Mehjoor on Rahim

Translation

Hayat-i-Raheem, whose first printed copy in Urdu was perused with delight by Sir Mohammad Iqbal, the poet of the East, and the second edition was released in 2021 after about a century, has now been rendered into English for its wider circulation and dissemination of ideas of its author, Shayir-e-Kashmir, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor (1887-1952), about Kashmir’s Sufism and its promotion at a crucial time of history through one of its standard bearers, Raheem Saeb Bhat of Safapora. As a classical example of his prosaic writings on Kashmir’s spiritual journey from early medieval to modern times, and Mahjoor’s own firm belief in Tasawwuf and Sufi Tariqa, it establishes his credentials as a prosaist, besides being a poet par excellence and precursor of literary renaissance that enriched Kashmiri language’s vocabulary and idiom immensely. His name and stature continue spiritually and intellectually through his mesmerising poetry and lucid prose to be a marvel to behold by all and sundry, and a household name in Kashmir even after his death several decades ago.

Though a discourse on the life and times of Raheem Bhat, the Sufi saint of Mahjoor’s time in whose company he benefited personally and spiritually, the book takes us on a long intellectual voyage through historical times into the cultural and political landscape of Kashmir. It offers a wonderful glimpse into our pluralistic ethos--a unique blend of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim thought and Sufism-- which spread its endless effervescence across the lofty mountains of Kashmir to the world beyond to earn for us a significant space as a community of sorts that did not lose its nerve and belief in humanism and brotherhood at a critical juncture of history when boarders were redrawn on the basis of religion and racism; and when the partition sparked the bloodbath in the Subcontinent in which millions were slaughtered for no fault of theirs. Kashmiris remained so cool in the unfolding atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and anger that they were not at all led astray by the resultant feelings of ill will and communalism of the time. Not a single Hindu was killed in Kashmir due to the unyielding Kashmiri belief in brotherhood which was really ennobling enough to inspire Gandhi to describe the event as a “roshni ki kiran” or “insani biradari ki kiran”, ray of light and hope worthy of emulation among the people of India and Pakistan to spoil the nefarious designs and at- tempts of the rioters of their respective countries.

Mahjoor proclaims Kashmir’s this ethos, and rightly so, as an inseparable ingredient of its social ecology firmly embedded in its thought, behaviour and history. And within which its identity has operated vibrantly over centuries to make the Valley a real abode of humanism, and a repository of deep spirituality, sufism and altruism. For being incredibly marked by obvious inspirational aspects, didactic purpose and mutual accommodative and assimilating capacities, this ethos has been praised by all. Running through the veins of Kashmiri society to manage its peculiar pietism and marked individuality effectively since times immemorial, these capabilities give their own distinctiveness to Kashmiri character. Abundantly reflected in the mannerism of Muslim population of Kashmir, this indigenous character bears a striking resemblance to that of their Shaivite and Buddhist predecessors, differentiating them from the rest of the world like the white and black stripes secern the zebra from other animals.

Kashmir’s distant past is well known for unorthodoxy it had settled for and which was entirely justified by the conditions obtaining then. The cherished apostasy of the yore - the main conduit for Kashmir’s historical individuality- is seen still lingering doggedly in the life style of its Shaivites despite their having migrated to the Indian mainland of a totally different environment and ambience. Unlike Indian Brahmans, they continue caring least for the dietry restrictions that prohibit them eating garlicky foods made from a lot of halal mutton, fish, hen, eggs and spices supplied to them by the Muslims as they abstain from the Jhatka meat. It was found in the cupidity of Kashmiri Bikhshu’s for women, wine, gambling and acquisition of property and houses. The sight of a voluptuous woman or a vacant house in a monastery roused their avarice to own/ possess these by all means.

The details of Kashmiri unconventionalism is glaringly forthcoming from its medieval history which was dominated by the Muslim monarchs, both indigenous and alien. It came to manifest itself profoundly in the resurrection of temples and the restoration of icons—demolished and des- ecrated by the Hindu Kings—and the construction of new ones even by the so called iconoclasts like Sultan Sikandar. It was also found in the matrimonial vows which deviated from the Muslim Personal Law, prohibiting two/three sisters marrying a man during the subsistence of the first sister’s marriage. The pattern of behaviour of Kashmiri Muslims that was seemingly not in consonance with the fundamentals and which has assumed the shape of customary law and can be carried out in defense of “what has always been done and accepted by law” too reflects in this ethos. The customs of taking house son-in-law or ghar-damad, or matrilocal, and denying property rights to daughters (until recent past) characterise this conduct conspicuously.

It was the flexibility of Kashmir’s ancient historical melieu that promoted the flowering of the medieval Sufi thought and ethos under the leadership of Shah- e-Hamdan, Lal Dad and Sheikh Noorani. The medieval rulers like Badshah Zain-ul-Abidin encouraged it further to become a template to draw a line between social and anti social elements in the society and shape the indigenous attitudinal patterns accordingly.

On reaching the distant corners of the globe through the philosophical discourses of a galaxy of ancient and medieval Kashmiri mystics, saints, philosophers, scholars and Rishis including Abhinavagupta, Sheikh Yaqub Surfi, the author of Dabistan-e-Mazahib etc., and the poetry of its poets especially Bilhana, Kalhana and Mulla Ghani, Kashmiri milieu overwhelmed the alien peoples with its effervescence and ambience even more than the unique geographical setting, scenario and refreshing water bodies of the land. The impact was so profound that a huge platoon of Central Asian traders, travelers, scholars and sufis began frequenting Kashmir to trade in its products and interact with its scholars, poets and rulers, and spread the message of Islam in the Valley. Iran’s poet laureate, Saib was so much lured by Kashmir that he did not fail to visit it to be completely overawed by rather grand and delicate thoughts of its poet, Mulla Gani. Another acclaimed Irani poet, Zahoori was equally inspired to sing in its praise and swear upon the charms of Kashmiri surroundings and the attractive qualities of its people. While preferring Kashmiris to Turks in elegance and sweet speech, he wrote:

Ba Turkan-e-ghaarat-e sabar-o-hosh Ba Kashmir taan-e-malahat farosh

What made Kashmir glaringly a distinct civilization in the whole range of Asiatic Civilizations was, thus, the messianic nature of its sacral entity and vivaciousness of its ethos! Essentially springing from a shared legacy and manifesting itself through a huge assortment of shrines, khankahs and dargahs, spread all over the Valley. These unique attributes of Kashmir were engrossing enough to make it, as Mahjoor believes, the “Gar-i-Hira” of the East; a Spiritual Paradise on earth that was more luminous than its scenic beauty for which it was so widely known as a heaven on Earth.

But, this milieu had receded into oblivion in the time of Mahjoor to provoke him to criticize it profusely. He laments the ugly phenomenon that had replaced the messianic atmosphere of earlier times in consequences of arrogance, ostentatiousness and inertia of the people of Kashmir who for their own ignorance had fallen prey to the deceit of indiscreet Peers; the real destroyers of Kashmir’s moral edifice, and big criminals of changing paradise into a hell according to Mahjoor.

The book contains a treasure of truly sublime stuff about the miseries that had befallen Kashmiris in consequences of famines, cholera, floods, fires etc., under the awful autocratic dispensation and unending official oppression particularly during World War I when Kashmiris were forcibly enlisted as soldiers to get buried alive while fighting for the British. Its pages are full of events of historical importance which are so interesting that the reader doesn’t want to leave them halfway, unfinished. Its careful reading firmly establishes that Mahjoor was one among the foremost genuine, foresighted and high-minded public intellectuals to voice the concerns of our ancestors and give vent to their feelings. Its scintillating prose, which confirms Mahjoor as a prosaic person, defines elaborately and meaningfully various contours of Kashmir history and identity with their definite inclusive overtones. He chose Urdu prosaic diction for this noble, mountain-climbing venture and explicated our civilizational mosaic and Sufi and Rishi dispositions in all their shades with loving care, adroitness, skill and authenticity.

Dr Abdul Ahad, author and historian