Wasif Ali Wasif

Wasif Ali Wasif (15 January 1929 – 18 January 1993) was a teacher, writer, poet and sufi intellectual from Pakistan. He is famous for his unique literary style. Many of his APHORISMS have become proverbs in recent years. His first book "Kiran Kiran Suraj" containing these Aphorisms was published in year 1985 and remained best seller for many many years. He used to write short essays on topics like love, life, fortune, fear, hope, expectation, promise, prayer, happiness, sorrow and so on with clear objective of highlighting the true spirit of Islam. He was regular columnist of Pakistani Urdu daily newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt. His column was named "GUFTAGOO" and it started publishing in newspaper in 1984. His first column was on "Muhabbat". In his life, most of his columns were combined to form two books (Dil Darya Samandar, Qatra Qatra Qulzam" with his own selected title. Later on a third book "Harf Harf Haqeeqat" containing these essays was published after he died in 1993. He did poetry in Urdu and Punjabi languages. Probably no contemporary Urdu writer is more cited in quotations than he is. Later years he used to answer questions in regular gatherings arranged every Thursday at his residence and every Friday at someone else's place in Lahore attended by the notable community. Many of these Q & A sessions were recorded in audio and were later transcribed and published as Guftgoo (talk) series. His mehfils never had a set subject nor did he delivered lecture on chosen topics. His way was to ask people if they had questions and then he used to respond to those questions in his highly original style. His thought was more on mysticism, spirituality and humanity. There are about 40 books to his credit including “Shab Chiragh”, “Kiran Kiran Sooraj”, and “Dil Darya Samundar”.