PESHAWAR, March 6: Pushto poets and scholars paid tribute here on Saturday to Rehman Baba, a great sufi poet who had shown varied strains of spiritualism, philosophy, romanticism and aesthetics in his verses.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of Prof Taaha Khan's 'Mata-i-Fiqr,' an Urdu translation of verses of Rehman Baba, they said that the essence of the sufism and lyricism found in the poetry of Rehman Baba was even in the Urdu translation.

The ceremony, organised by the Pakistan Television, Peshawar centre, at a local hotel, was attended by poets, scholars, writers and artistes.

Pushto poet Abasin Yousufzai presented a paper on the Sufism in Rehman Baba's verses. "Poetry needs no language and a true poet can easily express his deepest and vaguest thoughts in the best possible way. Rehman Baba was one such poet who had this gift," Prof Yousufzai said.

He said that Prof Taaha Khan had tried to keep the originality of Rehman Baba in the translation and he had quite succeeded in it.

Mata-i-Fiqr is the fourth translation of the Pushto verses of Rehman Baba into Urdu. Raza Hamdani, Farigh Bukhari and Amir Hamza Shinwari had earlier translated the Sufi poet's works into Urdu.

Another poet Abdul Jalil Popalzai also appreciated the effort of Prof Taaha Khan and termed Mata-i-Fiqr the best Urdu translation of poetry.

Mr Popalzai drew a comparison of Rehman Baba's poetry with that of poets like Allam Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ghulam Muhammad Qasir. Rehman Baba used beautiful similes in his poetry, Mr Popalzai said.

"Iqbal and Faiz expressed those ideas and thoughts which had been presented centuries ago by Rehman Baba," Mr Popalzai said.

Reciting a few verses from Rehman Baba's collection, Mr Popalzai said that Rehman was an out spoken poet, a revolutionary who defied the rulers.

Prof Taaha Khan had translated Baba's poetry without depriving it of its essence and colours. The music in the poetry of Baba has been retained in the Urdu translation.

The book would help readers better understand the spiritualism, romanticism and music of Rehman Baba's poetry.

Salim Raaz, another Pushto poet and scholar, drew a comparison between the lifestyle and thoughts of the Sufi poet and Prof Taaha Khan. Both seemed carefree but in reality both had thoughts too deep for the ordinary man to grasp.

However, Mr Raaz said the Urdu translation of the Pushto verses was simple and to a great extent retained the originality.

The General Manager of PTV, Peshawar Centre, Farmanullah Jan, paid tribute to Rehman Baba, Prof Taaha Khan and musicians and singers who had sung Baba's poetry and made it immortal.

Sitara Younus and other local artistes sang verses of Rehman Baba on the occasion.