Post tagged Rehman - Jahane Rumi

Pakistan’s martial state is a self-perpetuating reality

22 June 2009

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The Taliban phenomenon was erroneously, and rather dangerously, projected as a herald of a new dawn

The Pakistani state policy of nurturing jihad factories over the decades is staring back at its architects, supporters and sponsors. Zafar Hilaly, a close aide of the late Benazir Bhutto, recently divulged in his memoirs that BB had confessed how the support to the Taliban was perhaps her most regrettable mistake. She could recognise it was more of a function of being out of the power ambit for nearly a decade. The compulsions of exercising power and playing it by the rules set by the national security obsessed state are perhaps germane to Pakistan’s creation as an insecure postcolonial state that was neither prepared not committed to reverse the colonial modes of governance. (more…)

Whatever shrine I go to

7 April 2009

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Another readable piece by Dr Sher Zaman Taizi

This poem in ghazal form is very simple and direct. It starts with a direct address to God and gradually moves on to ethical values, human needs and human nature. I will try to transliterate the original Pushto verses into English with the hope that readers will be able to appreciate its meaning.

Not for a single moment, am I indifferent to You! Not indifferent to Your invocation and reflection! Whatever shrine I go to, I have You in mind!

I am not interested in any pilgrimage to mosque or temple! (more…)

Nightingale of Peshawar falls silent

28 March 2009

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My piece published in The Friday Times

The bombing of Rehman Baba’s shrine is more proof that we are slipping, inch by inch, into an abyss. It is as if the soul of Peshawar, and by extension that of the whole of Pakistan has been scarred by those barbaric bombs and grenades. Among other ironies of the situation, this one stands out: the late Baba was instrumental in disseminating the message of Islam in the Khyber valley and beyond. And today the zealots destroy his shrine for being un-Islamic! A poet of love and tolerance, of amity and forgiveness to be treated in this manner displays how brutal we have become as a society and how fissured our state is. Otherwise a successor of a mighty steel frame, the indigenised state has surely given up to the hordes that are now hell bent on destroying Pakistan.

Rahman Baba was born in 1632 A.D. at Bahadur Kala, a village close to Peshawar. The Pashtuns hold his work in high esteem and his rank in Pashto poetry matches that of Hafiz Shirazi in Persian literature. The simple, down to earth and universal messages of his poetry have been revered by the Pashtuns as well as many adherents of the Sufi creed in South Asia and elsewhere.

In Afghanistan too, Rehman Baba was an icon and his muse was referred to as the ‘heart-beat’ of every Afghan. A friend told me how Saidu Baba, the famed saint of the now destroyed Swat valley, remarked that if the Pashtuns were to pray from a book other than the Holy Quran it would definitely be Rahman Baba’s work. But nothing describes Baba better than what Janes Enveldson had named him: the “Nightingale of Peshawar.” Alas, nightingales do not sing in gardens that have been ruined by long, harsh winters or other cataclysms such as hatred and violence. (more…)

“Desecration of Rahman Baba’s tomb is desecration of humanity”

7 March 2009

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The SCN press release echoes my sentiments at the disgusting act of vandalism in Peshawar. It is a befitting metaphor for the barbaric bigotry and the ineffectual state – a dangerous mix.

It is a matter of national shame for Pakistan to have sunk this low. Rahman Baba (1653 -1711 AD) commands a universal following for his mystic syncretism, has now fallen prey to the cannibalistic doctrine of bigotry and intolerance. (more…)

A R Rahman’s devotion to Khawaja Muinuddin Chishty

14 March 2008

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Music and Love share a primordial bond. None other than the legendary and a genius of our times Allah Rakah Rahman, better known to the world as A.R. Rahman appreciates it at a much deeper level. The composer who has been honoured by the world and the subcontinent, he is a follower of the Chishty school of Sufism.

After a glorious career path and adding melody to South Asian music, A R Rahman has set up a music conservatory in India dedicated to none other than Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz of Ajmer. Two letters, K and M, are lucky for Rahman and also reflect his devotion to the great Saint, his teachings and all-encompassing spirituality.

This is perhaps why his latest composition for the film Jodhaa Akbar – Khawaja Meray Khawaja – is a matchless piece. It is subtle and moves at a pace akin to that of a lover’s – slow yet impatient, heavy and full of yearning. It is a separate matter that the film-maker turned it into a nightmare of pop-Sufi icons – whirling dervishes in medieval Ajmer and with fake beards.

Here is the Khwaja Meray Khawaja’s amazing track. Ignore the video – just listen to it. For lyrics and their competent translation.