Ayaz Rasool Nazki, The Kashmiri Poet Who Sings Light in the Darkness
By Altamash Ali, New Age Islam
06 March 2026
Ayaz Rasool Nazki is a Kashmiri poet, scholar, and cultural guardian who blends science and literature to express Kashmir’s pain, memory, and hope. Rooted in Sufi-Hindu syncretic traditions, his works highlight identity, resistance, and the enduring light of humanity amid conflict.
· Ayaz Rasool Nazki sings “light in darkness” and bears the consequences of his dreams.
· Born 1951 in Srinagar, he champions Kashmir’s Sufi-Hindu culture and writes of its pain & hope.
· Veterinary Science scholar (PhD) who served as University Registrar and ICCR Director.
· Songs of Light, Satisar, The Isle of Fantasy, and Echo.
· Poet, novelist, painter & cultural guardian of Kashmir.
Nazki says:
“I will sing light in this dark night and bear the consequences of my dreams.
” He further says:
“Today I am not writing any poem, because I am in the valley of Kashmir.”
For Nazki Sahab, poetry is not just beautiful words. Poetry is a way of speaking the truth, keeping memories alive, and lighting the lamp of hope in the darkness. He believes that the biggest job of a poet is to save memory. If memory is erased, the entire history gets changed, and that is not the real truth. He is a strong supporter of Kashmir’s old syncretic culture, the beautiful mix of Sufi and Hindu traditions. After 5 August 2019, he wrote that he felt like an orphan. In his thinking, memory, syncretism and hope are the most important things.
One of his famous poems is:
I Will Sing Light
I will sing light in this dark night
and bear the consequences of my dreams.
In his second untitled poem he writes:
I drew a desert over my eyes
and sank deep into the sand.
Alas! Everything was missing.
They throw me into ‘No Land’ —
where there is no water in the sea, no air in the sky.
Yet I still feel the fragrance of chameli,
narcissus in twilight, and the bulbul free.Both these poems beautifully show his pain, hope and deep connection with Kashmir. In them we can see images of nature, the pain of displacement, and yet the remaining fragrance and hope of freedom. When we read his poems, it feels as if the valley of Kashmir itself is speaking sometimes with pain, sometimes with hope.
Ayaz Rasool Nazki was born on 25 May 1951 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, in a Syed family. He is now 74 years old. His family is deeply connected with literature and culture. His father, Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki (1910-1998), was a great poet of Kashmiri literature. His father was a big scholar of Sufi tradition, writer, teacher and radio broadcaster. He made Kashmiri programmes popular on radio and wrote poems in Sufi style. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his poetry collection “Awaaz-e-Dost”. His father’s Sufi and humanitarian thinking influenced Ayaz Sahab the most. Ayaz Sahab translated his father’s rubaiyat into English under the title “Echo”, which is a symbol of his deep respect for his father.
The tradition of literature is still strong in the family. His brother Farooq Nazki is also a well-known poet and broadcaster. Other family members like Justice Bilal Nazki former Chief Justice, Odisha High Court, Prof. Iqbal Nazki Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Vikar Nazki in banking and others are active in their respective fields. The entire Nazki family is engaged in preserving and promoting Kashmir’s cultural heritage. The Nazki family is highly respected among Kashmir’s literary families.
Nazki Sahab studied science. He received higher education in Veterinary Science animal medicine. He did his Masters in Biotechnology and PhD in Veterinary Physiology. For a long time he worked as a science teacher. Because of his scientific background, he looks at life with both logic and sensitivity. Later he took up many important administrative responsibilities. He served as the founder Registrar of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. He also worked as Registrar at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST). Besides this, he was the Regional Director of the Jammu and Kashmir Chapter of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
He served for a long time as a scientist, teacher, administrator and cultural officer. Despite his scientific background, he never left literature and art. Instead, he created a unique path by combining both. In his writings we can see both the precision of science and the sensitivity of poetry.
Nazki Sahab writes in many languages, Kashmiri, Urdu, English, Persian and Arabic. His main books are: Songs of Light (collection of English poems, 2017), Satisar: The Valley of Demons (English novel, 2018), The Isle of Fantasy (English novel, 2024), Barf Pighalne Tak (Urdu poems). He also translated his father’s Sufi rubaiyat into English as Echo.
His novels show the reality of Kashmir very deeply through allegory. In Satisar, the valley is shown as the Valley of Demons, where ancient legends, warriors, saints, fairies and demons together present the contemporary struggle. This novel shows Kashmir as a “lost paradise”, where both external forces and internal pain are at work. On the other hand, The Isle of Fantasy tells the story of governance, rebellion and freedom on an island through pigeons, cats and rats. This novel is an allegory of oppression, power and resistance, which puts Kashmir’s situation in a global context.
He is not just a writer. He is also a good painter, photographer and calligraphy artist. He continuously works to save Kashmir’s old culture, Sufi tradition and syncretic values. His creations express Kashmir’s pain, memories, beauty of nature and hope in a very sensitive way. He says that poetry does not come from void but from the soil of Kashmir.
He has received many awards and honours. These include Sadik Memorial Award (2004), Shiksha Ratna Award (2003), Robe of Honour from Jammu University (2008) and Bakshi Memorial Award (2017). These honours were given for his literary, cultural and academic contributions.
He plays an active role in taking Kashmir’s cultural heritage to the world and preserving it. His poems, novels and paintings emerge from the soil of Kashmir and merge back into it. He has also edited many books and is continuously working to promote Kashmiri literature.
In the end, Ayaz Rasool Nazki is at the same time a poet, scientist, administrator and artist. He is a true guardian of Kashmir’s memory and culture. His resolve to sing light in the darkness is still going strong even today.
In his own words:
“I will sing light… no matter how dense the darkness is”
He is ready to bear the consequences of his dreams because for him poetry is not just writing, it is living. His entire life is dedicated to the voice of Kashmir, its memories, its pain and the hope of a better future. Nazki Sahab’s works not only help in understanding Kashmir, but also tell the world how humanity, love and hope can remain alive even in the midst of struggle.
…
Altamash Ali is a sufi writer and a student at IFTM University.
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