KARACHI: The tragedy of Karbala created a universal legacy (aalami miraas) manifesting itself in a variety of disciplines including literature. And this treasure doesn’t belong only to the ahl-i-tashayyu; it belongs to the entire world. This was articulated by eminent scholar Dr Nomanul Haq in his recent lecture titled Karbala Aur Urdu Aur Farsi Adabiyaat.

Dr Haq, dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, said when he was 13 years old he read a ghazal by Mirza Ghalib one of whose verses has stayed with him ever since. Although at the time his rational faculty couldn’t get its content, which goes to show that in order to grasp a couplet or verse it’s not important to have cognition of its content, there are many ways to grasp it. Poetry is a form of expression which elevates thought to the level of feeling.

He told a discerning audience that the tragedy of Karbala provided inspiration to Ghalib. [Because] “Karbala changed the history of mankind.”

Dr Haq then recited the ghazal:
Gar khaamshi se faida ikhfa-i-haal hai
Khush hun ke meri baat samjhna muhaal hai
Wahshat pe meri arsa-i-afaaq tang tha
Darya zameen ko araq-i-infaal hai
Mushkeen libas-i-Kaaba Ali ke qadam se jaan
Naaf-i-zameen hai na ke naaf-i-ghazaal hai
Hasti ke mat fareb mein aa jayo Asad
Aalam tamaam halqa-i-daam-i-khayal hai

[If being silent helps conceal what my heart feels
I’m glad that what I say is hard to comprehend
The earth is not vast enough to encapsulate my frenzy
The river comes across as the sweat of embarrassment on earth
The musk odour of the Kaaba’s cover is because of Ali
It is the earth’s navel, not the navel of the deer
Don’t get deceived by the appearance of your existence
The universe is nothing but thought ensnared]

Dr Haq said the verse ‘Mushkeen libaas-i-Kaaba’ is very close to his heart. He lauded the poet for his craft and talent by using the pearls that have come out of Hazrat Ali’s ocean-like being by using words such as mushkeen and ghazaal. Subsequently, when he [Dr Haq] grew up and was able to get the contents of the poem it wasn’t the same as when he had felt it earlier — which was more precious.

Dr Haq said the tragedy of Karbala shook the entire Aalam-i-Islam at the time. There were those who became ta’aib [penitent] and wondered why they didn’t side with Imam Husain. Much after what had transpired on the battlefield, when people began to realise the magnitude of the issue, the Ahle Bayt came out of the stream of history and became a universal force. In this context the scholar repeated a sentence that he wrote in one of his pieces, “Ali was raised from the domain of history to the domain of metaphysics.”

Dr Haq said Karbala turned the Ahle Bayt into a metaphor, and in poetry metaphor is deemed more important than reality. Allama Iqbal, he said, used this beautifully:

Qaafila-i-Hijaz mein aik Husain bhi nahin
Garche hai tabdaar abhi gaisu-i-Dajla-o-Furaat

[The caravan of Hijaz doesn’t have a single Husain
Though the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates are bright as ever]

The scholar then returned to Hazrat Ali and Ghalib’s remarkable manqabat, Dahr juz jalwa-i-yaktaai ma’ashuq naheen. After that he touched upon Iqbal and his inimitable Persian poetry on Karbala. He lamented that Iqbal cannot be discussed the way he deserves arguing that the ‘milieu’ that required to do that has been lost. One of the verses of Iqbal that he quoted was:

Ramz-i-Quran az Husain aamokhtam
Za aatish-i-ao shola ha andhokhtam

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020