Bulleh Shah

Romair:-

``To the point that much of the written material about this great Muslim thinker is from Hindu and Sikh authors. ``

That is really sad! THe problem is that the mullahs have always tried to come in between the almighty and his mortals through their discourses (some of which are absolute nonsense and goes in the name of ijtehad). These mullahs have denounced the ruhaniyat of Bulleh Shah and other sufis because they encourage the ordinary mortals to ``deviate`` from the ``true`` path that mullahs claim to show. The mullahs would lose everything if muslims were to set themselves on the path of Bulley Shah:

``Maati kudam karendee yaar,
Vaah vaah maati de gulzaar;
Maati ghora maati jora, maati daa aswaar,
Maati maati nu (n) dorave, maati daa chankaar.

Maati maati nu(n) maaran lag-gee, maati de hathiyaar.
Jis maati par bahutee maati, so maati hankaar;
Maati baagh bagheechaa maati, maati dee gulzaar.
Maati maati nu (n) vekhan aayee, maati dee a bahar;

Hus khed phir maati hove, paindee pau pasaar.
Bullah ja(n) eh bujhaarat buj-jhe,
Taa(n) lah bhau siro(n) maar.``



``The soil is in ferment, O friend
Behold the diversity.
The soil is the horse, so is the rider
The soil chases the soil, and we hear the clanging of soil
The soil kills the soil, with weapons of the soil.
That soil with more on it, is arrogance
The soil is the garden so is its beauty
The soil admires the soil in all its wondrous forms
After the circle of life is done it returns to the soil
Answer the riddle O Bulleh, and take this burden off my head.``


So welcome to the path of the heretic sufis!!

Bulleh Shah believed in internal Islam -- not the external -- legalistic -- sado masochistic -- ritualistic -- barbaric Islam...

.....for him Koran was a vehicle for an intellectual journey that took him to that quantum level of spirituality -- where the creator and the created became ONE -- All in One -- and One in All.............NOT a manual for beheadings and hostage taking.......

BaluKhan

I dont understand that poem you quoted by Bulle Shah. What is the meaning of the motif of the soil?

I dont think much of these sufi poets. All they do is praise the almighty. Not long before Bulle Shah was born Shakespeare was writing his eternal masterpieces. Yet all these Indian subcontinental poets only seem to have one thing to say....God is so wonderful, Mullah and Pandit are evil, tear down the walls to your heart...blah blah blah, over and over again. Like one trick ponies.

Wasnt there ever a secular poetry in the Punjab that spoke about the dirt of the soul, evil, sin, sex and love and hatred, without referring to God?

Somebody please enlighten me. I am congenitally wary of Holy Men and their poetry. In my experience Sufis anaesthetise you with ``All religions are the same, God is love, all men are equal, praise the almighty he lives in all faiths, he is inside you and is love`` but it somhow all ends up with ``Now convert to Islam or you will burn in hell and die you Kufr b@5tard!!``

Are there any Bhakti`s left? I met a few sadhus and one of them winked at me like he wanted to see my lingam, the other ones philosophy seemed to be, ``Drink bhang and the world will be at peace....``

I always hated hippies, and to think we had this stupid philosophy in India for 2000 years really depresses me.

ballukhan #25

That is really sad!

I am glad someone (who else but an Indian) picked up on what I found the funniest part of the article.

For others: Was Bulleh Shah really a Muslim? Does Sufism really have anything to do with Islam?

Or is this merely an association of convenience?

sameer #10

I think you are right, we shouldn`t be so quick in declaring so and so the greatest Punjabi poet. Waris Shah`s Heer, as you point out, is the Bible, Quran and Geeta of Punjabi culture. But I don`t think anyone can argue that Ghulam Farid has supplanted Bulleh Shah has the people`s favourite poet. Ghulam Farid is extremely popular with both classical and folk singers and this probably at least partly explains it, but I don`t think it`s the whole story.

#27 by BruceLee on September 14, 2004 7:07am PT

``What is the meaning of the motif of the soil?``

sufis see divinity in all aspects of almighty`s manifestation- the soil motif is just about this commonality of substance between the so called polarities of high-low, rider-ridden, king-slave, musalmaan-kafir.

The essence of this world view is in the second line itself:
``Vaah vaah maati de gulzaar; ``

These diversities belong to the same gulzaar- and the sufi maintains this view when he beholds even the tiniest of the almighty`s creations!!

Try this-

Focus your vision on an ant and try to see it with this feeling that it is a manifestation of the almighty.
You would realize what the sufis feel after a few minutes!!!!

#27 by BruceLee on September 14, 2004 7:07am PT

``What is the meaning of the motif of the soil?``

sufis see divinity in all aspects of almighty`s manifestation- the soil motif is just about this commonality of substance between the so called polarities of high-low, rider-ridden, king-slave, musalmaan-kafir.

The essence of this world view is in the second line itself:
``Vaah vaah maati de gulzaar; ``

These diversities belong to the same gulzaar- and the sufi maintains this view when he beholds even the tiniest of the almighty`s creations!!

Try this-

Focus your vision on an ant and try to see it with this feeling that it is a manifestation of the almighty.
You would realize what the sufis feel after a few minutes!!!!

WELL DONE UMAIR!
I am afraid our beautiful `maan boli` Punjabi, the laguage of Bulle Shah, may not be drowned in the flood of Urdu brought about by `Matarruaism` which is ruling the roost these days in Pakistan. The Quran says ` Allah speaks only in the language of the people`. Only Punjabi touches the heart of the people as it is their `Maan boli`. It is perhaps why soofies prefer Punjabi, Sindhi, etc., and the Mulla, Arabic and urdu, treating one as God`s language and the other a `national` one.

As pointed out by nasah I also object to calling araeen a `low cast`. I may remind Umair that ther is no horizontal division in Islam on the basis of cast as is proved by Bulle Shah who says ` Araeen, Araeen aakho menu syed nah aakho koi`. In fact a syed is given respect only as a matter of courtesy due to his relationship to the Prophet (PBUH) and not as a matter of right. You will find syeds generally adopting the language and culture of the people to be one with them. So the mention of lower cast by Umair is unfortunate.

#20 echooom
I am not sure how you took my email? I am not trying to portary myself anti-shariat person, since i dont know what shariat is? I have to read, and understand it before i can say anything about it. I simply wrote verses of Hazrat Sulatn Bahu, which i like. I think it has a very deeper meaning, and it has different meaning to different people. That is the beauty of poetry that it fits in multiplt situation. It is not solid like a brick. It is more like a fluid which changes its shape according to its container. It has no LITTERAL , and fixed meaning. There is another beatiful shair of Hazrat Moen-ud-din chisht, which he wrote about Hazrat Ali Hajveri.

Ganj bakhsh faiz-e-alam mazharey noor-e-khuda
naksan ra peer kamal, kamlan ra rehnama

Regards.

its so difficult to get out of a habit.
Especially if its of drinking sufi wine.
As bullah himself said:
``Ab lagan lagi ki kariye?
Na ji sakiye te na mariye. ``

Umair,
A most interesting article. Though I have read Rumi, my knowledge of Bullay Shah`s poetry is very poor. As you rightly mentioned, if it wasn`t for Abida Parveen and Junoon, his poetry would have remained unknown to many of us.
Thanks for the wake up call.

BaluKhan

All that you describe sounds very Buddhist-Hindu in its mindblowing way of looking at the oneness of creation!

Wonderful article...good job. I am not punjabi, I hardly understand the language but I have always been fascinated by the vision of Bulley Shah...I have been trying to find the translation of his poems in English but so far no luck...if anyone could tell me where I can find something like that, it would be nice.
Once again, thank you very much Umair Raja for writing such a wonderful article about Bulley Shah!

BTW nearly every mehfil of the Ahle Sunnat in Pakistan a and the Pakistani Diaspora usually has someone, at least one naatkhaan, who recites from the poetry of Hazrat Bulleh Shah!

Sometimes whole jalsay are devoted to his memory and praise!

May Allah sanctify his innermost being and give us his faiz!

Great choice of topic romair!

Hazrat Bulleh Shah Qadiri rahmatullah alayhi was, no doubt, one of the greatest saints of the Subcontinent. (Saint is here a translation of the Arabic word `wali` and used in its specific Islamic Sufi sense). His poetry, like that of, eg Rumi, is of a heart annihilated in the Love of Allah! The biggest mistake is to interpret it in a perrenialist sense! He is speaking like a lover so lost in his Divine Beloved that everything *appears* to him to be the same. This is the expression of the Unity of Being [wahdat al wujood] first formulated in these words (the idea and the reality has existed since the first days of Islam eg the Prophet alayhisalatuwa salam`s famous hadith, `He who has seen me has seen The Truth (al Haqq)` ie. Allah or `O Abu Bakr no one knows my Reality except my Rabb!` ) It means that the saint of Allah is reminded of Allah in every object he sees. It does not mean he believes everything is Allah (which goes against basic Islamic teachings and every wali is a Muslim first and foremost; all of them, like Hazrat Bulleh Shah, followers of Sunni orthodoxy and very pious in practise. Thus there criticism of mullahs who practise one thing, preach another! The awliya practise what they preach! )

Main NeevaaN Mera Murshid Uccha...
Main UcchiyaaN naal sang laayee
I am lowly my spiritual guide is lofty!
I have tied my fate to such lofty ones!

This is an area on which I would request the kind input of Hindus on Chowk. In general, I have seen that they are very respectful of Sufis.

Naqshbandi`s #37 and #38 reflect the fact that there is far greater connection between Naqshabandi`s Islam and Bulleh Shah like Sufis than people may at first believe.

Should we ignore this connection? If not, what are the implications of this nexus? What are its social and religious consequences? Have the admiring Hindus, in general, known less about Sufis than they should in order to make a better judgement of the character and role of these individuals?