Articles by Ali S H E H Z A D Zaidi
The American Dissident , 2024
The firing and reinstatement of sociology professor John Asimakopoulos at Bronx Community College.
Chiron Review, 2024
Abstract: No Messiah For Broken Glass
Ali Shehzad Zaidi
SUNY Canton
This article discusses t... more Abstract: No Messiah For Broken Glass
Ali Shehzad Zaidi
SUNY Canton
This article discusses three poems by the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz who spent five years in solitary confinement in Pakistan. Imprisonment was the seminal experience that ignited his creativity and shaped his poetry. Liberated from the mundane happenstance of the everyday, Faiz discovered the magical present to which the mystics beckon. Confinement heightened his senses, integrating them into poetry of pain and longing. Paradoxically, the years of confinement became a source of joy. Among the key images in these poems of Faiz: green water evokes revival and regeneration; the city of thieves recalls the kleptocracy into which Pakistan has devolved; and the faded curtains evoke the interminable cultural and religious confinement of Pakistanis. The walnut leaves, used to induce abortion, hint at their stillborn dreams and aspirations, as well as the loveless marriage between the people and their rulers. Faiz celebrates remembrance leads to healing and recovery. At a time when the Urdu language is being stripped of much of its Persian vocabulary and imaginative content, Faiz represents a vital connection both to the ancient civilizations in the territories of what is now Pakistan as well as a bridge between Pakistan and the world.
Chiron Review, 2024
This article discusses the sea imagery in Ahmed Faraz’s poem “Spray on the Eagle’s Pinion,” which... more This article discusses the sea imagery in Ahmed Faraz’s poem “Spray on the Eagle’s Pinion,” which appears here in a previously unpublished translation by Daud Kamal. Two other poems, “Siege” and “Remorse” exemplify the defiance and revolt that characterizes Faraz’s dissident poetry during the eleven years of General Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime.
Scottish Left Review, 2023
is an erstwhile clinical psychologist who took up photography when he retired some 25 years ago.
Scottish Left Review, Sep 2023
Arena, 2023
This article discusses the themes of love and hope in the poetry of the Urdu-language Ahmed Faraz... more This article discusses the themes of love and hope in the poetry of the Urdu-language Ahmed Faraz. It introduces two unpublished Faraz translations by Daud Kamal, examining the marine imagery in “Dawn-Birds” and the drought imagery in “Boulders of Clay.” The article also introduces Kamal’s translation of Afzal Arish’s “The Heave of Mud,” highlighting the allegorical and environmental dimensions of the poem.
Theory in Action, 2023
Mircea Eliade’s “The Trenches” (Şanţurile) is a World War Two story in which death is a reintegra... more Mircea Eliade’s “The Trenches” (Şanţurile) is a World War Two story in which death is a reintegration into the divine. This Romanian language story is a variant of the legend in which Alexander found a gem that enabled him to see in darkness. In this venture into the fantastic, Romanian mountain villagers search for a hidden treasure at a juncture where legend momentarily demonstrates “the function of the unreal.” Affirming his belief in a Romanian nationalism that coalesces around a mythical Dacian past, Eliade belongs to a literary tradition that includes the poet Mihai Eminexcu and the playwright Vasile Alecsandri.
Theory in Action, 2023
This article discusses the poetry of Mirza Ghalib as presented in the translations of Daud Kamal.... more This article discusses the poetry of Mirza Ghalib as presented in the translations of Daud Kamal. Among them is “Three Renderings” in which the image of a black eagle dropping an egg shell represents the dark forces that blight the cosmos. The image of the rose symbolizes rebirth and spiritual renewal while the rain falling in the darkness heavenly grace.
Ostrava Journal of English Philology, 2022
Besides discussing such seminal images in the poetry of Daud Kamal as Gandhara art, the bridge, a... more Besides discussing such seminal images in the poetry of Daud Kamal as Gandhara art, the bridge, and bird migration, this essay explores solitude as a necessary accompaniment to Kamal’s creativity and to his quest for self-knowledge. This essay also examines the undiscerning critical reception of Kamal’s poetry which, notwithstanding, belongs to the finest tradition of Islamic mysticism and is therefore destined to last.
New Politics, 2022
This article contains four uncollected Faiz translations by Daud Kamal.
Against the Current, 2022
THE REVOLUTIONARY URDU poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) retains its transformational power. ... more THE REVOLUTIONARY URDU poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) retains its transformational power. Recently, Faiz's "We Will See" became a rallying cry during student protests in India against the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act which grants a path to citizenship only to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The act also denies citizenship to those Indian Muslims who, lacking the means to acquire identity papers and birth certificates, are subjected to disenfranchisement, deportation, and imprisonment even if they were born in India. Faiz wrote "We Will See" in defiance of Zia-ul-Haq's military dictatorship (1977-88). Its title, which evokes Judgment Day, is taken from a refrain in the Qur'an (Singh): We will see. Certainly we, too, will see That promised day-That day ordained When these colossal mountains Of tyranny and oppression Will explode into wisps of hay-The day when the earth under our feet Will quake and throb And over the heads of despots Swords of lightning will flash-The day when all the idols Will be removed from this sacred world And we, the destitute and the despised, Will, at last, be granted respect-The day when crowns Will be tossed into the air And all the thrones utterly destroyed. Only the name of God will remain Who is both absent and present-Both the seen and the seer. The cry "I am Truth" will rend the skies Which means you, I, and all of us. And sovereignty will belong to the people Which means you, I, and all of us.
Lamar Journal of the Humanities, 2022
Mircea Eliade’s novella “In the Shadow of a Lily” (“La umbra unui crin”) is the last fictional wo... more Mircea Eliade’s novella “In the Shadow of a Lily” (“La umbra unui crin”) is the last fictional work of the renowned historian of religions. The religious allusions and cultural referents in the novella create an intricate spiritual mosaic that reveals the camouflage of the sacred in everyday occurrences, the survival of Romanian culture in exile, and a miraculous dimension of love. The novella’s mystery concerns a group of Romanian refugees who are implicated in the disappearance of trucks on a highway in what appears to be a new kind of Noah’s Ark. The Biblical symbolism of the lily illumines the novella like a jeweled house of mirrors to uncover the camouflage of the sacred.
Anglica Wratislaviensia , 2021
In the poetry of Daud Kamal, water fi gures as an image of mercy, as in the Quran, and as a mirro... more In the poetry of Daud Kamal, water fi gures as an image of mercy, as in the Quran, and as a mirror that refl ects a divine hidden presence. The rock pool evokes the memory of Gandhara and other foundational civilizations born in love and creative ferment. Conversely, the images of drought, heat, and dust symbolize a parched spiritual order. The river, a recurring archetypal image in Kamal's poetry, represents the fl uid self that is subsumed into collective identity to become a poetic distillate of history.
Raritan, 2021
Daud Kamal, the preeminent English language poet of Pakistan, left behind many unpublished poetry... more Daud Kamal, the preeminent English language poet of Pakistan, left behind many unpublished poetry translations when he died in 1987. This essay discusses several translations from the Urdu, Persian, and Punjabi of Hafiz, Jami, Amir Khusro, Bulleh Shah, Sultan Bahu, and Mirza Ghalib, as well as translations of two folk poems that epitomize the Sufi traditions of Persia and the Indian subcontinent.
South Asia Research, 2020
Daud Kamal (1935–87), the preeminent English language poet of Pakistan, left behind many unpublis... more Daud Kamal (1935–87), the preeminent English language poet of Pakistan, left behind many unpublished translations of poems by the classical Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869). This article presents and discusses several of these translations in the light of historical events during Ghalib’s lifetime. Although he endured many personal tragedies, Ghalib attained mystical heights that confirm his stature as the greatest Urdu poet.
Socialism and Democracy , 2019
Daud Kamal’s translations of Urdu poetry deserve wider critical recognition. His translations of ... more Daud Kamal’s translations of Urdu poetry deserve wider critical recognition. His translations of Munir Niazi convey an oneiric reality that traces the effects of dictatorship and capitalism on Pakistan. Kamal is best known for his translations of Faiz Ahmed Faiz which have become classics in the literature of imprisonment. Besides discussing translated poems by Faiz and Niazi, this article also discusses Kamal’s translation of Ahmed Faraz’s “Incandescent Beauty,” which displays a dynamic mastery of perspective, as well as his translation of Iftikhar Arif’s “Perspective,” which commemorates a seminal and archetypal event in Islamic history.
Socialism and Democracy , 2019
This article examines poems on imprisonment by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), an innovative Urdu po... more This article examines poems on imprisonment by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), an innovative Urdu poet whose confinement heightened his sense of wonder and concern for others. His poems were rallying cries against military dictatorship, corruption, and human rights abuses. Far from being embittered for having been unjustly imprisoned, Faiz turned the ordeal of imprisonment into creative ferment, dedicating his life to poetry and preserving Pakistan’s cultural heritage. The Faiz poems quoted in this essay, which were translated by Daud Kamal, inspire hope for the cause of peace and justice in Pakistan.
The Grove: Working Papers on English Studies, 2018
Two Short Essays:
Exile, Prisoner, Poet: A Brief History of Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Daud Kamal’s Le... more Two Short Essays:
Exile, Prisoner, Poet: A Brief History of Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Daud Kamal’s Legacy of Mercy
Acta Neophilologica, 2017
This essay examines representative stories of the American Western genre in both film and literat... more This essay examines representative stories of the American Western genre in both film and literature in light of various literary influences, including The Bible and classical epics such as Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and The Odyssey. These stories relate the dynamic tensions of characters caught between righteous and unrighteous anger, between home and longing for the road, and between the imperative to survive and the impulse to sacrifice oneself for others.
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Articles by Ali S H E H Z A D Zaidi
Ali Shehzad Zaidi
SUNY Canton
This article discusses three poems by the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz who spent five years in solitary confinement in Pakistan. Imprisonment was the seminal experience that ignited his creativity and shaped his poetry. Liberated from the mundane happenstance of the everyday, Faiz discovered the magical present to which the mystics beckon. Confinement heightened his senses, integrating them into poetry of pain and longing. Paradoxically, the years of confinement became a source of joy. Among the key images in these poems of Faiz: green water evokes revival and regeneration; the city of thieves recalls the kleptocracy into which Pakistan has devolved; and the faded curtains evoke the interminable cultural and religious confinement of Pakistanis. The walnut leaves, used to induce abortion, hint at their stillborn dreams and aspirations, as well as the loveless marriage between the people and their rulers. Faiz celebrates remembrance leads to healing and recovery. At a time when the Urdu language is being stripped of much of its Persian vocabulary and imaginative content, Faiz represents a vital connection both to the ancient civilizations in the territories of what is now Pakistan as well as a bridge between Pakistan and the world.
Exile, Prisoner, Poet: A Brief History of Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Daud Kamal’s Legacy of Mercy
Ali Shehzad Zaidi
SUNY Canton
This article discusses three poems by the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz who spent five years in solitary confinement in Pakistan. Imprisonment was the seminal experience that ignited his creativity and shaped his poetry. Liberated from the mundane happenstance of the everyday, Faiz discovered the magical present to which the mystics beckon. Confinement heightened his senses, integrating them into poetry of pain and longing. Paradoxically, the years of confinement became a source of joy. Among the key images in these poems of Faiz: green water evokes revival and regeneration; the city of thieves recalls the kleptocracy into which Pakistan has devolved; and the faded curtains evoke the interminable cultural and religious confinement of Pakistanis. The walnut leaves, used to induce abortion, hint at their stillborn dreams and aspirations, as well as the loveless marriage between the people and their rulers. Faiz celebrates remembrance leads to healing and recovery. At a time when the Urdu language is being stripped of much of its Persian vocabulary and imaginative content, Faiz represents a vital connection both to the ancient civilizations in the territories of what is now Pakistan as well as a bridge between Pakistan and the world.
Exile, Prisoner, Poet: A Brief History of Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Daud Kamal’s Legacy of Mercy
Hispanics as one-dimensional characters that are defined by their essences rather than by their historical and sociological context. The stereotypes found in the textbooks tend to naturalize privilege, perpetuate economic inequalities, and
conceal the exploitative aims of imperialism. These stereotypes are less prevalent now thanks in part to the contributions of postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said.