Josh Malihabadi

Shabbir Hasan Khan (December 5, 1898 – February 22, 1982) was a noted poet of India and Pakistan who wrote Urdu ghazals and nazms under takhallus (Urdu for nom de plume) "Josh Malihabadi" ("Josh", an Urdu word which means "Passion"/"Intensity").

He was born at Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He did his senior Cambridge from St. Peter's College, Agra in 1914. In 1918, he spent about six months at Shantiniketan. He studied Arabic and Persian. But the death of his father Bashir Ahmed Khan in 1916 prevented Josh from obtaining college education.

In 1925, Josh started work at the Osmania University, supervising translation work. He was exiled from the state of Hyderabad (although Hyderabad is now a city in Andhra Pradesh, during his time, it used to be a state) for writing a nazm against the Nizam of Hyderabad (the princely ruler). He then started the newsletter/magazine called 'Kaleem' in which he openly wrote articles in favour of independence and against the British Raj in India. Soon, he was being called "Shaayar-e-Inquilaab" (Poet of the revolution). He also got actively involved in the freedom struggle (primarily in intellectual capacity) and became close to quite a few of the political leaders of that era, specially Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of Independent India).

After the end of British Raj in India (1947), Josh became the editor of the publication Aaj-Kal (today and tomorrow).

His poetry and publications

Josh is reputed to have had a masterful command over Urdu language and was quite strict about respecting the grammar and rules of the language. The first collection of his poetry was published in 1921. The collection of his poetries include Shola-o-Shabnam, Junoon-o-Hikmat, Fikr-o-Nishaat, Sunbal-o-Salaasal, Harf-o-Hikaayat, Sarod-o-Kharosh (all Urdu titles). On the advice of film director W.Z.Ahmed, he also wrote songs for Shalimar Pictures. During this time, he was staying in Pune.

His autobiography is titled Yaadon ki Baarat.

Here's a brief list of his contribution to Urdu literature.آوازہ حقروح ادبشاعر کی راتیںجوش ک�' سو شعر

 نقش و نگار

شعلہ و شبنمپیغمبر اسلامفکر و نشاطجنوں و حکمتحرف و حکایتحسین اور انقلابآیات و نغماتعرش و فرش، رامش و رنگسنبل و سلاسلسیف و سبو

   سرور و خروش
  سموم و سبا
  طلوع فکر

موجد و مفکر

 قطرہ قلزم
 نوادر جوش

الہام و افکارنجوم و جواہرجوش ک�' مرثی�'عروس ادب (حصہ اول و دوم)عرفانیات جوشمحراب و مضرابدیوان جوش

Prose work

مقالات جوشاوراق زریں

    جذبات فطرت
 اشارات

مقالات جوشمکالمات جوشیادوں کی بارات (خود نوشت سوانح

Awards

He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan.

Migration to and last years in Pakistan

Josh migrated to Pakistan in 1956 - despite Jawahar Lal Nehru's insistence against it - over what is generally believed to be his concern regarding the future of Urdu language in India, where he thought the Hindu majority would encourage the use of Hindi rather than Urdu. Josh lived in Pakistan till he died on 22 February, 1982 in Islamabad. It is reported that he was not entirely well-received in Pakistan where his iconoclastic ideas and socialistic leanings and views were not in tandem with the political and the social set up of the country.