Abid Ali Abid

Life

He was well known for his literary criticism and had hundreds of students, many of them now themselves poets and writers. He wrote many books on literary criticism in Urdu and Persian. He also initiated and edited several literary journals, one of which is Sahifa-Lahore. He also was one of the initial drama writers and feature writers at the newly established Radio Pakistan Lahore in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was one of the story and dialogue writers of the first sound film (talking film) of Heer Ranjha (1931). He survived three heart attacks but succumbed to the fourth in 1971.

Family

Son of Seyid Ghulamovich Abbasov, he was the eldest brother of eight siblings. His parents were Shia Muslim migrants from the former Russian Empire (now part of Azerbaijan) and Persianized their family name to better assimilate in Iran. His sisters Syeda, Zahra, Mehnaz, and Shamim, his brothers Mehmud, and Jawad lived with him in Iran before they migrated to Pakistan. Later, one of his daughters Shabnam Shakeel followed the footsteps of her father, and became a poet based in Islamabad. His only son Syed Menoo Chehr served as Secretary to Government of the NWFP in various departments as well as Chief settlement Commissioner, NWFP and was retired as Member Board of Revenue and is also the author of two biographical treaties titled Mere Shab-o-Roz and karwan-e-Guzran and a novel Azmaish Dil-o-Nazar ki.

Selected work

Books and poetry

For a detailed list see