LAHORE, March 30: A thought-provoking and informative seminar on Sufi saint Shah Husain was held at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, Qadhafi Stadium, on Saturday.

The seminar was organised by Pakistan Punjabi Adabi Board in collaboration with PILAC to mark the Mela Chiraghan.

Though a considerable audience attended the seminar, a number of people could not reach the venue due to road blockade in connection with Super 8 T-20 matches being held at the Qadhafi Stadium and returned.

Renowned Punjabi scholars addressed the seminar. The salient aspect of the event was some fine recorded mystic music played in between speeches. The music, kafis and folk songs were the presentation of Sachal Studio. It was a new trend for a seminar and appreciated by the audience.

The chief guest was Husain Naqi, a senior journalist and rights activist.

Mr Naqi speaking on the occasion underlined the need for promoting Punjabi to preserve Punjab’s culture. He lamented that the Punjabi elite had never supported the cause of Punjabi language. He also spoke of services of late Shafqat Tanvir Mirza for the promotion of Punjabi culture and language. He said Basant was a major cultural event in Lahore but the government did not let it celebrate. He said Punjabi should be made medium of instruction at primary level.

He recalled days of his youth when his family migrated to Pakistan from Lucknow and talked about importance of regional languages.

Mushtaq Sufi held Husain Naqi in high esteem and said Mr Naqi always strived for the rights of people. Mr Sufi said despite the fact that mother tongue of Naqi was Urdu but he was the one who strived hard to come up with first Punjabi newspaper.

He said the very liveliness attributed to Lahorites, the basic source of that was Shah Husain, who was a lively person and who led life according to his own meanings of life. “People often say that Shah Husain was a weaver, yes he was, but by caste he was a Rajput.
Throughout his life he emphasised more on his profession than his caste to raise voice against caste system.”

Sufi said even if one looked at metaphors and similes used by Shah Husain in his poetry one could find many words such as Tanabana, Dhaga and Charkha which were too symbolic and interestingly all this terminology had a strong relation to weaving, the profession of Shah Husain’s family. Poet Masood Khalid said Shah Husain like other Sufi poets went through two experiences — spiritual and social. Mr Khalid said Shah Husain following the tradition of other Sufi poets did not share the spiritual experience with common people but he did share social experiences to teach them and to bring about improvement in their lives. He said like other Sufi poets he was also against caste system, and believed in social justice.

Dr Arshad Mehmood from Allama Iqbal Open University threw light on the poetry of Shah Husain. He said Shah Husain was a great exponent of kafi. Poet and writer Sarwat Muhayyudin from Islamabad presented a picture of Shah Husian’s Lahore. She said in the times of Shah Husain the literacy rate in Lahore was 100 per cent. Calligraphy, miniature, poetry and music were touching its zenith. “One wonders that during such enriched age of art his poetical genius was so strong that he had a command on all the technicalities of music and ragas.”

Dr Ghafir Shehzad read a Punjabi poem on Shah Husian which was highly appreciated by the audience.