Re-centering the Sufi Shrine by Irfan Moeen Khan

Author:Irfan Moeen Khan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2023-01-30T08:21:56.716000+00:00

Naḥnu aqarab kī bansī bajā’ī man ‘arif nafsahu kī kūk sunā’ī

Fathuma vajahu allahu kī duhūm machā’ī darbar-i rasūl allāh

(Playing the flute/tune of “we are closer” (to you than your jugular vein), and the cry of “know yourself”; a splendor in/of the court of Prophet: “wherever you look you will find the face of God”)

In this kāfī verse, Bulleh Shāh juxtaposes first the Qur’ānic verse 50:16 with the playing of the flute (bansī), which in the Indian context immediately suggests the flute of Krishna. The flute symbol is an important trope in Mawlana Rumī’s poetry, with which someone like Bulleh Shāh would have been well acquainted. Nevertheless, the mention of the flute (bansī) fits wholly within the context of the Indian religious landscape. After all, Bulleh Shāh is celebrating the festival of Holi in the name of God, and the overlapping of the symbolism associated with Krishna with the Qur’ānic verse in this kāfī makes the appropriate connection. Moreover, as in the case of Rumī, the flute here can quite as quickly stand for the human body to symbolize the creation of Adam into whom God breathed His spirit/breath, or ruḥ (Qur’ān 15:29 and 38:72). In this manner, the use of the flute as a symbol lends itself to different interpretations, making it difficult in the context of Bulleh Shāh’s milieu to prefer one interpretation over the other. Arguably, given Bulleh Shāh’s wujūdī metaphysics, both readings are equally valid, and must be taken together to grasp the devotional effect of the kāfī. Nahnū aqarabu min ḥabli al-warīdi is the most robust Qur’ānic expression of the proximity of the Divine to the human soul, and it is incredibly potent because of the use of the corporeal image of the jugular vein.46 The verse depicting God as being closer to the human than his jugular vein is visualized in the kāfī as the playing of the flute by the Divine.47 This is then further complemented in the kāfī by a well-known, late ḥadīth qudsī “he who knows himself knows his Lord.”48 This too has a broader significance in terms of its meaning in Indian mysticism. In this case, Bulleh Shāh is building on the pre-existing Sufi tradition of emphasizing Divine intimacy through this Qur’ānic verse and then the ḥadīth qudsī—completely apart from the fact that these interpretations would be disputed or rejected by other traditionists and theologians.

The next line of the kāfī starts with another string of Qur’ānic words: “fathuma vajahu allahu,” which expresses the omnipresence of God in every direction.49 However, the full effect of the cosmology of “the Face of God” is realized in the duhūm machā’ī rasūl Allāh, as manifested (tajjalī) in the person of the Prophet, evident in/by the splendor of his court (darbar), which can also mean the tomb of the Prophet. Darbar of the Prophet also signifies Divine sovereignty or Kingship.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.