Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

His position is far more nuanced than generally known or attributed to him by hostile critics. Sir Syed is amongst the most misunderstood, misread and boycotted thinkers. His tafsir has been often ridiculed though few have cared to read it. His seminal thesis – that Islam is identifiable with Nature, with what is the case and thus Islam embraces, by definition, whatsoever truth is there and is not to reduced to a religion or creedal system or theology as popularly understood and is the very name of openness and free inquiry and thus needn’t be proved and can’t be meaningfully doubted and is only a reminder of what we already know/can know in principle – has never been seriously debated. Sir Syed has arguably provided for Islam a philosophical foundation that can’t be shaken in principle and thus immunizes it against all critiques beforehand. It is in the name of truth/Islam that we challenge any claim to truth of any ideology or system. Islam has been understood as a meta-religion

Admittedly difficult questions but the answers are not difficult to comprehend in principle. How come good is seemingly defeated, justice undone, and the strong have the day; and the poor common people suffer like dogs? Or there is a meaning in all this and one can see some ground to avoid despair? If the oppressed fail in political terms, how do they find will to go on, to suffer with dignity (“Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”) and not lose heart? These are admittedly difficult questions but the answers are not difficult to comprehend in principle. Marxist and other fundamentally secular answers aren’t convincing beyond a point where we need to marshal spiritual resources to keep fighting. In fact we seem to know the answers and we can rest assured that “all is well.” And Ghazzali wasn’t far from the mark when he said this is the best possible world and none of the ills it has in store for us are gratuitous. One possible answer we all can appreciate and

Modern Contributions to Kashmiri Na’t Tradition All great poetry is a species of na’t defined as poetry in praise of the Prophet who in turn is understood, by the greatest na’t writers who happen to be inspired by Sufism, as the Principle of Manifestation, Logos, the Pole of Existence, the Perfect Man, Wisdom personified, drive for  perfection of ethics and love of beauty. One may better appreciate the thesis if one notes the function of poetry as provision for discovering the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds one (Coleridge), “truth telling, which is why in the Celtic tradition no one could be a teacher unless he or she was a poet,” reconciliation with the world/celebration of love/women – one may recall Wallace Stevens’ remark “A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman,” and Holderlin’s point that the duty of the poet is “to stand/Bare-headed under the storms of God,/Grasping with our own hand/The Father's beam itself, And to offer the gift of

In continuation with previous column “Why Read Ibn Arabi?” a few more points to consider for those who have problems with life/religion/Sufism or with advocacy of Ibn Arabi. Besides/instead of looking at the world from God the King and man the subject angle as has been the case with major Muslim revivalists, (and the anxiety of this world and otherworld as has been the case with exoteric theologians and those who haven’t heard of postmodern thinkers) one may consider appreciating that God alone is there playing a game, projecting Himself in the mirror called the world/man. God is more than a King, a Lover and the Beloved playing hide and seek that constitutes the drama we call life. How thankful we should be of those who play the other – our  enemies, critics or opposite team in a contest – as they make life interesting or at least eventful. Just be a spectator (actualize the name Shahid) deep inside though outwardly one might adopt a role given situation requires, say try hitting,

Ibn Arabi matters because he is amongst the thinkers or sages whose meditations on key questions, we all face, are arguably amongst the most comprehensive and profound. In physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual distress one seeks relevant healers and one doesn’t ask about the colour or race of the doctor. I find everyone, regardless of creed or IQ in some distress crying for help that Ibn Arabi can offer. The distress over any issue – personal, familial, religious, metaphysical – is overcome by turning to understanding/meaning of the issues in terms that one can’t but testify. If one is in distress over some family issue or has been hurt from someone’s bad words or divorce or is suffering an existential crisis or regretting the course of events on which one had no control or asks why people go astray or why good people suffer or why people die in religions they were born into and arguably earn damnation for choices they hardly make, consider what Ibn Arabi has to say. Ibn Arab