Born as Syed Ghulam Abbas Shah on May 5th, 1947, he later changed his name to Ghulam Abbas Mohsin Naqvi, then becoming popularly known as Mohsin Naqvi. With his birthplace being Muhallah e Sadaat in Dera Ghazi Khan, he graduated from Government College Bosan Road Multan. After which his Masters’s degree was from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. While in the final year of his Masters’s program, the first collection ‘Band Qaba’ was published under his name. This began the series of never-ending fame for the son of Syed Chiragh Hussain.
As time went by, he began making his way to Radio, TV, newspapers, and other doors of fame. In an interview, he said that after reading Ghalib and Anees, he could not stop back himself from going ahead to reading and getting inspired by the very well-known Allama Iqbal, Josh Malihabadi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Qasmi Sahib. After the publishing of his first collection, he became known in the literary circle of Multan. Meanwhile, he developed an affiliation with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). It was after singer Ghulam Ali who sung his ghazal ‘Yay dil yay Pagal dil mera’ that Mohsin became known in all of Pakistan
Famous poetry collections
- Band e Qaba
- Barg e Sehra
- Mauj e idraak
- Rawa e Shab
During his last days, his popularity was at its finest. Farooq Leghari had become President and Mohsin belonged to his party and region. Being a prominent member of the Shia Muslim minority, he openly expressed his religious and political views in his poetry. Speaking of sectarian violence throughout, he himself, unfortunately, became prey to it. On 16th January 1996, Naqvi was sprayed with bullets at Moonlight market Lahore just as to be vocal against the Taliban. His funeral prayers were lead at Nasir Bagh and were later laid to rest at Karbala Shareef Dera Ghazi Khan.
His anniversary is observed with great reverence due to his devotion to the infallible leader of Islam as well as his anti-terrorism poems. A man who with the help of his ghazals, contributed a lot to Urdu Literature as well as to the Pakistan People’s Party deeming to the struggles of Bhutto for the sake of democracy. He is loved by the Shia community as for his unmatched poetry devoted to the sanctity of the Prophet and His Holy family as well as for his scholarly speeches. In the words of his son, Syed Aqeel Mohsin Naqvi, some of his last words were:
میں کرچیوں میں بٹ گیا سفر تو خیر کٹ گیا
At last, the journey of life has ended, But I’ve been split into shards.
Shaheed Mohsin Naqvi
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Beautiful, good read