SAHIR'S STUFF : SOCIALISTIC OR SUFIYAA ?????

Here is a beautiful write up by Mr. Guri, contributed by
him on June 20, 1995, on the site :-

http://www.urdupoetry.com/articles/art12.html

SAHIR'S STUFF : SOCIALISTIC OR SUFIYAA ?????

Sorry, guys, for coming around here less often than I've
wanted to...been engulfed in a production ...I had started
this post in the days of RJGK 22, when I think it was
Ashok who said the article on Sahir's life talked
about 'Universal Love' in his shaayari but not about
his 'socialistic' tendencies...here's what me thinks :))

The guy who wrote:

zindagHi sirf mohabbat nahiN kuchh aur bhi hai
zulf-o-rukhsaar ki jannat nahiN kuchh aur bhi hai
bhookh aur pyaas ki maari huyi is duniyaa meiN
ishq hi ek haqeeqat nahiN kuchh aur bhi hai

found it quite natural, at one time, to get immersed in
a 'revolution' of his own design...a war against injustice
of 'all' kinds as he perceived it, be it the injustice
done to him by people like his father/his beloved's
father, or that perpetrated by other perceived oppressors
against the man on the street. Sometime in the early
sixties, Sahir's pen seemed to become his sword in this
war, and he wrote:

ham amn chaahte haiN magar zulm ke khilaaf
gar jang laazmee hai to phir jang hi sahi

zaalim ko jo na rokay vo shaamil hai zulm meiN
qaatil ko jo na Tokay vo qaatil ke saath hai
ham sar-ba-kaf uTThay haiN ke haq fatehyaab ho
keh do usay jo lashkar-e-baatil ke saath hai

is Dhang par hai zor to ye Dhang hi sahi

[sar-ba-kaf=hatHeli par sar lekar
haq=truth
fatehyaab=victorious
lashkar-e-baatil=jhooTh ki senaa]

Very quickly, of course, these 'socially-conscious' pieces
brought the poet himself a label of 'the socialist'...all
kinds of movements of a similar nature readily owned Sahir
as their spokesman, and Sahir wrote more:

zulm phir zulm hai, baDtaa hai to miT jaataa hai
khoon phir khoon hai, Tapkegaa to jam jaayegaa

zulm ki baat hi kyaa, zulm ki auqaat hi kyaa
zulm bas zulm hai, aagaaz se anjaam talak

khoon phir khoon hai, sau shaql badal saktaa hai
aesee shaqleN ke miTaao to miTaaye na bane
aese sholay ke bujhaao to bujhaaye na bane
aese naaray ke dabaao to dabaaye na bane!

kuchh din tak chaltaa rahaa ye pravaah 'zulm' ke
khilaaf 'jang' ke jazbaat ka...Pdt. Nehru died...1965 ki
Indo-Pak conflict apnay saath jang ki us bhayaanak shaql
ko lekar saamne aayi jisme apnay roobaroo apnay khoon ko
bemaqsad behtay dekh kar Sahir ko apni hi likhi huyi usi
ghazal ki akhri do laayineN jaise yaad aa gayiN

tum agar aaNkh churaao to ye haq hai tumko
maine tumse hi nahiN, sabse mohabbat ki hai
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

baat to vohi mohabbat se shuroo huyi tHi, jang-0-khooN
meiN kaise aTak kar reh saktee tHi? He wrote:

khoon apnaa ho ya paraayaa ho
nasl-e-aadam ka khoon hai aakhir

jang mashriq meiN ho ke magHrib meiN
amn-e-aalam ka khoon hai aakhir

jang to khud hi ek mas_alaa hai
jang kyaa mas_aloN ka hal degee
aag aur khoon aaj bakhshegee
bhookh aur ehtiyaaj kal degee
[mas_alaa=samasyaa
ehtiyaaj=needs]

isliye ae shareef insaano
jang Taltee rahe to behtar hai
aap aur ham sabhi ke aaNgan meiN
shammaa jaltee rahe to behtar hai

bartaree ke suboot kee khaatir
khooN bahaanaa hi kyaa zarooree hai?
ghar ki taareeqiyaan miTaane ko
ghar jalaanaa hi kyaa zarooree hai?
[bartaree=baDappan]

Sufi-poets usually equate ISHQ with IBAADAT, and many a
time therefore, oppose organised religion and organised
conflict (war) of all kinds. They also talk about love
with the beloved being the same as love with God as well
as with all of His creation. They consider this kind of
love to be, sometimes, a difficult, yet the only way
to 'get there'. Previous sufi-poets who have left a huge
treasure of kalaam (usually sung, not recited...a lot of
it in the form of Qawwalis / KaafiyaaN / Dohay / Rang)
etc. They express a close affinity to all the popular love-
ballads: Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnu, Sassi-Punnu, Dhola-
Maaru, Shirin-Farhaad, even Radha-Krishna and Seeta-Ram.

Sahir was never very far from this preoccupation with
ishq...he had written earlier in 'TalkhiyaaN':

mere sarkash taraane sun ke duniyaa ye samajhtee hai
ke shaayad mere dil ko ishq ke nagHmoN se nafrat hai
[sarkash=revolutionary]

magHar ae kaash dekheN vo meree pursoz raatoN ko
main jab taaroN pe nazreN gaaDkar aaNsoo bahaataa hooN

maiN shaayar hooN mujhe fitrat ke nazzaaroN se ulfat hai
meraa dil dushman-e-nagHmaa-saraayi ho nahiN saktaa
[fitrat=nature
nagHmaa-saraayi=geet gaanaa]

mujhe insaaniyat ka dard bhi bakhshaa hai qudrat ne
meraa maqsad faqat sholaa-nawaayi ho nahiN saktaa
[faqat=sirf
sholaa-nawaayi=aag barsaanaa]

The late-sixties saw a number of sufiyaanaa stuff from
Sahir in the movies. When he talked about the fundamentals
of sufism in... Barsaat Ki Raat / Roshan:

ishq aazaad hai, hindu na musalmaan hai ishq
aap hi dharm hai, aur aap hi imaan hai ishq

Allah aur Rasool ka farmaan ishq hai
yaani Hadees ishq hai, Quraan ishq hai
Gautam ka aur Maseeh ka armaan ishq hai
Ye qaaynaat jism hai, aur jaan ishq hai
ishq Sarmad, Ishq hi Mansoor hai
ishq Moosaa, Ishq Koh-e-toor hai
khaq ko but, aur but ko devtaa kartaa ishq
intehaa ye hai ke banday ko Khudaa kartaa hai ishq!

And, BTW, the following couplet in this qawwali
is 'inspired' by the famous Sufi Amir Khusrau :)

Sahir:

bahut kaThin hai dagar panghaT ki
(ab) kyaa bhar laaooN maiN jamunaa se maTakee
maiN jo chali jal jamunaa bharaN ko
(dekho ri sakhi ri)
maiN jo chali jal jamunaa bharaN ko
Nand ko chhoro mohe rok-ke chhaaRo
(to) kyaa bhar laooN maiN jamunaa se maTakee

(ab) laaj raakho mere ghooNghaT-paT kee

Khusrau:

bahut kaThin hai dagar panghaT ki
kaise maiN bhar laaooN madhwaa se maTakee

paniyaa bharan ko maiN jo gayi tHee
dauR jhapaT moree maTakee paTakee

Khusrau nizaam ke bal-bal jaayiae
laaj raakho mere ghooNghaT paT kee

Back to Sahir...he talked about the khokhlaapan of
organised religion and man-made divisions of this planet
in ...Dhool Ka Phool / N. Dutta:

achhaa hai abhi tak teraa kuchh naam nahiN hai
tujhko kisi mazhab se koyi kaam nahiN hai
jis ilm ne insaan ko taqseem kiyaa hai
us ilm ka tujh pe koyi ilzaam nahiN hai !

maaliq ne har inssan ko insaan banaayaa
hamne usay hindu ya musalmaan banaayaa
qudrat ne to bakhshee tHee hameN ek hi dhartee
hamne kahiN Bharat kahiN Iran banaayaa

nafrat jo sikhaaye vo dharam teraa nahiN hai
insaan ko roNday vo qadam teraa nahiN hai
Quraan na ho jisme vo mandir nahiN teraa
Geeta na ho jisme vo haram teraa nahiN hai

And he put ishq-o-mohabbat above takht-o-taaj in... Tal
Mahal / Roshan:

aap daulat ke taraazoo meiN diloN ko toleN
ham mohabbat se mahabbat ka silaa dete haiN

takht kyaa cheez hai aur laal-o-jawaahar kyaa hai
ishq waale to khudaayi bhi luTaa dete haiN

And he questioned the sin-virtue concept pushed by
organised religion in...Chitralekha / Roshan:

ye paap hai kyaa, ye punya hai kyaa ?
reetoN par dharm ki mohreN haiN
har yug meiN badalte dharmoN ko
kaise aadarsh banaaoge ?

And when he came back to the love with khudaayi, this time
he compared God with baabul in...Dil Hi To Hai / Roshan:

bhool gayi sab bachan bidaa ke
kho gayi maiN sasuraal meiN aake

koree chunariyaa aatmaa moree
mael hai maayaa jaal
vo duniyaa more baabul ka ghar
ye duniyaa sasuraal
jaa ke babul se nazareN milaaooN kaise,
ghar jaaoN kaise
laagaa chunaree meiN daag chhupaaooN kaise

He wrote plenty of love-songs, plenty of zamaanaa-khilaaf
songs, plenty of insaan-ki-insaan-se-mohabbat songs...most
of this stuff had couplets that relate to the concept of
sufism (which may comment on 'pre-occupation' with
material things, and may disagree with putting 'daulat'
ahead of 'dil' but does not have an 'unconditional'
problem with the use/enjoyment of material things as such)
a lot more than to the narrower concept of anti-
capitalism...understandably I guess, because when he found
himself in the midst of success and 'capital' the guy did
not abstain from an extravagant personal life-style
himself ! He supported it thus:

ye bhog bhi ek tapasyaa hai
tum tyaag ke maare kyaa jaano

ham janm bitaa kar jaayenge
tum janm gaNvaa kar jaaoge !

Source: From the archives of ALUP
(alt.language.urdu.poetry)