Quick wins for a faster PC:
Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s “Hum Dekhenge”—“We shall see”—became an anthem because it turns a promise of future justice into a collective voice. Written in 1979, the Urdu poem has been read against Pakistan’s military rule, linked by one later account to the Iranian Revolution, and carried into Indian protests through performance and translation. Its history is not a single story of origin or meaning: it is also a record of how people have made the poem speak to different struggles.
What does “Hum Dekhenge” mean?
The refrain means “We shall see.” In the poem, it is not just a prediction; it is a declaration that existing power is temporary and that a more just order will come. Faiz gives that hope a public, collective voice. The poem’s promise of reversal helps explain why it has been taken up in moments when people challenge authority.
![The Colours of My Heart: Selected Poems [Hardcover] [Jun 15, 2017] Faiz Ahmed Faiz](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/414R1XccNKL._SL160_.jpg)
The name most readers use comes from that refrain. Dawn’s 2025 literary note says the poem’s formal title is a Quranic phrase; The Indian Express identifies it as “Wa-yabqa-wajh-o-rabbik.” Thus “Hum Dekhenge” is the familiar refrain-based name, while the formal title invokes the poem’s religious language. The imagery draws on familiar Islamic symbols, including the Kaaba, idols, crowns and thrones, and places them within a vision of political change.
When was it written, and what inspired it?
Faiz wrote the nazm in 1979. Dawn’s 2020 essay says it first appeared in his collection Mere Dil Mere Musafir in 1980. Composition and publication are distinct milestones: the poem was written during Zia-ul-Haq’s military rule, but the sources do not settle on a single direct inspiration.
#1 Best Overall
| Reading | What the account argues |
|---|---|
| Zia-ul-Haq’s Pakistan | The Indian Express’s 2019 explainer places the poem amid Zia’s rule and religious authoritarianism. It reads Faiz’s religious imagery as a way to challenge authoritarian political structures. |
| The Iranian Revolution | In a 2025 Dawn literary note, Rauf Parekh argues that the revolution inspired the poem. Parekh recounts Agha Nasir’s later report that Faiz described one of the poems he had given him as being “on Iranian revolution.” This is reported recollection, not a direct transcript. |
Parekh’s account also allows that Pakistan’s political crisis may have been in Faiz’s mind. The two contexts need not be treated as mutually exclusive: the poem was composed under Zia, was read through that political setting, and has also been linked to the Iranian Revolution. The available accounts support a disagreement about direct inspiration, not a definitive claim that the poem was solely about one event—or unrelated to Pakistan.
How did Iqbal Bano’s 1986 performance make it iconic?
The poem’s passage from page to public anthem is closely associated with singer Iqbal Bano’s performance at Lahore’s Alhamra Arts Council in February 1986. The Indian Express reports that an Alhamra technician secretly recorded it after the audience demanded an encore. The recording helped carry the performance—and the poem—beyond the room.
The size of that audience is often exaggerated in retellings. Drawing on Faiz’s grandson Ali Madeeh Hashmi, The Indian Express says the hall held roughly 400 or 600 people and challenges the widely circulated claim of 50,000 attendees. Those are attributed hall-capacity figures, not a measured attendance count.
Why was the poem recited during India’s anti-CAA protests?
In December 2019, the poem entered protests against India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Dawn’s 2020 essay reports that students at IIT Kanpur recited it on December 17 in solidarity with students at Jamia Millia Islamia. The occasion brought the poem’s language of popular power and political reversal into a new national debate; it does not mean every protester or audience understood the poem in exactly the same way.
Rank #3
The poem also travelled through adaptation. The News Minute documented Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Bhojpuri versions or performances during protests in 2020. Rendering it in regional languages made its refrain locally legible, rather than simply importing an Urdu performance unchanged.
Is “Hum Dekhenge” anti-Hindu or anti-Muslim?
The poem’s religious imagery has prompted competing readings. The Indian Express’s 2019 explainer interprets the imagery as part of a political transformation of religious symbols: Faiz turns familiar motifs toward a vision in which oppressive power falls. A different response emerged at IIT Kanpur, where a faculty complainant argued that the imagery hurt religious sentiments.
After an inquiry, the IIT Kanpur committee described the recitation as unsuitable to its particular occasion. As committee chair Manindra Agarwal put it, “The committee observed that perhaps, at that time and place, it was not the most suitable thing to say.” That was a judgment about context, not an authoritative ruling on the poem’s meaning.
A 2025 Indian Express opinion article, written amid another controversy over a recitation in Nagpur, argued that the poem’s recurring force is opposition to oppression. That is the author’s interpretation, not a neutral consensus. Taken together, these responses show why the imagery can be heard differently across settings. The documented controversies do not establish that the poem is inherently anti-Hindu or anti-Muslim.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Best Value
- Used Book in Good Condition
What explains the poem’s afterlife?
“Hum Dekhenge” has endured through both words and ways of performing them. Its repeated refrain is easy to carry into a crowd; Bano’s 1986 rendition became a landmark recording; and later recitations and translations brought it into settings far from Lahore. In each case, people have used its promise of a changed order to address the power they face. That history makes the poem a living political text, not a record tied only to the circumstances of its composition.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
