Nafrat | Jaun Elia | Farnood | Yousuf Abraham | London Urdu Voice

jaunelia #urdupoetry #londonurduvoice

@LondonUrduVoice
Syed Hussain Sibt-e-Asghar Naqvi, commonly known as Jaun Elia (Urdu: جون ایلیا, 14 December 1931 – 8 November 2002), was a Pakistani poet, philosopher, biographer, and scholar. One of the most prominent modern Urdu poets, popular for his unconventional ways, he "acquired knowledge of philosophy, logic, Islamic history, the Muslim Shia tradition, Muslim religious sciences, Western literature, and Kabbala."

Rekhta (website) has preserved most of Jaun Elia's work including his couplets, ghazals, nazms and other literary works.

Jaun Elia was born as Syed Sibt-e-Asghar Naqvi on 14 December 1931 in Amroha, British India. His father, Shafiq Elia, was a scholar of literature and astronomy well-versed in the Arabic, English, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit languages, and who corresponded with leading intellectuals like Bertrand Russell. He was the youngest of his siblings. Rais Amrohvi was his elder brother. Indian film director Kamal Amrohi was his first cousin. Another relative in Pakistan is actor Munawar Saeed, famous for his roles as a villain.

Described as a child prodigy, he was initially educated at the Syed-ul-Madaris in Amroha.

Being a communist, Elia opposed the partition of India. Elia once remarked on the creation of Pakistan that "this was the mischief of boys from Aligarh". However, he eventually migrated to Pakistan in 1957, and decided to live in Karachi. Poet Pirzada Qasim said:

Jaun was very particular about language. While his diction is rooted in the classical tradition, he touches on new subjects. He remained in quest of an ideal all his life. Unable to find the ideal eventually, he became angry and frustrated. He felt, perhaps with reason, that he had squandered his talent.
He began writing poetry at the age of 8 but published his first collection, Shayad, when he was 60. He was inspired by the philosophy of Islam.

Work:

Poetry collections
Sukhan Meri Udasee Hai
Zakham-e-Umeed
Mubada
Tumharey Aur Mere Darmiyan
Daricha Haye Kheyal
Qitaat
Jaun Elia Ki Tamam Ghazlain (parts I-III)
Inshaye aur Mazaameen
Farnood
Is Rang Ke Tufaan
Shayad
firaaq

Prose work (mainly translations)
Elia was not just a poet but was also an editor and a translator, especially of old Sufi, Mutazili and Ismaili treatises.

Masih-i-Baghdad Hallaj,
Jometria,
Tawasin, usman
Isaghoji,
Rahaish-o-Kushaish,
Hasan bin Sabah
Farnod, Tajrid,
Masail-i-Tajrid,
Rasail Ikhwan al Safa

Above are some of his translations from Arabic and Persian. Not only did he translate these books but also introduced several new words in the Urdu language.

Jaun Elia was a communist who, in his poems, supported communism in Pakistan.References to class consciousness are also seen in his poems. He also was described as "An anarchist, a nihilist, and a poet"
(Courtesy: Wikipedia)