ab is se kyā ġharaz ye haram hai ki dair hai
baiThe haiñ ham to sāya-e-dīvār dekh kar
ab is se kya gharaz ye haram hai ki dair hai
baiThe hain hum to saya-e-diwar dekh kar
Shahid Aziz who wrote under the pen name of Rawish Siddiqui was born on 10 July, 1909, at a place called Jwalapur in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. His father, Maulvi Tufail Ahmad was also a poet. He was brought up in a religious and educated family and also learnt Sanskrit and Hindi apart from Arabic and Persian. This is well reflected in his poetry which draws upon Sanskritik and Vedantic knowledge.
Rawish lived in Jwalapur till the Partition of India but when communal passion ran high and engulfed this place, he shifted to Moradabad. Later, he came to Delhi in 1955 and joined the All India Radio. He also represented India in a conference in Belgium. Rawish was one the close associates of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
His poetry is a fascinating blend of various elements. He wrote the poetry of romantic affiliations like Akhtar Sheerani but also found respectable space in his poetry for issues related with community, nation, and politics. His poem on Gandhi became more popular than many others on him. His ghazal follows the tenets of classical Urdu ghazal. His collection of ghazals, Mehrab-e-Ghazal, was well received. He passed away in 1971.