More about Ibne Safi

The series of “seven unknown celebrities” has been received better than expected. Looking at the works of Hafeez Jallandhri, Jamiluddin Aali, Sehba Akhtar, Masroor Anwar, Kaleem Usmani and Ibne Safi, we realize that spiritual and patriotic writing did not stop after Iqbal. It has been evolving.

Before moving on to the seventh celebrity (who is going to surprise you for sure), I will share a few comments.

One of the younger readers wasn’t interested in Urdu literature but reading about these poets has made her interested. Likewise, an American writer and activist, and a generous participants in these discussions, wrote about her desire to learn Urdu, partially to read Ibne Safi (and you can also see her post about Ibne Safi on her blog):

I do sometimes feel at such a loss and now I MUST learn URDU to be able to read your Ibne - what a literary genius and visionary as well as role-modeling right living for the young!

Obviously, a language prospers when it offers something not to be found in other languages. The unknown celebrities discussed here gave us what was our very own, and hence they were cherished by everyone. By ignoring them, we have been ignoring ourselves.

A special comment has come from Ahmad Safi, the son of the late Ibne Safi and a dear friend of mine:

Dear Khurram Bhai:

Thanks for the Post on Ibne Safi. It's rather on time as well for his 29th death anniversary which happens to be on the 26th of July.

Usually when we remember personalities from our past, its done with the memories from far down the history lane. In case of Ibne Safi we are remembering him with one of his about 40 years old masterpiece compiled under the title of "Teen Sanki," due to the fact that it is too current for our times. As you mentioned, it depicts symbolically what's happening in the Northern Parts of Pakistan today.

The depiction is so vivid that it caught attention of many columnists in the media recently and we witnessed all sorts of comments on how it was possible for someone to write it so accurately, way back then. What should we call it: coincidence, vision, or foresight? Or was there something even bigger that manifested itself in form of a futuristic account of the state of affairs?

We would have to think about it. One thing is for sure: we would have to dig through all works and find the solutions suggested/rendered by the writer in his works. This way at least we would find ways of solving our present day problems. Don't you think we need to give more attention to these "mystery novels" now more than ever?

Thanks again...

Ahmad

Ahmad Safi holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering in an area which ultimately leads to the possibility of finding answers to some of the questions mentioned by him in this comment. I am hoping that we shall find answers together, or at least he will. (P.S. One of the columns mentioned by him can be found in the RR Archives).