RAH-I-MADINA…a collection of research and evaluation articles on Punjabi sufi poets by Muhammad Hasnain Bhatti; pp 438; Price Rs500 (hb); Publishers, Pride Prince Colour Printers, Ghazni Street, 38. Urdu Bazaar, Lahore.

The poets whose work has been studied by Hasnain are the above mentioned three plus Baba Farid Shakarganj (Pakpattan), Shah Husain (Lahore), Sultan Bahu (Jhang), Ali Haidar Multani (Khanewal, Toba Tek Singh), Baba Bulleh Shah (Kasur), Syed Waris Shah (Sheikhupura), Hashem Shah (Amritsar-Narowal) and Pir Syed Mehr Ali Shah (Golrra, Rawalpindi).

The author has focused on the commonalities found among all these mystic poets with reference to other mystic poets like Pushto`s Rahman Baba and Sindhi`s Shah Latif Bhittai and Sachal Sarmast. The basic point is religious and mystic, which played the part to unite them on one platform from where their followers moved toward an independent country. The main points discussed by Bhatti include belief in Allah, Islam and the Prophet (peace be upon him), caliphs and saints, tragedy of Karbala, great sufis and pirs, concept of sufis about Khudi and Bekhudi, political awareness of the sufi poets (referred to Pakistan Movement) their concept of a nation, their ideologies about knowledge and other issues.In Bhatti`s view the first remarkable point is that it was Punjab from which emanated the mysticism in the subcontinent and with that reference he asserts that it were the sufis who attracted the attention of non-Muslims and they embraced Islam. At a later stage these Muslims emerged as majority in Punjab and other areas, where sufi poets worked without any royal patronage. The situation was contrary to that because Muslims remained in minority in the areas where Muslim rulers directly ruled and were based.

The sufis were educated according to the fashion of the day through Persian and Arabic but they addressed the people at large in their mother tongue. This point has been seriously taken up by the author and he discussed in the very beginning the Punjabi language, its 19 dialects and differences among these. He includes a list of words, which are used in particular zones but frequently used by poets belonging to quite separate areas. The list includes:

This comparative study has become very important after some of the dialect-speakers have declared their dialects independent and separate from Punjabi. The poets who had claimed themselves as Punjabi have been quoted from all Punjab and include many other than the major poets under study: Ghulam Haidar Mastana (Multan), Haji Muhammad Bhatti (Gujranwala), Nabi Bukhsh Tulamba, Sachal Sarmast (Khairpur), Akbar Shah (Bahawalpur), Bagh Husain Kamal (Chakwal), Fazil Jhelumi (Jhelum), Mian Maskeen Bagarr Sargana, Abdur Rahman Chhohrvi (Haripur), Ghulam Qadir (Farid Kot), Ghulam Rasool (Gujranwala), Mian Aaqil Muhammad Jogi (Dera Ghazi Khan), Bibi Makhfi (Multan), Noshah Ganjbukhsh (Gujrat), Chiragh Awan (Dera Ghazi Khan), Fida Bibi Fidai (Hazara), Barda Peshawari, Maulvi Abdullah Lahori (Pakpattan), Shah Murad (Chakwal), Maulvi Abdul Kareem Jhangvi, Shah Sharaf Dhani and many others. Up to Khwaja Farid, Mian Muhammad Bukhsh and Maulvi Ghulam Rasool Hoshiarpuri, words for the language used by the poets were Hindi, Hindvi and Punjabi. No other word has been used by any of the stalwarts and a poet from Chakwal, Maulvi Muhammad Suleman, included in his book Maira’ajnama Kalan the following verse:

Bhatti is a teacher and perhaps he may be teaching history of Pakistan Movement to which he has serious objections. He has pointed out many shortcomings and asserts that the character of Punjab, Sindh, the former Frontier and Balochistan is not properly portrayed. Much of the credit is given to minority areas that deserve their due share but not at the cost of others.

Bhatti has briefly touched the movement of Shah Ismail Shaheed and Syed Ahmad Shaheed. This movement has always been projected as the prelude to the struggle of independence against the British. Actually, it was the movement having its roots in British United Province.

The British had not yet invaded Punjab, which was the only independent state or country in the subcontinent subjugated by foreigners. Ranjit Singh did not allow the British to advance toward Afghanistan through Punjab and this step was necessary to stop Russians. Many of the scholars, including those very sympathetic to Mujahideen, are of the opinion that Syed Ahmad Shaheed’s movement was instigated and supported by the British against Ranjit Singh. Ultimately Muslim Pathans failed the Mujahideen who had a certain set of beliefs that were not approved by local Pathans. It were the Pathans who paved the way for the defeat of Syed Ahmad and Shah Ismail Shaheed. About the remnants of the Tehreek, Ubaidullah Sindhi was very sorry to write that they were in miserable conditions supported by the British through Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum. — STM