Josh Malihabadi

Josh Malihabadi Biography

Josh Malihabadi was a famous Urdu poet from India. Widely regarded as one among the best Urdu poets from India during British rule in the 20^th century, he lived during the period, 5 December 1898 – 22 February 1982. A master of Urdu language, he was one of the top poets during his time. He wrote over 100,000 beautiful couplets and more than 1,000 rubaiyat in his lifetime. Yadon Ki Barat – his autobiography work is one of the finest works written in Urdu language. A member of Progressive Writers' Movement, Indian government honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 1954 for his literary contributions. He migrated to Pakistan in the late 1950s where he lived till end.

His real name was Shabbir Hasan Khan. He was born on 5 December 1898 in Malihabad, North-Western Provinces of British India into a family which had a long tradition of producing men of letters. Many of his ancestors have given significant contribution to Urdu poetry and literature. Most of them were poets. Noted journalist Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi was his relative. He received early education in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English at his home. He pursued his higher education in Agra. In 1918, he spent six months at Tagore's university at Shantiniketan. Following his father’s death in 1916 he discontinued his studies.  

He started his profession career in 1925, where he served as a supervisor of the translation work done at Osmania University in the princely state of Hyderabad. He wrote a poem against Nizam of Hyderabad, which irked him and Josh lost his job. He founded the magazine Kaleem through which he published articles promoting Indian independence movement. He became more actively involved in the freedom struggle, and became close to many great leaders like Nehru. Josh became the editor of the publication Aaj-Kal soon after Indian independence. However he moved to Pakistan in 1958, solely with the aim to promote Urdu which according to him, may not be possible in Hindu-dominated independent India where Hindi was given much preference.

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Updated: June 08, 2018