The controversy about Firdausi’s derogatory poem

FIRDAUSI (940-1020 AD) is among the great poets of the world. He has done not only his countrymen proud, but has left behind an image of Mahmud Ghaznavi which is more damaging in the Muslim World than what it is in Hindu India.

What’s that which harmed Mahmud most: he didn’t keep his word with Firdausi and his dismantling the Muslim principalities of Mansura and Multan along with his intermittent invasions of India culminating in the ransacking of the temple at Somnath. The British General who brought the ‘door’ of Somnath to India did a great PR exercise with the Hindu devotees by giving them back the ‘door’ of the sacred temple which was located in the former state of Junagarh, now part of India. The tie for the worse deal — sacrilege of the temple or the betrayal of the ruler of Ghazni — remains undecided.

The Khana-i-Farhang-i-Iran’s collaboration with the Arts Council of Pakistan in organizing an evening on Firdausi was an apt occasion to look back on a glorious era of Persian poetry which made a discussion of his work and times possible.

Mahmud has been castigated for ‘betraying’ Firdausi, but researches have been proving beyond any shadow of doubt that Mahmud had not assigned Firdausi the writing of Shahnama. He had started writing it some 20 years before Mahmood’s ascended the throne in 998 AD. And Firdausi’s famous Hajv (a diatribe against Mahmud) is not on valid grounds. Right from Prof Mahmud Khan Shirani’s book Firdausi Per Char Maqalay, published by the Anjuman Taraqqui-i-Urdu in 1942, to the latest writings on the subject by Iranian scholars it appears that prejudices have been instrumental in building an uncharitable image of Mahmud on this score.

Actually the writing of the Shahnama could be ascribed to an insignificant incident in Firdausi’s life. Lying in the garden of his house one night he found that sleep was eluding him. He called out his wife and she, sensing the agony, offered him a cup of wine and told him that she would like to narrate the story of Beezan. Firdausi readily agreed in order to drive out the uncomfortable feeling caused by insomnia. His wife extracted a promise that he would versify the story. Firdausi agreed. The story began soon after its circulation among lovers of poetry. Mahmud was nowhere around. It was after Firdausi remained glued to it for years that the poet Unsari took him to the court of Mahmud. Prof Shirani insists — and rightly so — that no promises were made. It was, however, taken as a potential work to receive the king’s munificence which proved right and Firdausi was awarded with whatever he was thought entitled. How could a mediaeval king blind himself to a contract.

Firdausi created a landmark. From his hometown he reached Bokhara and from there to Herat and Merv and then to Bactria. He went on collecting details. The era of Ghaznavids began when Alaptagin moved to Ghazni from Khorasan. Mahmud succeeded his father, Subaktagin.

Firdausi spent 30-35 long years when he finished composing the Shahnama in 400 Hijra. He was 78 when he reached this milestone. The Shahnama has 60,000 couplets. Firdausi’s quality of pithiness is acknowledged the world over. He is sweet and brief. No other poet could rival him on this score. One of the reasons why Firdausi couldn’t have his way to Mahmud’s heart was that one of his bosom friends, Fazal bin Ahmed, had made a lot of enemies at Mahmud’s court and they did everything possible to keep a masterpiece like Shahnama remain underrated.

The question, then, arises, as to what made a perfect gentleman like Firdausi turn against Mahmud so much so that his Hajv (derogatory poem) seems dipped in a frenzy of uncontrollable anger. In the Hajv, Firdausi emerges as a poet totally different from his temperament and character. It is still a riddle needing unfolding as to what made Firdausi a different person in his Hajv. Prof Shirani would like us to believe that what is purported to be Firdausi’s Hajv of Mahmud could not and should not be ascribed to Firdausi.

The Hajv of Mahmud differs from one version to another. Prof Shirani is of the opinion that the most lamentable aspect of this Hajv is that it does not have the beauty of Firdausi’s language.

At times it is very ordinary and pedestrian and it would be downright unbelievable to think that Firdausi could stoop so low in intentions as well in his faculties of mind to acquit himself so poorly in this composition.

Prof Shirani, moreover, finds some ‘factual errors’ like the one critics point out errors in Shakespeare’s plays to suggest that Bacon couldn’t make such silly mistakes as one comes across in Shakespeare. Shakespeare had given ports to countries which didn’t have any sea around them and had made Homer quote Aristotle which couldn’t be the case. The bard of Stratford-upon- Avon should remain what he is: a simple person who had ‘theatre’ in his blood and didn’t care to appeal to reason. Maybe, the dramatic effect he could create didn’t attach much importance to reason and truth. Truth was nothing but what appeared to be happening on the stage.

The speakers of the evening, Prof Affan Seljuk included, didn’t deem it proper to involve themselves much in the popular controversy. They contented themselves with emphasizing the importance of Firdausi to the Persian and world literature. Unlike the mystical tradition of Persian poetry, Firdausi instilled an unusual vigour in Persian poetry and made it a vehicle of perfect communication capable of challenging any poetic tradition of the world.

Among other participants of the Firdausi evening were Dr Tahira Siddiqui, Dr Jaafer Halim and Dr Rehana Afser. Syed Javed Hasan read out pieces from the Urdu translation of the Shahnama. He has a suitable voice to create the grandeur evoked by the great epic. It was nice to see that the Consulate-General of the Islamic Republic of Iran had provided a silver lining of liberalism by owning up Firdausi who has, for long, been dubbed an atheist, Zoroastrian and what not. Mahmud has also, for that matter, come under fire. He also has fared no better than Firdausi, but for many of us in the subcontinent he enjoys the indefensible reputation of a defender of the faith.

So much powers for president!

COMMENTING on the proposed constitutional amendments, Sach expresses its reservations about the suggestions to empower the president to dissolve the National Assembly and the government, to dismiss the prime minister and to appoint provincial governors in consultation with the premier. The daily also objects to reducing the term of parliament to four years and to the establishment of the National Security Council and opines that the amendments will turn the Senate into an advisory body while giving a bigger role to the council.

It says a glance at the package of amendments shows that powers have been showered on the president but elected the prime minister has been meted out a niggardly treatment. According to the proposed amendments, the president can select any member of the National Assembly as prime minister and can also have the discretionary authority to dismiss the prime minister and his/her cabinet. On the other hand, the procedure to remove the president has been made more difficult. The package includes no mechanism to make him accountable or monitor the decisions made by him. Thus, under the constitutional package, there is no balance between the powers enjoyed by the two offices.

The government has sought public views on the proposed amendments before it goes to the cabinet for their approval. It will be better the proposals are revised in the light of the objections being raised against them.

Kawish writes that the Bhurban conference, which was convened on the direction of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to evolve a consensus on the inter-provincial water dispute, called it a day without approving a final draft. During the two-day meeting held in camera, Punjab and Sindh remained stuck to their respective positions on such controversial issues as the construction of the greater Thal canal and the Kalabagh dam. However, the conference did manage to evolve a consensus on the water distribution according to the 1991 accord, on conducting a study on water release downstream Kotri and on determining water availability before taking any project of water reservoir.

The decisions, though commendable, are not new as they were made long ago through a consensus and were provided legal protection by the water accord. However, the problems lie not in the decision-making but in their implementation, which has always been avoided by Punjab and its supporters at Islamabad. Therefore, keeping in view the outcome of the Bhurban conference, it is requested of both of them to pay heed to Sindh’s frantic cries over water deprivation and to pave the way for implementation of crucial decisions.

Tameer-i-Sindh writes that the Sindh budget for 2002-2003 can be termed the best and exemplary one among those presented in a decade as under it neither any new tax is levied nor the rate of the existing ones is increased. Besides, after deficit budgets of the last several years, this time Rs93.7 million is shown as surplus while, according to the finance minister, the allocation of Rs14.48 billion for the development sector is the biggest share the field has ever received in the province.

However, a measly Rs1.6 billion has been earmarked for the education sector, and Rs6.21 billion for the police department. Although the law and order situation in urban and rural areas of Sindh calls for more expenditure on the police, any spending made on them is nothing but unproductive. On the other hand, education which holds a ray of hope not only for our present but also for the future deserves maximum budgetary allocation. The present Sindh government, like its predecessors, has offered the smallest segment of the budgetary allocation to this sector, which is only regrettable.

Deploring the recent tribal bloodshed in Lakhi Ghulam Shah, which claimed 10 lives, Ibrat says the local police, as usual, have not been able to control the volatile situation. In areas where bloody clashes, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes are the order of the day, the police have just failed to make their presence felt.

However, it is very encouraging that the Sindh government has taken notice of the Lakhi carnage and sent the home secretary to the area, to persuade the chiefs of the Maher and Jatoi tribes to reconcile at a jirga called on July 11. With the tribal elders, the police should also be able to prevent any further tribal clash and curb lawlessness.

Best team captures World Cup 2002

In the end, the World Cup went the way the experts said it would before the tournament got started. The best team won. But what a tournament it was before sanity prevailed and how magical the madness was. Turkey and South Korea in the semifinals and the big bullies of European football given the boot with two of them, Italy and Spain crying foul, poor losers and bringing shame to their countries. Why couldn’t they have been like Ireland who put on a spirited performance, fell by the wayside and gave their team a rousing welcome when they returned home?

But first to Brazil. Many years ago, I went to Rio de Janeiro and then Pakistan Acting Ambassador invited me to lunch which doubled as a briefing on Brazil. “Talk about anything you like but for God’s sake don’t talk about football. Even the most innocuous remark can be misinterpreted and you can have your throat slit,” he warned. He was conveying to me, what I already knew, that football was Brazil’s secular religion and the Brazilians were a devout people. Those were wonderful scenes at the Copacabana Beach that we saw on our television sets and when Ronaldo scored the first goal, the carnival had already started and for all we know, is still going on.

Everyone I know was cheering for Brazil. One lady telephoned me to tell me that her cable had gone kaput because of a power-failure and could I keep her informed about the score. Ronaldo had already knocked in Brazil’s second goal and I told her that if she was planning to celebrate, she could start doing it because the Brazilians had found their magic, badly missing in the first half. I can well understand their nervousness. There were 76,000 people in the Yokohama Stadium and a television audience of one and a half billion and Brazil was the favourite.

Germany, in a sense, had nothing to lose and had it won, it would have been a stunning upset. But Germany had played its heart out in the first half, did most of the running and had the better in possession of the ball. Had Germany scored, it would have shut up shop and it would have been a different final.

Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, these were the Weekes, Walcott and Worrel of the Brazilian team, the brightest in an all-star cast. Brazilian football had been rocked by scandal and was in turmoil and yet Brazil managed to qualify by the skin of its teeth. The Brazilian football team bears a resemblance to the West Indian cricket team. They give the impression of enjoying themselves on the field hugely and it is this that makes them appear vulnerable against other teams, particularly European teams, grim, focused, unsmiling and without passion.

And when Brazil forsakes its own distinctive style, as they appeared to do in the first half then the defences look loose. And the strikers off-target. Some soul-searching must have been done during the interval and Brazil came out in the second half, and as the expression goes, it was a different ball game.

For a month, football had cast a magic spell and we were hooked and now that it has ended, we must cope with withdrawal symptoms. Even Wimbledon played second fiddle. Passions were high, so was the tension but no nation went to war and world peace was not threatened. Is there a lesson in this?

Both Japan and South Korea get high marks for the way the tournament was organised. There may have been some minor glitches but no cock-ups. There has been a lot of carping about the referees and linesmen and those who have come for some flak happen to belong to Third World countries. It is a case of typical European arrogance. It is automatically assumed that as Egyptian referee will make mistakes or a linesman from Trinidad but not those of Italy or Scotland. After all, what is bred in the bones, comes out in the flesh. And it is monstrous to attribute the success of the South Korean team to factors other than skill.

The fact of the matter is that Asian and African football has come of age and threatens the cosy status quo or balance of power. It now remains for countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh to start playing the game with more purpose. Even though Pakistan was not in the Football World Cup, millions in Pakistan were glued to their television sets, a conclusive proof of interest in the game. All that is needed is the provision of playing fields, so that the children can get off the streets and play proper football.

There is so much natural talent in the country, cricket is testimony to it, there is no reason not to suppose that there is no natural football talent and it is a game that a country like Pakistan can easily afford.

I had promised to write an entire column on the football World Cup and this I have done and there has been no mention of the Nat West cricket triangular in England nor of the Test series between New Zealand and the West Indies not even about Wimbledon and the first round ouster of Pete Sampras. While the football World Cup was on, these were side-shows. I am, myself, surprised, how passionate I could get about football and I watched all the matches and the final off the edge of my seat.

Brazil has now won the World Cup five times but I still think that the 1970 Brazil team would have thrashed the present one. Ronaldo is great but he can’t hold a candle to Pele and the grand old man of football was there in Yokohama to see his country lift the World Cup. I wonder what must have gone through his mind? Memories when he was monarch of all that he surveyed?