[3] Outside of literature, he has been described as "a man of wide experience", having worked as a teacher, military officer, journalist, trade unionist, and broadcaster.

[6][7] He was also a leading member of the Communist Party before his arrest and imprisonment in 1951 for his alleged part in a conspiracy to overthrow the Liaquat administration and replace it with a left-wing, pro-Soviet government.

[8] Faiz was released after four years in prison and spent time in Moscow and London, becoming a notable member of the Progressive Writers' Movement.

"[9] Critics have noted that Faiz took the tenets of Marxism where Muhammad Iqbal had left it, and relayed it to a younger generation of Muslims who were considered more open to change, more receptive to egalitarianism, and had a greater concern for the poor.

[10] Literary critic Fateh Muhammad Malik argues that while initially Faiz was more of a secular Marxist he eventually subscribed to Islamic socialism as his life progressed, as his poems getting more religious in tone over the years demonstrate, even suggesting that Faiz ultimately aimed for an Islamic revolution, having endorsed the 1979 Iranian revolution.

His home was often the scene of a gathering of local poets and writers who met to promote the literacy movement in his native province.

[18] Faiz's father, Sultan Muhammad Khan, was a prominent barrister[17][19] who worked for the British Government and an autodidact who wrote and published the biography of Amir Abdur Rahman, an Emir of Imperial Afghanistan.

Faiz came to the madrasa in neat clothes, in a horse-drawn carriage, while the students of the school were from very poor backgrounds and used to sit on the floor on straw mats.

In 1930, Faiz joined the post-graduate program of the Government College, obtaining an MA in English literature in 1932, and wrote his master's thesis on the poetry of Robert Browning.

[25] Faiz consistently faced political persecution for his revolutionary views and ideologies[26] and was especially targeted by the religious and conservative press due to his lifelong advocacy for the rights of women and workers.

[27] On 30 December 1944, he received a desk assignment as an assistant director of public relations on the staff of the North-Western Army, with the local rank of lieutenant-colonel.

[33] Liaquat Ali Khan's government failure to capture Indian-administered Kashmir had frustrated the military leaders of the Pakistan Armed Forces in 1948, including Jinnah.

[38] Finally on 2 April 1955,[18] Faiz's sentence was commuted by the Prime minister Huseyn Suhrawardy, and he departed to London, Great Britain soon after.

[36] However, due to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's influence on Ayub Khan, Faiz's sentence was commuted in 1960 and he left for Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, eventually settling in London, United Kingdom.

[24] In 1965, Faiz was first brought to government by the charismatic democratic socialist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was serving as Foreign minister in the presidency of Ayub Khan.

[18] Bhutto lobbied for Faiz and gave him an honorary capacity at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) working to rallying the people of West-Pakistan to fight against India to defend their motherland.

[42] Faiz's early poetry focused on traditional tropes of romantic love, beauty, and heartbreak but eventually expanded to include themes of justice, rebellion, politics, and the interconnectedness of humanity.

"[46] He is widely considered the poet of the oppressed and downtrodden classes and is known for highlighting their poverty, social discrimination, economic exploitation, and political repression.

[45][46] Although he wrote prolifically on the topics of justice, resistance, and revolution, Faiz rarely allowed political rhetoric to overpower his poetry.

[46][48] Faiz's grandson, Dr. Ali Madeeh Hashmi, has asserted that he was particularly influenced by Sufi figures such as Rumi, that he regretted not having memorized more of the Qur'an, and that ideologically he proposed a form of Islamic socialism.

[49] Faiz's prose works tend to be written in strict classical Urdu diction while his poetry is known to have a more conversational and casual tenor.

His later-stage poetry is said to be more universal in tone, possessing a greater urgency for change and action, and as being more explicit and forthright in its challenge to "decadent tradition.

"[9] Faiz died in Lahore, Punjab in 1984, from complications of lung and heart disease[6] shortly after being nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

[42] Although living a simple and restless life, Faiz's work, political ideology, and poetry became immortal, and he has often been called as one of the "greatest poets" of Pakistan.

[50][51] Faiz remained an extremely popular and influential figure in the literary development of Pakistan's arts, literature, and drama and theatre adaptation.

Today we sing him because of his beautiful poetry, missing out on the reasons behind his poems that had predictions... Faiz was the first Asian poet to receive the Lenin Peace Prize, awarded by the Soviet Union in 1962.

[56] At the Lenin Peace Prize ceremony, held in the grand Kremlin hall in Moscow, Faiz thanked the Soviet government for conferring the honour, and delivered an acceptance speech, which appears as a brief preface to his collection Dast-i-tah-i-Sang (Hand Under the Rock):Human ingenuity, science and industry have made it possible to provide each one of us everything we need to be comfortable provided these boundless treasures of nature and production are not declared the property of a greedy few but are used for the benefit of all of humanity… However, this is only possible if the foundations of human society are based not on greed, exploitation and ownership but on justice, equality, freedom and the welfare of everyone… I believe that humanity which has never been defeated by its enemies will, after all, be successful; at long last, instead of wars, hatred and cruelty, the foundation of humankind will rest on the message of the great Persian poet Hafez Shiraz: 'Every foundation you see is faulty, except that of Love, which is faultless....In 1990, Faiz was posthumously honoured by the Pakistan Government when the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party led by Prime minister Benazir Bhutto awarded Faiz the highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in 1990.

The shields were issued and presented by the GCU vice-chancellor Professor Dr. Khaleequr Rehman, who noted and further wrote: "Faiz was poet of humanity, love and resistance against oppression".

[70] The organisation also houses Faiz's personal library and much of his memorabilia including rare photographs, academic diplomas, and his letters and manuscripts.

[71][72] Held regularly since then, the festival is aimed at promoting Urdu poetry, music, literature, drama, and human rights in Pakistan.