This paper was presented in
Faiz Peace Festival in Toronto on April 26th, 2009.
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 sealmy 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.
Khalid Sohail May 11, 2009
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