Sajjad Zaheer

Sajjad Zaheer (1904 – 1973)

Life

Born on November 5, 1905. One of the four sons of Sir Wazir Hasan, former Chief Justice of the Oudh Chief Court. Following into his father's footsteps he studied law at Oxford and became barrister. He was a renowned Urdu writer, Marxist thinker and revolutionary. He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India and later in 1948, the Communist Party of Pakistan, along with Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Both were later jailed in Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case along with Mohammad Husain Ata, Zafarullah Poshni and others. Major General Akbar Khan was allegedly the main conspirator. He was extradited to India in 1954 and revived his activities in that country through Progressive Writers' Association, Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and Afro-Asian Writers' Association. Sajjad Zaheer was also a founder and leading figure of the three associations.

2005 was observed as his birth centenary year.

A collection of short stories, "Angaray", which had stories by Sajjad Zahieer, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Khan and Mahmud-uz-Zafar was published in 1936 and was immediately banned in India by the British Government, "for hurting the religious susceptibilities of a section of the community." His wife Razia Sajjad Zaheer, was an Urdu short story writer and novelist and they had four daughters. One daughter, Nadira Zaheer (or Nadira Babbar) is an activist in her own right and married to the Bollywood star-turned politician Raj Babbar.

Sajjad Zaheer died on 13th September, 1973, at the age of 68, while attending a conference of Afro Asian writers at Alma Ata, Kazakhistan (then one of the republics of USSR).

Education

He was educated at the University of Lucknow, and went to study at University of Oxford for his(BA, MA), and the University of London for (BCL) in his pursuit of literature and law.

Literary Contributions

* "London Ki Ek Raat"- a novel.
* "Roshnai", a collection of essays on progressive writing and the progressive writers movement.
* "Zikre Hafiz", his research based book on Persian poet Hafez.
* "Pigalhta Nilam", his last book,a collection of his poetry.

Translations

* "Othello"
* "Candide"
* Gora (Tagore)
* "The Prophet" (Khalil Gibran)

External links

* [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:Qs9Ol7zGGGAJ:www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fline/fl2317/stories/20060908000707800.htm+Majnun+Gorakhpuri&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=us] Urdu & secularism by A.G. NOORANI Frontline Volume 23 - Issue 17 :: Aug. 26-Sep. 08, 2006

Further reading

* cite book
last = Zaheer
first = Sajjad
authorlink = Sajjad Zaheer
title = The Light: The History of the Movement for Progressive Literature in the Indo-Pakistan Sub Continent
publisher = Oxford University Press
year = 2006
id = ISBN 0-19-547155-5
* [http://pd.cpim.org/2005/1218/12182005_sajjad%20zaheer.htm Naresh Nadeem, 'Sajjad Zaheer: A Life of Struggle & Creativity', "People's Democracy" 29:51 (18 December 2005)]
* "Bose, Hiren K. [http://www.chowk.com/articles/10111 Sajjad Zahir: The Voice of the Common Man] " in Chowk