Month: September 2018

Divine Mercy is for one and all

A readers review : “Song of Dervish: Nizamuddin Auliya, the saint of hope and tolerance”

Cover page of the “Song of the Dervish”

Background: In contemporary Islamic world, the mystic dimension of Islam was largely misinterpreted both by the followers & opponents. Core values of mystic Islam lies in Ihsan (favors, helping others),Ikhlas (Sincerity/purification), & adherence to the human values that stood above all the rituals, practices & institutions created in mystic world of Islam during last twelve centuries. From early figures such Owais Al Qarni up to the founding figures of Qadriya, Chishtia & Suharwadi orders down the centuries, they ruled the hearts of the masses inhabited in vast dominion of the Almighty God. It was due to high level of Ikhlas & Ihsan that was embedded as an innate trait in their souls. All these virtues were passed from one generation to other through the golden chain of spiritual successors  like a beads in a string connecting them finally with  Prophet ( Peace be Upon Him). During the eight & ninth centuries, the far off central Asian territories lying beyond the river Oxus up to the North African Berber provinces, the foot prints of mystic Dervishes can be found everywhere in vast dominion of Abbasid empire & also in remote Iberian peninsula ruled by Ummayads. It was from Trans-Oxonian branch of Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) family members, the blessed ancestors of Nizamuddin were born at Bukhara. Nizamuddin is the fourth generation successor of  Chishti Tariqa (Path) in Indian Subcontinent. The benevolent Nizamuddin made traits of Ihasan & Ikhlas as a part & parcel of his life that gave him a title of “Mehboob Ilahi/beloved of God“.

Book review: The “Song of Dervish: Nizamuddin Auliya, the saint of hope and tolerance” is a book authored by Meher Murshed & published by Bloomsbury, India in 2017. A preface is written by Dr. Bruce Lawrence, a professor of Islamic Studies, & scholar on Sufism who had translated a worthy account of Nizamuddin from Persian in English. His account gave vivid portrait of Mehboob Ilahi by connecting  real stories of twentieth  century  centered around the living saint with the historical accounts of thirteenth & fourteenth centuries.  The book started with a contemporary narratives of Nizamuddin followers who love & revere the saint as he was followed by his disciples during his life time. Sanjiv Malhotra, Kamwal Nain Sharma, Bauji ( Om Prakash Arora) & Dr Bruce Lawrence belonged to different faiths, background & enthicities. An explorative accounts of Murshed draws one common trait in all these human souls, the love & faith in Mehboob Ilahi.

“Devote your life to God, serve the poor & the needy to realize the Maker” the life long learning of Nizamuddin from his master Baba Farid.  Murshed’s  account draws two contrast pictures from fourteenth century Delhi. At one end, the Palaces of Sultans showered extravagance on skank nobles who lauded the temperamental monarchs for their vices & virtues. On the other hand, the humble court of Nizamuddin at Ghyaspur offered robes to the disciples who offered food, love, service & devotion to the poor souls of Maker. The  integration of Nizamuddin biography with the contemporary accounts of his lover assimilates the belief “The saint never die”. The book presents an alluring amalgamate of the rare accounts on the predecessors & immediate successors of Nizamuddin. The stories from the life of the early jewels  of Chishti order were revisited. How the prayers of Nizamuddin & sugar from his bowl made his beloved disciple Khusro, a celebrated poet. Murshed’s account sketched the bipolar world of Khusro & his friend Amir Hasan Sijzi. Both of them finally submerged their souls in love of divine leaving behind rubies, & Gold. They find solace with Nizamuddin instead of worldly gifts from treasures of maniac sultans. The Dervish took the message of Prophet (Peace be Upon him): Divine mercy is for one & all. Lyons, Lawrence, Gita, & Rahman finds a common bond between them, the love for Nizamuddin. At the point of time when hatred & intolerance is on its height, the “Song Of Dervish” iterate the stories of love & compassion centered around Nizamuddin, a saint whose blessings crossed the lines of caste, creed, gender & religion. Poetic translations, simple language, citations of “Fawaid Al Fuad” & extensive research on real life narratives spoke of its rigour. The enchants of “Man Kunto Muala‘ that echoed on the ears of Murshed during childhood days became a prime stimuli to start a journey of “Song of Dervish“. A distinctive account on Nizamuddin, it will be a soul enriching experience for the readers who carried an interest in Mystical Islam & medieval history of Delhi. I would like to thanks Meher Murshed who blessed the lovers of Nizamuddin & motivated readers by offering “Song of Dervish“.

India & the World: A history of nine stories

A walk with Neel Dogra organized by INTACH

On 24th June 2018, I got an opportunity to attend the walk at National Museum with the walk leader Neel Kamal Dogra. It was a tour of the exhibition displayed at National Museum for a month with a title “India & the World: A History in Nine Stories”. Its a joint effort of National museum, Chatrpati Shivaji Museum, and British museum to display the rare artifacts from different parts of the globe with pieces of Indian history to find the evolving connection of human races from diverse civilization down in the timeline from ancient to the modern age. Other than these three museums, artifacts were also provided by many other museum & private collections.

Two hammers, first one from India (50,000 BC), the second one from UK British Museum (500,000 BC).

The National Museum, New Delhi was chosen as a tribute to seventy years of Indian Independence with an aim of showing audiences, how the human civilizations exchanged culture, art, and sprtituality in a journey of the historical timeline. It was a two-month exhibition that ended on 30th June 2018. Neel was leading the seventh walk when I joined the tour on 24th June.

A statue of women from Mesopotamia dated from 2400 BC

The walk started with the first theme “Shared beginning” that displayed the handmade axes of Quartzite, one from India & other from Tanzania dated (1.7 thousand to 1.7 Million years). Moving from pottery, then portraits of monarchs, tablets showing the evolution of written languages, religion (Picturing the divine), maritime trade and finally ending at struggle against colonial occupation & independence.

One of the oldest pot from Britain dated back to 4000 BC from Continental Europe. Brought from the British Museum
A portrait of Cemi (Taino God) from Jamaica dated back to 1451 AD. Source: British Museum

It also includes the rare Mughal paintings, totemic statues of Tanio God from the Carribean, Astrolabe & seventeenth-century Celestial sphere made by Ziauddin Mohammad in Mughal era.

A celestial globe made of brass from Paris, France dated back to 1659 AD. Source: British Museum

Within one & half hour, Neel gave a contextual orientation to the walk members of artifacts (1.7 Million years old up to Modern era) passing through every theme. Though the space at some themes was cramped and the group size was large but he managed to walk the talk as an experienced walk leader. Walking through the unique gallery that displayed around two hundred rare artifacts of history showed the collaborative growth of different civilizations around the globe. It also provided a clear picture that none of them is superior over other. More or less, in the same chronological stage, the similar developments took place in different parts of the world with some unique advancement in each of them from the formation of handmade axes up to the freedom from Colonial occupation.

 

After the walk, Neel offered a tea at the canteen located in the basement of National Museum. Designed in the old style with the paper tokens at the counter, it gave a nostalgic reminder of my bygone student days at Aligarh Muslim University where many canteens had the almost similar style of arrangement & coupons on cash counter.

Neel Dogra at National Museum canteen

Neel, an art and culture enthusiast who was previously a bank manager by profession. His love for theatre, art & culture compelled him to leave the job. Now he dedicated himself to conducting theatre plays and leading heritage walks. His webpage and facebook “Herithart” documented many events and play conducted under his supervision.