By: Nawazz Ibn Ahad
As the Kashmir valley witnessed prolonged unrests, paralysed life , caged nights and curfewed days from decades and always became a tool and frontline for media , But on the other hand , Valley has a lot of history and culture and is known as a birth place of some famous Sufi saints and poets.
Tral , Also known as The “SHAH-E-HAMDAAN” town is also a land of famous Sufi poets.one such Sufi poet is ” ABDUL GANI” , hailing from an educationally sick , and economically backward Dar Ganie Gund village of Tral Area of Pulwama district.
Abdul Gani alias “GANI RAZAQ KASHMIRI” , born in 1960 in Dar Ganie Gund village , somewhat 14 km from Tral town. Having born in a village, lagging on all fronts, received a formal education from his native village Dar Ganie Gund.
“I was born in a village, scarce in all aspects, known for its backwardness and educational illness, Residents of which were not keen to cover their kids with the light of and education people mostly considered agricultural farming as the annual income and we had nothing to ate and wore.
There was only one institution in our area which was about 5 km from my native village, I got formal education from that school, I couldn’t continue my studies because of economic sickness”.
Gani Razaq Kashmiri, At the age of 25, In early 80’s, left the ancestral area and went to “ASHMUQAM” area of Anantnag to one of the famous spiritual saints of the time, “AHAD SAHAB DHALVAL” and stayed there for 5 years to get a glimpse of spiritual affinity.
During this period, He drew his attention towards Sufism and got impressed and influenced by the spirituality.
Gani Razaq Kashmiri bowed his head and served his maiden, soon his spirituality also got home in Razaq’s heart and veins.
Gani Razaq Kashmiri worked in Jammu and Kashmir industries and Commerce department as an employee. During 5 year tenure, he decided to left the job by giving his legs a try, But as a lone bread earner of family with ailing parents compelled him not to quit job.
Despite economic crench Gani Razaq Kashmiri continued his struggle and finally in 2014 when the flood destroyed the whole valley, Gani Razaq Kashmiri kicked off a storm of his success and put forth the secret of his success as “BAHAR -E-GUL” in front of the people.
Presently Gani Razaq Kashmiri is surviving with three children and a wife at his ancestral village, Dar Ganie Gund .Gani Razaq Kashmiri is now a retired person and is practicing his Sufism belief.
Without any support and appreciation from any sector, Gani Razaq Kashmiri is working continuously not to gain the doctorate but to high light the Sufism culture and is steadily motivating people towards oneness of God through his poetry and spirituality.
Conversation:
- You were born in poetry or you had a poet in your home?
Must be passionate to become a poet and must have glimpse of spirituality to learn poetry.
In that era a Sufi was living in Ashmuqam area of Anantnag. I went there and stayed there for 5 years and I learnt a lot while being in his service the first poetry i started at that door was the praise of beloved prophet(PBUH). Slowly the passionate poetry starting flowing in my veins five years in his service have been spent and that 5 years are the most important time in my life.in his service i got some spirituality and since then i started poetry.
The rhythm of poetry was full of coat in my veins since childhood. But to praise the majestic one like prophet Mohammad (saw) and Aulia it requires a glimpse from spiritual leader.so i served there to get all this , for five years.
Most of my poetry is the praise of famous saints (Gausul azam, Makhdoom sahab etc) and beloved prophet (SAW).
Sufism is like a sword, one has to be spiritual to go on this path and one who endure all the obstacles will reach to his destination.to get the destination one has to out his life on stake, as the candle becomes a wax by melting itself.
- If you had so much passion for sufi poetry, why did you get married? Because people on this track often forget them?
I was not interested in getting married, i refused to marry but father did not agree. The decision to marry was not a small decision in my life, so i let my higher ups (spiritual saints) to decide and finally got permission to marry.
- Being a resident of area lagging on all fronts especially in in aspect of education , what challenges or obstacles you faced to achieve this feat?
I consider myself very lucky to have a father par excellence. Although my father was educated and he used to make Kashmiri traditional mats during winter season. He always encouraged me to sail on this boat.
I believe if you truly want to achieve something, you have to put your heart and soul into it, having a backup or not don’t really matter but yes it gives a certain direction to your journey. In my case, I was blessed enough to have my mentor in my father and my spiritual leader Ahad Sahab Dhalval.
Q: Writers write for many reasons what did you write for?
Writing to me is a form of therapy, whenever I was feeling inundated with emotions, I used to write . The reasons can be many but for me I wanted to make a difference through my writings and poets by bringing forth the message of oneness of Almighty Allah.
Q: Being a resident of disputed region how a situation affected you and how you tried to reach to the masses?
It affects a writer to a great extent both psychologically and emotionally but for a Sufi poet all this doesn’t matter. Once you ready to serve under the shadow of spiritual leaders, world have no meaning for you. But It becomes very difficult to reach out to the masses who are troubled by their own circumstances. No one wants to listen to your voice when their own voices are choked, same is with Kashmir, and every family has a story that deserves to be heard.
Q: What ideas generated in your mind and what ideas bought you to shape your poetry into a booklet?
I was not interested in giving a shape to my poetry, as we were economically unsound and also besides all this, I wanted to keep it secret but Some spiritual ties forced me to put forth my poetry, To get permission i continued used to visit to a shrine of famous Sufi saint ” WAHAB KHAR” and after 12 years i gained the permission for publishing my poetry.
In 2014 when Kashmir was flooded, I went to “USMANIA PUBLISHING HOUSE SRINAGAR” to publish my booklet, But at that time whole Kashmir was in deep sorrow so i was denied.
After couple of years 2016 when Kashmir was on boil, i published this booklet, and it coasted 3500 hundred rupees to publish my booklet, which i spent from my own pocket without having any body’s support.
For me like economically unsound persons, It was difficult to put forth my struggle.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for “BAHAR-E-GUL?
It was not the choice .Almost it took 12 years to complete a booklet. It contains almost 150 praise poems .I mostly praised our beloved Prophet (SAW) and many famous spiritual saints especially “GAOUS-UL-AZAM & MQKHDOOM SAHAB”.
As i made my mind clear to publish my poetry, i was caught in dilemma, My teacher(Murshid) came up with an idea of Bahar-e-Gul .
Q: What are your future plans?
I did not want to earn my doctorate, I put forth my poetry to sound the oneness of God and spiritual affinity of Islamic saints .
Presently whenever i have time, I prefer to highlight the “SHAAN-E-AULIYA”. (PTK)
Comments are closed.