ALKHOBAR, 19 December 2003 — Awaz-e-Rafta (voice of the past) is a collection of poetry written by Irshad Ahmad Khan, a virtually unknown Indian poet. The book is unique in its circumstance. In 1952, Irshad died in Delhi at the young age of 29 or 30. He was survived by three children. A fourth son was born few months later. The bereaved family migrated to Pakistan. In August 2003, 51 years after the poet’s death, his sons, Vice Adm. Irfan Ahmed and Rizwan Ahmed, an engineer, living in Alkhobar, launched Awaz-e-Rafta in Karachi, as a gesture of love and respect to their deceased father.
“Growing up we heard our father wrote poetry, but no one had even one verse of his, not even our mother. In 1979, I went to Delhi and saw where my father lived near Nizamuddin,” Rizwan told Arab News.
Rizwan was able to get some names and addresses of his father’s friends in Delhi. He then wrote to everyone and started the painstaking work of collecting his father’s poetical work. He was able to gather just a small portion and Awaz-e-Rafta was born.
Commenting on Irshad’s poetry, Jamiluddin Aali, a renowned poet of Pakistan, said, “I was really surprised by the depth of his thoughts. His is not quantity, but quality. I believe that some of his verses will leave their mark on Urdu literature, especially the verse, ‘Zindagi keya hai, maut keya shai hai? Aik jadah hai, aik manzil hai’ (What is life and what is death? One is pathway and one is destination).”
Pirzada Qasim, vice chancellor of Urdu University in Karachi, said Awaz-e-Rafta was a mirror of our culture and tradition. “In those times poetry was considered a priority in cultured and educated families. And it’s the utmost expression of love for the sons to print their father’s work, 51 years after his death.”
Heymayat Ali Shair, another renowned Pakistan poet, said Irshad’s tone, and language spoke volumes of his ability and sensitivity.
What did son, Rizwan who was born few months after his father’s death, learn about him from the poetry?
“I had always heard my father was a deeply religious man and that he was simple and strict. I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised to find that my father was also very human, soft and sensitive. He wrote about God and religion, but he also wrote about love and friendship.”
