THATTA: Dr Khizar Hayat Naushahi, a scholar who has devoted major part of his life to research on old manuscripts of Persian literature produced by Sindhi literati of bygone era, has literally combed almost all public and private libraries in Sindh for long lost and forgotten works of Persian literature.
A practicing Sufi of the Naushahi branch, a offshoot of Qadri school of thought, Dr Khizar who is 50 plus now, has been visiting Sindh since he was 16-year-old.
“I have a special bond with this land of Sufis and love it so much that sometimes I feel I have been made of a chunk of this soil,” he told Dawn when he arrived in Thatta to read a paper in a seminar on Mir Ali Sher Qaney, the 18th century historian, poet and author of 40 books.
The seminar was scheduled for March 16 but it was postponed by the organiser, the Sindh culture department, to a later date not decided yet.
Dr Khizar was informed of the postponement but he told the caller that he had already left his village Sahenpal Sharif in Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, and was passing through Bahawalpur area.
Such was his love for Sindh that he decided against going back and continued his journey, arguing that it had been a whole year since he had last visited Sindh. Sindh has remained a hub of spiritualism and Sufism since centuries, he added.
On his arrival in Thatta, Dr Khizar was welcomed by Ghulam Qadir Palijo, father of Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo, and Syed Ghulam Murtaza Shah, Syed Sabir Ali Shah, Dr Abdul Hussain Shah and other descendents of Mir Ali Sher Qaney.
Dr Khizar’s has made extensive research work on Ali Sher Shah Shuker Illahi commonly known as Mir Ali Sher Qaney Thattvi and has done doctorate thesis on his last book “Maeyar-Salikan-i-Tareeqat” from the Hamdard University in 1997.
Mir Ali Sher Qaney composed his first verses when he was a little boy, studied the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri and later began to write essays independently, he said. Thereafter, he began a career as a scholar, poet and historian.
He produced a great number of works under the pen-name Qaney, on a variety of topics, including: the works of Al-Ghazali and Rumi.
His most prominent work was “Tuhfatul Karam” (Gift of the Generous) in which he had dealt with a compendium of the lives of Sufis from the times of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) until the late 12th Hijra, an account of the martyrs of Karbala anda work on general history, said Dr Khizar.
He said during his meetings and addresses to literary circles that if Mir Qaney had not written books like “Tuhfatul Karam” the people of Sindh would have never known about the history of legendary personalities of Sindh.
He revealed that he had also worked on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast, Ghulam Ali Madah, Shewak Ram Atarad, Mian Sarfaraz Khan Abbasi and others.
When asked about his exceptional scholarship, Dr Khizar said he was born into a family of extraordinary men of letters. His tiny village had produced seven Ph.Ds. One of his uncles who had had no formal schooling in his entire life had written more than300 articles on various topics related to religion and literature.
He learnt Persian from his illustrious father and soon became so adept at the language that he translated a manuscript of a Thatta poet when he was only 16. He had visited almost every nook and corner of Sindh in search of libraries and manuscripts.
He said he was proud of having literary sittings with legends like Dr Anne Marie Schimmel, Hakim Saeed, Pir Hussamuddin Rashdi and others.