1177/0306422010381043. ISSN 0306-4220. S2CID 145443811.
  7. ↑ "Husn-e-Ghazal". The Hindu. 12 March 2005. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Iqbal Bano ghazal personified Dawn (newspaper), published 22 April 2009, Retrieved 21 June 2018
  9. ↑ Hashmi, Ali Madeeh (4 September 2019). "When Iqbal Bano Defied Zia's Dictatorship To Sing 'Hum Dekheinge' At Alhamra". Medium.com. Naya Daur Media. Medium.com. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  10. ↑ Bamzai, Kaveree (2 January 2020). "Modi's India unhappy with protesters singing Faiz's Hum Dekhenge. Zia's Pakistan was too". ThePrint. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "Iqbal Bano - Renowned Pakistani singer of Urdu ghazals". The Guardian (UK). 10 May 2009., Retrieved 21 June 2018
  12. ↑ Khan, M Ilyas (22 April 2009). "Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano dies". BBC News.
  13. ↑ Pirzadeh, Saba; Pirzada, Tehmina (4 May 2019). "Pakistani popular music: A call to reform in the public sphere". South Asian Popular Culture. 17 (2): 197. doi:10.1080/14746689.2018.1512702. ISSN 1474-6689. S2CID 149998949.
  14. ↑ Chakravarti, Uma (2008). "Archiving the nation-state in feminist praxis: a South Asian perspective". Centre for Women's Development Studies. hdl:2451/34235.
  15. 1 2 Raza, Gauhar (January 2011). "Listening to Faiz is a subversive act". Himal Southasian. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  16. ↑ Media, Naya Daur (4 September 2019). "When Iqbal Bano Defied Zia's Dictatorship To Sing 'Hum Dekheinge' At Alhamra". Medium. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "The story of Faiz's Hum Dekhenge — from Pakistan to India, over 40 years". The Indian Express. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  18. ↑ Maheen Sabeeh (24 July 2018). "Coke Studio 11 announces itself with 'Hum Dekhenge'". The News International. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  19. ↑ Kaur, Harnidh (26 July 2018). "What Coke Studio did to Faiz's song, Pakistan is doing to its people". ThePrint. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  20. ↑ Kumkum Chadha, The Kashmir Files: Pedalling a half truth, Tehelka, 1 April 2022.
  21. ↑ Naqvi, Jawed (15 December 2008). "If mullahs usurp anti-imperialism should the secular fight be given up?". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "DAWN - Features; November 22, 2007". DAWN.COM. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  23. ↑ "How these poems have defined anti-CAA protests". The Week. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  24. ↑ "Who's afraid of a song?". The Indian Express. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  25. ↑ Service, Tribune News. "IIT Kanpur panel to decide if Faiz poem is anti-Hindu". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  26. ↑ "IIT Kanpur students respond to professor who accused them of chanting anti-India slogans".
  27. ↑ "Don't communalise the peaceful gathering at IIT Kanpur". Vox Populi. 21 December 2019. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019.
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