Mohammad Nurul Huda :
Sufism, on one hand, denotes cleaning all the rubbish of an individual body and, on the other, it connotes purifying all the filths of an individual soul by way of a most arduous process called Takwa (hard labour), aiming at an esoteric unification of Individual entity with the Omnipotent Universal Soul analogous with Creator. Today this is a unique quest of every peace loving human soul and love-thirsty humble mind, continuingly afflicted now and again by local, global and personal conflicts at almost all levels of home and the world. So today’s world has witnessed Sufism as a most persuasive way of searching peace for all and sundry. Since everybody is eager to join this search process, the term Sufi also seems to generate a renewed significance apart from its traditional meaning related with rituals and religions. Let us look back into its history that primarily upholds Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi as its most celebrated exponent and Prophet Hajrat Muhammad (Sm) as its spiritual origin. Islam asserts the unity of the universe combining both its Creator and the Created. This is the message of Tawhid in Islam: ‘La Ilaha Illallah’ (There is No Master Other Than Allah). To get united with the Creator, His created being has to dissolve itself into the all-pervasive Existence of the Creator. This is called ‘Fana’, the final stage of mystic achievement of an accomplished Sufi. The other three are Tuvba (repentance), Safa (refinement) and Belayet (sanctity). These are the four recognized stages of Tasawwuf or Sufism. But there are other findings that trace back its origin to a much earlier date, even to the very inception of all Abrahamic religions and their prophets including Adam. Others argue that the concept was culled from Upanishda-based Adyaita (No Two) theory and Gautama Buddha’s Nirvana from the East and neo-Platonic theory from the West, its earliest exponents being Socrates, Plato and their celebrated disciples. Arguing this way, Sufism has been attributed the status of the gist of all monotheistic religions of the world, and not their formal and performing sides. Thereafter we have noticed its interesting similarity with a most modern philosophical idea called Existentialism which upholds Nothingness (or Nihilism) as one of its central components. However, as of today Maulana Rumi is its chief philosophical mastermind and Mansur Hallaj its most celebrated icon. And both of them are mystic of highest kind, not the icon of a common man who is included in the day-to-day crowd holding high his unique identity as a cleaned soul able to merge with Supreme Soul.
So long morality, ethics and all other divine qualities have been associated with this concept, but the importance of aesthetics has been comparatively least emphasised. Since a Sufi is expected to be a most purified soul, he/she has an integral relation with the science of beauty, also called aesthetics. It is a necessary component for those evolving Sufis who maintain a deep-rooted moral connection with religious essence as well as secular beauty, independent of any religious bias. Haq or Truth is the guiding factor of all religions.
On the other hand, ‘Truth’ and ‘Beauty’ go hand in hand in any creative pursuit preferring the concept of beauty (Beauty is truth, truth beauty). We may now argue that a person who is aesthetically sophisticated and creatively refined is gifted with the quality of being a Sufi in his ordinary life, maintaining rewarding interaction with others in the society. A modern Sufi seems to stress these dual aspects of creativity and aesthetic unity in his quest, work and public behavior.
An example of such a humble Sufi from Bangladesh is, undoubtedly, late Moniruddin Yusuf, who could combine mystic morality and aesthetic creativity in his life and work. Sufism believes in peaceful co-existence with the people of diverse origins and beliefs, which can be maintained only with a humanistic Sufi outlook. Late Moniruddin Yusuf is an iconic example of this communal harmony and human diversity in the twentieth century Bengal. So an evolving definition is bringing out new features for judging human beings as Insan-e-Kamil (Superman or Perfect Man) not from religious perspective, rather from artistic point of view. An insight into the life of Moniruddin Yusuf gives us the evidence that person, without visible religious rituals, can become a Sufi par excellence only through his/her silent hard work guided by his/her moral, ethical and aesthetic values.
The enlightened Yusuf lived a worldly life of 68 (February 13, 1919-February 19, 1987) years only. He wrote and published about thirty nine books on prose, poetry, fiction and drama Juvenile literature apart from his monumental work of the translation of Persian epic poet Ferdousi’s ‘Shahnama’ in six large volumes. Almost a silent creative writer not hankering after media publicity, he devoted nine valuable years of his life to complete the Bangla translation of Ferdousi’s Shahnama from original Persian language, although he used English translation simultaneously. I had the good fortune to supervise his translation, editing the manuscript and publishing it in book form from Bangla Academy (Dhaka) as I was then working there as Deputy Director of its Language, Literature, Culture and Journal Division. He also translated Ghazal by Persian poet Hafez. Though he met me as a translator in my room, soon I discovered in him a great connoisseur of ethics, aesthetics and poetics upholding humanity above all. Gradually I got to know that he wrote original poems, of which a major portion is Ghazal, dwelling on love, beauty and his urge to get united with the beloved, the Supreme Soul. One of his prose books called ‘Bangla Shaitye Sufi Probhab’ (Sufi Influence on Bengali literature) made me more interested in his creativity.
To my amazement, I discovered more dissertations written by him on ‘Mesnevi’ (A full length book on the Mesnevi of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi) and Rabindranath (Naba Mullyayan Rabindranath: New Evaluation of Rabindranath). Apart from his series of articles on the society, culture and creativity of contemporary Bangladesh, he also drafted two excellent manuscripts 1. ‘Iranian Influence on the Aesthetic Aspects of Our Life.’ 2. Karbala Ekti Samajik Ghurnatorto (Tr Into English by Sayed Abdur Nabi. In course of time I also got to know that he studied a great deal, but wrote selectively. This is what an original thinker usually does. Soft spoken, well mannered, cultured and honest, he lived a peaceful life till his final reunion with the Supreme Soul on February 11, 1987.
Now that he is no more among us with his physical existence, he is coming back to us with renewed essence holding his ethics, aesthetics and creative fertility. A Sufi is reborn in every new creative soul that regenerates truth, beauty and morality in particular. This is what we learn from Sufi Moniruddin’s immortal soul. Going through his work we gather again and again the undying spirit of Hafiz, Rumi, Emre and many other Sufi poets. He avidly recognized the problem of today’s world, particularly that of decadent Muslim Community. He wrote, “Moral responsibility without freedom of choice was a meaningless thing. A disciple of Rumi, Iqbal argued in the twentieth century that what was called Taqdir is only another name of the law of life and obviously no law can be unless it is free from the possibility of change or repeal. … According to Holy Quran God does not change the condition of a people until they change their own selves, which means that God conditions His Own activity by deeds of people. God has ordered an immutable law of life, which, while it leaves the human will free to make its own choice, works as changeless destiny.” Then he quotes Maulana Rumi’s ‘modern disciple’ Iqbal, “Do not fetter thyself to the claims of ‘Taqdir,” for under the canopy of heaven there is a way. If thou dost not believe, rise and discover that no sooner thou has them released, thy feet find then a free field’.
Moniruddin Yusuf also opines that “This modern disciple of Jalaluddin believes that building of a new Adam is possible and he will create a new world and a new destiny. Rumi’s modern disciple says, if you change yourself, it will be now a wonder if the east and the west, the north and the south will also change. Thinkers have shattered many superstitions, but have not yet arrived at the self-conscious man who should be informed with creative vigor by the power of love, which Jalaluddin Rumi described as ‘bold’ and called it an anti-dote for all human ills.
In fact man cannot change the society with the power of love alone, unless a mental state is prepared intellectually within man. This preparation means aesthetic transformation of society which is then steeped in aestheticism.”
What a far-sighted verdict by a man of ethics, aesthetics and upholder of self consciousness! He also identified that such an aesthetic transformation of individuals (although a few) and society in general occurred only twice in human society: once in Greece, at the time of Pericles and the second in Medina at the time of holy Prophet (Sm) and his true followers. But he preferred Medina Society to Pericles Society with the argument that “In Medina, society was based on healthy and symmetrical human disposition that was never before reached by man in the course of history. In Greece there were slaves, but in Medina, slaves and masters had no distinctions either in status or in any other manner.” Moniruddin Yusuf also pointed out that “The aesthetic sublimity of Islam was shattered to pieces by the establishment of Kingship”. Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi could rightly identify this missing link of Islamic aesthetics as regard human sublimity and opposed the Ulemas who supported Kingship, throwing people into class disparity and economic exploitation. Rumi claimed that in his Mesnevi, he used the brain of Quran throwing away its bones for the dogs.
Needless to say, Rumi has been an unfailing influence on a large number of self-conscious souls around the world including the society of South Asia for centuries together. A modern Sufi like Iqbal made his decisive debut and following him a good many Maniruddins have appeared in a row. We are also walking in this procession of self-consciousness, moral values, ethical equality and creative oneness of love, truth and beauty. This is, indeed, an aesthetic procession of modern transformed Sufis who obey no boundary, time and inequity of any kind. A modern and transformed Sufi is alone in an enlightened crowd committing himself to every walker in this circle. He/she may subscribe to a particular religion and its diverse performances, but he/she is identical with every other soul because of his/her uniform aesthetic pursuit. Victory of peace and lasting harmony largely depends on the success of this aesthetic transformation of humankind in the days to come. n
