Shaikh Ayaz (March 1923 – 28 December 1997)

 

By Habib Sanai

On March 2, 2025, Sindh is celebrating the 102nd birthday of the renowned poet Shaikh Ayaz, whose literary contribution remains unparalleled and timeless.

To fully appreciate Ayaz’s contributions and stature, one must consider the profound transformations brought about by the revolutionary twentieth century. During this era, every field and sphere of life underwent significant change, fostering new norms and sensibilities that demanded special attention and adaptation.

Sindh was under British colonial rule, during which the British introduced various reforms in governance, the economy, and education, primarily to serve their own interests. However, these reforms also brought certain benefits to the local population. New job opportunities emerged, and access to education enabled many to break free from the entrenched dominance of feudal lords. Urban centers began to develop, fostering economic and social progress. Additionally, improvements in communication and transportation connected people to diverse cultures, ideas, and nations, broadening their horizons and contributing to societal transformation. While the British agenda was self-serving, these changes inadvertently laid the groundwork for modernization and greater social mobility in Sindh.

During that century, two world wars were fought, huge empires collapsed, and new nation-states emerged. Advances in communication fueled globalization, bringing people closer together and allowing new literary trends to reach even the most remote areas.

In this milieu, Ayaz emerged on the literary scene. The influence of both internal and external conditions on him is best reflected in the words of Amar Jaleel: “His entire literature is testimony to what happened in the world during the last 60 years, and how the lives and sensibilities of the people were affected by the upheavals in the history…Second world War, genocide of Jews, partition of India, massacre of Muslim and Hindus during the years of the partings of ways; curse of One Unit and resultant disintegration of Pakistan and the holocaust in East Pakistan, and birth of Bangladesh,; controversial execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, recession of Sindhi language, literature, and the people of Sindh in their own province dominated the themes, and became the core and cru of his prose and poetry.”

Shaikh Ayaz, according to Shaikh Aziz, “revolutionized almost all genres of Sindhi literature and is rightfully called the doyen of the 20^th Century Sindhi writers and poets….He began composing poetry as a zealous youth in 1940. This was an era of reawakening in Sindhi literature, as in the literature of other major languages of the subcontinent. In fact this was when Sindhi literature emerged from its early and mediaeval expressions and subject and started responding to new cultural and social demands…In his prose and poetry the themes are interwoven in a superb manner giving a true picture of life…”

Shaikh Ayaz is regarded as the most prominent poet after Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. As Siraj puts it, “After Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Shaik Ayaz is the next most outstanding and important poet and a literary phenomenon. His contribution to Sindhi literature, both quantitatively and qualitatively, stands out as a beacon of excellence and brilliance.”

Ayaz is credited to fuel the nationalist movement with his poetry, yet he was not a racist, as rightist circles attempt to portray him. At this point, it would be appropriate to quote Hasan Mujtaba, who writes that: “He wrote an Urdu poem during the languages riots in Sindh. It read: “Yesterday. I saw Bhitai bleeding in the streets. When I saw him from close, it was Khusro.” Ayaz remained perturbed about the situation in Karachi: “The stars gaze at the flames of a gutted bus at the roundabout of Orangi. The pool blood of the innocent takes me back to Dhaka. Ayaz’s poetry chronicles history.”

Ayaz faced harsh criticism in his final years for showing sympathy toward religion. But Amar Jaleel is of the opinion that “All his life Shaikh was misjudged, and misinterpreted equally by his friends and foes. During the closing years of his life he was subjected to cruel criticism by some of his once die-hard admirers. The poetry Ayaz composed during the years he was consciously preparing his eternal departure from this world, was absolutely different from the poetry he had produced in 1940s. It was dissimilar to the poetry he created in 1950s. It was in contrast to the poetry he wrote in 1960s and 1970s.”

Sobho Gianchandani has also defended him by writing that “Whatever he did and wrote, it was with honesty and from the core of his heart…last half of this century has been reverberating with his songs. He has awakened, influenced and developed thousands of Sindhi poets. For a long time we could not be able to produce another Ayaz. He has actively played his role as history maker poet, writer and revolutionary.”

His poetic Brilliance

Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo, in one of the prefaces he wrote for Ayaz’s poetry collections, has succinctly highlighted his poetic brilliance and distinctive qualities:

“Alliteration of letters on such scale is not conscious effort by poet but it is the result of the toil of whole life. If such spontaneous alliteration occurs in one line of any poem written by German Poet Rilke or Dylon Thomas or T.S Elliot, then happiness of western critics would be out of bounds. In Sindhi poetry such feat is seen in the poetry of Bhitai on numerous places, and also this uniqueness of alliteration is found in the poetry of Ayaz… The poetry of Ayaz is a miracle of the Sindhi language. Such miracles emerge only after long intervals, and when they do, they serve as both the harbinger and catalyst for the transformation of the language and its era.

“Another distinct feature of Ayaz’s poetry is that, despite the flexibility allowed in the metrical system, not a single letter is omitted when reading his verses. It is rare to find an Oriental poet who has not utilized this permissible omission of letters in recitation.”

Works

Shaikh Ayaz authored more than 55 books of poetry and prose. Sindh Culture Department has published his oeuvre in 22 volumes. Although Fahmida Riaz translated his Sindhi poetry into Urdu and published it as Halqa Mere Zanjeer Ka (1974), Ayaz himself composed poetry in Urdu during his early literary career. Interestingly, his first published poetry collection was an Urdu anthology titled Bui Gul Nala-i Dil, released in 1952. Another notable Urdu poetry collection of his is Neel Kanth aur Neem Ke Pate (1988).

He also translated Shah Jo Risalo into Urdu (1963), bringing the timeless poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai to a wider audience. His works have been further translated into Punjabi by Ahmed Salim and published in anthology titled Jo Bejal ne aakhiya. Additionally, several scholars and writers, including Latif Noonari, Saleem Noor Hussain, J.M. Girglani, Hasan Mujtaba, Asif Farruki, Shah Mohammad Pirzado, Manoj Kumar, and this writer have translated his poetry into English.

Ishaq Samejo and Bakhshal Bagi have meticulously compiled Shaikh Ayaz’s poetry into genre-wise collections.

Numerous scholars, including Agha Saleem, Taj Joyo, Naseer Mirza, Jami Chandio, Malik Nadeem, and Dr. Anwar Fiqar, and Hadayat Prem have written and compiled books exploring his literary contributions and impact.

Death

Shaikh Ayaz passed away in Karachi on December 28, 1997, and was laid to rest in Bhit Shah near the Kirar River.