Noted Urdu poet Shamsur Rehman Faruqi laid to rest
PRAYAGRAJ: Eminent poet, critic and writer Padma Shri Shamsur Rehman Faruqi passed away at his Nyay Marg home in Sangam city on Friday morning. He was 85. He was buried next to his late wife Jamila at the Newada graveyard in Ashok Nagar amid presence of family members and friends besides a number of noted literary figures in the evening, said his nephew and writer Mahmood Farooqui.
“He had tested Covid-19 positive but was discharged on Nov ember 23. However, he developed complications and fungal infection, mycosis, which further worsened his condition. He arrived in Prayagraj in an air ambulance on Friday morning and died shortly afterwards around 11.20,” the nephew said.
Considered one of the finest
Urdu critic, poet, writer and theorist, Faruqi’s 70-odd works ranged from literary history and criticism to poetry and fiction. He was also considered an authority on llm-e bayan (the science of poetic discourse) and classical poetry. Besides, he was also a noted lexicographer (a person who compiles dictionaries). Noted writers and poets including like Prof Rajendra Kumar, Prof FA Fatmi, Ashraf Ali Beg, Asrar Gandhi and Prof Satosh Bhadauria dubbed the passing away of Faruqi as a great loss for the world of literature.
Faruqi’s book ‘Kai Chaand The Sar-e-Asmaan’, written in 2006, has been hailed as a masterpiece of Urdu fiction. An English version of this book ‘Mirror of Beauty’ was published in 2013. He has also translated his stories into English which are included in a book titled ‘The Sun That Rose from the Earth’ in 2014. He has also been credited with spearheading the revival of the Dastangoi -- an Urdu oral storytelling art form.
He was awarded the Saraswati Samman in 1996 for his work ‘Sher-e Shor-Angez’, a study of the major eighteenthcentury poet Meer Taqi Meer published in four volumes.
He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2009. Born on September 30, 1935 in Pratapgarh, Faruqi completed his MA (English) from AU in 1955 and began writing in 1960. He worked for the Indian Postal Service and was also the editor of his literary magazine Shabkhoon. Some of his well-known works include Early Urdu Literary Culture and History (2001), The Flower-Lit Road: Essays in Urdu Literary Theory and Criticism (2005), Urdu Ka Arambhik Yug (2007) and The Mirror of Beauty (2013).