Abid Ali Abid

For other people named Abid Ali, see Abid Ali (disambiguation).

Syed Abid Ali Abid (Urdu: سید عابد علی عابد) was an Urdu and Persian poet and educator who was born on 17 September 1906 in Dera Ismail Khan, British India and died in Lahore, Pakistan on 20 January 1971.

Life

He was well known for his literary criticism and had hundreds of students, many of them now themselves poets and writers. He wrote many books on literary criticism in Urdu and Persian. He also initiated and edited several literary journals, one of which is Sahifa-Lahore. He also was one of the initial drama writers and feature writers at the newly established Radio Pakistan Lahore in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was one of the story and dialogue writers of the first sound film (talking film) of the Punjab Heer Ranjha (1931). He survived three heart attacks but succumbed to the fourth in 1971.

Family

Son of Syed Ghulam Abbas, he was the eldest brother of eight siblings. His sisters Syeda, Zahra, Mehmooda and Shamim, his brothers Mehmood, and Jawad lived with him in India before they migrated to West Pakistan. Later, one of his daughters Shabnam Shakeel followed the footsteps of her father, and became a poet based in Islamabad. His only son Syed Menoo Chehr served as Secretary to Government of the Punjab in various departments as well as Chief settlement Commissioner, Punjab and was retired as Member Board of Revenue, Punjab and is also the author of two biographical treaties titled Mere Shab-o-Roz and karwan-e-Guzran and a novel Azmaish Dil-o-Nazar ki.

Selected work

• Story writing of films like the first Punjabi talkie, Heer Ranjha (1931)
• Writer of more than 200 dramas at Radio Pakistan Lahore from 1948 to 1960
• Editor Sahifa-Lahore, a quarterly literary journal, 1957 to 1971
• Translated Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy into Urdu

Books and poetry

For a detailed list see

• Talismaat (The Magic), Urdu fiction, Hashmi Book Depot Lahore, Pakistan
• Shahbaz Khan, Urdu fiction, ISBN 969-35-0721-5, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Pakistan
• Main Kabhi Ghazal na Kahta, Urdu poetry, ISBN 969-35-0181-0, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Pakistan
• Usool-E-Intequade-Adabiyat (Rules of Literary Criticism)
• Shar-i-Iqbal, (A criticism of Iqbal's Poetry), ISBN 969-35-1436-X / 969351436X, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Pakistan
• Political Theory of the Shi'ties, Part of the history of Muslim philosophy.
• Asloob, an Urdu book on literary criticism
• Albayan, an Urdu book on literary criticism
• Al Badeeh (Mohsinaat e Shairi Ka Intaqadi Jaiza): (Criticism of the Characteristics of Urdu poetry)

External links

• A link to Abid's poetry
• Urdu Poetry Selection