[Reader-list] Ghalib and the damn Muslim problem

[gaurav dikshit]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: gaurav dikshit <gauravdik at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 9, 2008 at 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Ghalib and the damn Muslim problem
To: Raheema Begum <theunderscoredhood at gmail.com>


Ghalib scholar Ralph Russell on himself:
I was born in 1918. I became a communist at the age of 16 and am still
content to call myself one despite the traumatic experiences from 1946
onwards of the corruption and eventual collapse of the communist movement
and the Soviet Union, because I still hold to the humanist values which made
me a communist.
[From here <http://www.ralphrussell.co.uk/about.html>]

Now I am not poor, then why do I feel distressed and pained whenever I hear
of a tragedy befalling the wretched of the earth?
I ain't no nationalist or patriot, then why cannot I imagine living anywhere
except India?
Really, it's about humanism, and we call it by different names depending on
what culture we identify with: Comrades, Muslims, Indians, Biharis.

And Ghalib's words should always be taken with a pinch of salt, except when
he bemaons that he has no money left. One of Ghalib's tricks to answer
charges of blasphemy was to say "kya karoon, shaitaan Ghalib hai", which
could mean Satan is conquering Ghalib, or that Ghalib (conqueror) himself is
Satan.

Bandagi mein bhee voh aazaad-o-khudbeen hain ke ham
Ultey phir aaey dar-e-Ka'abah agar va na hua





On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 11:07 PM, Raheema Begum <theunderscoredhood at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I meant 'fitrat', and yes, I need some amal too.
> This is from Tulu-e-Islam, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRM90iEIK_U
>
>
> On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 11:02 PM, Raheema Begum <
> theunderscoredhood at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > as far as this space is concerned, my lament has always been this :
> >
> > yeh khaki apni kismat mein na noori hai na naari hai
> >
> > Raheema.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:17 PM, ambarien qadar <ambarien at yahoo.co.uk>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Ofcourse the 'Half muslim' anecdote is very much true..atleast in the
> > > world I come from!
> > > Many of my closest friends would drink wine and would not eat
> > > pork....this is more to do with cultural influences rather than
> anything
> > > else.
> > > Frankly, they give a damn to who is saying what to whom or had said
> what
> > > to whom or whether they will be less muslims by doing it or will be
> more if
> > > they do not, before they raise the toast
> > > Nevertheless, we are labelled so all the time...It also brings the
> > > hijab-jeans, combo to my mind amongst other things...
> > > This surely is an interesting thread. I'm thinking through some it...
> > > But Ghalib perhaps is not the right reference for this thread.
> > > I'm already thinking of someone like Iqbal.
> > > Cheers
> > > Ambarien
> > >
> > >
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