Adil Najam
[UPDATE: Sadly, Ahmed Faraz died in Islamabad ]on August 25, 2008. Details here.]
Despite an erroneous news earlier that renowned poet Ahmed Faraz had died in a Chicago hospital, the news right now is that Ahmed Faraz is still alive, but not at all well, struggling for his life in a Chicago hospital.
Here is the latest from The News:
CHICAGO: Renowned poet Ahmed Faraz is alive and still under medical treatment at a local hospital here, said his physician Tahir Rohail, brushing aside the earlier report of his death aired by state TV. He said Ahmed Faraz is seriously ill at a hospital in Chicago where necessary medical treatment is being provided to him.
Others are still reporting his death, seemingly based on a TV channel news item. It seems – we hope – that the TV channel jumped the gun on this and Faraz Sahib is still alive.
We have, of course, written multiple times on the legendary poet – including here, here and most recently here. I shake as I type this and I pray that we will NOT be writing about his demise anytime soon. For me Faraz has always been a fighter, and we are rooting for him in this fight too. Here is some of Fawaz the fighter:
We certainly pray that he is and that he will remain alive and kicking for a long time. But (earlier) reports, from people close to him, seem to suggest that his condition is very critical and it has been and remains a touch and go situation. He needs our prayers.
Adil Bhai,
I hope you can update us all as we are all praying for Faraz saab. OP has taken cue from you to ask for prayers too here:
http://blog.otherpakistan.org/
Let us all pray for this son of the soil wherever we are.
Feimanallah Faraz Saab
Wasim
Here is the link to my interview with the legendary poet in 2001. Thanks. Siraj Wahab, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
http://notesfromsaudiarabia.blogspot.com/2007/02/i nterview-with-ahmed-faraz-2001.html
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Interview With Ahmed Faraz (2001)
Note: Ahmed Faraz, the legendary Urdu poet, is a romantic genius. No two opinions about that. This is perhaps one of my best interviews to date. Maybe because I have a passion for Urdu poetry, especially romantic poetry. This was first published in the Jeddah-based Arab News in 2001. Ahmed Faraz was visiting Jeddah that year for an unforgettable mushaira organized by a good Pakistani friend of mine, Sher Bahadur Khan of PASCO (Pakistan Social and Cultural Organization). I also covered that mushaira for my newspaper. At the end of this interview, I am reproducing the mushaira report as well to give you an idea about its historicity.
Hope and pray for Faraz Sahab’s health. Earlier I heard about his knee injury and never thought that his health is so critical. God bless him.
Thank you ATP for correcting this news. So glad that he is alive but praying for him to recover and come back to his old fighting self. Ameen.
I pray to allah for the speedy recovery of the great international poet AHMAD FARAZ.