KARACHI, Oct 30: Paying homage to one the most celebrated Sufi poets of the 14th century, the Khana-i-Farhang Karachi held a seminar on the influence of Sheikh Mahmood Shabistri’s teachings in Sindh.

The title of the seminar was “Sarzameen-i-Sindh mein Tasawwuf-o-Irfan pe Sheikh Mahmood Shabistri kay asraat ka tehqeeqi jayaza” (An in depth review of Sheikh Mahmood Shabistri’s influence on spirituality and knowledge in Sindh).

Shabistri was born in a small town called Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288.

His most famous work remains ‘The Secret Rose Garden’ while other works penned by him include ‘The Book of Felicity’ (Sa’adat-n#ama) and ‘The Truth of Certainty about the Knowledge of the Lord of the Worlds’ (Haqq al-yaqin fi ma’rifat rabb al-’alamin).

A celebrated Sufi from Iran, Shabistri influenced the works of later day Sufis, including Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Nizamuddin Auliya, Bahauddin Zakarya and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

The proceedings of the over three-hour long seminar were conducted in Persian and Urdu, in which discussions were held on various aspects of Shabistri’s work, including his influence on Allama Iqbal’s poem Gulshan-i-Raz-Jadeed, the effects of mysticism on the Indo-Pak subcontinent, consumerism in the present era and Sufi education.

Talking about the need for re-introducing Shabistri, Khana-e-Farhan director general Syed Hussain Taqizada said: “The humans have always tried to find a link to God but what we must remember is that to find that link, we must step outside the realms of what seems logical and become seekers.

“We hope to get more people, especially the youth, oriented with the sayings of the great Sufi. We must need to be on the path towards finding Allah,” he added.

Alliance Francaise Karachi’s Dr M. Hamid Zaigham in his lecture discussed in detail the need for knowledge. “Allah sent man to this earth to seek knowledge. We all have a goal and that is to see that beautiful side of the divine entity that created us from nothing. Seeing that ‘light’ is Tasawwuf. We see the light of God in our hearts and minds and then viewing the world from that lens changes the whole picture.”

Stressing the need for keeping minds open to new ideas, he said that efforts needed to be increased for reintroducing teachings of Sufis.

In her over 35-minute-talk, Dr Sabeeha Akhlaque Zaidi shed light on how consumerism was spoiling the humans. “We need to stop and rethink our priorities. This rat race where materialism reigns supreme, we have to step back and take a look.”

She said that Tasawwuf and Irfan would help the humans become better and peaceful and gave the examples of the times when Sufism was at its peak and the Islamic world was peaceful.

Other speakers at the event included Agha Noor Mohammad Pathan, Syed Kareempurmani, Dr Gholam Mehdi, Dr Qaharman Suleimani.

Dr Abdul Ghaffar Soomro was the chief guest.

He discussed the important role Shabistri played in the rise of Sufism in the subcontinent.

Dr Ghulam Raza Awani was the guest of honour while Dr Nawaz Ali Shoq chaired the proceedings.

Saima, an attendee, said that she was hugely impressed by the sayings of Shabistri but bemoaned the fact that his huge relevance was not highlighted. “His sayings are for all times. The way he stresses upon us becoming ‘seekers’ to get knowledge and find solace in Him is not something any of the speakers reflected upon in detail and they just glorified him or what they thought of him.”

Yet another guest at the event, Ahmed voiced similar concerns. “The way things are happening around us, we need to be more in touch with the Lord above. Shabistri teaches kindness and complete surrender to Allah in order to find the inner peace. Our youth needs to follow this path of tolerance that stresses on the quest for knowledge that brings us closer to God.”