Muhammad Husain Azad
1830–1910
Biography
Muhammad Husain Azad (1830–1910) was an Urdu writer, poet and scholar, remembered above all for his prose. He was born in Delhi in 1830 into a family of Persian origin. His father, Maulvi Muhammad Baqir, launched the Delhi Urdu Akhbar in 1837. He was taught at home and also learned poetry in the circle of the poet Zauq before entering Delhi College.
The upheaval of 1857 changed his life. His father, who had supported the rebels through his newspaper, was shot by the British, and Azad went into hiding before later settling in Lahore. There he taught Arabic and Persian at the government college and then at the Oriental College, and he took part in the literary gatherings of the Anjuman-e-Punjab, where poets were set themes to write on. Together with Altaf Hussain Hali he pushed Urdu poetry toward plainer, more natural expression. In 1887 he received the title Shams-ul-Ulama.
His best-known book is آب حیات (Aab-e-Hayat, 1880), a history of Urdu poetry that gives the lives and verse of the poets of the language's past in order. Another is سیر ایران (Sair-e-Iran), a book on Iran whose title means a tour of Iran. Azad died in Lahore on 22 January 1910. Both books are on this site, and Aab-e-Hayat in particular has shaped how generations of readers have judged the poets of Urdu's classical age.
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Books
آب حیات
by محمد حسین آزاد
Muhammad Husain Azad traces Urdu poetry through successive generations, pairing accounts of the language's development with portraits of its poets. His five-period history runs from early figures such as Wali to the Delhi and Lucknow poets of the nineteenth century. This book…
Summary written by gpt-6-sol.سیر ایران
by محمد حسین آزاد
After returning from Iran, Muhammad Husain Azad described his journey in a lecture delivered in Lahore. This short work preserves his observations in a preface and the lecture itself.
Summary written by gpt-6-sol.