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انالله و انا اليہ راجعون.
قطعہ تاريخ وفات
(از: دين محمد ”اديب“ فيروزشاهي)
اڄ هاءِ لڏي ويو ”وفائي“،
سنڌيءَ جي سَنَد اديبِ دوران.
اي هاءِ، حبيب ٿي جدا ويو،
دنيا مان ويو – ويو وڃڻ کان.
دل چُور هئي اڳي غمن کان،
زخمن تي لڳو هي زهري پيڪان.
موٽي نه وري، وڃي هتان جو،
ٿئي ان جو ملڻ مرڻ پڄاڻان.
دنياي ادب ۾ حادثو آهه،
ناقابل جبر آهه نقصان.
اڄ ڪير ڪري ادب جي خدمت،
هَي باغ ٿيو ادب جو ويران!
مشاطہ عروسِ فڪر ماهر،
هو سحر نگار سنڌي سبحان،
منجهه نثر انهيءَ جو پايو عالي،
همپايه نه ان جو ڪو نمايان.
تاريخ نويس، علم – جويا،
ان نڪتي سموهيا پريشان.
تازي و دري ۾ دُرفشان هو،
هو دُر ادب جو بحر عمان.
هي باغِ ادب جو باغبان هو،
هو باغِ سخن جو ابر نيسان.
ان شاهه لطيف جو لکيو حال،
ان ڪار کي شاهڪار ڄاڻان.
جرات سان چيائين حق جو ڪلمو،
جرات تي سندس، جريءَ حيران.
منجهه وقت خلافت جي ڪئي جنگ،
ان جنگ جي لاءِ مرد ميدان.
پرواه نه ڪيائين جيل جي ڪا،
پروانه جان باه ۾ وڌائين جان.
هن، طرز تي پانهنجي ڪيو ڪم،
ورچيو نه ڪڏهن هو پنهنجي ڪم کان.
هو محڪمِ عزم، عالي همت،
مَٽ ان جو هجي ڪو ورلي انسان.
مردن جو هو ڪال اڳ گهڻو ئي،
هيڪاري وڌيو سندس وڃڻ کان.
اميدون هيون منجهس گهڻيئي،
سڀ خاڪ ٿيون – دريغ، ارمان!
ماتم ٿيو محفلِ ادب ۾،
ماتم ڪده آهه بزمِ عرفان.
بيگاني يگاني کي سندس غم،
ان درد کان اهلِ ذوق لرزان.
دلِ ديده رُئن، جگر ٿيو داغ،
هن سوز کان صاف سينو سوزان.
مشرب ۾ عميق فرق هوندي،
ٿيا دل جا وسيع، تنگ غم کان.
بخشيس قصور ٻاجهه وارو،
بخشيس قصور، حور غلمان.
ڪر لطف جو پاڇو قائم ان تي،
نِت ان تي وساءِ ابر احسان.
آغوش ڪرم ۾ وٺ ڪريما!
بديون بدلاءِ نيڪين سان.
ٿئي حڪم نجات لاءِ جاري،
منجهه خلد برين وڃي خرامان.
سال آهه – ”باغهاي فردوس“،
فردوس ۾ ڏينس باغ بستان.
مقبول ”اديب“ جي دعا ڪر،
ايمان سان لڏاءِ هن جهان مان!
FOREWORD
Every reader of the Shah-jo-Risalo is confronted with the problem in how
far Shah Latif has alluded to contemporary
customs, and to objects and situations peculiar
to Sindh and to the social life in his time. In
the history of literature and mysticism,
scholars have often forgotten that mystics and
poets do not live in a vacuum but that they are
bound to their environment and have to use
symbols and rumus which can be understood by
their countrymen and contemporaries, though
these words bear, for the mystic, a deeper
spiritual significance. Sorely has, in his book
on Shah Abdul Latif, given a large picture of
the social and political conditions of Sindh in
the 17th and 18th
centuries, so that the Europeun reader may get a
right impression of Shah Latif’s environments
and the background of his outward life.
In the present booklet, Shah jo mutalao, the well known author Din
Muhammad Wafai (died 1950), has tried to show
the peculiarities of Shah’s poetical language
and to trace from his poetry a picture of the
daily life in Sindh in the Kalhora period. We
learn, through his book, the different kinds of
birds, the camel races and their names the means
of earning one’s life etc. For the Sindhi reader
who is familiar with all the aspects of rural
life, the book will be very interesting be cause
it enables him to see many of his own
experiences reflected in shah latif’s Poetry,
and I am sure that he will look upon his own
daily life with quite another view after having
understood in what a wonderful manner the great
Sindhi poet has transformed thing he sees every
day into symbols of highest meanings. And the
foreigner who reads for the first time the
‘Risalo, will find most useful information in
din Muhammad Wafai’s book, information which
enable him to admire the subtle blending of
mystical ideas, and of simple folklore even
more.
We do hope that the book will find the interest which it deserves, and we
are sure that it will help to a better
understanding of the masterpiece of sindhi
literature.
BONN
(West Germany)
7th august, 1961.
Professor, Dr. Annemarie Schimmel
Sind’s Great Writer
(Maulana Din Mohammad Wafai)
By: Jaffer Bilgrami
sind with its glorious past has produced great personalities whose work
and deeds would be cherished for a long time to
come.
The advent of the current century saw the Muslims of the subcontinent in
one of the most grueling moments of their
history engaged in waging war against illiteracy
on the one hand and overthrowing the yoke of the
British tyrannical rule on the other. The
Muslims living in sind were no exception to
those harrowing conditions and their struggles
launched in various fields are of great
importance. Among many personalities who made
their debut in various fields at that crucial
juncture of the history one was Maulana Din
Mohammad Wafai whose name is synonymous with the
struggle of sind in the freedom movement
Maulana’;s contribution in the literature and
journalism of Sind is unparallel and he was the
first Sindhi scholar who initiated research in
the history of Sind and made his mark in this
field.
He was born in the village of nabiabad (Taluka Garhi Yasin of Sukkur
District) on 27th Ramzan-ul-Mubarad
1311 AH. At the very young age of 12 Maulana had
thoroughly acquired the knowledge of Persian and
later he studied Arabic at various madrassahs in
his village and after completion of education he
soon started his teaching career.
In 1919 when Khilafat Movement began Maulana left the job and joined the
movement for the cause which was always dear to
him, and his people. This was a beginning of a
path of a man destined to spend his life in the
service of the people of
Sind. That made Maulana Wafai the most respected
and loveable personality of the entire province.
In 1920 Sindhi journal Al-Waheed was brought out
under the editorship of Kazi Abdul Rehman and
Maulana was asked to join the editorial board of
the newspaper. With this began the long carrier
of Maulana as a journalist. His writings were
declared pieces of marvellous writing in the
Sindhi literature as Maulana has his own style
of writing with clear expression and masterly
narration which people used to read. Another
field in which Maulana achieved landmark was the
research in history of Sind. The Maulana
painstakingly recounted the glorious past of the
province and enlightened people through his
writing. Maulana inspired the people with the
heritage of Sind in its true perspective.
The efforts of Maulana Wafai did not go in vain and soon he emerged as a
distinguished writer; research scholar of
Sindh’s art history and literature. It needs no
mention that the revival of history of
Sind was mainly due to the tireless efforts of
Maulana Din Mohammad Wafai. Eminent contemporary
of Maulana have paid him glorious tributes for
the service he rendered. Titles such as “Imam of
Sind’s History”. “Living dictionary and
encyclopaedia of Sind” were given to Maulana by
many scholars and historians.
In 1943 Maulana Wafai resigned from Al-Waheed but continued to carry out
Tauheed in which Maulana Sahib bitterly
criticized the depraved and unscientific
traditions and customs of the Muslims of Sind
and reformed their religious, social and
political thinking. Maulana Wafai died on
April 10, 1950. in him sind lost a great veteran
whose services will always be remembered his
whole life was devoted to the cause of the
people trying to uplift their social,
educational and moral conditions. Maulana left
50 books which he wrote mostly on the history
and religion.
(Daily News, April 29, 1975)
The Great Sindhi
Scholar Who Did Not
Live In Vain
By A.H Haquani
“No great man lives in vain. The history of the
world is but the biography of great men”
The history of Sind is interspersed with many a page of glorious periods. And
these periods have, in fact, come to be
synonymous with personalities whose works and
deeds gave monumental image to them to live
with; and be cherished through, the passage of
time. The beginning of the present century saw
the Muslims of Sind in the grip of grueling
moments. The feudal overlords, under the
patronage of colonial ‘sahhbs’, had virtually
paralysed the masses under their tyrannical
rule. Illiteracy amongst the Muslims was
rampant. The few who could manage through school
and college education hardly matched the ‘bania’
influence in the services. Trade commerce and
industry were practically restricted areas for
them.
Such were the harrowing conditions for the Muslims prevailing in the
province at the turn of the century and at this
juncture, a young man infused with the feeling
of the spirit of the great Islamic heritage,
endowed with a vision that seemed to foresee the
coming events, and inspired by the clarion calls
of Jamalhuddin Afghani and the Great Ali
Brothers, came out from the recluse of his abode
in a far-off unknown village, with the burning
desire to serve the Mussalmans of his province.
And in this he was to wage a war. The pen was to
be his weapon. He gave a new trend to thinking
among the Sindhi Muslims. His simple but bold,
forthright but appealing writings revolutionised
the intellectual sphere. His message soon
started bearing results. The Sindhi Muslim youth
had caught the signal of the message. Later
years were to see an upheaval in all the areas
of activities of the Muslims. The message gave
them the realization of the potentials they had
and the great force they could forge themselves
into.
That man is no more with us today. With his deeds and works, he has,
however, interwoven himself into the pages of
Sind’s history. And though there is no monument
to cherish his memory, he, in the words of
Thomas Carlyle, with which this article begins,
has carved out his biography in the annals of
Sinds history. He certainly did not live in
vain. That great man was Moulana Din Mohammad
Wafai.
Early
life
He was born in the
village of Nabiabad (Taluka Garhi Yasin, Sukkur
District) on the 27th of Ramzan,
1311, AH. By the time he was 12, Maulvi Sahib
had thoroughly acquired a good knowledge of
Persian. In the following years he took the
course in Arabic from various madrassahs in the
villages around his home village.
By the time he was 18, he had completed his education and was fully
equipped to embark on his mission, soon after he
joined a school as to gain momentum. Maulvi
Sahib Social felt that his loyalty to cause of
Muslims demanded participation in the movement
and that he could not any more remain aloof, so
he left his peaceful job and joined the movement
for the cause which was dear to his people. This
was the start of long career of a man destined
to spend his life in the service of the people
of
Sind. The career that made the name Wafai, one
of the most respected and loved in the entire
province.
In 1918 Maulvi Sahib established a Sindhi language journal by the name
“Al-kashi” (the explorer). In 1920 a daily
newspaper in Sindhi called: “Al-Waheed” was
established under the editorship of Kazi Abdul
Rehman. Maulvi Wafai was asked to join as the
member of the editorial board. With this began
the long and distinguished career as a
journalist. His articles are pieces of good
Sindhi literature. Being simple and
straightforward, his writing was easily
understood by one and all. His articles
contained facts and he wrote a prose full of
eloquence and the rhetorich used was rare.
Another field in which he achieved distinction was history. In those days
nobody really cared for the contemporary
histories began with accession to the throne by
Queen
Victoria
and ended with the poise note praying for the
good health and long life of the reigning King
George V. it was this unfortunate state of
affairs in which Maulvi Sahib set himself to
work. He felt that a nation without history is a
nation without respect, and that as long as the
sindhi people remained ignorant of their own
glorious past they can never face the future
with confidence.
He was convinced that in the history of
Sind there was enough to lift the chin of any
Sindhi. It was also enough to inspire the people
to yet higher ladders of progress. So he took up
the delicate and the intricate work of
acquainting his people with the heritage of sind
in new perspective.
Imam of Historian
The efforts of the Maulvi Sahib ultimately met with success and many a
renowned Sindhi historians took inspiration from
Maulana’s works.
Soon renowned sindhi scholars like Pir Hisamuddin Rashdi and Pir Ali
Mohammad Rashdi inspired by Maulana Wafai’s
writings, took upon themselves to write many
books on the history of sind and, to a
considerable extent, repaired the damage that
the years of neglect and hypocrisy had caused.
It need not, therefore, be emphasised that the
revival of Sind’s history, was mainly due to the
tireless efforts of Maulana Wafai eminent
contemporary literatures have paid glowing
tributes to Maulana’s stature as a great
historian and culogised his services as such.
Pir Hisamuddin Rashdi has referred to Maulana
Wafai as the Imam of Sindhi historians.
Sind’s most revered educationist, the late Shamsul Ulema Dr.
Daudpota used to call the Maulana as a living
dictionary while to Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi, he
was a mobile encyclopedia. |
