Shaikh Ayaz

Shaikh Ayaz is, of course, a versatile literary figure of the country. It is better to know him through the critics’ writings on him.

J. M. Mirglani in his book Immortal Poetry of Shaikh Ayaz, writes: Shaikh Ayaz is a darling poet of Sindh. Common people dance to the tunes of his musical poetry. Intellectual discuss his poetry in their meetings and wonder at the vast canvas of his poetry encompassing not only Sindh and Hind, but the entire world. His poetry is considered an accident, because it is quite different from and far superior not only to compositions of his contemporary poets but all other Sindhi poets of the past except the great Shah (Abdul Latif) who is acknowledged as the greatest ever Sindhi poet. Some scholars consider him as the continuum of Shah. Yet others consider him as extension of Tagore and Kalidas also.

Asif Farrukhi and Shah Muhammad Pirzada, in their book The Storm’s Call for Prayers say, Shaikh Ayaz is one of the major voices in twentieth century. His literary career spanned almost six decades and displayed an amazing variety of poetry and prose, ranging from the traditional bait, wa’i, and ghazal, two plays in verse, prose poems, and even musings, and extending to fiction, memoirs and journals, polemical and literary essays, newspaper articles and editorials. To each genre he brought his unique vision and transforming power of language.

Shaikh Ayaz is displayed in his poetry as a poet of the earth and the people, steeped in the folklore and traditions of the soil that nourished his imagination, and at the same time a thoroughly modern and consummate craftsman whose work is delicate as the butterfly’s wing and powerful as the lion’s roar. These translations, rich and varied, are drawn from the poet’s life-work recreating in the English language `the voice of Sindh`-as such he is to Sindh what Garcia Lorca is to Spain, Pablo Neruda to Latin America, Yannis Ritsos to Greece, and Nazim Hekmat to Turkey.

The great poet and litterateur Shaikh Mubarak Ali Ayaz was born on 2nd March 1923 in Shikarpur, Sindh. He died on December 28, 1997.

Shaikh Ayaz belongs to eternity, like the classical masters of all the languages of the world.

The well-known Sindhi scholar and Ayaz’s critic, Ibrahim Joyo, says people in crisis often stumble on their saviours, their healers. The point is not that they deserve them or don’t desrve them. The point is that times need them. Shaikh Ayaz, born on the eve of the second quarter of twentieth century, was such a needed rarity for the people of Sindh.