Sunday ka Funda

Initially it was only curiosity to watch a group of Americans reminiscent of Woodstock singing Sufi qawwali. As I kept listening, it struck me that it was not merely about breaking the music and culture barrier. It was about being free from the very thought of walls.

The qawwali is an acquired taste, and takes huge amounts of patience. The good thing is that like classical music and dance, if you 'tune in' then you don't need technical knowledge. I must emphasise, and I am being a tad bit defensive, that 'Allah' here could be seen as a superior power, even a superior self.



This poem by Kahlil Gibran is an extension of what I was attempting to say at the beginning:

Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Sunday ka Funda

In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,
But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."

- Farid ud Din Attar

- - -

"Come,
let's scatter roses and pour wine in the glass
we'll shatter heaven's roof and lay a new foundation.
If sorrow raises armies to shed the blood of lovers,
I'll join with the wine bearer so we can overthrow them.
With a sweet string at hand, play a sweet song, my friend,
so we can clap and sing a song and lose our heads in
dancing."

- Hafiz (Ghani-Qazvini)

Relief from belief

Stephen Hawking is baulking at the wrong evolutionary tree. He may choose gravity over God to rationalise the creation of the universe, but how does one explain away religion? Faith cannot be exclusive of creation, and it has provisions in it for the idea of destruction as well. Elemental and human factors come together to prop up holiness ...

Society gives no breathing space to those who do not believe in anything of a sacramental nature.

--> Full column at Express Tribune:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/47277/relief-from-belief/

Filling Empty

There are times when you wonder whether you are right or someone is wrong. These are not the same. Your rightness does not denote another's wrongness.

Anyway, I recall a qawwali we heard often when we were young, "Bhar do jholi meri Ya Mohamed, laut kar main na jaaonga khali..." There was challenge in that 'prayer'. I liked that aspect. When I came across this other version, an almost complete departure, I did not know how to react. It was like the child in me was left to roam, lost in the woods even while sitting under the shade of a tree.

I am growing to like it, forming my own visuals. Filling the emptiness..."Khat'm kar de khaalipan"

Bhar de jholi - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Sunday ka Funda

Rumi was sitting next to a pond intellectualizing over his numerous religious books - his precious possessions – when Shams Tabrez ‘happened’ to pass by, stopped and asked him, ‘what is this?’ Rumi, without looking up, egoistically said, ‘leave me alone!’ Tabrez then repeated, ‘what is this?’ Then Rumi looked up and said, ‘can’t you see I’m busy; besides, this is a knowledge of which you know nothing about!’

Tabrez then went and picked up the most valuable one of Rumi’s books and tossed it right into the waterpond, which, of course, infuriated Rumi. Rumi screamed, ‘you crazy man! look what you’ve done; my prize possession is ruined!’

Upon hearing that, Tabrez immediately reached into the pond, fetched-out the book and handed it to Rumi – completely whole and dry! Rumi, in total amazement and wonder, asked, ‘what is this?’ – to which Shams Tabrez replied, ‘this is a knowledge of which you know nothing about.’

- - -

“Outwardly, you are equal to a particle. Inwardly, you are equal to a hundred suns” -Shams Tabrez