‘Wahgaan Main Wal Morr’(Turn thy reins towards me), the maiden literary venture in Punjabi by the award-winning prolific writer and poet Ab-ul-Imtiaz Ain Seen Muslim, has been dubbed by the literary critics as the gateway to the renaissance of Punjabi classic literature. As a classic, the book has even been included in the Punjabi syllabus of the Masters programme in the University of the Punjab.
The most remarkable aspect of this album of hymns and na’ats (the poetic genre that deals with the praise of the Holy Prophet pbuh) is that there is a separate and exclusive book on its criticism with the title ‘The Representative Poet of the Classic Literature: Abu-Al-Imtiaz Ain Seen Muslim’. This comprehensive and detailed collection of critical essays about ‘Wahgaan Main Wal Morr’ has been compiled by Dr Riaz Majeed, Dr Inam-ul-Huq Javed and Amjad Ali Bhatti, and contains the contributions by over 30 esteemed writers and critics including late Ashfaq Ahmed Khan, Dr Mohammad Riaz Shahid, Dr Hafeez Ahmed Bajwa, Dr Salah-ul-Din Darvesh, Dr Shaukat Ali Qamar and many others.
The five smoothly interlinked portions of the book titled ‘Azal Ta Abad’, ‘Rab Sayeen’, ‘Tayaba Da Mahi’, ‘Kaafian’ and ‘Kach De Sufney’ are, no doubt, a feast for the lovers of Sufi poetry. The collection is a great source of spiritual insight and enlightenment and projects the personality of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) in such a way that the reader is immersed in the glow and grandeur of his sacred and blessed being.
“My Mahi is unique;
Nobody else is his alike.
He lives everywhere;
He has an aura of light there.
The eve of his abode is like a moon full bright;
Nobody else is his alike.”
Muslim’s command over the genre of ‘Kaafi’ is so appealing that the readers feel surrounded by an aura of the great classic Sufis like Khawaja Ghulam Farid and Baba Bulleh Shah. It is aimed at explaining and commenting on the secrets of the abstract phenomena.
The first episode ‘Azal Ta Abad’ is a long poem; offering praise for the Holy Prophet it can be called the pivotal and the essential root of the whole masterpiece. Comprising 76 pages, the section follows set meters and rhythm inspired by the melodies of the classic Sufi poet Hazrat Sultan Baahu and thus provides the reader with a vivid and strong presence of the writer’s spiritual bond with the great poet.
The next portion titled ‘Rab Sayeen’ offers five hymns out of which the first three have been written in the meters of the great Punjabi Poet Hazrat Meeran Bakhsh’s famous masterpiece ‘Saif-ul-Maluk’. In these hymns, the poet has on the one hand, apprised his readers of God’s traits in the light of the Quran and Hadith, and has implored the Creator, in sheer humility and obedience, to forgive all his sins, on the other. The expressions and the pervasive mood of the writer is charming enough to gently push the readers towards a mystic levitation.
‘Tayaba Da Maahi’, the third chapter, comprises six melodious and inspirational na’ats that are equally imbued with traditional and classic style as well as the modern approach and healthy innovation. Although the poet’s works in both Urdu and English overflow with deep thought and ecstatic rhythm, this book in hand, has gone to a long way further in exuding an aura of matchless trance and serenity:
“Your sacred hand is the crown of my cranium;
Being your slave makes me sovereign.
The dust under your feet is my treasure;
Oh, the King of Madina!
I am yours, I am yours.”
The fourth portion is titled as ‘Kaafian’ and it deals with the same genre of classic and mystic poetry of Sindhi, Seraiki and Punjabi. All the 14 Kaafis of this portion bring us to feel the classic touch and subsequently the revival of the techniques of Sufi Saints Baba Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain and Khawaja Fareed. Muslim has delicately and beatifically employed this literary tool to project his spontaneous love for the Creator, the true and eternal love.
The concluding phase, ‘Kach De Sufnay’, is apparently all about worldly love, beauty and issues, but, if the reader senses the implicit pulse of the five poems, that cover this chapter, he is reality-bound to discern a parallel line of mystic and spiritual poetry in it. The poems are, beyond any cavil, an immense reservoir of melodic notes:
“O Henna! Tell me with honesty;
How did you acquire this colour, look and beauty?
You get merged with the hands of the damsels;
To spur their hearts’ wishes with the golden pearls.”
Driving home the point, Muslim has truly endowed a new articulation and style to Punjabi poetry by reviving the classic era with his individual modern and progressive tinge. His profound knowledge and study of the Holy Quran, deep insight into mystic literature and Kaafi, and his meticulous command over the Punjabi language and literary diction and decorum have bestowed upon him an exclusive competence to produce such soul-refining work.
Title: Wahgaan Main Wal Morr
Poet: Ab-ul-Imtiaz Ain Seen Muslim
Price: PKR 400
ISBN: 978-969-8981-23-5
Publishers: Alqamar Enterprisers, Urdu Bazaar, Lahore
This classical poetry of Punjabi language reminds us the medieval days of Punjab’s poetry and it follows the meter and spirit of Hazrat Sultan Bahu. It takes the mind to the origin of the world and the place of human being. That topic has been nicely covered by Bahu and Iqbal. It elates the status of human being to its highest point, where he is vicereagent of Allah. It deals with the conflict of evil and good forces, struggle and piety. Its rhytm and tune catches the hearts before affecting the mind. It speaks if eternity of soul and purity of mind.
Comments are closed.