Aye Ahl-e-Arab Aye Ahl-e-Jahan; a Beautiful Urdu Poem by Jabib Jalib

Habib Jalib

Habib Jalib (Urdu: حبیب جالب) (Real name: Habib Ahmad) (Urdu: حبیب احمد) was a Pakistani revolutionary Urdu poet, left-wing activist and politician who opposed martial law, authoritarianism and state oppression. 

Jalib was a Marxist-Leninist and aspired to the ideals of Communism. He was a member of the Communist Party of Pakistan; later when the Communist Party was banned and started working under the banner of National Awami Party (NAP), he joined the NAP. His views led to imprisonment. 

His poetry shows that, being a communist, he was pro Russia and China. He wrote many poems and Ghazal against USA and in many of his poems he even mentioned Ronald Reagan, the than President of USA, and showed his dislike to him. 

In the following enjoy reading “Aye Ahl-e-Arab Aye Ahl-e-Jahan” (Urdu: اے اہلِ عرب اے اہلِ جہاں) a beautiful Urdu poem (نظم) by Habib Jalib, in which he expresses his hatred toward America and calls the world to eliminate, even, the name of Ronald Reagan, the than US President. He, in this poem, praises Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator, who was killed by Libyan people in October last year. Interestingly, Jalib opposed the dictatorship of Ayub, who brought the green revolution in Pakistan and General Zia Ul Haq. But he praises the dictatorship of Qaddafi in Libya who oppressed the Libyan People for more than 30 years. This shows that it was not the case of dictatorship or democracy, rather it was due to socialism and anti Americanism. Ayub was neither Socialist nor Anti American and Qaddafi was, at least in the beginning of his regime. This poem is enough to show the dual standard of these socialists.

You may, as I do, disagree with many of his views but you will like his poetry.