Qudrat Ullah Shahab

Qudrat Ullah Shahab (or Qudratullah Shahab; 1917– July 24, 1986) was an eminent Urdu writer and civil servant from Pakistan. He is best known for his autobiography Shahabnama.

He was born in Gilgit in 1917, where his father Abdullah Sahib was Governor during Dogra rule. He started writing in his early days both in Urdu and English languages. At aged 16, he won an international essay competition organized by the Readers Digest, London. He graduated from Prince of Whales College, Jammu, and later from Government College Lahore.

He was selected for Indian Civil Service in 1940 and later volunteered to serve in Bengal during the famine of 1943 where he served as magistrate at Nandigram. He came under heavy fire from the authorities when he distributed part of the strategic rice reserves to starving local community.

Great People Intellectuals,Writers, Poets,Saints, Scholars: Historical Pictures

Histotical pictures

Historical Pictures

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar (Urdu: جاوید اختر; (born January 17, 1945) is an Urdu and Hindi (Hindustani) poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be prominent in Bollywood and is a sought-after lyricist.

Akhtar was born in Gwalior State (now Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh) to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and Singer Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer. His lineage can be traced back to seven generations of writers. The highly respected Urdu poet Majaz was his maternal uncle and the works of his grandfather, Muzter Khairabadi, are looked upon as a milestone in Urdu poetry. By him, he is also connected to Maulana Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, the philosopher, poet, religious scholar who was one of the main figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and who edited the first works of Ghalib. Akhtar has one sibling; his younger brother is renowned psychoanalyst Salman Akhtar.

After his birth, his parents moved to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and later to Aligarh. Young Javed Akhtar lost his mother at a tender age and his father frequently moved back and forth between Lucknow and Bombay, so he and his brother spent most of their time with relatives.
At the age of eight, he was admitted to the sixth class in a well-known school of Lucknow, the Colvin Taluqdars' College. From Lucknow he moved to Aligarh to live with his maternal aunt.

He took admission in a well known school of Aligarh, the Minto Circle. The school is part of famous Aligarh Muslim University. He completed his matriculation from Aligarh Muslim University. After completing his matriculation, Akhtar entered and began attending Saifiya College in Bhopal where he earned a B.A.. He was a keen debater in college and won the Rotary Club Prize frequently.
Akhtar was married to Honey Irani, a script-writer for Hindi films, with whom he had two children Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, both film directors.

After Javed's divorce with Irani, he married actress Shabana Azmi, the daughter of another famous Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi.
In a speech given on February 26, 2005, entitled "Spirituality, Halo or Hoax", Akhtar revealed that he is an atheist. He stated that he does not have any religious beliefs, and denied belief in spirituality of any kind.

Javed Akhtar was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. Javed Akhtar has won the prestigious Filmfare Award fourteen times, seven times for Best Script, and seven times for Best Lyrics.

In the year 2001 Javed received 'National Integration Award' from 'All India Anti-Terrorist Association' and 'Avadh Ratan' from U.P. Government. He also won 'Hakim Khan Sur Sammaan Award 2003' from Maharana Mewar Foundation, Udaipur.

Agha, Wazir

Agha, Wazir (1922-) Writer. Hailing from Sargodha, Wazir Agha is a poet, critic and journalist, writing in Urdu. He graduated from Government College, Lahore, with a degree in economics, and holds a Doctorate in Literature from Punjab University. Wazir Agha started writing poetry in his student days, when he came under the influence of the creative ideas of the founders of modern poetry in Pakistan: Miraji, Muhammad Din Taseer and Noon Meem Rashid.

Wazir Agha uses European styles and forms in his work, such as ballads, sonnets and vers fibre. He also experiments with rhymes and metres. From 1960 to 1963, he edited the left-wing literary journal Adabi Duniya (The World of Literature). He lives in Lahore and Sargodha, where he owns a publishing house.

Since 1966, he has edited the magazine Auraq (pages). An accomplished literary scholar, he promotes new ideas and techniques in writing, while respecting classical literary traditions. His critical treatises are well known, not only in Pakistan and India, but also in Western academic circles. His work won him several prestigious literary prizes.

Obaidullah Aleem

Obaidullah Aleem was a modern Qadyani/Mirzayi/Ahmadi poet of Urdu language. He was born in 1939 in Bhopal – India. His father lived in Sialkot and was from the Butt family. He passed in MA Urdu from Karachi University. He began work as a radio producer, and then as producer for Karachi Television in 1967. He married in 1970. In 1974 his first book of poetry Chand chehra sitara ankhhen was published. In 1978, he was forced to resign from his job following an edict issued against him. His second collection of poetry Viran saray ka diya was published in 1986. He came to England in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996 and in 1997. In March of this year he suffered a severe heart attack in Chanab Nagar and was treated in Fazl – E – Omer Hospital for a few days. He returned to his residence at Nazimabad no 4. In Karachi. In comparatively good health. Aleem died from heart failure, following a second heart attack.

Iftikhar Hussain Arif

Iftikhar Hussain Arif, PP, SI, HI (Urdu: افتخار حسین عارف) commonly known as Iftikhar Arif (افتخار عارف) (b. March 21, 1943 Lucknow) is an Urdu poet, scholar and littérateur from Pakistan. His style is romantic Urdu poetry. He has headed Academy Adbiyat, the Pakistan Academy of Letters and currently, he is the Chairman of Muqtadra Quami Zaban, the National Language Authority. He has been decorated with Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Presidential Pride of Performance, highest literary awards by Government of Pakistan.
Iftikhar Arif was born in Lucknow in 1943 and lived there till his migration to Pakistan in 1965. During this period he received his education at the Lucknow University where one of his teachers was Ehtisham Husain. He also studied at the Madressa-i-Nizamia, Farangi Mahal, and Government Jubilee College, Lucknow. He obtained a M.A. from the Lucknow university.

Fehmida Riaz (Urdu poet)

Ameer khusro

Zohra Nigah

Zohra Nigah (also spelled as Zehra Nigah), is one of the foremost female Urdu poets from Pakistan. She has been awarded various awards at home and abroad in recognition of her works. She is the sister of Fatima Suraiya Bajia, Anwar Maqsood and Zubaida Tariq (cooking expert).

Zehra Nigah is a prominent poet, one of the first two women poets to have achieved prominence in the 1950s in a predominantly male realm at that time. Besides her writing, she also became known for her spellbinding rendition in mushairas. She has published two books of verse titled Shaam ka Pehla Tara and Waraq. She has also been awarded the Pride of Performance for her contribution to literature.

Zehra Nigah writes both the ghazal and the nazm with the same involvement. The spontaneous use of everyday phrases and the colloquial idiom complement her direct and narrative style of writing, giving it a popular appeal that becomes even more pronounced in oral rendition. She has dealt with personal, social and gender themes very effectively in this manner

Prof. Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui

Prof. Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui (Urdu: پیرزادہ قاسم رضا صدیقی) (b. 1943) is a noted scholar, Urdu poet and intellectual of Pakistan serving as Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi.

Pirzada born on February 8, 1943 in a learned family of Delhi, British India. He did his intermediate from D J Science College and B.Sc (H) from University of Karachi. He earned his PhD from Newcastle University, England. He has been associated with Karachi University's Department of Physiology since 1960. He also served for Federal Urdu University as Vice Chancellor. At present, he is the vice chancellor of Karachi University. Two collections of Pirzada's poetry have brought out so far.

Sufi Tabasam

Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum (1899-1978) was a noted 20th century poet in three languages: Urdu, Punjabi, and Persian. Tabassum (or Tabussum) was the pen name by which he was universally known.

Sufi Tabassum was born in Amritsar, India, to parents of Kashmiri ancestry. He earned a Master's degree in Persian from Forman Christian College (FCC) in Lahore. He remained with Government College Lahore for his entire career, rising to head the Department of Persian Studies.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal

One of the greatest Urdu poets in the contemporary world, Allama Muhammad Iqbal is famous for his poetry in Urdu and Persian. He is also given much credit for his works on political and religious philosophy in Islam. The life history of Allama Muhammad Iqbal is very interesting and this section titled as Allama Muhammad Iqbal biography shall give you further information about his life. He is also credited with coming up with the idea of creation of Pakistan. He is usually referred to as Allama Iqbal; Allama means a scholar.

Allama Iqbal studied law in England and Germany . His primary focus was on the creation of works on politics, religion, economics, philosophy and history. He also composed a number of poems and is well-known for his poetic works like Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Asrar-e-Khudi and Bang-i-Dara among others. He is held in high honor in Afghanistan and Iran and he is fondly called as Iqbal-e-Lahori, which means Iqbal of Lahore.

A very strong supporter of the revival of Islam around the world, he advocated for the cause that the spiritual and political resurgence of Islam was very essential. He delivered a famous set of lectures in India that was compiled and published as Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Iqbal worked in close collaboration with Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He is honored as the national poet of Pakistan and his birth anniversary (November 9th) is a holiday in Pakistan.

Most of his poetic works are in Persian than Urdu. His works mainly revolved around the betterment of mankind and the present society. He took inspiration from real life incidents while he stayed in Europe and Middle East. He wanted to tell the West that their materialistic outlook will not last long and that they should take inspiration from the East and gain knowledge from spirituality to seek real happiness. He was greatly inspired by famous Western thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Goethe, and Henri Bergson. This great poet breathed his last on April 21st 1938.