Hum Dekhenge

Hum Dekhenge (Urdu: ہم دیکھیں گے - In english We shall see) is a popular Urdu nazm, written by the Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.[1] Originally written as Va Yabqá Vajhu Rabbika (And the countenance of your Lord will outlast all),[2] it was included in the seventh poetry book of Faiz -- Mere Dil Mere Musafir.

Hum Dekhenge
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Original titleویبقی و جہ ر بک
Written1979
First published in1981
LanguageUrdu
Lines21

Background

The nazm was composed as a medium of protest against Zia Ul Haq's oppressive regime.[3] It gained a rapid cult-following as a leftist[4][5] song of resistance and defiance,[6] after a public rendition by Iqbal Bano at Alhamra Arts Council[7][8] on 13 February 1986,[9] ignoring the ban on Faiz's poetry.[10] [11][12][13][14][15][16]

Themes

Faiz employs the metaphor of traditional Islamic imagery to subvert and challenge Zia's fundamentalist interpretation of them; Qayamat, the Day of Reckoning is transformed into the Day of Revolution, wherein Zia's military government will be ousted by the people and democracy will be re-installed.[15][17]

Media

The song was recreated in Coke Studio Season 11 on 22 July 2018, under the aegis of Zohaib Kazi and Ali Hamza.[18][upper-alpha 1] In the movie The Kashmir Files (2022), it was depicted as being sung by students of a left-leaning Indian university to as a song of protest [20]

Protests

The poem gained importance in protests against Pervez Musharraf in the early 2000s.[21][22]

During the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in India,[23] faculty members of IIT Kanpur took issue with Hum Dekhenge being sung by protesting students in the campus, and alleged it to be "anti-Hindu".[24][upper-alpha 2] The IIT instituted a commission to look into the issue.[25] The student media body rejected the charges as being misinformed and communal, which divorced the poem from its societal context.[26][27]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. The Coke Studio rendition however removed some lines, which were arguably the most controversial part of the poem.[19]
  2. The line "sab but uṭhvāe jāenge" and "bas nām rahegā allāh kā" respectively translates to "when all the idols will be removed" and "only Allah will remain", from a very-literal reading. It was thus perceived to challenge idolatry and polytheism, which many Hindus adhere to.

References
  1. Vincent, Pheroze L. (2 January 2012). "Faiz poetry strikes chord in Delhi". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  2. Kantor, Roanne (2 July 2016). "'My Heart, My Fellow Traveller': Fantasy, Futurity and the Itineraries of Faiz Ahmed Faiz". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 39 (3): 608–625. doi:10.1080/00856401.2016.1189034. ISSN 0085-6401. S2CID 148081857.
  3. Ali, Tariq (2000). On the Abyss: Pakistan After the Coup. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 198. ISBN 978-81-7223-389-1.
  4. Hanif, Mohammed (19 December 2019). "Opinion | The Dictator and His Death Sentence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  5. Dutt, Bishnupriya (3 July 2015). "Performing Resistance with Maya Rao: Trauma and Protest in India". Contemporary Theatre Review. 25 (3): 372. doi:10.1080/10486801.2015.1049823. ISSN 1048-6801. S2CID 192583044.
  6. Korpe, Marie; Reitov, Ole (September 2010). "Banned: a Rough Guide". Index on Censorship. 39 (3): 36. doi:10.1177/0306422010381043. ISSN 0306-4220. S2CID 145443811.
  7. "Husn-e-Ghazal". The Hindu. 12 March 2005. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. Iqbal Bano ghazal personified Dawn (newspaper), published 22 April 2009, Retrieved 21 June 2018
  9. Hashmi, Ali Madeeh (4 September 2019). "When Iqbal Bano Defied Zia's Dictatorship To Sing 'Hum Dekheinge' At Alhamra". Medium.com. Naya Daur Media. Medium.com. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  10. Bamzai, Kaveree (2 January 2020). "Modi's India unhappy with protesters singing Faiz's Hum Dekhenge. Zia's Pakistan was too". ThePrint. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. "Iqbal Bano - Renowned Pakistani singer of Urdu ghazals". The Guardian (UK). 10 May 2009., Retrieved 21 June 2018
  12. Khan, M Ilyas (22 April 2009). "Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano dies". BBC News.
  13. Pirzadeh, Saba; Pirzada, Tehmina (4 May 2019). "Pakistani popular music: A call to reform in the public sphere". South Asian Popular Culture. 17 (2): 197. doi:10.1080/14746689.2018.1512702. ISSN 1474-6689. S2CID 149998949.
  14. Chakravarti, Uma (2008). "Archiving the nation-state in feminist praxis: a South Asian perspective". Centre for Women's Development Studies. hdl:2451/34235.
  15. Raza, Gauhar (January 2011). "Listening to Faiz is a subversive act". Himal Southasian. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  16. Media, Naya Daur (4 September 2019). "When Iqbal Bano Defied Zia's Dictatorship To Sing 'Hum Dekheinge' At Alhamra". Medium. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  17. "The story of Faiz's Hum Dekhenge — from Pakistan to India, over 40 years". The Indian Express. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  18. Maheen Sabeeh (24 July 2018). "Coke Studio 11 announces itself with 'Hum Dekhenge'". The News International. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  19. Kaur, Harnidh (26 July 2018). "What Coke Studio did to Faiz's song, Pakistan is doing to its people". ThePrint. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  20. Kumkum Chadha, The Kashmir Files: Pedalling a half truth, Tehelka, 1 April 2022.
  21. Naqvi, Jawed (15 December 2008). "If mullahs usurp anti-imperialism should the secular fight be given up?". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  22. "DAWN - Features; November 22, 2007". DAWN.COM. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  23. "How these poems have defined anti-CAA protests". The Week. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  24. "Who's afraid of a song?". The Indian Express. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  25. Service, Tribune News. "IIT Kanpur panel to decide if Faiz poem is anti-Hindu". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  26. "IIT Kanpur students respond to professor who accused them of chanting anti-India slogans".
  27. "Don't communalise the peaceful gathering at IIT Kanpur". Vox Populi. 21 December 2019. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019.
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