Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

One may have many reservations regarding the poet but the work of art calls for proper appreciation Rilke, one of the greatest modern poets, has a poem that reads: THE POET SPEAKS OF PRAISING Oh speak, poet. what do you do? I praise. But the monstrosities and the murderous days, how do you endure them, how do you take them? I praise. But the anonymous, the nameless grays, how, poet. do you still invoke them? I praise. What right have you, in all displays, in very mask, to be genuine?  praise. And that the stillness and the turbulent sprays know you like star and storm?    Drawing inspiration from Rilke, I today praise a little known contemporary Kashmiri poet who has struck some deep chords in me, as a token of gratitude for the ordeal that the poet has suffered for conceiving or writing poetry.  A work of art has to be approached first and foremost as a work of art and let us note that some masterpieces of poetry in all trad...

While I am convinced that current democratic model is corrupt, unworthy of those who want serious change, complicit with money power, impermeable to genuine change from the below or in the favour of the impoverished class and that our choice could only be between two evils, lesser and greater, we are called to question, condemn and hope simultaneously in this knotty scenario that admits of no neat idealistic solutions. While ethics would require shunning the politics altogether and fight using non-political spaces, somehow the question of the political props up. Regardless of the charge of political naivety that raising the question of ethics today may warrant according to many pundits who command the language of power, I think, recalling Faiz, we can’t afford silence, “Ham matayilowh-o-qalm karate rahaegae .”  Let me put, regardless of political correctness, some ethical questions to those who matter politically as today, on this apparently crucial time, Kashmiris are asking a s...

I don’t understand politics; I understand ethics only ___________ Borges The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. __________ John Calvin Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another. _____________ Homer There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear. _____________ Ben Jonson We understand more politics than ethics. And no wonder we find ourselves in hell. Hell is facing other people you don’t like. Hell is greed, envy, desire, ambition for worldly power. Hell is where love is not. Hell is regret, guilt, heedlessness. Hell is the laughter of the enemies. Hell is feeling unable to act.   Hell is a desecrated nature, deserted relationships, distrust, betrayal. Hell is the world under capitalism. Hell is the world today. Hell is Kashmir in search of home, in search of trustworthy leaders, in search of peace. Our world is hell thanks to the money power. Our politics seems such a stinking affair because ...

Perhaps many important questions are missed but a couple of them haunt me and I wonder would they ever be properly discussed. First is a question of building up spaces outside the current political system.  And the second is cashing on spaces opened up by changing dynamics of politics. There is belated recognition that election boycotts have been counterproductive. Even in early 1990s we could have been politically active and exploiting given spaces for helping people move forward. Hurriyats have been increasingly criticized for being almost a spent force. And we can’t avoid an impression that fundamental failures in methodology and conception have been made by it. There is no culture of debate in it, no consultation of latest developments in political theory to help it better understand changing political scenario following major changes in the economic and political order after the end of cold war. One could seriously ask if attention had been given to create certain institutio...

It is perceived that we are today in the grip of a communalist politics. Let me hazard a prediction. It will not take roots in Kashmir because we have a long legacy of rejection of communalism. Anything that rejects the mystical or that imposes a sectarian or fundamentalist approach here can’t sustain. Historical and cultural forces are too strong to be appropriated into narrow ideological ends by any politician. It is commonly believed that during medieval times in Kashmir dialogue between Islam and indigenous religious traditions of Kashmir didn’t happen on any level and it was a question of either or with regard to acceptance or rejection of new religious identity. Communalist interpretations have coloured views of many scholars and common people because religions have been approached as exclusive categories. We need to revisit the Reshi tradition as a space where dialogue happened and keeps going on in Sufi poets until today to question usual exclusive and communalist views tha...

How much do leaders matter in the great march of history and do we understand inexorable logic of history Martin Buber has a great passage that explains who ultimately counts in history. He includes more than leaders or politicians, unknown devoted workers who silently but faithfully pursue their assigned jobs.  Today I recall one such devoted unassuming teacher-translator Prof. Amin who taught generations English literature. I keep recalling his statement that he didn’t pursue PhD and become professor as he thought himself not upto the task of writing a good or original thesis. This humility coupled with his acknowledged mastery of the subject he taught is so rare in the days when many professors vie with one another on the number of papers and books they have authored for reasons we can guess and of a quality one hardly needs to guess.  Amin Sahib has primarily focused on translations and his latest work is translation of famous Aatish-e-Chinar , a work whose author’s le...