[Reader-list] Two Iqbals & One Faiz and AnalHaq

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Yasir
   
  Thank you for a wonderful mail. A stream I rushed over and then repeatedly negotiated up and down looking for the eddies and crisscrossing currents. When the limiting banks are spaced wide apart, the flow is a gentle one. Narrowness brings in raging ferocity.
   
  Yasir, I vent at you. Please feel free to say at any time "Basta Ya! (Enough)" (courtesy Naeem). My only defence is through Ghalib's lament "Koi chaarasaaz hotaa, koi ghamgusaar hotaa" (Where is the who will heal, the one who will share my sorrows)
   
  Yesterday, I tuned into PTV and the anchor mentioned the guest's name. I think it was Khurram Shafique Ali. Strange coincidence if it was the same Khurram that you have mentioned. He spoke on Sufism inter-sped with some lovely singing by Iqbal "Bahu".
   
  He sectionalised 500 year periods, beginning with the time of the Ummayads and the latest one of Shah Waliullah and Iqbal. And he said something that was amazing. The first Sufis he said were Abubaqar and Ali. 
   
  The traditions linked with Ali and Shian e Ali  are often talked about in connection with Sufism (especially reaching back into the controversial "Mun kunto maula, fa Ali un Maula" - "Ali too is the master of one who accepts me as master") but the first Khalifa being mentioned was something astounding for me. I have read opinions that the etymology of word Sufi was from the dress made out of Soof (wool) that some of the Sahabas wore but it was the first time I came across any linkage with Abubaqar.  
   
  The "soof" to "Sufi" route is dismissed by some through a Rivaayat quoting Aisha saying that Mohammad hated the smell of wool. (Not ascribing this to it, but the politics of Hadeeths and Rivaayats is an intriguing subject)
   
  Another interesting perspective on this (not by Khurram) is that Mohammad was the finest Sufi, one in direct communion with Allah (Jibreel notwithstanding) and that is THE "stage" to reach. Al Kamil (complete)
   
  You mention "fanaa" in connection with Analhaq. To me "fanaa" suggests motility. Because of my own background perhaps, I am drawn more towards the "awareness" in "Vahdat ul Vajood" (Oneness of All, no distinction between Creator and Creation) even if the two are inter-linked.
   
  Most times when I have spoken about the Sufiana aspect of Iqbal, it has been received with derision. Your explanations Yasir, and having heard Khurram yesterday, reaffirmed my faith that I have not been blasphemous.
   
  I then see strange contradictions in some commentators (including Dr Israr Ahmed) when they quote Iqbal in the midst of the overall thrust of what they preach/advocate.
   
  Iqbal did prod Jinnah towards Lands for Muslims (plural is important but thats another story), but nowhere have I (this far) come across Iqbal denigrating other religions (as being different from denigrating the people of another religion that he did not want Muslims to live with in subjugation because of being a minority).  Certainly not the Iqbal in the period of "Ram e Hind" is "Jaam e Hind" and neither after becoming a London-Returned Dr Iqbal (his defining period). Maybe my knowledge is limited.
   
  Iqbal, however failed in his Islamo-political vision with a secularism-insistent Jinnah. That Jinnah too failed is another story.
   
  That leaves Faiz. Will leave Faiz or rather cradle him into another post.
   
  Once again Yasir, accept my thanks.
   
  

yasir ~ <yasir.media at gmail.com> wrote: 
  sorry havent had a chance to reply. keeping up with the list is
impossible at the moment due to my own engagements and the daunting
list volume... and the repititious predictable arguments with
occasional gems here and there ...

I agree that things apparently black and white become so many shades of grey.

so, sufism or (other form of religion) may be deeply personal, but
there are also some distinct (and living) traditions, practices and
trends including heretical, heterodox, orthodox and
absorption/rejection of the ideas in specific ways depending on the
(religious) frames of reference (such as particular sunni/shia
subsects). so yes there are different types, schools (tariqa),
traditions, amalgamations, and practices - which sometimes borrow from
christian, jewish, sadhu, hindu ideas and practices. they may also be
geographically distinct.

with iqbal as one goes through his distnct 5 stages gaining the
wisdoms of Adam/transcendence, Angels/freedom, Soul/action,
Love/expansion and Civilization/creation, the last is the
understanding of society and history as creation, after having gone
through the rest. Khurram Shafique claims iqbal follows this pattern
in an enigmatic way throughout his works, poems, prose works and down
to the structure and order of couplets in his poems !

analhaq isa certain historical moment - it really is the expression of
'fana' - disappeance into a larger entity - the metaphysics of this
(god, man etc) and the eschatology (stages/states and
identifications/relations) is different for different sufis living in
different times - with all the above also applying. for faiz the
historical moment of offering ones head is a small step, a
particularly rebellious step against the oppressors (intolerant of
realities other than of their own power) - who would rather have this
version of reality (in the head and person) obliterated. In such a
scenario how can the ethos fail to be religious.

Maududi does have a sufistic background/environment but he came to
dislike it as wasted effort quite early. his reading of history is not
orthodox such as on the early caliphate (khilafat aur malookiat - but
i would not be able to say anything more specific than this.

frequently the beloved is god. this scheme with much elaboration,
symbolism and nuances
is there in early sufis as well as ghazal of khomeini, ghalib or faiz.
while this may be a problem (if taken literally) for atheists who are
fundamentalist insisting on a strong form of materialism (metaphysics
in which matter is the primary material), this may not be a problem
for dualists (mind and matter), monists of the other king
(mind/spirit/god as primary) and agnostics (who has seen the other
side - we might get a surprise). this doesnt exhaust the possibilities
or the arguments.

While my guess would be: faiz leaning towards agnosticism, his basic
definition of truth is something like, following the trail of the
beloved. on the other hand (from intizar hussain) faiz would be what
is a cultural muslim for whom the debate about god's existence is
meaningless.

this is a fairly common attitude for non-religious types in every trade.

Kshemendra, i find your urges and observations fascinating. this is
heterodoxy and probably what is most interesting in itself - but of
least interest to bigots, alas. you been hanging out in the wrong
places sometimes without a choice.

best


On 9/12/07, Kshmendra Kaul wrote:
> Dear Rahul and Yasir and all other interested ones
>
> "These matters that with myself I too much discuss
> Too much explain"
> From Ash Wednesday by T S Eliot
_________________________________________
reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
Critiques & Collaborations
To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list 
List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>

       
---------------------------------
Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.