Ihsan Center – Islam From The Heart

LAHORE – A mass media student has launched an online campaign to promote the peacefulness and Sufi culture of Pakistans cultural hub Lahore. The Sufi Face of Lahore, which is aimed to introduce the city to international readers, is a final PR project of students of School of Media and Mass Communication, Beaconhouse National University. It is an effort towards projecting Lahore as a city of love, peace and inclusiveness. Shahbano Shahbaz, the brain behind the campaign, told The Nation that ‘Mehv-e-Ishq’ means “absorbed in Love”. Continue reading →

Sufi poetry has played a ‘very important role’ in reflecting the pain and sufferings of people in Kashmir for a long time and its distinct way of communicating the expression has no parallel.A galaxy of scholars, writers and poets stated this at a function organised by Adbee Markaz Kamraz Jammu and Kashmir at Chakpora, Pohroo, on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Saturday.The function was organised in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages (JKAACL)  to release the poetic collections—Noor-i-Wahdat and Gaebi Nida of a Sufi poet Ghulam Nabi Dar.

AMK president Dr Syed Shujaat Bukhari presided over the function while Secretary Academy Dr Aziz Hajini was the chief guest. Noted poet Zareef Ahmed Zareef and Islamic scholar Qazi Ghulam Nabi Noorani read out papers,critically analysing the books.
Noted writer and poet Rafiq Raaztalked about the Sufi poetry and its different aspects. He said it was a different way of poetry to “give words to suffering, pain and a thought process”.

“It is unique, and we generally connect it with religion,” he said, adding that Sufi poets have made a huge contribution in this regard.
Noted writer and critic Prof Farooq Fayaz called Sufism the ‘spiritual part of Islam’ and said those who take recourse to poetry are ‘in a way expressing spiritualism and that also brings in a unique expression’.

“When there is a conflict between the state and the society, the value system gets a beating and in that situation Sufism comes in picture,” he said.
Fayaz said Sufi poetry was responsible for keeping the Kashmiri language alive.
The former head of the Kashmir University’s Department of Kashmiri, Prof Shad Ramzan, deciphered what Sufism and Sufi poetry meant.

In his remarks, Dr Hajini said it was the time for all Kashmiris to introspect about the fate of the Kashmiri language. “If we look back, this (Sufi poetry) is the real treasure that we have in our literature as they (Sufi poets) connected the people with the language,” he said.
He said poets such as Shamas Faqir and Ahad Zargar were those ‘who struck a chord with reality and were selfless people who would not write for awards’.
Stating that the Sufi poets had hugely contributed in promoting and preserving the language, Dr Shujaat Bukhari said today’s Kashmir was facing many challenges, including a ‘cultural invasion’.

Unfortunately,he said, Sufism was being ‘exploited by certain quarters to bring peace’, but in essence,‘it was being done to put one another at loggerheads’.
He said AMK was committed to work for the preservation of the language.
Sufi Poet GN Dar also spoke on the occasion. AMK General Secretary, Mohammad Amin, conducted the proceedings. Folk singer, Ghulam Ahmed Sofi, mesmerised the audience with Sufi poets’ verses. Members of the Jammu and Kashmir Saqafati Markaz, Budgam, Dr Shabnum Rafiq, Mehboob Nowgami, Hasrat Hameed were among many others present on the occasion.

Source: ‘Sufi poetry a glorious chapter of Kashmiri literature’