The Urdu Academy of North America dedicated its August 18, 2024 program to the life and work of prominent comic poet DilawarFigar.
The event was held at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark CA.
AbdusSattarGhazali was emcee of the event. He presented a well researchedmaqala on the life and work of this great poet.
As usual a number of Urdu lovers presented poetry of DilawarFigar: AnjumZishan, Zafar A Zaidi, TalatQadeer, MahmoodulHasan, ZafarYusefzai and Mobeen Khalil.
RanaRahbar, RiazNiazi and SuraiyaJabeen presented DilawarFirgar's poetry on Zoom.
Dilawar Figar was born as Dilawar Hussain on July 8, 1929 in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, India. He received his early education in his hometown, and later joined Agra University where he received his M.A. degree in (Urdu). He also did his M.A. in (English) and M.A. in (Economics). He began his career as a teacher.
Dilawar Figar migrated to Pakistan from India in 1968 and settled in Karachi. He joined Abdullah Haroon College as a teacher, where the renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz was the principal at that time. Figar taught Urdu literature there.
Dilawar Figar died on January 25, 1998 in Karachi at age 68.
Government of Pakistan awarded Dilawar Figar Pride of Performance presidential award posthumously.
Figar started writing in 1942 at the age of fourteen and soon got help of fellow writers, Maulvi Jam NawaiBadayuni, Maulana Jami Badayuni.
His literary work contain Ghazals, humorous poems, and their translation in English.
Following in the footsteps of Akber Allahabadi, poets such as
Like Syed Muhammad Jafri and Zameer Jafri, Dilawar Figar follows the footsteps of Akber Allahabadi.
Dilawar Figar belonged to a generation of poets and times that valued the technicalities of poetry, that is, prosody, diction, cadence, rhetoric and the figurative use of the language.
He perfected his art in an environment that did not spare anyone who lacked these qualities. This sharpened his saw and with a natural gift for poetry and humor, he outshone many of his contemporaries.
His topics were current and his targets well-known: everyday problems of city life shared by all and sundry. Common misery is a thread that binds everyone together.
His powem, Mein Apna Vote KisKoDoon?- became very popular during the 1970 General Elections in Pakistan.
Here is the list of his poetry and prose collection (from Wikipedia):
Haadisay (collections of Ghazals); SitamZarifiañ (collections of humor poetry); Shamat-e-Aamaal (collections of humor poetry); AadaabArz (collections of humor poetry);Assar-e-Nau (collections of humor); Unglian Figar Apni (collections of humor poetry); Matla Arz Hai (collections of humor poetry); Century (collections of humor poetry); KhudaJhoot Na Bulwa'ay (collections of humor poetry); Chiragh-e-Khandañ (collections of humor poetry); Aaina-e-Raghib (125 rubaiyat of Raghib Muradabadi); KhushbuKa Safar (translation of selected English and American poetry); Khoob Tar Kahan (translation of 'Why Not the Best' – biography of President Jimmy Carter Aabshar-e-Noor (poetic explanation of SuraFatiha); Sila-e-Shaheed Kia Hai ? (poetic biography of recipients of Nishan-e-Haider martyrs); Fi SabeelLillah and KahaSunaMaafKarna (collections of humor poetry).
At the end of the Urdu Academy program on Dilawar Figar, Abdus Sattar Ghazali thanked Chandi's owner Syed Sarwat for patronizing Urdu by hosting the Urdu Academy’s events.
Urdu Academy of North America pays tribute to Dilawar Figar