ZULFIQAR NAQVI: POETRY IS THE LANGUAGE OF MY SOUL

Dr Basharat Khan 

( Interviewer)  

INTRODUCTION:

Zulfiqar Naqvi is an internationally recognised Urdu poet and English writer. He is the author of half a dozen books spanning poetry and literary prose. His creative work has earned significant scholarly attention, with researchers from various universities undertaking PhD-level studies on his poetry. His writings are distinguished by their engagement with human values, social consciousness, cultural identity and the rich literary heritage of Jammu & Kashmir. Alongside his literary accomplishments, Naqvi is a retired Principal of the School Education Department, Jammu & Kashmir and is also known for his sustained contributions to communal harmony, peace and social cohesion. His literary and social contributions have earned him recognition in India and abroad.

In this exclusive online conversation with Dr. Basharat Khan, Hony. Editor of LitStream, Zulfiqar Naqvi reflects on his journey from a village childhood to a literary life spanning over four decades. He speaks about his early influences, including Mir Anees, Mirza Dabeer and Allama Iqbal. He shares his thoughts on poetry, Urdu, symbolism, social responsibility and human values. For Naqvi, poetry is not merely an art form. It is a way of understanding life and connecting with people. In his own words, “Poetrly is the language of my soul.”

Q1: You were born in Gursai village, Mendhar, in 1965. Could you tell us about your childhood and the environment in which you grew up?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I was born on 10th June 1965 in Gursai village, Tehsil Mendhar, District Poonch, into a middle-class family. Like most village children, I grew up amid poverty and scarce facilities. Our only school offered primary education; after I completed Class 5, it was upgraded to a middle school, allowing me to study there through Class 8.

For reasons I still do not know, my teachers loved me and often asked me to teach my classmates. After Class 8, I joined HS Harni, now HSS Harni, Mendhar. Moving from a village to a small town was a major transition, but by Allah’s grace I adapted and continued to lead my class. I completed my matriculation there in 1982 with flying colours.

Q2: When did you first discover your love for poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I grew up in a Shia community where Muharram was observed every year and scholars came from outside the state to preach the message of Karbala. During these gatherings, I heard the poetry of Anees and Dabeer. Their verses awakened the hidden poet in me, and around 1984 I composed my first complete ghazal.

Q3: Who were the poets, writers, or thinkers who influenced you most deeply?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Anees and Dabeer first introduced me to the power of poetry. Later, Allama Iqbal influenced me most deeply. His themes became mine, and his diction and style became tools through which I explored thought, emotion, and social reform.

As a student of English literature, with a Master’s degree from AMU, Aligarh, I was equally shaped by Shakespeare, Keats, Milton, Wordsworth, P. B. Shelley, and others. I initially wrote in English, but I realised it could not fully reach my people. Urdu ultimately became my chosen language and bridge to my social milieu.

Q4: Was there a particular incident that inspired you to begin writing poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Like many poets, I began with a love story. But my themes soon moved from personal love to the pathos, hardships, and struggles of ordinary people. I gradually understood that poetry could be more than private emotion: it could give voice to society.

“A Poet’s Mind Is a Permanent Workshop”

THE CREATIVE PROCESS: 

Q1: Do you write according to a schedule, or only when inspiration strikes?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: At first, I wrote for religious programmes in a prescribed metre known as tarhee misrah. With time, I began composing independently, whenever an incident, observation, or thought stirred me.

Q2: Where do you find inspiration?

Zulfiqar Naqvi:  Everywhere. G. B. Shaw says, “If you have your eyes and ears open, you can learn even from a pebble.” A poet must remain alert: inspiration may arise from nature, human behaviour, social conditions, personal experience, or an apparently insignificant moment.

A poet’s mind is a permanent workshop where ideas emerge and plots take shape. Yet giving them form requires hours, sometimes days, of work. A poem may begin with a feeling, image, phrase, or thought. The essential thing is to remain receptive.

Q3: How many revisions does a poem undergo before you consider it complete?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: It varies. Sometimes a poem arrives fully formed; at other times it needs one, two, or three revisions.

In Urdu, this distinction is called Aamad and Aawurd. Aamad is the spontaneous arrival of expression; Aawurd is the labour of shaping and refining it.

Q4: Have you experienced writer’s block?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Many times. Writer’s block is often a dormant phase of creativity. Even when a poet is occupied with something else, the mind continues to muse beneath the surface.

I do not force myself to write. I become quiet, read, observe, and reflect. Eventually, the creative flow returns.

THEMES AND LITERARY STYLE

Q1: What themes recur most frequently in your poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Love has always been poetry’s central theme, though every poet understands it differently: as love for a beloved, the spiritual, one’s community, country, humanity, or the masses.

I have travelled these paths, but my strongest themes are reform, education, justice, lawlessness, mercy, ignorance, and human values. I believe poetry should not merely describe the world; it should urge us to improve it.

Q2: How has your poetic style evolved over the years?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Irteqa means evolution, and every poet passes through it. Over more than four decades, I have worked to refine my metre, diction, style, and choice of socially relevant themes.

My poetry has become more mature, reflective, and socially conscious, while my commitment to clarity and meaningful expression remains unchanged.

Q3: Can poetry bring about social change?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I believe in “Art for the sake of Society.” “Art for the sake of Art” may suit developed societies that approach poetry mainly for aesthetic pleasure, but we face poverty, injustice, and social evils.

Poets have often helped reform society, and my poetry therefore contains strong didactic elements. Poetry may not transform society overnight, but it can awaken conscience, challenge injustice, inspire courage, and gradually change how people think and act.

Q4: Do poets have a responsibility toward society and humanity?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Certainly. History shows that writers and poets have stood behind every revolution. In this age of chaos, uncertainty, and declining human values, they must help bring about necessary change.

Their task is not mechanical preaching, but truthful speech, the preservation of human values, and giving voice to those who are unheard.

Symbolism, Nature and Personal Experience

Q1: How important is symbolism in your work?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Symbolism is important to my writing because it allows me to express realities and emotions that direct language cannot always contain. Nature, light and darkness, journeys, deserts, seasons, silence, and ordinary objects can suggest struggle, hope, loneliness, transformation, or the search for meaning.

I do not force symbols upon a poem; they should grow naturally from its theme and emotional world. They also create a dialogue with the reader. I may suggest a meaning, but I leave room for readers to discover their own. For me, symbolism is not ornament—it is a way of reaching deeper layers of human experience.

Q2: What role does nature play in your poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: As a student of English literature, especially Wordsworth, I have always loved nature. I find shelter among the mountains and sometimes wander through green, lush meadows. Nature helps me escape the fret and fear of the world, offering both peace and perspective.

Q3: How significantly do personal experiences influence your writing?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I would quote a couplet from my ghazal:

“Aap-beeti ko jahan-beeti bana kar pesh kar,

Qafiya-paimaai ki qeemat koi fan mein nahi.”

Present your personal experience as the world’s experience; mere rhyming has no value without understanding.

When a poet transforms private experience into something others recognise, the poem can endure. My life is a rich source of poetry. I write what I experience, but I try to turn the individual into the universal.

URDU IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Q1: What are the strengths and challenges of writing in Urdu today?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Urdu faces serious challenges in the age of science and technology. Many young people no longer know its script and read and write poetry in Roman Urdu. Yet I remain hopeful: as long as poets and poetry lovers remain active, the language will endure.

Urdu has immense expressive richness, emotional depth, and cultural memory. If it is connected more closely with employment, education, technology, and everyday life, it can flourish further.

Q2: How do you see the future of poetry in the digital age?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Poetry will not lose its charm in the digital age, especially when it speaks to the concerns of ordinary people.

Digital platforms allow poets to reach readers across borders and can help preserve, translate, publish, and share poetry with a much wider audience.

Q3: What is your view of spoken-word poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: It is a healthy and exciting development. Spoken word brings poetry off the page and makes it a living art of voice, rhythm, pauses, emotion, gesture, and silence. It is especially accessible to younger audiences.

Yet if we want literature to endure, performance alone is not enough. Lasting value also requires depth, craft, originality, and the ability to survive beyond the moment of performance.

BOOKS, RECOGNITION AND THE READERS

Q1: Which of your works holds a special place in your heart?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: My third poetry collection, Dasht-e-Wahshat, is especially dear to me. It explores modern themes including optimism, unity, brotherhood, love, justice, selflessness, and sacrifice.

It marks an important stage in my development and reflects my effort to unite social awareness with emotional and poetic expression.

Q2: Is there a particular poem that best represents your literary philosophy?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Like a father, I love all my poems. My philosophy is spread across my collections and cannot be contained in a single piece.

Each poem reveals a different aspect of my thought, experience, and relationship with society. Together, they offer a fuller picture.

Q3: How do you respond to criticism and differing interpretations of your poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I welcome and enjoy them. When readers interpret a verse differently, I take it as a sign that the poem is alive.

A poem should not be so closed that it permits only one meaning. Thoughtful criticism can reveal how a work has been received—and meanings even the poet did not consciously intend.

Q4: What, for you, is the greatest literary recognition?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: In an age of selfishness and narcissism, recognition feels like a miracle. I am happiest when someone is moved by my poetry.

The greatest honour is not an award, but knowing that a poem has touched a heart, changed a perspective, offered comfort, or inspired a better life.

POETRY AS CATHARSIS

Q1: What emotions do you most enjoy exploring through poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Eternal love, mutual respect, and human values are my favourite themes. I am also drawn to hope, compassion, loneliness, sacrifice, and the desire for justice—emotions at the heart of human experience.

Q2: Can poetry provide healing during difficult times?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Yes. Poetry can relieve the fret and fear of the world. For a poet, musing is purgative; poetry itself becomes catharsis, solace, and comfort.

It may not remove suffering, but it gives suffering a voice and helps us feel less alone. Sometimes, finding the right words is itself a form of healing.

Q3: What distinguishes great poetry from merely good poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: There is no fixed standard; greatness depends on the reader. What is great to one person may not be to another.

Generally, a masterpiece lifts you “upon the wings of ecstasy,” reveals new meanings with each reading, and remains alive in memory long after the words are gone.

Q4: Can poetry provide healing during difficult times?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Both matter, though interpretation may surpass intention. A single verse can speak differently to different readers, and that openness is part of poetry’s excellence.

The poet provides the starting point; the reader completes the experience through personal memory, emotion, and understanding.

A Message to Young Writers

Q1:What advice would you offer aspiring poets?

Zulfikar Naqvi: Read much and write less. Find a teacher who can guide you in poetic technique and craft. Do not rush to become famous overnight; popularity may come quickly, but literary endurance requires patience and excellence.

Observe life carefully, revise honestly, welcome criticism, and remain authentic. That comes with time.

The Rapid-Fire Round

A poem you wish you had written?

Zulfikar Naqvi: Shikwa by Allama Iqbal.

A book that changed your life?

Zulfikar Naqvi: The Holy Quran.

One word that best defines poetry?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Catharsis.

 Pen and paper or digital writing?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Pen and paper.

Morning or late-night writing?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Morning.

Three words that describe your literary journey?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Love, Mutual Respect, and Humanity.

LOOKING AHEAD

What projects are you currently working on?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Only musing and musing. I continue to observe life, reflect on its contradictions, and let new thoughts take shape in their own time.

What dreams remain unfulfilled in your literary career?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: I want to share whatever little I know, but I have not yet found sincere readers and learners with whom to share my experience, knowledge, and understanding of literature.

What message would you like to convey to your readers and admirers?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: My poetry demands time. Be patient, read it again and again, and feel free to ask me about it. Poetry often reveals its depths gradually, and every sincere reading can open a new door.

How would you like future generations to remember you?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Just read me. If future generations approach my work with open minds and find something meaningful, humane, or beautiful, that will be enough.

 Finally, what does poetry mean to you?

Zulfiqar Naqvi: Poetry is the language of my soul.