Niaz Fatehpuri: The Honorable Writer & Poet of Sindh

Niaz Fatehpuri (1884–1966) was the renowned nom de plume of Niyaz Muhammed Khan, an Urdu poet, writer, and polemicist. He was also the founder and editor of Nigar, which he turned into one of the most prestigious Urdu literary journals in the Indian subcontinent. In the year of 1962, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India for “Literature and Education.”

Early life of Niaz Fatehpuri

Niaz Fatehpuri was born in the year of 1882 at Haswa, Fatehpur District, in what is now Uttar Pradesh during the British Raj. He passed away in the year of 1966 in Karachi city, Pakistan. Niaz Fatehpuri’s real name was Mawlānā Niyaz Muhammad Khan. He was educated at the institute of Madrasa Islamia in Fatehpur, Madrasa Alia in Rampur, and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow. He resigned his post in the year of 1902 as a Police Sub-Inspector after working in this capacity for a couple of years. Thereafter, he worked in different posts until 1921, when he initiated editing and releasing his popular monthly journal, Nigar, which served as a mirror to the literary scene in Uttar Pradesh till his migration to Pakistan in the early 60s.

His fiction consists of 7 collections, besides several short stories issued in the Nigar. Although at a later stage he wrote a few stories attacking religious hypocrisy and fanaticism and there is evidence to indicate how his desire grew to reform the society through short stories, his literary romanticism was too frank to permit him to tread the paths of reality freely.

His significant publications are:

• Man-o-Yazdan (on religion)
• Jamalistan and Nigaristan (both short-stories) in 1939
• Maktubat (his letters)
• Shahvaniyat (on sociology)
• Intiqadiyat (criticism)
• Shaair ka Anjam (“Fate of the Poet”) in 1913
• Gahvara-e-Tamaddun (account of the role of women in the development of culture) in 1932
• Hindi Shaeri (on Hindi poetry) in 1936
• Jazhabat-e-Bhasha (an appreciation of Hindi poetry), 2nd edn., in 1926
• Targhibat-e-Jinsiya Sahvaniyat (on the development of sex knowledge) in 1941
• Husn ki Aiyariyan aur Dusre Afsane (short stories) in 1943
• Jhansi ki Rani in 1946
• Naqab Uth Jane ke Bad in 1942
• Chand ghante hukmae qadim ki ruhon ke sath aur mazamin (three essays)
• Muttaleat-e-Niyaz (literary and historical essays) in 1947
• Mukhtarat-i-Niyazi in 1947
• Taammulat-e-Niyaz (collection of articles), edited and published 1951;
• 3 volumes of his letters from 1948 to 1951
• Majmuah Istifsar va Javab (a collection of questions and answers on different topics) in 1938
• Muzakirat-e-Niyaz (some pages of diary) in 1932
• Sahabiyat (on some female followers of the Prophet Muhammad) in 1932

Since the publication of his 1st story, “Ek Parsi Dosheeza ko Dekh Kar” (“Having Seen a Parsi Girl”) in the year of 1910, most of his stories have disclosed an imaginative preoccupation with things unworldly. Such writings can perhaps be regarded more as pieces of poetic prose than short stories which are normally pregnant with happenings. Whenever he selects to bring in events, as in “Cupid aur Psyche” (“Cupid and Psyche”), abstract concepts make their sneaky appearance and overcrowd the events, with the outcome that they are stopped from proceeding further.

By the early 40s, Niaz Fatehpuri had already switched over to philosophy and criticism, for the true features of the short story having been recognized with those of Premchand by now, he couldn’t but feel the futility of his wanderings in imaginative wilderness.

He was the editor of the famous Urdu literary magazine Nigar, few of whose issues are considered permanent additions to the Urdu literature; after that, was interested in Islamic history, specifically the literary and political aspects of it. He was awarded Padma Bhushan for his services to Urdu in the year of 1962.

Literary activities

Niaz Fatehpuri was a famous fiction-writer of repute, whose Urdu short-stories, which are poems in prose, are believed to be on a par with those of Munshi Premchand and find an eminent place in Urdu literature. He was also an Urdu poet and critic, and a polemicist who dared to raise his voice against Fundamentalism.

Until he shifted to Pakistan in the year of 1962, he had continued to issue and edit Nigar the Urdu monthly journal, which he had launched in the year of 1921. This was originally released from Agra, then from Bhopal and subsequently from Lucknow. It is still published from Karachi by Farman Fatehpuri.

Niaz Fatehpuri wrote on Urdu literature, on religion and on the several evils affecting the social fabric of India in his time. He has more than 2 dozen major works to his credit. He was granted the Padma Bhushan in 1962 for his services to Urdu.

He breathed last in Karachi, Pakistan on the day of 24 May 1966.

Analysis

In the year of 1974, Malik Ram included him in his award-winning book of essays Woh Surten Ilahi (The Immortals) on nine unforgettable giants in the Urdu literary world.

In 1986, the Urdu Academy in Karachi released the book “Niaz Fatehpuri: Shakhsiyat aur Fikr–o–Fan” by Farman Fatehpuri on the life and literary works of Niaz Fatehpuri.

Personal

He is the father of Sarfaraz Niazi, who has translated the poetry of Ghalib into English in two books titled Love Sonnets of Ghalib and The Wine of Passion, both issued by Ferozsons, Lahore, Pakistan.