Wrote it for Us 'Poets' Corner'...
Of Poets and Sufis - Some Observations.
I have slightly changed the title of this column. Instead of using the word 'mystics' I have chosen to use the word 'sufis'. All the contributors who wrote for this column made me realize that these two words need to be distinguished from each other. The concept of Mysticism exists in many religions of the world. The term 'sufi', however, is exclusively related to the Islamic concept of tassawwuf [which can also not be equated with the Western (read: prevalent) notion of 'Sufism'!]. The question to which some of you quite intelligently and profoundly responded was about poets turning into 'sufis'. And when I mention this term, I am alluding to the age-old tradition of tassawwuf - the tradition in which we find great names like Rumi and Bulleh Shah.
Poetry is a result of the creative energy that a poet is endowed with. Poetry, I believe, does not lack reason at all. A poet can and mostly does use reason and is equally capable of being transcendental in his approach at the same time. A sufi is also not devoid of reason. If he does not appear to be rational, that does not make him irrational too. There is a possibility of experiencing supra-rationality which may not make itself available to every other human being. A poet when composing poetry is not without his 'whys' and 'ifs' but a sufi accepts reality as it is revealed to him without asking questions. In this regard, I feel that a poet can be a philosopher but a sufi cannot. A poet's poetry may result from the suppression or liberation of the desire to create. But a sufi's verse is surely a result of the sublimation of that same desire. Think about it...
-N.A.
(Nov 11, 2007)
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2007-weekly/us-30-11-2007/p25.htm#1
I have slightly changed the title of this column. Instead of using the word 'mystics' I have chosen to use the word 'sufis'. All the contributors who wrote for this column made me realize that these two words need to be distinguished from each other. The concept of Mysticism exists in many religions of the world. The term 'sufi', however, is exclusively related to the Islamic concept of tassawwuf [which can also not be equated with the Western (read: prevalent) notion of 'Sufism'!]. The question to which some of you quite intelligently and profoundly responded was about poets turning into 'sufis'. And when I mention this term, I am alluding to the age-old tradition of tassawwuf - the tradition in which we find great names like Rumi and Bulleh Shah.
Poetry is a result of the creative energy that a poet is endowed with. Poetry, I believe, does not lack reason at all. A poet can and mostly does use reason and is equally capable of being transcendental in his approach at the same time. A sufi is also not devoid of reason. If he does not appear to be rational, that does not make him irrational too. There is a possibility of experiencing supra-rationality which may not make itself available to every other human being. A poet when composing poetry is not without his 'whys' and 'ifs' but a sufi accepts reality as it is revealed to him without asking questions. In this regard, I feel that a poet can be a philosopher but a sufi cannot. A poet's poetry may result from the suppression or liberation of the desire to create. But a sufi's verse is surely a result of the sublimation of that same desire. Think about it...
-N.A.
(Nov 11, 2007)
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2007-weekly/us-30-11-2007/p25.htm#1
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