On Friday, Indian poet Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, 85, breathed his last at his own house in Allahabad. He died because of complication from coronavirus.
Faruqi was one of the most renowned Urdu writer and poet. He received many awards including Saraswati Samman for ‘Sher-e-Shor –Angez’. Moreover, he found a magazine in 1966 called ‘Shabkhoon’ and edited it for forty years. This magazine gave a chance to progressive writers to express their thoughts freely.
Anis Azmi who worked for Urdu Academy in Delhi said, “The tallest figure in the world of Urdu, his death leaves a void that cannot be filled”.
“Faruqi sahab put Urdu language, literature and criticism on the world map. He ushered in the trend of modernism in Urdu and gave wings to generations of writers and poets under it,” stated Ahmad Mahfooz.
Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali stated “He was a man full of imagination and gentle wry humour. He had a keen sense of history and was very appreciative of other people’s work and that is what made him a great writer… Faruqi sahab has left a indelible mark of refinement through his indepth knowledge that the world is trying to discover for itself”.
Designer and producer at Dastangoi collective, Anusha Rizvi said “His path-breaking scholarship provided the seed for Dastangoi and his supervision and mentoring saw it into fruition as a revitalised performance form. He was not just a mentor but the greatest resource person for all things we do with language, literature, history, poetry and Indo-Persian history. In his passing, we have lost not just our guru but also a beloved father figure”.
