Monthly Archives: October 2007

My young friend, Salman Chishty, from Ajmer (India) wrote this piece for the HT on the eve of Rumi’s birth anniversary. (more…)

General Post Office sits at the top of the commercial Murree Mall. (more…)

I am posting this serene poem by Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980), a  famous contemporary Iranian poet and painter. (more…)

How rarely these few years, as work keeps us aloof,
Or fares, or one thing or another,
Have we had days to spend under our parents’ roof:
Myself, my sister, and my brother.
All five of us will die; to reckon from the past
This flesh and blood is unforgiving.
What’s hard is that just one of us will be the last
To bear it all and go on living

Vikram Seth

140 dead and 538 injured – this little byline cuts through hearts and our future!

Yesterday was the day of images – moving pictures of excitement, energy, applause and then the saddest of recent tragedies. (more…)

From Rumi’s Mathnavi (book III) – a parable most beautiful. (more…)

Pearapong Khireewong is an extremely talented artist who hails from Southern Thailand and has captured the pathos of the bullets that were sprayed on the local populationand later the peace offensive by the now deposed Prime Minister Thaksin.

I was stunned by the light and statements that this canvas made. The painting above is entitled: The Bullet Holes in Narathiwat (Acrylic on canvas , 130 x 150 cm).

Another stunning work is entitled: Monument of the Selfless Heroes (Acrylic on canvas , 120 x 150 cm). Here the light conveys hope and the tidings of the renewal. The paper birds were used to calm the restive provinces. This news-item provides more detail:

“Military aircraft gently bombed southern Thailand with 100 million paper birds Sunday in a gesture intended to promote peace in mainly Muslim provinces where more than 500 people have died this year in attacks by separatist militants and countermeasures by security forces.” (more…)

I was sent the captioned article by a friend. Thankfully, not a pessimistic perspective on contemporary Pakistan. (more…)

ATP has published my post on Saira Wasim’s extraordinary art:

Saira Wasim is a prominent Pakistani miniaturist. I found a link to her website hidden in my unread emails. Some of her recent paintings are terrific. The image below is borrowed from here. It is dedicated to Queen of Meldoy, Noor Jehan.

“There is an eclectic mix of realism, comedy and circus – there is movement and drama alive in the miniature format.….Wasim is expanding the frontiers of the traditional genre of miniature painting. It is a tremendous service to keep this art form alive and relevant.”

Read the full post here

This little poem by the famous Turk poet Aziz Nesin was left on Jahane Rumi by Sherry – I love it so much that I am re-posting it here -

You made me wait so long, so long that
I got used to missing you
You came back after a long time
I now love longing for you more
than I love you

(translated by Suleyman Fatih Akgul)

It’s a habit of yours to walk slowly.

You hold a grudge for years.

With such heaviness, how can you be modest?

With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.

Right now you’re equal portions clay

and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set.

He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.

You are so weak. Give up to grace.

The ocean takes care of each wave

till it gets to shore.

You need more help than you know.

You’re trying to live your life in open scaffolding.

Say Bismillah, In the name God,

As the priest does with knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self

to find your real name.
From “The Essential Rumi”published by Castle Books.

Ramadan came, but Bairam is with us.
The lock came, but the key is with us.

Mouth is closed. Eyes are opened.
That brilliance that the eyes see is with us.

We have cleaned soul and heart with fasting.
The dirt which has been with us is cleansed now.

Some stress comes from fasting,
But the invisible treasure of heart is with us.

Ramadan came to the heart’s temple;
The one who created heart is with us.

Since Salahuddin* is among this crowd,
Mansur and Beyazid* are with us.

^ Eid in TurkishÂ

*Salahuddin: Rumi’s closest spiritual companion and disciple following the final disappearance of Shams-e Tabriz, whom he put in charge of the spiritual training of his disciples.

*Mansur and Beyazid: two famous Sufis of the past, Mansur al-Hallaj and Beyazid Bestami.

– Ghazal No. 370 from the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi Translated by Nevit Ergin
(from the Turkish translation of the original
Persian by Golpinarli)
“Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi: Divan-i Kebir,”
Volume 18, 2002.

Courtesy

Agar Gaiti Sarasar Bad Girad,
Chiragh-e-Chishtiyan Hargiz Namirad

If the entire universe is devastated by the storm
the lamp of Chishtiyan shall not cease to illuminate

Just as Eid announcement was made in this part of the world, the sad news of bomb blasts in India were splashed all over TV channels. In particular, the blast in Ajmer Shareef – opposite the dargah – was shocking. Despicable and pusillanimous!

How could the enemies of peace target a shrine that is above the Muslim/Hindu and other formal identities. Ajmer is the fulcrum of a Sufi practice and represents the broad spiritual, syncretistic consensus in South Asia.

The reaction of authorities was quite predictable as if an automated, pre-recorded message was ready with the officials:

Union Home Ministry sources in Delhi said it was a terror strike in which militants had used a low-intensity improvised explosive device.

They said the terror outfits, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, were against Sufi Islam and they could be prime suspects behind the blast which came barely 10 days ahead of the meeting of Indo-Pakistan anti-terror mechanism here on October 22…

However, the latter has some validity as we have a track record whereby the extremist elements always resist any progress towards the much needed peace – Let us not be daunted by this cowardice.

But this is so so sad. Though in the words of the devotees:

Ilahi ta-abd-astana-i-yar-rahe
Yeh-asra-hai-gharibon-ka-barqarar rahe

Oh God, may this Shrine of the beloved exist till the last day
may this refuge of the poor remain forever!

Raza Rumi was interviewed at the Pak Spectator blog. My interview is nothing but rambling galore; but I did relish answering the various questions. I am not sure why I was asked about my preferred travel destination[s], but I did enjoy the day-dreaming:

That top most travel destination would have to be Turkey. I am fascinated by the confluence of civilizations and cultures that is embedded in contemporary Turkish reality. You move from one town with Greek remains and enter into an area where Roman splendours or ruins await you and then you hear the sound of azaan and it just becomes an incredible journey into history and world cultures. And of course, Konya where Rumi lived is also in Turkey.

My second choice would be Indonesia: another country with beautiful rainforests, mountains, beaches and rich history. I love Java Island and have written a little bit about it as well.

I suppose the third choice is the African continent. There is immense, raw beauty there that brings once closer to the primordial connection with Nature. I want to go there again and again. I haven’t been to Western and Southern parts and am eager to go as soon as I have some savings for this purpose.

Read the full interview here.

Shameless self-promotion!

Today, ATP published this post of mine that attempts to look at some of the uncomfortable aspects of the way Holy month is practised by the believers. I have to state here that SA’s blog inspired me to write this, even though I am not half as qualified to comment on such issues.

“O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation.”Al Quran- [2:183]

“….in all fairness we need to be a little truthful particularly in the month when we need to take a closer look at our conduct. Each year, Ramzan generates much of the usual piety and loud proclamations about how the Satan is chained in this month and the doors of repentance are let open upon the believers. We have grown up internalizing these views and therefore a majority of Muslim population across the globe fasts and prays for Divine mercy.

Essentially this month is a time of cleansing one’s soul as well as the body. However, every Ramzan witnesses some distasteful activities by the believers that come hand in hand with the rituals of the holy month.

First, the consumerism: forget about the cleansing of the system “ there is an overemphasis on food when it should be the last item on our priorities. There are Iftaars galore and rich fatty foods are added to the diet like never before. A lavish Iftaar (across the board) is followed by a sumptuous dinner. There are Iftar packages everywhere from small stalls to five star hotels. And, the whole purpose of the exercise is somewhat undermined by the food-fest[s] indulged in by all and sundry.

A few words on the despicable behaviour of the profiteers and hoarders nowadays defined as the ultimate magic bullet  the market. This year the prices of basic staple diet atta reached the skies when a sack of wheat flour was sold at Rs 320-340 much higher than the fixed prices. Not content with this, there was an average increase of 10-11 per cent in all the food items. Now if this is the official statistic, then the actual figure is bound to be higher. I have no estimate but judging by stories in the media it was much much higher.

Imagine the poor of Pakistan who constitute 24-34 per cent of the total figure (depends on the measure and source one adopts). They have had a tough time this Ramzan. And, then all this piety and repentance? The Federal Bureau of Statistics has reported an increase of 12.61% increase was seen in the ratio of dearness for the low income group during this time in comparison to the last year.

I can even imagine that those benefiting from the hikes would give massive amounts of charity, offer all the prayers (perhaps more through the nawaafil) and think that they would wash away their crimes and misdemeanours. Indeed the ultimate arbiter and decision maker of their deeds is the Almighty but one cannot help notice the irony of this situation.

The spirit of Ramzan also stresses the redistributive aspect of Islamic practices. The giving of Zakat at the end of the month is also mandatory for Muslims. In the past a hash was made of the Zakat system put into place by the Zia regime where all these funds were diverted and used for political and strategic gains. This trend has been somewhat arrested but pilferage continues. And, I will not say more on the new status symbol of the elites  an Umra towards the end of the holy month “where hundreds and thousands of rupees are spent while a majority of poor put up the posters of Kaaba on their cracking walls.

Road rage is also another trend during the month and many a people think that fasting has to do with starvation “our speech and thoughts need to fast as well. Do they? Rumi rightly said:

Wash your hands and your mouth, neither eat nor speak; seek that speech and that morsel which has come to the silent ones.

There is much too much emphasis on the ritual and the spirit of our great religion is the real casualty of the way we practice religion in the land of the pure. About time someone explained the words Taqwa and Tazkia-e Nafs in their entirety. I end with these words.

There is more to be said here but may God forgive me for this rant. Perhaps I am also a victim of that impatience that I am supposed to contain.