Amir Hamza Shinwari, or Hamza Baba as he is known, was born in December 1907, in the house of Malik Baz Mir Khan — the chief of the Ashraf Khel tribe of Shinwari Pashtuns.
During his early days, Hamza worked in the railways and even travelled to Mumbai to try his luck in the Bollywood film industry.
He started writing poetry in Urdu when he was only in grade five. But his spiritual guide, Syed Abdul Sattar Shah Baacha, asked him to switch to his mother tongue — Pashto.
Baba may not have been a first-rate Urdu poet, but once he started composing verses in Pashto, he perfected Pashto ghazal to the extent that Pashtun critics conferred on him the title, Baba-e-Pashto ghazal (the father of Pashto ghazal).
Refering to his title, Hamza Baba says:
[Sta pa anango ki da Hamza da wino sra di,
Ta shwe da pukhto ghazala zwan za di Baba kram!]
The crimson of color in your cheeks,
Is the color of the blood of Hamza.
You came of age, Pashto Ghazal,
But turned me into a baba (an old man)
Hamza Baba amalgamated the chivalric spirit of Khushhal Khan Khattak, the humility of Rahman Baba and the refined romanticism of Abdul Hameed Baba into Pashto verse due to which Pashto ghazal poetry attained new heights.
Hamza Baba also heralded a new era in Pashto prose and fiction. Being a prolific writer, Baba contributed to almost every literary genre in Pashto — short story, novel, drama, literary criticism, satirical essays, pen-portraits and free verse.
He, in fact, Pashtunised Pashto ghazal and nazm, consciously presenting a soft image of the Pashtun nation and keeping the Sufi trend of Rahman Baba alive with a new vision and approach.
Baba considered Islam and Pakhtunwali as flip sides of a coin and negated aggressive nationalism in his writings. He wanted Pukhtuns to maintain their true identity and uphold high social and moral values to safeguard humanity against all kinds of prejudices.
Hamza Shinwari Baba was, undoubtedly, a flowering spring of extraordinary genius, and has become an icon of universal admiration beyond the barriers of cast, language, color, or creed.
Dr. Qabel Khan comments that Hamza Baba "is a virtual stream of friends of friends, disciples, admirers, and well-wishers. Hardly there was any day in his life he was not visited by his admirers and readers…his knowledge of Pashto is simply encyclopedic."
Courtesty: Haroon Shinwari, Hidayat Khan, ThePukhtoonkhwa blog
