Syed Sajjad Zaheer ( ur, ) (5 November 1899 – 13 September 1973) was an Indian

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

ideologue and radical

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a member of the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

and the

Progressive Writers' Movement The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति� ...

. Upon

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

, he moved to the newly created

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and became a founding member of the

Communist Party of Pakistan The Communist Party of Pakistan ( abbr. CPP; ur, کمیونسٹ پارٹی آف پاکستان) is a communist party in Pakistan. History Founding The CPP was founded in Calcutta, India, soon after the establishment of Pakistan on 6 March 1948 ...

Early life and education

Zaheer was born in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 1905 and was the fourth son of Syed Wazir Hasan, a judge at the

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

. He got his BA degree from the

University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

in 1924. He then left for

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

for further studies. In his final year at Oxford he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On returning to England, he was influenced by the communist leader

Shapurji Saklatvala Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala (28 March 1874 – 16 January 1936) was a communist activist and British politician of Indian Parsi heritage. Saklatvala is notable for being the first person of Indian heritage to become a British Member of Parliamen ...

and joined the Oxford Majlis. He attended the second Congress of the League against Imperialism held in Frankfurt, where he met influential leaders like Viren Chattopadhyay,

Saumyendranath Tagore Saumyendranath Tagore (October 8, 1901 – September 22, 1974), son of Sudhindranath Tagore, grandson of Dwijendranath Tagore, and grand-nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, was the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of India, and the first tr ...

, N. M. Jaisoorya and Raja Pahendra Pratap. He also started the newspaper ''Bharat'' in 1930 in England. He graduated from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with a degree in BA in 1931. After finishing his studies at Oxford he travelled through Germany, Italy, Denmark and Austria on his journey back to India in 1932. In December 1932 Zaheer along with a group of friends published his first book ''

Angarey Angarey or Angaaray (translated alternatively as "Embers" or "Burning Coals") is a collection of nine short stories and a one act play in Urdu by Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jahan, Mahmud-uz-Zafar and Ahmed Ali first published in 1932 and general ...

''. The book was met with outrage from both the religious and civil authorities in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and was subsequently banned by the government. Following the uproar due to the release of ''Angarey'', he was sent to London by his father in March 1933 to study law at Lincoln's Inn.

Political career

In 1935, he and novelist

Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, togethe ...

went to Paris to attend the International Congress for Defense of Culture organised by

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

. Influenced by the conference he established the Indian Progressive Writers' Association in London. The first conference of the association was held on 9 and 10 April 1936. After returning to India, he organised the first conference of the Progressive Writers’ Association in Lucknow on April 9, 1936, and started working as its general secretary. He along with

Sohan Singh Josh Sohan Singh Josh (1898–1982) was an Indian communist activist and freedom fighter. Life Josh was born on 12 November 1898 at village Chetanpura in Amritsar district, Punjab Province, British India. His father, Lal Singh, wished for his son t ...

started the first Marxist journal in Urdu, ''Chingari'', in Saharanpur. He became Uttar Pradesh state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) as well as a member of the working committee of the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

in 1936. He was nominated in-charge of the Delhi branch of the CPI in 1939 and was jailed for two years during the Second World War for opposing Indian participation in it. After his release in 1942, he became the editor of the CPI newspaper ''Qaumi Jung'' (People's War) and ''Naya Zamana'' (New Age) in Bombay. He also helped to organize the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and the

All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 19 ...

. After

, Sajjad Zaheer along with Sibte Hasan and Mian Iftekhar-ud-Din started the

and was appointed Secretary General of the party. In 1951, he was arrested in the

Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case The Rawalpindi Conspiracy (also known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case) was an attempted ''coup d'état'' against the governments of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, in 1951. The conspiracy was the first of many subsequen ...

along with

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi: فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...

. He remained in jail for four years and upon release was given Indian citizenship by

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. While in India he continued to work in cultural activities organized by the

. He revived the All India Progressive Writers’ Association, became secretary of the Indian chapter of the Afro-Asian Writers' Association, and also worked as editor of ''Awami Daur'' (People's Era) and the daily ''Hayat'' He died in 1973 while attending a literary conference in

Alma Ata Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...

, Kazakhstan.

Literary career

Zaheer stated his literary career with a collection of short stories, ''

'' (embers) in 1932. It had stories by Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali,

Rashid Jahan Rashid Jahan (25 August 1905 – 29 July 1952) was an Indian writer and medical doctor known for her Urdu literature and trenchant social commentaries. She wrote short stories and plays and contributed to ''Angarey'' (1932), a collection of ...

and Mahmud-uz-Zafar and was banned in 1933 by the

British Government of India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

"for hurting the religious susceptibilities of a section of the community." This gave rise to the All-India Progressive Writers' Movement & Association of which both Sajjad Zaheer and Ahmed Ali were co-founders. In 1935 he wrote a novel called ''London ki Ek Raat'' based on his experience of London. In 1944 a collection of letters to his wife from the prisons of Lucknow and Allahabad was published as ''Nuqush-e-Zindan''. He also wrote ''Roshnai'', a history-cum-memoir of the early days of the progressive movement (1956), ''Zikr-e-Hafiz'', a critical look at the works of the legendary Persian poet Hafiz (1956), and a collection of poems in ''

vers libre Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French '' vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Defini ...

'' called ''Pighla Neelam ''(1964). In addition Zaheer also served as the editor of a number of papers and magazines throughout his career including ''Bharat'', ''Chingari'', ''Qaumi Jung'', ''Naya Zamana'', ''Awami Daur'' and ''Hayat''. He was also an avid translator, producing Urdu versions of Tagore's Gora, Voltaire's Candide and Shakespeare's Othello.

Personal life

Sajjad and his wife

Razia Sajjad Zaheer Razia Sajjad Zaheer (15 October 1918, Ajmer – 18 December 1979, Delhi) was an Indian writer in the Urdu language, a translator, and a prominent member of the Progressive Writers Association. She won the Uttar Pradesh Sahitya Akademi Award as ...

had four daughters, including Naseem Bhatia, who holds a PhD in history (ancient history) from a Russian university.

Published writings

The published works of Zaheer include. * ''

'' (Nizami Press, Lucknow, 1932) * ''Beemaar'' (Jamia Press, Delhi) * ''London Ki Ek Raat'' لندن کی ایک رات - (Halqaye-e-adab, Lucknow, 1942) * ''Urdu, Hindi, Hindustani'' (Kutab Publishers, Bombay, 1947) * ''Letters: Naquoosh-e-Zindaan'' (Maktaba Shahrah, Delhi, 1951) * ''Zikr-e-Hafiz'' زکرِخافظ (Anjuman Tarraqui-e Urdu, Aligarh, 1956) * ''Roshnai'' روشنائی Roshnai (Maktaba Urdu, Lahore, 1956) * ''Pighla Nilam''پِگھلا نیلم (Nai Roshani Prakashan, Delhi, 1964) * ''Meri Suno'' (Star Publishers, Delhi, 1967) * ''Mazzamein-e-Sajjad Zaheer'' (published posthumously by the UP Urdu Academy, Lucknow, 1979) * A translation of Shakespeare's ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' * A translation of ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'' * A translation of '' Gora'' (novel written by

Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

) * A translation of '' The Prophet'' (written by

Khalil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...

)

References

Cited sources

* *

External links

Madhu Singh's article about Sajjad Zaheer's novel ''London ki ek raat''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaheer, Sajjad 1899 births 1973 deaths Pakistani dramatists and playwrights Urdu-language poets Indian Marxist writers Muhajir people Pakistani communists Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of the University of London University of Lucknow alumni Indian Communist writers Communist Party of India politicians from Uttar Pradesh Communist Party of Pakistan politicians People extradited to India 20th-century poets Writers from Lucknow Novelists from Uttar Pradesh Poets from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian essayists Progressive Writers' Movement Pakistani emigrants to India