Urdu poets (Noon Meem Rashid)

Nazar Mohammed Rashid (Urdu: نذر محمد راشد) (b. 1910 – 9 October 1975) commonly known as Noon Meem Rashid (Urdu: ن۔ م۔ راشد) or N.M. Rashid, was born as Raja Nazar Muhmmad Janjua. He was an influential Pakistani poet of modern Urdu poetry.

Rashid was born in Village Kot Bhaaga, Akaal Garh ( Now Alipur Chatha), Tehsil Wazirabad, District, Gujranwala, Punjab, and earned a masters degree in economics from the Government College Lahore.

Rashid served for the UN and worked in many countries. He is considered to be the father of Modernism in Urdu Literature. Along with Faiz Ahmed Faiz, he is by far the greatest poet in the history of Pakistani literature. His themes run from the struggle against oppression to the relationship between words and meanings, between language and awareness and the creative process that produces poetry and other arts. Though intellectually deep, he is often attacked for his unconventional views and life-style. In an age when Pakistani literature and culture acknowledge their Middle Eastern roots, Rashid highlighted the Persian element in the making of his nation's history and psyche. Rashid edited an anthology of modern Iranian poetry which contained not only his own translations of the selected works but also a detailed introductory essay. He rebelled against the traditional form of 'ghazal' and became the first major exponent of free verse in Urdu Literature. While his first book, Mavra, introduced free verse and is more technically accomplished and lyrical, his main intellectual and political ideals reach maturity in his last two books.

His readership is limited and recent social changes have further hurt his stature and there seems to be a concerted effort to not to promote his poetry. His first book of free verse, Mavra, was published in 1940 and established him as a pioneering figure in free form Urdu poetry.

He retired to England in 1973 and died in a London hospital in 1975. His body was cremated as requested in his will because he got out of the fold of Islam and any religion and prefferd to be cremated as it was done by his forfathers before Islam. He liked the way of his forfathers rather than the good and natural religion came from Arab. This created an outcry in the conservative Pakistani circles and he was branded an infidel.Anyhow,he is considered a great figure in progressive Urdu literature.