Storytellers On Stage Great stuff Enam! hope they continue to do well ... did you post this here before as an ilog?

hope you are well ... saw you on youtube too ... you DO get around!

Faiz Ahmad Faiz - A Blameworthy Sufi? a well written article Naqsh

the question here is not that of Faiz's beliefs, as he probably had none ... the cultural context is probably far more important here

as far as the personalities of historical figures is concerned, one usually chooses to see the aspects that one wants to see highlighted, and blocks out the ones that appear not to be to one's liking ... Faiz is doing the same as would any na'at writer ... besides na'at-goi is a part of Urdu poetry, even many non-muslims have done it, without changing their faith systems in the process

Sufis hold the prophet in a 'different' esteem when compared with other (dare I say mainstream) muslims ... the emphasis is very different, and almost mythological (I should add that all religions are inherently combinations of the MYTHOS and LOGOS ... the two essential components of any MYTHOLOGY) .... it is the 'seeing eye and believing heart/mind' that determines whether it wants to highlight the 'mythos' or the 'logos' component, and in what context

the asceticism leading to 'meiraaj' for instance is the ultimate goal for sufis ... that itself can be interpreted differently by different people .... some might say it is a victory of mind over matter, and interpret it in mystical terms ... some would say it is miraculous, and defies the eternal truths that we label as the laws of physics ... and some (like Iqbal) would put it as:

"sabaq milaa hai meiraaj-e mustafa se mujhe;
ke aalam-e bashriyet ki zad mein hai gardoon"

... and some would always remain skeptic and treat any interpretation exactly as it is ... an 'interpretation' of an individual

again ... its the eye of the beholder and the context that often decides how something is meant ... and whether we take it literally or not

Three Poems by Allama Iqbal 'maan ka khwaab' was and is my all time favourites ... especially the frustrations that pile up and get expressed as:

"Samajhti hai tu hoe gaya kya issay?
Tere aansoo-on nay bujhaaya issay"

in the end .. well written with great (and rather unconventional) choice from Iqbal ... many aspects and faces of the same person, inherently self-contradictory as all humans are

East Pakistan to Bangladesh Re: # 86; afat

bohat sola aaney ki baat ki hai aapne ... mashallah bohat khoob!

East Pakistan to Bangladesh Re: # 34

... saying that Punjabis (in Pakistan) are also full of themselves ... 'owning up' to things in a patronising way is also suggestive of self-righteousness and a self-proclaimed status to uphold 'Pakistanism' ... whatever that is ... and quite frankly it can be irritating to others who may have a stronger sense of identity of their own than Punjabis (who have been only too keen to rid of their Punjabi-ness in favour of Pakistani-ness ... favouring Urdu over Punjabi being one salient example of this phenomenon)

East Pakistan to Bangladesh Bhatti sahib ... this mentality is rather common ... one is not doing all that well so must be someone else's fault ... in the Pakistani context (for minorities) it is the 'punjabi' .... in the 'Ummah' context, it is the US and Israel (for the Ummah)

Namal University, Another Landmark by ‘Taliban’ Khan its not as if there is a shortage of universities in Pakistan, or is there?? ... there are literally stacks of them everywhere, public, private, you name it .... they are churning out people with qualifications but with no ability to think! ... they are (traditionally) taught WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think ... this would be a welcome addition if the curriculum and educational standards are similar to those in Bradford ... or would it? ..(knowing Bradford well, wouldn't hold my breath!)

and all those praising Imran Khan, there is no doubt about his philanthropic credentials, wish he'd stuck to them alone and not meddled in dirty politics

... but surely in recent times there has been a significant upsurge of so-called educational institutions, all over the place, with 'affiliations' in the UK (almost all private and out of reach for most but a select few) ... some even luring the prospective students by using the 'affiliations' as enticements ... wonder what all that is about

On Reason, Freedom and Democracy like I attempted to clarify for the benefit of your friend on UP, I am only as 'khandani' as you are sir

On Reason, Freedom and Democracy tahmed sahib ... sometimes I do feel sorry for the future of the universe you are an inhabitant of .... I mean that in the nicest possible way :)

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Dost ji ... that's the thing, it is not! ... here is an article from a blog that best explains the unfortunate coincidence:

[[The word "crap" is old in the English language, one of a group of verbs applied to discarded cast offs, like "residue from renderings" (1490s) or in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale", meanings probably extended from Middle English crappe "chaff, or grain that has been trodden underfoot in a barn" (c. 1440s), deriving ultimately from Late Latin crappa, "chaff".

The word fell out of use in Britain by the 1600s, but remained prevalent in the North American colonies which would eventually become the United States. The meaning "to defecate" was recorded in the U.S. since 1846 (according to Oxford and Merriam-Webster), but the word did not hold this meaning at all in Victorian England.

The connection to Thomas Crapper is conjectured by Adam Hart-Davis to be an unfortunate coincidence of his surname. The occupational name Crapper is a variant spelling of Cropper. In the US, the word crapper is a dysphemism for "toilet". The term first appeared in print in the 1930s. It has been suggested that US soldiers while stationed in England during World War I (some of whom had little experience with indoor plumbing) saw many toilets printed with "T. Crapper" in the glaze and brought the word home as a synonym for "toilet" — a sort of back-formation from "crap". This suggestion, however, overlooks the fact that "crapper" was a well-established word long before that time.

Yet another purported explanation is that Thomas Crapper's flush toilet advertising was so widespread, and the business name "T. Crapper & Co. Ltd, Chelsea". was seen on so many toilets, that "crapper" became a synonym for "toilet" and people simply assumed that he was the inventor.

Despite the word usually taking the form of either a noun or verb, some people (usually speakers from Commonwealth countries[citation needed]) use crap interchangeably with its adjective form "crappy". For example, "David Rotimi has a really crap video card", or "Victor Odumusu is crap at this."

Subjects may be referred to as "crap", used synomymously to words such as "rubbish", "baloney", or "hogwash". Examples may include: "This apple is crap", or "Your arguments are crap".]]

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Thomas "CRAPPER"!!! ... how poetic the irony!

LOL!!!

GHQ Attack-Serious Questions Re: # 190 the task is actually well within reach but with FULL committment to the cause ..... and not the half-hearted effort so far .... a dithering president hussain is not doing anyone any favours, least of all the very pakistanis/Muslims he is trying to appease

Story of Hindustani [[Why do you think West clings to Greek as their beacon of civilization, Brittania has nothing to do with Greek or Romans, nor do Americans but there is a deep felt kinship b/c of past links.]]

for those links to establish and grow, the language doesn't have to be 'active', ... its existence in the form of a written language should suffice ... Latin being a perfect example of this ... there are no primary Latin speakers alive today, yet it continues to influence other languages, cultures and science too ... so the kinship can remain despite the lack (or absence) of primary speakers, because of such influence

there are no significant primary speakers od Persian in Pakistan today (a few pockets at best), yet the inluence it exerts is alive and well

Story of Hindustani Re: # 120; vrv

not every language is meant to survive ... and not every language needs to survive

Story of Hindustani Re: # 115; 111

please read interact 8 below

Story of Hindustani Re: # 10

... punjabi had similar 'pronunciation' issues ... yet when written in the persian script, it is easily understood (despite similar difficulties re: the specific sounds you alluded to)