Identity: A distinguished devotional poet (manqabat writer) and orator who gained a prominent place in the religious and literary gatherings of Lahore through his poetic quatrains and manqabats.

Afser Abbas Zaidi was born on 2 February 1928 in the historic neighborhood of Sui Walan (around Jama Masjid) in Delhi to Maulana Akbar Abbas Zaidi and Ameer Bano Begum. He belonged to a family with a strong scholarly and religious tradition. He received his early education at Fathpuri Muslim High School in Delhi and passed his matriculation examination in 1945. Later he was studying at Anglo-Arabic College, Ajmeri Gate, when the changing political conditions of the subcontinent and economic responsibilities compelled him to join the Telephone and Telegraph Department.

After the partition of the Indian subcontinent, he moved to Lahore where he continued his education along with his professional duties. In 1954 he obtained the Munshi Fazil degree in Persian from the University of the Punjab. Later he also completed FA, BA, and an MA in Urdu literature.

Afser Abbas Zaidi began writing poetry with ghazals, but soon turned towards elegiac and devotional poetry. His quatrains and manqabats became highly popular in the religious gatherings of Lahore, and he was frequently invited to recite his work across Punjab. His devotional quatrains in praise of the Ahl-e-Bait gained immense popularity among audiences, and he came to be remembered with the title “Afser-ush-Shuara.”

His poetry collections include Hadiya-e-Tabrik, Khiraj-e-Aqeedat, Ahadis-e-Kisa (verse translation), Mihrab-e-Haram, Qirtas-o-Qalam, Mahshar-e-Khamosh, Nuqta-e-Parkar-e-Haq, and Izn-e-Wijdan. Among these, Mahshar-e-Khamosh received particular recognition. He served for a long time as the secretary of Imamia Mission Pakistan and also edited its magazine Payam-e-Mahfil. During this period he translated several scholarly works from Arabic and Persian into Urdu.

The central theme of Afser Abbas Zaidi’s poetry was devotion and reverence for Imam Ali and the Ahl-e-Bait.

Death: Afser Abbas Zaidi passed away on 6 August 2004 in Lahore.