Annemarie Schimmel, a personal tribute

A great pillar of Islamic scholarship in the Western world has fallen.

Dr Annemarie Schimmel, described by some as the scholar- hermit has died.

In an age when some vested political interests may like to see the world thrown ultimately in a mighty global conflict physically as well in the realm of ideas, the death of the great non-Muslim scholar, a scholar who found beauty — and found the qualities of co-existence — in the religious, sufistic and literary traditions of the Muslim East would be greatly mourned. A prolific writer and a profound scholar, her linguistic reach included, besides her mother tongue German-English, French Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish and even Sindhi. She translated Iqbal with a religious zeal. She wrote on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Rehman Baba, and other sufi poets of Pakistan. Her Botschaft des Ostens, the translation of Allama Iqbal’s Payam-i-Mashriq is a monumental work in German, (as also Dschavidnma Das Buch Der Ewigkeit, translation of Javed Nama), translation of the Bang-i-Dara, and Gabraeil’s Wing, a Study of the Religious Ideas of Sir Mohammad Iqbal — one of the erudite studies of Iqbal in English in the West — and countless other publications on the these subjects. This is in addition to her numerous articles on Iqbal and Islam and Ghalib and Urdu poetry (from various angles). Her studies of Maulana Rum, Mansur Hallaj, Ghalib, Persian Poetry, Calligraphy and Epigraphy, Numerology, Turkey, German Orientalists, and countless other works have given a status unequalled by many.

Born in Erfurt, Germany in 1922, Schimmel received her PhD in Islamic studies from the Berlin University at the age of 19. From that day there was no looking back. She received countless academic distinctions and honours and awards, including a number of honorary doctorates, which cannot be listed in as short tribute like this. She got the “Hilal-i-Imtiaz” of Pakistan in 1983, and this writer was in the function in Bonn when it was formally presented to her. She also had a Sitara-i-Imtiaz and was also awarded International Presidential Iqbal Award in Pakistan 1998. She taught, besides other universities, at Bonn and Harvard. Her interest in Urdu poetry was intense. In a foreword to the English translation of Iftikhar Arif’s Bharwan Khilari, she says: “I sincerely hope that European and American readers will discover in this volume a new world of poetry, hitherto unknown to them — a world whose fascination may lead them to explore further the beauties of Urdu literature and discover both its rich heritage and its promise for the future.”

Her lectures, and their inimitable style, when she will close her eyes and speak; swaying everything for hours all around, and her visits to Pakistan since 1958 and lectures here, and in Germany and elsewhere come to the mind’s eye. One still remembers hearing her remarkable lecture on Iqbal in the South Asia Institute at the world-famous Heidelberg University, and viewing a plaque containing her translation of Iqbal’s poem on River Neckar that flows around the historic university in that city. One remembers in the Town Hall of the city the Oberbugameister (the chief mayor) of Heidelberg giving a reception in connection with the celebration of Iqbal Day in early eighties. One still remembers Dr Schimmel standing in the gathering.

Many articles would be written on her achievements by scholars and intellectuals. But as one who heard her speak in Pakistan since his younger days, and one who had the honour of often visiting her home in Lenne Strasse, (along with his late wife) especially on Christmas Eve for a tea party; and had the honour of playing her host — in whatever small capacity one served in Germany for Pakistan many years ago — the memory of the great non-Muslim friend of Islam and Pakistan will always remain part of a world view; what a German would call a weltanschauung, where the idea of seeing civilizations as rich as the Islamic and the Christian working together on this, our planet, for a better, more tolerant and flourishing world would not seem to be out of place.

—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad

Gas crisis questions

ONE of the country’s main gas pipelines is under siege, yet its leaders are not around to deal with the emergency. The interior minister was out of the country before the first sabotage last Tuesday of the Sui-Guddu transmission line in Balochistan, of Punjab and the NWFP.

The saboteurs struck the pipeline again after repairs were completed on Sunday night, incidentally the day US General Tommy Franks arrived for a two-day visit.

Despite the continued threat to the pipeline, the interior minister has still not returned to the country. A day before the saboteurs struck again on Sunday, the prime minister had also left the country on a Gulf tour for consultations on a seemingly more important issue, the Iraq crisis.

The government authorities have been portraying the pipeline trouble as being the result of enmity between the Bugti and Mazari tribes. But the Bugtis insists that the real conflict is between them and the government.

The Bugti tribe, which owns the area containing four gasfields including Sui, is dissatisfied with the federal government and the gas companies for not renegotiating the royalty agreement with it which it said expired on December 31.

Identifying the exact cause of the problem and those actually responsible for it is one thing, but doing something concrete to resolve it is quite another. An incident of this kind ought to be treated as a wake-up call alerting the government to some basic issues that need to be corrected.

All the more so in case of incidents like this which expose the vulnerability of the country’s strategic assets and installations. The very fact that another blow up occurred on the same transmission line five days after the first is a reflection of the paralysis that seems to have gripped the country’s various security agencies. The argument that the sabotage area is within or near a tribal locality where the government has little control does not hold water. Does this mean the government can only sit and watch the country’s strategic installations being blown up because it is happening in tribal territory?

Two other separate incidents reported last week only helped to reinforce public concern. One was the warning, reported by an English-language daily from Lahore, by an unknown group to all business people, including lorry owners and tanker drivers of Pakistan State Oil, to refrain from supplying fuel and other essential items to the allied coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The warning came in a poster pasted on the boundary wall of PSO’s terminal at Taru Jaba in Peshawar. Authorities in the NWFP are reported to have tightened security at Taru Jaba and at PSO’s other terminal at Serai Naurang in Lakki district.

The second incident was the attempt to derail the Kotri-bound Shahbaz Express on Friday by loosening the nuts and bolts of the rail tracks between the Sita Road and Piaro Goth railway stations. Disaster was averted by railway patrolmen who noticed the damaged tracks and, the train was halted at the Sita Road railway station until the line was repaired.

Apparently, there is resentment against certain policies of the government. The government ought to review those policies or else ensure adequate security against all possible consequences. This is a difficult task given the hundreds of thousands of kilometres of gas pipelines, electricity transmission lines and other important communication lines and installations throughout the country.

The gas crisis also raises other questions. The disruption of the gas supply to industries and CNG stations jolted these big consumers as well as CNG-dependent users to the fact that their businesses can be paralyzed by any shortage or reduction in the supply of gas.

That shortage had been felt two weeks earlier, in the second week of January, well before the incident took place, when the gas supply to fertilizer, power, steel and some other industrial units, including textile mills and cement manufacturing units, in many areas of Punjab was cut off. The official reason given was that the step was necessary to meet increased demand from domestic consumers during the cold wave that was being experienced at that time. It was also stated that the suspension to industries was nothing unusual since SNGPL had contracts with these industries to supply gas only on a nine-month basis from March to November.

What was unusual was the fact that the suspension also affected the export-oriented industries like surgical, leather and soccer ball manufacturing units in the Sialkot, Gujranwala and Lahore areas, with even some domestic consumers complaining of gas load-shedding.

The gas situation, as it has been painted by the gas authorities, is that the country is unable to meet the full demand of domestic, commercial and industrial consumers put together, particularly in the winter. This is why the authorities have had to sign nine-month supply contracts with some industries.

Why then is the government promoting even greater use of gas through its policy of encouraging CNG cars and buses? Hundreds of thousands of CNG vehicles are already on the country’s roads with Pakistan reportedly ranking number three among CNG-using countries after Argentina and Italy. In the second week of January, it was reported in Dawn that the Peshawar district government was planning to acquire from abroad and introduce in the city 200 CNG-run buses. The federal government is also said to be planning to introduce CNG-run buses in urban centres all over the country. Some models of locally assembled cars are already CNG-fitted at the factory.

Granted CNG is an economical and environment friendly fuel, but last week saw just how badly CNG-driven public transport and private cars were affected by the gas crisis. If the gas authorities cannot even guarantee uninterrupted year-round supply of gas to the country’s existing industries because of increased domestic demand in the winter, how how do they plan to meet the additional demand posed by the fast growing number of CNG users? Through imports from Iran or Turkmenistan?

Karachi school of literature?

KARACHI writers have never had a school of literature. Rather they were quite happy to see themselves ‘inducted,’ at will, into different schools, by the founders or advocates of different schools of literature. But there is now an evident change in the mood and Ahmed Husain Siddiqui’s work Dabistanon Ka Dabistan - Karachi, recently published, is quite a serious declaration of intent: Karachi is not only a school but the school of schools.

First of all, a few words about Ahmed Husain Siddiqui. He is an architect by profession who retired as the director-general of the Karachi Development Authority recently. Having known him since the time when he was studying architecture in his youth, I had no inkling that one day he would try to make a name for himself in the difficult field of writing as well. His brother, the late Mohammed Husain, was a well-read person who rose to be an eminent lawyer of Karachi. But that was all. Ahmed Husain began his career as an author with a book on his reminiscences. As someone associated with the building control department of Karachi it was a welcome venture. But it was surprising when he wrote one of the best books on Karachi, Gohar-i-Bahira-i-Arab Karachi.

He thought that he owed a debt to the city of Karachi he has served in many capacities - from a humble functionary in the KMC to the director-generalship of the KDA. His next book was on his hometown titled Kishwar-i-Aulia. I wish all towns with a rich past could have a book like this one. Even the old mausoleums and mosques of Amroha come alive in this book through the latest techniques of improvising the old smelly, yellowish photographs.

Now to his latest book, which, having the active indulgence of scholars such as Mushfiq Khwaja and Dr Farman Fatehpuri, provides biographical write-ups of some 194 writers and poets of Karachi. The immaculate photos in delicately small sizes, symmetrical placed horizontally in equal sizes, make the title and back pages of the book. Edited and composed by the author himself this book could be declared the Urdu Book of the Year for the wealth of data and excellent production. I would ask the National Book Council to see whether something could be done to acknowledge imagination and hard work which has gone into the production of this book. This is, perhaps, what the National Book Council or any other organization interested in the quality production of books should be looking for praising.

True that there is no defence of the big claim which the title of the book makes — Dabistanon Ka Dabistan - Karachi — and the writer has left to us to see that, with so many luminaries - buried in Karachi’s graveyards - and those alive and busy contributing their bits - the city of Karachi easily comes out as one of the biggest centres of Urdu. Pir Husamuddin Rashdi had once said that so many luminaries of the subcontinent have made Karachi their home and so many of them lie buried under its sky that the city of Karachi has become unrivalled in South Asia by the very wealth of accomplishments of its denizens. Other cities could boast of their native sons but Karachi enjoys the distinction of possessing the intellectual wealth of so many cities of the subcontinent that even a city in the nation of immigrants such as the USA is not likely to have so many luminaries. Had Urdu been a language equalling the political clout of any of the European languages, the history of the achievements of its writers would have been different.

It is not possible for me to name the writers who have been covered since they are far too many. This volume covers 194 of them and another in the pipeline should be containing the essential biographical data of some 150 writers to make this book the biggest project of its kind. The Mohammed Husain Academy should feel proud of doing what an organization like the Anjuman-i- Taraqqui Urdu or the Muqtadra-i-Qaumi Zaban should have done for the compilation of a national biographical dictionary.

In short, Siddiqui’s work permits us to be a bit generous in our praise.

Mushkilat-i-Ghalib: Partau Rohilla, in fact Mukhtar Ali Khan, an eminent civil servant, is making news these days for the simple reason that he did not content himself with the reputation of a Doha writer. He rose to eminence when other Doha writers bid this genre adieu. He has been recently honoured by India’s prestigious periodical Shair-o-Hikmat, when it considered him worthy of having a 150-page section on his poetry.

As soon as Partau Rohilla retired he was persuaded to take up the daunting task of translating Ghalib’s Persian letters. He did that with a gusto that surprised many a Ghalib scholar for the simple reason that he could be branded an intruder in the field. His translations of Ghalib created a stir in that he turned out to be having the same quality, the same ambience and almost not too different a flavour for the choice of ‘words’ that it was generally thought that Partau Rohilla was the nearest to strike the chords of Ghalib’s many-a- layered personality.

I am not going into the most radical views about translations. The translator has to create a new text - and not to translate literally - because the original writer could not be expected to be writing out his real intentions in his text. That’s why Derrida believes in Deconstruction and not Translation. Partau Rohilla is not a deconstruction specialist, but he has allowed his curiosity for catching the right nuances of the original text. Helped, perhaps, by his command over the Persian language - and extending this command to Ghalib’s love for the Persian, Partau has, up till now, translated two Persian works of Ghalib and he is at present embarked on translating the most difficult of all texts for him, Panj Aahang. I had a brief talk with him during his recent Karachi sojourn. I felt that he was possessed of Ghalib’s spirit thinking that he was only a medium doing nothing of his own accord. Perhaps it is Ghalib who is dictating him his Urdu version.

Why should speaker add to rumpus?

KARACHI: It was a short-lived phenomenon — the sobriety on the part of the MPAs and the modesty and moderation demonstrated by the Speaker on Monday. The so-called graduate legislators were back to their usual self on Tuesday, the second day of the current session.

The house plunged into pandemonium as soon as the controversial deputy speaker, Rahila Tiwana, took over the charge half-way through the question hour proceedings. She had hardly settled down in her chair, when the MPAs belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Pakistan People’s Party stood up en masse objecting to her right to preside over the proceedings of the house. Disputing her credentials to occupy the august chair, the agitating MPAs claimed that she could not be allowed to sit there pending a decision by the Sindh High Court on a petition challenging her election as deputy speaker. Led by Dr Arbab Rahim, the MPAs of the treasury benches also stood up. Trying to lend support to Rahila Tiwana, they defended her right to be in the chair arguing that since there was neither any stay nor any decision from the High Court, she was very much entitled to preside over the session in the absence of the speaker. Rejecting the pleadings the opposition MPAs, adding noise to their protest, started thumping their desks and chanting the slogan “Go Rahila, Go.”

Amid this rumpus the secretary of the assembly tried to help and tutor the novice lady to continue with the left-over business, but an embarrassed and nervous Ms Tiwana did not know what to do and how to do. It was all in vain and futile on the part of Dr Arbab Rahim to persuade the agitating MPAs of the PPP and the MMA who by now had started leaving the house. Poor Ms Tiwana had no choice except to leave the chair by announcing a 15-minute adjournment.

This episode over, the house again assembled after half an hour, but a smooth conduct of the house remained a far cry. It was now the turn of seasoned parliamentarian from Umerkot and Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah who took upon himself to add more to the confusion and commotion.

As Muzaffar Hussain Shah asked Ghulam Qadir Chandio to present his adjournment motion, which was already on the day’s agenda, Syed Qaim Ali Shah of the PPP stood up and sought the speaker’s permission to speak on a point of order. He wanted that his motion, which he had already filed with the assembly secretariat but which was not on the day’s agenda, should be taken out of turn by suspending the day’s business. Muzaffar Shah, who loves to impress upon everybody his knowledge and skills to twist and turn the rules, ruled that it could be taken only if Mr Chandio was willing to withdraw his motion. But Qadir Chandio, also of the PPP, suspecting a trap, was evasive initially but later said that he would withdraw his motion provided that Qaim Ali Shah’s motion was taken up. Now Muzaffar Shah asked Qaim Ali Shah to place notice and substance of the motion on the killing of three PPP activists in Khairpur district during the by-election on January 15 last. Qaim Ali Shah did as desired by the chair. Now Muzaffar Shah, in a surprise move, put the motion before the house for a vote. Since only 64 members voted in favour, the speaker announced that the motion stood rejected. As Qaim Ali Shah was protesting against the speaker’s ruling the hall echoed with the call for Zuhr prayer, and the speaker adjourned the proceedings.

When the house re-assembled after about 40 minutes, Muzaffar Hussain Shah asked Qaim Ali Shah to again repeat the performance of presenting his motion. But as Qaim Ali Shah started speaking on the motion after presenting it again, Muzaffar Shah engaged himself in his usual exercise of interrupting after every few minutes, a sort of filibustering. This resulted in intermittent verbal brawls between the two Shahs with the speaker time and again giving orders to expunge remarks from the record. After half an hour of this disgusting exercise, Muzaffar Shah announced that he would take up other items on the agenda, saying that Qaim Ali Shah had already consumed much time. But Qaim Ali Shah, though frustrated, was right when he said that most of the time was consumed by the speaker’s interruptions.

Will Muzaffar Shah mend his ways in the future and learn to accommodate his fellow legislators by showing leniency and grace and ensure smooth proceedings? — Abu Ayesha

Australians red-hot favourites

Australia won the VB series in style and in the process showed that there were two ways of going about the winning business.

The first is to crush the opponent underfoot, show no mercy, take no prisoners. This Australia did in the first final at Sydney. It was a performance meant to silence Nasser Hussain who had harboured some illusions about causing an upset.

The Australians were awesome and the way that Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden went about reaching a modest target showed almost contempt for England’s bowling.

The second way was to take the game to the wire and then, when all seemed to be lost, hand the ball to Brett Lee and to do, what we all hope in Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar will do in a crunch match in the World Cup — bowl fast, bowl deadly straight, and in the block-hole. Lee did that, on cue.

Clearly, Australia was sending out a message. It is a red-hot favourite for the World Cup for very good reasons. It is a red-hot team. Does this make the World Cup a one-horse race? Not necessarily.

There are far better teams than England and they will not fold as unceremoniously as England did. But they will have to play out of their skins to stop Australia.

And I am not being patriotic when I suggest that Pakistan, on its day, is the world’s most dangerous team. “On its day” is a tough pre-qualification. But the talent is there and for Shoaib Akhtar, the moment of truth has arrived. There is tremendous back-up for him, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi.

But Pakistan will need Shoaib to fire on all cylinders. This could be his tournament and he will need to stamp his authority from the first game that Pakistan plays and which happens to be against Australia.

All teams start with a clean slate. What has happened in the past has no bearing except in not repeating the mistakes that were made. An American Indian saying is appropriate: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Pakistan will need better leadership than was shown on its tour of South Africa. Leadership means more than giving orders. It is the skill of getting the best out of others, the fostering of togetherness, the acrobatics of being a leader of the team while being a member of it. Both equal and first among equals.

I don’t wish to seem to be harping on the subject but Pakistan teams, in the past, have been their own worst enemies. It is not uncommon for friendships to form within a team, friendships on the basis of common interests and common pursuits. This may give the perception of groupism.

But the pre-eminent loyalty should be to the team’s cause and personality clashes should be put on hold. The PCB chairman has spoken to the senior players, as has Imran Khan. Both would have delivered the same message and there is no reason to doubt that the message will not be heeded.

The function arranged at the Gaddafi Stadium to wish farewell to the team may have ended in a somewhat disorderly fashion but the large number of cricket fans who had assembled demonstrated unwavering support for the team.

The players should be encouraged by this support. No team, not even Australia can win, if it does not give its best. In the World Cup, something more than the best will be needed.

In the meanwhile, efforts are still being made to derail the matches in Zimbabwe. We now learn that the England players are not keen to play there, troubled by their conscience. That’s a bit rich. The team received anonymous threats in their hotel rooms. The threats could have been the work of some prankster or it could have been some “dirty tricks” by vested interests.

If the England team does not want to play in Zimbabwe, it should simply forfeit its points, a small sacrifice given that they are conscience-stricken.

Ironic that they should feel so strongly about the white farmers in Zimbabwe and have nothing to say about the prospects of thousand of Iraqis being killed when Tony Blair sends his army (air force and navy) into war. But that would be bringing in politics into sports. Precisely. But then, I suppose it is possible to have a selective conscience. Some call it double standards.

Finally, a word about Serena Williams, Magnificent! A Belgian radio presenter called her a “monkey.” He showed look at his own face in the mirror and he will see a face of ugly bigot.

Serena and Venus Williams are no strangers to racial vilification. They are Afro-Americans and they would have encountered it for almost all their lives. But they are world champions and the Belgian radio presenter and others of his ilk can eat their hearts out. They are not fit to even wipe the floor that Serena and Venus walk on.