PESHAWAR: The three-day celebrations of Rahman Baba Urs ended here with the holding of a Pashto mushaira at the Rahman Baba Complex in Hazarkhwani area here on Sunday.

Organised under the auspices of Rahman Baba Adabi Jirga, over 200 Pashto poets paid tribute to the Sufi poet.

The mushaira was divided into two sessions due to the presence of poets in large numbers. Noted writers Prof Asmeer Mangal and Prof Zubair Hasrat presided over the first and second sessions, respectively.

Pashto mushaira held as Sufi poet’s Urs concludes

General secretary of Rahman Baba Adabi Jirga Atlas Gul Atlas told Dawn that around 260 poets from across the province attended the event.

He said more and more guest poets attended the event every year.

“Not all guest poets get the chance to recite their poems due to the shortage of time. We give budding Pashto bards the opportunity to read out their work for their encouragement and confidence,” he said.

During a daylong seminar at Khana-i-Farhang, Iran, on Saturday, the speakers declared Rahman Baba a social reformer and political critic of his time.

They regretted that scholars had ignored the most important aspect of Rahman Baba’s life, which showed his deep insight into social and political issues of the people, and reduced him to a Sufi mendicant.

The speakers said Rahman Baba (1632-1710) was not a Sufi poet restricted to his inner self only but he was well aware of the social and political injustices and had shown serious reservations about the Mughal government through his poetry.

Around 20 commendation certificates and shields were given to scholars on literary services and bringing out books on various topics, while the Rahman Baba Adabi Jirga also launched ‘Rahman Pohana’ (Understanding Rahman Baba - a review research journal) on the occasion.

Dr Tahir Hameed Tanoli, assistant director at the Iqbal Academy, Lahore, who was the chief guest at the event, said parallels could be drawn between Allama Mohammad Iqbal and Rahman Baba due to their Sufi thoughts and political awareness as both had advocated a society free from want, social injustice and sectarian preferences.

He said both poets believed in humanism, peace, and universal brotherhood.

Poets, writers and research scholars attended the event.

Director general of Khana-i- Farhang, Iran Syed Mohammad Abbas Famuri and general secretary and patron in-chief of Rahman Baba Adabi Jirga Malik Wazir Khan were also among the participants.

Chairing the function, Pashto writer Salim Raz said it would be an injustice to confine Rahman Baba to one aspect of his life.

He said in addition to Sufi thoughts, Rahman Baba had social and political wisdom and had openly criticised Mughal king Aurangzeb Alamgir (1618-1707).

Prof Hanif Khalil, in his paper, said Rahman Baba had criticised Khanism and Malakism (feudalism and capitalism) in his poetry and after reading it thoroughly, one could never assume that he had turned his back on the world’s affairs and instead, he had used his intellect and wisdom to guide his people on social and political issues of his time.

Following the Pashto mushaira, the third-day Urs celebrations came to an end with the distribution of langar and recitation of Rahman Baba’s kalam in the form of qawwali by folksingers.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2019