Shafi Aqeel


Shafi Aqeel was a Pakistani journalist, writer, poet, art critic and translator.
He had edited and co-edited a number of magazines, and contributed columns on art and literature to the national Urdu language newspaper Daily Jang.

Education and early life

Shafi Aqeel was born in 1930, close to Saddar Bazaar, Lahore.
Aqeel did not have formal education, learning to read the Quran at mosque. About his early life, he said, "Poverty is nothing to abhor or be ashamed of. Rather, it may work as a stimulus. I think if I hadn't been poor, I wouldn't have achieved what I have."
Aqeel served in the National Guard of Pakistan. While working for the guards, Aqeel was witness to extreme scenes of poverty including the spread of cholera amongst migrants. Aqeel received no pay and even had to bring food from home. In later years, he completed the Munshi-Fazil and Adeeb-Fazil exams.

Writing career

His first article appeared in the Zamindar newspaper in 1947, and he changed his name from Mohammad Shafi to Shafi Aqeel. It was the result of his outpouring on the then raging issue of Ilm-ud-din. He did not have a traditional teacher for poetry, which he initiated in 1948 but began composing in earnest in 1957. "I think anybody with 'mauzoon tabiyat' — a particular bent of mind for poetry – can judge for himself whether the metre and rhyme of his lines is correct" he said.
Aqeel migrated to Karachi in January 1950 in search of a living. He worked as a sign-painter and for various magazines and newspapers in different capacities, including Majeed Lahori's Namakdan, where he worked as an assistant editor. Later he got the job of a magazine editor with a salary of Rs 60 per month.
He also wrote short stories and a novel. His first collection of short stories, published in 1952, titled Bhookay, landed him in trouble with the authorities, who declared it obscene and put the author on trial under Obscenity Law in Lahore while he lived in Karachi. He called the newspaper editor Maulana Abdul Majeed Salik, journalist Agha Shorish Kashmiri and writer and playwright Saadat Hasan Manto as his defense witnesses. The trial took two and a half years.
In 1951, Shafi Aqeel become editor of the newly published children's magazine Bhaijaan. Shafi Aqeel also worked for the famous monthly magazine Adab-i-Lateef. He was also an art critic and said to be friends with many artists including Sadequain and Ahmed Pervez, poets and writers like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum and Hafeez Jalandhari, his insight into the world of art was called "exemplary" by poet and drama director Ayub Khawar. He edited and co-edited a number of magazines, and contributed columns on art and literature to the national Urdu-language newspaper Daily Jang.
Aqeel wrote 30 books in Urdu and Punjabi, two of which were collections of his poetry written in Punjabi.
He wrote book reviews for the Daily Jang right up until his death, which were described by art critic Quddus Mirza writing in artnow as "frank, candid and cruel to some extent".

Awards and recognition

Shafi Aqeel received a number of awards for his work during his lifetime:
Shafi Aqeel lived a life of celibacy and never got married, about which he said; "The charm of words, though they sit in black on paper, was so absorbing that I did not find time to look elsewhere hard enough".

Death and tributes

Aqeel passed away at the age of 83 on 7 September 2013. He worked with Daily Jang newspaper for almost sixty years, and was in charge of its literary magazine. He was buried in the cemetery in Paposhnagar, Karachi, Pakistan.
Poet and researcher Aqeel Abbas Jafari said of Shafi Aqeel, " was an amiable man. He admired people with intellect. The fact that he remained associated with one organisation for 63 years is a feat in itself. He was a selfless individual too, which is why after his brother-in-law died, he decided not to marry to support his sister."
Former editor of Daily Jang newspaper Mahmood Shaam and professor Sahar Ansari also paid their tributes to him after his death.