LARKANA, a historic city in Sindh, has witnessed a myriad of marauders and rulers. It was once called Chandka, after the Chandias, or Chandios, who held political sway over the area centuries ago. Larkana was known in the British era as ‘The Eden of Sindh’ for its fertile agricultural lands and orchards.

But the fertility of Larkana and the surrounding areas is not restricted to agricultural products: it has produced even in the recent history such towering figures as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto to name but a few. Similarly, it is not the politicians and rulers alone and writers, poets and intellectuals are as familiar and ubiquitous in the area as guava trees and rice paddies.

Muslim Shamim’s new book ‘Larkana ke chahar dervash’ tries to capture the lives of four intellectuals and activists from Larkana, who, the author says, should be called ‘dervishes’ since their philosophy and the lives they lived are as pure and as ascetic as that of a dervish. “Many personalities of the literary world such as Kishan Chand Biyus, Husamuddin Rashdi, Ali Muhammad Rashdi, Jamal Abro, Ayaz Qadri, Maulana Ghulam Mustafa Qasmi, Allah Dad Bohiyo and many others belong to Larkana”, writes Abdur Razzaq Soomro in the foreword to the book. He says: “After the creation of Pakistan, too, many renowned literary figures migrated from India and settled in Larkana, including Samad Rizvi Saaz, Arshi Kiratpuri, Mohsin Bhopali, Shaukat Abidi and Muslim Shamim”.

Muslim Shamim is a poet and writer and has also worked as a teacher and journalist. Known for his leftist leaning and progressive ideas, he has been very active in the literary circles of Larkana, Sukkur and Karachi.

The book briefly narrates the lives and struggle of the four personalities who “were multifaceted idealists. Their idealism began with humanism and ended at class struggle”. The four personalities are: Comrades Syed Jamaluddin Bukhari, Hyder Bakhsh Jatoi, Moulvi Nazeer Hussain Jatoi and Sobho Gian Chandani.

Additionally, the book describes the struggle of Shah Inayat, a 17th century Sufi from Jhok, a town near Thatta. Shah Inayat had popularised the slogan ‘Land to the tillers’ back then. He had advised his disciples to carry out collective cultivation, a kind of system that communist philosophy favours. Worried that it could translate into a full-fledged revolution, the landlords and feudal lords asked Sufi Inayat and his disciples to negotiate and reach an agreement, writes Muslim Shamim. But the Sufi was treacherously arrested and a few days later killed. He was beheaded on Jan 7, 1718. As background information, Muslim Shamim has also briefly described the historical perspective of the Haari (tiller) Movement in Sindh.

The book has been published by Karachi’s Naqsh Publications in collaboration with Larkana Sangat.

Another book that speaks of dervishes is ‘Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and other Sufi poets of Pakistani languages’. Originally written in Sindhi by Dr Kamal Jamro and Tariq Aziz Shaikh, the book has been rendered into English by Saleem Noor Husain. The book consists of five articles, three of which are by Kamal Jamro and two by Tariq Aziz Shaikh. These articles basically compare Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s poetry with the poetry of the Sufi poets of other Pakistani languages such as Pashto, Punjabi, Saraiki, Balochi and Urdu. So the poetry of Bhitai is juxtaposed by the two researchers with that of Rahman Baba, Bulleh Shah, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Jam Duruk and Khwaja Mir Dard.

Explaining the theme of the book in her preface, Dr Fahmida Hussain says: “There are a number of Sufi poets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan who have presented ‘Tassawwuf’ [mysticism] in the garb of poetry. We have selected one poet from every major language spoken in Pakistan for comparing their verses with those of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai in order to bring out the topical similarity with them”.

The book is published by the culture, tourism and antiquities department of government of Sindh.

It is quite nice to see the message of the Sufis, who basically spread love and peace, being researched, explained and published. But one has to keep two things in mind: that the message of Sufism is essentially the message of Islam. Secondly, why is it so that the west suddenly became interested in spreading the message of Sufism in the post 9/11 scenario? As is evident from the preface to the book penned by Dr Jamro, the US state department is taking a deep interest in Sufism: “I was invited by the state department to visit the USA in July 2011 and honoured there especially because of this book [Sindhi version published earlier]. Does it mean that now it is a part of the duties of the state department to promote the message of Sufis, which in essence is an Islamic one? Let us hope it is as simple as that.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com