March 22, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 18, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 21: Alys Faiz, the great woman behind the great poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, was remembered at a meeting organized by the Islamabad Cultural Forum at the Trust for Voluntary Organizations (TVO) auditorium here on Friday evening.

“While Faiz created poems of ineffable beauty, Alys lived poems all the time,” said eminent educationist Prof Khawaja Masud, who knew the famous couple very closely, quoting from writer Walter Lowenfels, “for anyone to create poems anytime, some one has to live poems all the time”.

Bringing out the distinctive qualities of the two personalities, Prof Masud thought that Alys represented the pragmatic humanism that runs through Locke, Shaw, Wells and Russell; while Faiz epitomized the sublime humanism of the great mystics: Mansoor, Madhu Lal Husain, Shah Abdul Latif, Rehman Baba and Sarmad.

He quoted from one of the letters of Faiz to his wife, and said it summed up the difference in their approach to erring humanity. Faiz said: “Your philosophy of toughness has amused me. I know this is the way the world goes. My philosophy of not casting the first stone can produce only poetry.”

Prof Masud said, in their letters to each other, they may differ in their interpretation of humanism, but in life both stand vindicated. In her letters to Faiz, Alys emerges as an extraordinary woman of great courage and fortitude. She had an identity of her own, which neither Faiz would have liked to be submerged in his own, nor could she ever tolerate it to be tempered with.

He also read out a poem for Faiz written by Alys: I will sing of you later, When the thread of a thousand feet the unending roll of sorrow the breath of roses enfolding the eulogies, the warranted praise the drawn-out memories of others the grief of recalling, the total acceptance of death are over. Then will I sing, not to the tread of a thousand feet, nor to the roll of sorrow Nor will I lift the roses nor echo praise nor recall, nor accept My song neither begins nor ends It is eternity.

Poet Ahmad Faraz spoke of his awe and reverence for the great poet since his student days, and how he came into contact with the great poet which also lead to his great respect for Alys Faiz. He recalled that while being editor of a literary journal in Peshawar, he visited the residence of the poet in Lahore to request for a poem from him for publication in his journal. “As Faiz Sahab went to the other room and brought out his poem, Faraz and the publisher presented him with Rs20, his wife came along and angrily said: ‘How come you can accept this amount so casually.”

Faraz said, he thought that perhaps the wife was angry because the amount was too small for such a big name, but Faiz Sahab went inside, and on the advice of his wife wrote a formal receipt to formalize even this small transaction.

Talking of his exile days in London, he said that Faiz also came from Beirut and settled there. He said Alys Faiz would often telephone him and ask Faraz to take care of the poet. He said that when she came to London he once remarked to her jokingly that she was a great disciplinarian as far as her husband was concerned. Although she did not answer then, but one day asked him if he was serious in his comment. She said that she did so because she had to look after him, and care for his health.

Faraz said that this combination of a care-free poet and a disciplined wife seemed to be working very well. She was a friend, a companion who bore the brunt of his days in jail, and contributed a great deal in the upbringing of the children.

Referring to Khwaja Masud’s remark that Faraz was a great poet after Faiz, Faraz modestly quoted an Arabic proverb that the death of great has also made us great.

Ashfaq Saleem Mirza read out from various extracts of letters of Faiz written to Alys. He also read out an article “Women know a lot of things”, written by her.

A number of participants, including Dr Zarina Salamat, Munir Raja, Shahzad and Ishaque Chaudhry also spoke on various facets of her personality, some of them remembering her as the “Aapa Jan”, the pen name under which she edited the children’s page of Pakistan Times.

The meeting also observed one minute of silence for the loss of innocent lives in the present US invasion in Iraq.—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad