Shah Latif

Behold the birds! In sweet bonds of love, they exceed humans (Shah Latif)
پسو پکيڙن ، ماڻهيان ميٺ گهڻي. (شاھ لطيف)

Making of the Sindhi identity: From Shah Latif to GM Syed to Bhutto

BY NADEEM F. PARACHA

In a nutshell, between the 1930s and mid-2000s, the existential narrative that furnished the Sindhi identity in Pakistan was this: Sindhis were of a land and society that was largely shaped by the deeds of hundreds of Sufi saints (especially Shah Abdul Latif), who preached tolerance and co-existence, and were suspicious of those who were stripping Islam of its spiritual essence, while replacing it with a creed based on a rigid worldview and an obsession with rituals.

This narrative was essential for Sindhis because it helped them find an anchor for their ethnic identity and sense of history; especially in a country where (according to them) the state was attempting to bypass centuries-old identities based on ethnicity, on the back of a largely cosmetic ideology based on a myopic understanding of the ethnic, religious and sectarian complexities of Pakistan.

The 19th century British traveller, Richard Burton, in his prolific accounts of Sindh, described the province to be one of the calmest regions of British India, with its own unique blends of faith.

Writing in the mid-1800s, Burton described Sindh as a land dotted by numerous shrines of Sufi saints; frequented in large numbers, by both the Muslim, as well as the Hindu inhabitants of the region.

He described Sindhi Muslims to be somewhat different (in their beliefs and rituals) from the Muslims of the rest of India.

According to Burton, even the Hindus of Sindh were different because their Hinduism was more influenced by Buddhism.

Birth of the existential Sindhi identity

When Punjab was being ripped apart by violent and gruesome clashes between the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Sindh remained peaceful.

In Interpreting the Sindh World, Vazira Fazila writes that Sindh’s British Governor, Francis Mudie, reported that the Hindus of Sindh were likely to stay behind (in Pakistan) because there was no chance of communal violence in the province that had exhibited ‘great communal harmony’.

Sindhi: An Introductory Course for English Speakers – Hubert F Addleton (Author), Pauline A Brown (Author)

Sindhi is a major world language and one of the great literary languages of Indus civilization, with more than 19 million speakers in Pakistan, more than a million in India and growing numbers in communities throughout the world. Yet this language of poetic masterpieces like the Risalo of the great sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, remains little known and neglected even among scholars of the Subcontinent. Addleton and Brown’s work for the first time offers linguists, students of religion, anthropologists, and second generation Sindhis in the West a practical and systematic introduction to the vocabulary and grammar of spoken and written Sindhi. First developed for English speakers living and working in southern Pakistan, Addleton and Brown’s work has recently been revised and updated, and is now the best available pedagogical introduction to Sindhi for English speakers. Sindhi: An Introductory Course for English Speakers will be of interest not only to linguists and scholars, but to anyone interested in the culture, language and heritage of the Sindhi people.

Read more » Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Sindhi-Introductory-Course-English-Speakers/dp/0977837289

Secular Sindhi Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif

When the world was still to be born
When Adam was still to receive his form
Then my relationship began
When I heard the Lord’s Voice
A voice sweet and clear
I said “Yes” with all my heart
And Formed a bond with the land (Sindh) I love
When all of us were one, My bond then began.
– Secular Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif ( 1689 – 1752 )

Indian Parliamentarian takes oath in Sindhi

MP Mavindra Singh

Not only do many in Western Rajasthan (Eastern Thar) speak Sindhi as a native language, others Rajasthanis also know and prefer Sindhi to Hindi/Urdu. Member of Parliament (Rajasthan, India) Manvendra preferred to take oath in Sindhi which is recognized as one of India’s constitutional languages. Not only do many in Western Rajasthan speak Sindhi, the language and culture of all of Thar is very much like Sindh’s. People sing songs of Shah Latif in this area.. Mumali Raarno is a folktale from this area that is remembered through Shah Latif’s poetry in Sindh and all over Thar. Plenty of other MPs had their families cheering too from the Distinguished Visitors’ gallery. There was the Pilot clan — Sachin Pilot’s mother Rama, wife Sara Abdullah, sister Sarika and brother-in-law; Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra had his wife, mother, and brother cheering. The former finance minister himself preferred a relatively obscure seat in the Rajya Sabha gallery from where he could watch his son who took oath in Sindhi (as Rajasthani is not a recognised language, Manvendra later said).

Courtesy: –  Indian Express, Friday, June 04, 2004.

///\\\///\\\

Unfortunately, Pakistan not only refuses to recognize Sindhi as a national language of Pakistan and has effectively blocked the implementation of Sindh’s decision to use Sindhi as its official language in Sindh.

266 Urs : Shah Latif a Source of Awakening

Shah Latif Bhitai is varstile poet, his content, language, diction, heroes, characters, every thing is rich and beautiful, such programs like celebrating Latif-Day offers a chance to establish connection between Bhitai and the people. Latif is always refreshing and inspiring, alas, lot of people have given up reading him, he is our greatest strength, a sole source of awakening, spread light into stagnant minds of our people.

He not only depicts Sindh, its culture, past but gives an inspiration for change, “Wethan ta waree wary“, several one liners of his poetry are remarkable, one hardly finds such a wide-ranging observations, wisdom and reflecting on diverse things. Bhitai, though a son of Sindh, not lived in era of globalization and communication revolution, but he truly encompass universe in his poetry.

SAAEIN SADAAEIN KAREIN MATHE SINDH SUKKAR

DOST MITHAA DILDAAR AALAM SAB AABAD KAREIN

– SHAH ABDUL LATIF

Translation – May Lord bless Sindh along with entire world.