A BEAUTIFUL CREATION OF NA`T (نَعۡت) COMPOSITION

A BEAUTIFUL CREATION OF
NA`T (نَعۡت) COMPOSITION
Professor `Asi Karnali

“If youth of age and
youth of thought are to be seen at one place then see Sabih Rahmani and Jada-i-Rahmat.
During last days Ghauth Miyan had come to Multan. He was kind enough to visit my humble cottage. A youngman was with him. I thought Miyan Sahib might be feeling alone and had brought an acquaintance with him to avoid loneliness during this journey. Thus I remained talking with Miyan Sahib alone and did not consider the youngman worth my attention. Miyan Sahib has an attractive personality and full of love for the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) and his conduct fully following the ’Uswah Hasanah/اسوۃ حسنۃ. He remains wandering from town to town holding banner of ورفعنا لک ذکرک"wa rafa`na laka zikrak" and thus go out for a countrywide journey to search for the books on “Na`t” and "Sirat". Wherever he finds a writing having Good Names (asma’) of Muhammad or the remembrance (Zikr) of Muhammad , the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) he picks it up, kissses it and touches with his eyes and commits it to his memory. I call Miyan Sahib a mujahid as he is in constant struggle and that is communication and conveyance of the “Na`t” and “Sirat”. It is the only objective of his life. When I see him I pay a sincere homage to him. When I sit in his company I consider it a sitting in the company of the protected friends of Allah (auliya'ullah) which is better in reward than a hundred years sincere worship. For this reason for a sufficient long time I did not cast a glance towards the young man second time and continued myself engaged in talking with Miyan Sahib.

نظارے کو یہ جنبش مشگاں بھی بار ھے
نرگس کی آنکھ سے تجھے دیکھا کرے کوئی
Nazzaray ko yeh jumbash-i-mizgan bhi bar hay
Nargis ki ankh say tujhay daykha karay ko’i.

When this sight and speech prolonged for a suficient period the young man took the courage and submitted: I also want to have a talk with you.
Well. I replied half attentively.I am Sabih Rahmani.
“May be!” I said in my heart.
“This is a collection of my “Na`t” by the name Jada-i-Rahmat. You have to write something about it.”
“The first collection of his “Na`t” composition has come by the name Mah-i-Taybah.” Miyan Sahib said as an introduction.
“Well. I will have a glance over your manuscript. If I felt moved I will write something. Saying this much I was again lost in the blissful and blessed personlity of Ghauth Miyan.
The fact is that we who are counted as elders due to age factor do not consider the young poets and literary figures worthy of our attention. In our view poetry needs exercise and exercise needs long age and therefore the young poets are considered as new comers, new learners and beginners and we forget
منزل عشق بسے دور و دراز است ولے
طے شود جادہ صد سالہ بہ آھے گاھے
Manzil-i`ishq basay dur-o-daraz ast walay
Tay shawad jada-i-sad salah ba ahay gahay

This is the reason that when we have to write about the talents of a young person of which we are convinced we do not observe due broadmindedness apprehending that by so doing we will be degrading our own value.
I read the Jada-i-Rahmat of Sabih Rahmani from A to Z and thereafter I studied his Mah-i-Taybah as well.
I feel ashamed over my attitude of unattentiveness towards him in my aforesaid meeting and tender my apology for that and today I am making an attempt to make good the loss by writing these lines.
“Jada-i-Rahmat” begins with Hamd. There are three HAMDs and two hamdiyyah hicos in it and thereafter twenty four Na`itiyyah ghazals.Seventeen “Na`t”s are in the form of restricted (paband) and unrestricted (azad) poems and at the end there are ten na`itiyya hicos.
Sabih Rahmani has expressed his art experience in other forms as well alongwith the prevelant form of ghazals. This form diversity of a poet is the proof of taste of invention and a liking of newness in him. We are composiong “Na`t” in the form and style of ghazal since many centuries. An ode (ghazal) has its own temperament, special internal atmosphere, and peculiar rquirrements and demands. When we saya “Na`t” then we cannot keep ourself away from the ghazliyyat of a ghazal generally. We cannot go hiher than thes Special subjects and surface of ghazal. The person praised in ghazal is an allegorical beloved or more than such favourites. We have with them a passion level of our dealings that is not so high that even if we purify our passions to the maximum we cannot come out beyond the conception of physical body of the favourite. Hence we cannot come out of the circle of stating the qualities (tausif) of hair (zulf), face (rukhsar) and eulogy (qasidah) of eye (chashm) and lip (lab). The open and hidden things relating to beauty (husn) remain with us. In addition, we peform the function and duty of stating and picturising the bodily beauties. When this form of ghazal becomes the axis of our “Na`t”, I must say with regret that most of our poets do not have access to the elevation and sacredness which is attributed to and peculiar to the favourite. I have seen many such “Na`t”s which appear simple ghazals if words like aqa or maula are not used in them.
Probably, in the mind of Sabih Rahmani and those poets who have such sensitive mind that they have chosen the field of free poems and hico besides ghazal form. Care of Radif and qafiyah in ghazal requires a special system of thought and art. Generally, such subjects are taken in a ghazal that are befitting radif and qafiyah. It is easy to understand that whereas radif and qafiyah come in the ghazal hence the set subjects of ghazal can be copied, repeated or strictly followed. Our opinion is not a maxim. Some poets of “Na`t” who adopt ghazal form have the rank of exceptions with regard to the elevated passions and high level of thought and art. By this discussion we mean only this much that when a Poet of Na’t comes out of the circle of ghazal and adopts other forms of poetry then to a great extent he has in his mind a special temperament of ghazal and special limits of it.
Sabih Rahmani has maintained these good qualities despite leaving the requirements of radif (the rhyming word/last letter of stanza) and qawafi (words with identical final sounds, like high and die in English poems; aana jaana, paana, dhaana etc. in Urdu) and adopting free poetry which may be called a quality creating poetic emotion (shi`riyyat). He knows that in our poetical tradition (shi`ri riwayat) a pleasing tune (ghina’iyyat) has got a special place.
A selection of the beautiful words and their arrangement in the verse and the selection of metres (buhur), and a beautiful balance between the shortness and longness of different lines all jointly establish the musical system. For this, the poet keeps the beauty of the rhyming word of a poem (radif) and penult syllables (qawafi) among the lines in a free poem as well.
Sabih Rahmani has avoided dryness despite saying a free poem and has provided all such things wich have adorned his creations with poetry and musical system. Quoting one or two examples will not be out of place here:
حیات جن کی کتاب ھستی کا ایک روشن تریں ورق ھے
اخوتوں کا، امانتوں کا، صداقتوں کا حسیں سبق ھے
نقوش سب جن کے جاوداں ھیں
حضور ھی ھیں
Hayat jin ki kitab-i-hasti ka ‘ayk roshan tarin waraq hay
Akhuwwaton ka, amantaon ka, sadaqaton ka hasin sabaq hay
Nuqush sab jin kay jawidan hayn
Huzur hi hayn
(Ayk Roshani Zamin Say Asman Tak).


نفرتوں کے گھنے جنگلوں میں شہا
عہد حاضر کا انسان مجبور ھے
مشعل علم و اکلاق سے دور ھے
کتنا مجبور ھے
اے نوید مسیحا
دعائے خلیل
روک دےنفرتوں کی جو یلغار کو
پختگی ایسی دیں میرے کردار کو
آپ کا لطف و رحمت تو مشہور ھے

Nafraton kay ghanay janglon mayn shaha!
`Ahd-i-hazir ka insan mahsur hay
Mish`al-i-`ilm-o-ikhlaq say dur hay
Kitna majbur hay
‘Ay nawid-i-masiha
Du`a-i-khalil
Rok day nafraton ki jo yalghar ko
Pukhtagi ‘aysi dayn maray kirdar ko
Ap ka lutf-o-rahmat to mashhur hay
[‘AY NAWID-I-MASIHA DU`A-I-KHALIL].
The same beauty and grace is present in their hicos. he has composed in a short and beautiful melodius tone or rhythm (mutrannam bahr) the following three-lines poems and has filled them to the full with rhythm (bahr) , idea (khayal), language (zuban) and expres​sion(bayan).

صرف مدینے میں
اور کہاں پر اگتے ھیں
سورج سینے مین
Sirf madinay mayn
Aur kahan pa r ugtay hayn
Suraj sinay mayn
[NA`TIYYAH HICO]ا

Sabih Rahmani’s style of saying “Na`t” is very fresh, lucid and new. he knows that if a thing is not said in ones own voice and accent a poet cannot remain alive. The poetry is being composed since thousands of years. how much new store is available in subjects and multiplicity of topics. Hence it is is the individuality of accent and the identity of voice that can keep a poet alive in the history of literature. An intelligent and enlightened poet gives freshness and individuality of accent to the old things, fixes their lace and makes their survival reliable.
Sabih Rahmani has maintained this attempt in ghazal, nazm, qit`a and Hico forms to say the old things in new colour and new manner. Hence he has consciously adopted new radifs and has searched for such qawafi that may submerge in these radifs. For example, roshni likhun, sakhi likhun-----fida awwal say akhir tak-----dar badari ka mausam, khush nigahi ka mausam…..khul kar likhkhayn, manzar likhkhayn.
majal maray nabi, lazawal mayray nabi……phul sab kay sab, rasul sab kay sab………kaf-i-pa ki roshni, dida–i-bina ki roshni……naqsh-i-pa day do…pata day do……..johar jag ‘uththa. samundar jag ‘uththa. etc.
Another quality of his style is to give new meanings to the words, and by inventing compounds of words to give existence to new states and scenes. Such invention can be made by such a poet who possesses soundness of taste and such insight who has vigilance over the tradition of the language and expression, and the possibilities of its future evolution. See some compounds of words and look the dimensions of their meanings.
Fasl-i-nawa, kasa-i-fan, lauh-i-`amal par roshni rakhna, jalwon ki dhanak ’utarna, dua`on ka shajar, hisar-i-jan nawazi, libas-i-harf, abshar-i- agahi, hira kay sochtay lamhay, taq-i-jan, nisbat kay chiragh, chatanon par razha-i- hunar raqam karna.
In short in this treasure of “Hamd-o-Na `t” there are present and shining many pearls of this nature.
There is in the style of Sabih Rahmani the heart melting of love for the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم), sacredness of the passion, elevation of thought, clarity and shrewdness of statement and language, preaching behaviour to follow the excellent conduct of the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) , which jointly create a spiritual state. Now let us take an assessment of the subjects and the objectives of Sabih Rahmani.
The Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) is a mercy for all the worlds. Before his arrival mankind was living a life of astray. it was neither knowing its Creator nor its own self, nor the very objectives for which it was created. On arrival of the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) man got knowledge of the Creator, knowledge of himself, knowledge of culture and civilization, knowledge of science, knowledge of respect and conscious. The Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) is leader and guide for life and the universe from eternity to eternity. He is the messenger of action, the messenger of revolution. He is the source of guidance. To love and obey him is obligatory upon us. Now we have weakened our relation ship with his following, hence we have become victim of problems and trials.The whole Ummah is in a crisis. It is only after we return towards the Messenger of Allah (صَلَّی اللہُ عَلیۡہِ وَآلِہ وَسَلَّم) that our afflictions and pains will come to an end. by doing so we will become dominant and and worthy of action. it is not his own Ummah, rather the entire mankind is in need of his guidance. The peace of the world, its propserity and satisfaction all depend in following him. On these subjects see the following verse:


صدی صدی کے چہرے پر
ان کی طلب تحریر ملی
Sadi sadi kay chehray par
Unki talab ki tahrir mili

جہان مصلحت کوشاں میں ھوں میں
صداقت کو مرا معیار کردیں
Jahan-i-maslahat koshan mayn hun mayn
Sadaqat ko mera ma`yar kardayn

جو فرش تا عرش ارتقا کی
تمام کڑیوں کے رازداں ھیں
حضور ھی ھیں
Jo farsh ta `arsh irtiqa ki
Tamam kariyon kay razdan hayn
Hudur hi hayn
]AYK ROSHNI ZAMIN SAY ASMAN TAK[

یہ دور جبرو ستم بہت جلد دور ھوگا
مھبتوں کا ظہور ھوگا
کرم نبی کا ضرور ھوگا
Yeh daur-i-jabr-o-sitam buhut jald dur hoga
Muhabbaton ka zuhur ho ga
Karam Nabi ka zurur ho ga
]DHUP MAYN TALASH-I-SA’IBAN[

شکست وریخت کی اس تیرگی میں
اک یہی امید کا روشن حوالہ ھے
کہ اس عہد قتال و جنگ میں
وہ خیر خواھوں کا امام اولین و آخریں
اک بار سب کو یاد آجائے
Shikast-o-raykht ki is tiragi mayn
Ik yehi ummid ka roshan hawalah hay
keh is `ahd-i-qital-o-jang mayn
Woh khayr khawahon ka imam-i-awwalin-o-akhirin
Ik bar sab ko yad aja’ay
]INSANIYYAT KAY SAB SAY BARAY MI`MAR[

ھیےنفاق آج امت میں پھیلا ھوا
اور دشمن کی ںظریں ہیں دیں کی طرف
رحمتوں کے ھیں طالب یہ بکھرے ھوئے
امتی یا نبی!
ھین بلند آج دست دعا ھر طرف
Hay nifaq aj ‘ummat mayn phayla huwa
Aur dushman ki nazrayn hayn din ki taraf
Rahmaton kay hayn talib yeh bikhray hu’ay
Ummati Ya Nabi!
Hay buland aj dast-i-du`a har taraf.

[ZAKHMON KI QINDIL AUR ROSHNI KA LAHU[

مارکس کے فلسفۂ جہد شکم سے ھم کو
کوئی مطلب ھی نہیں
لیا غرض ھم کو کہ لینن نے دیا کیا پیغام
ھم فرائڈ کے پجاری ھیں نہ ھیگل کے غلام
ھم تو یہ جانتے ھیں
امن وسکوں کی خاطر
صرف درکار ھے دنیا کو
محمد کا نظام
Marx kay falsafa-i-jihd-i-shikam say ham ko
Ko’i matlab nahin
Kiya gharaz ham ko Lenin nay diya kiya paygham
Ham Fride kay pujari hayn na Hegel kay ghuylam
Ham to yeh jantay hayn
amn-o-sukun ki khatir
Sirf darkar hay dunya ko
Muhammad ka nizam.
[AYK `ALAMGIR NIZAM]
“Na`ts” of Sabih Rahmani are full of good smell with the fragrance of the traditioanl and prevalent na`t and also coloured by the pleasant coloring of the scenario of the present age and at the same time it is bearing in its thought and expression the beauty of possibilities in the cming ages. How shoul “Na`t” be the reflection of its style, manner, subjects and problems and in future to which side should be the direction of its journey. The “Na`t composition” of Sabih Rahmani is a reflector of all such states and scenes.