Poets

Zia Fatehabadi (Urdu: ضیاء فتح آبادی ) (Hindi: ज़िया फ़तेहाबादी ), born Mehr Lal Soni (Urdu:مهر لال سونی ) (Hindi: मेहर लाल सोनी ), was a renowned Urdu ghazal and nazm writer. He was a disciple (shaagird) of Syed Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui Seemab Akbarabadi (1882–1951) who was a disciple of Nawab Mirza Khan Daagh Dehlawi. He took on the takhallus (nom de plume) of Zia meaning "Light" on the suggestion of his teacher, Ghulaam Qadir Farkh Amritsari.

Early Life

Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi was born on 9 February 1913, at Kapurthala, Punjab, as the eldest son of Munshi Ram Soni, a Civil Engineer by profession, whose family, it is believed, had at some time during the reign of the Mughal ruler, Shahjahan, migrated from Rajasthan to Punjab and settled at Fatehabad, Punjab ( PIN Code:143407 ) near Tarn Taran.

His forefather, belonging to the Kapila Gotra Kshatriya clan, who had then migrated to Fatehabad is yet to be identified, however, according to the available records kept preserved by the Pandas i.e. the Family priests who conduct the Last Rites,at Haridwar the name of Mehr Lal’s great-great-great grandfather, Tansukh Rai Soni, the son of Badri Das and was the grandson of Badal Das Soni, and who had visited Haridwar in the year 1773 has been found documented as also are the name(s) of his son, Amolak Ram, whose son, Mool Raj, was the father of Jyoti Ram, and who was also the grandfather of Munshi Ram. Munshi Ram Soni, the son of Tara Chand Soni, was Mehr Lal Son..