Islamic mystic Urdu poetry, often referred to as Sufi poetry, is one of the most widely known types of literature. As well as being among the most widely read poems in history, Jalal-al-Din Rumi’s writings have tremendously impacted Persian, Indian, and Southeast Asian Islamic literature. Poetry by Sufis is praised for its beauty and symbolic treatment of spirituality.
Besides Arabic, Turkish, and Malay, poetry also thrived in Persian, Turkish, and Turkish.
Sufi poetry is characterized by various central themes and imagery representing its spiritual approach. Its main topic is the direct spiritual experience with God, in which the individual’s ego is destroyed (fana) as it attains oneness (wail) with the divine’s permanency (baqa). It is common to use metaphors to describe the mystical connection, including being a drop of water in an ocean, in love, or drunk.
Muslims have been divided over the exact nature of this mystic union, particularly between followers of the Sufi scholar Ibn Arabi (1165-1220) and his orthodox opponents.
Rumi, for example, conveyed artistically a position in line with ‘Arabi’s theology of the Unity of Being: that existence is God’s exclusive attribute and that God is present throughout creation. In the view of ‘Arabi, created entities are not independent entities but rather reflect God’s existence.
According to the Sufi poets, the mystic union is recognizing that God is inside the soul; therefore, union with God is an acknowledgment of being one with God. Hamzah of Barus (Hamzah al-Fansuri in Arabic), often regarded as the best poet of the classical Malay tradition, emphasizes this acknowledgment in his works.
The Sufi Master Hamzah:
There is little known about Master Hamzah’s biography. He was a poet and religious leader living in Barus on the western coast of Sumatra in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. As a port city, Barus had excellent connections with the Indian Ocean trade routes and exported high-quality camphor.
There are around thirty poems in Hamzah’s literary output and a few prose treatises dealing with mysticism. He revolutionized Malay writing, according to the literary critic.
He was considered one of the finest mystics of his generation. The syair poems of Hamzah conclude with autobiographical stanzas, and some claim he has achieved fana, the Sufi ideal of self-annihilation and awareness of oneness with God, in his syair poems. In 1607-1636, he profoundly influenced Syams al-Din, the official Sufi guru of Aceh Sultan Iskandar Muda.
Hamzah’s poetry was considered heretical by Nur al-Din al-Raniri, an orthodox Gujarati priest, because it implied that humanity shares the same essence as God after Sultan’s death.
Hamzah’s Sufi Poetry:
Hamzah’s Malay is rife with Arabic loanwords and phrases. He is renowned for his elaborate puns in both languages. His poetry illustrates Hamzah’s knowledge of Arabic and Persian literature and the Southeast Asian viewpoint on Sufism through its rich use of allusions.
میں کو مِٹا کر من نظر آتا ھے
من کو جُھکا کر رَب نظر آتا ھے
Sufi Poetry :
ساغر کی آرزو ہے، نہ پیمانہ چاہیے
بس اک نگاہِ مرشد مے خانہ چاہیے
یا رب سنائیں ہم کسے اب مدعاۓ دل
ہیں نہیں جہاں میں حاجت روائے دل
میں واصفؔ بسمل ہوں، میں رونق محفل ہوں
اک ٹوٹا ہوا دل ہوں، میں شہر میں ویرانہ
Best Sufi poetry :
ہلکی سی اک خراش ہے قاصد کے حلق پر
یہ خط جواب خط ہے کہ خط کی رسید ہے؟
سُدھ بُدھ اپنی کھو بیٹھا ہوں
نہ جانے ۔۔۔۔ کس کا ہو بیٹھا ہوں
مہنگا یو کر مفت کا ہو جانا ” درویشی ” ہے
مجھے کافر کہو گے تو تمہارا کیا بھلا ہوگا
میرا بھی وہی خدا نکلا تو پھر تمہارا کیا ہوگا
Famous Sufi Poetry :
زاید مجھے معلوم نہیں اندازِ عقیدت
سر خود بخود جھکتا ہے جھکایا نہیں جاتا
تُونے دیوانہ بنایا تو میں دیوانہ بنا
اب مجھے ہوش کی دنیا میں تماشہ نہ بنا
دل فقیری پہ اُتر آئے تو
اُلجھ پڑتا ہے بادشاہوں سے
اندھیروں میں بھی ایک دنیا ہے آباد
آنکھوں کو اپنے بند کر کے تو دیکھو
Most Popular Sufi Poetry :
دل سے رخصت ہوا آہستہ آہستہ قرار کا عالم
اس کے قابو میں نہیں اب اختیار کا عالم
عشق و خودی کے راہیبوں پر فتوے ہزار
منزلیں انکی کیا جانیں، دنیا کے طلبگار