Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Aik Alif (Only an A/Only One Thing)


Noori, one of the groups I saw in Chautauqua
(and the group that performed this song)

I wrote most of this when it was fresh in my mind, but never posted it.

This past summer, I was fortunate enough to hear a concert at Chautauqua, NY by a variety of Pakistani musicians, that included a song called "Aik Alif," which sets words to an 18th century poet Bulleh Shah to modern music by Ali Hamza and a modern Sufi musician Saieen Zahoor. You can listen to the song with subtitles here.

You read to become all knowledgeable
But you never read yourself
You run to enter your mosques and temples
But you never entered your own heart
Every day you fight Satan
But you never fight yourself
Bulleh Shah, you try grabbing that which is in the sky
But you never get hold of what’s inside your own house
Stop seeking this knowledge [of the world] my friend.
Stop this seeking my friend
Only an alif [the letter A, beginning, or oneness] is what you need
Only an alif is what you need; truth
Stop seeking this knowledge my friend.

God beloved, God beloved, God beloved…

I am going, I am going along
With the devotional one

One who doesn’t know the strength of truth
One who doesn’t know the strength of truth
God won’t give them the strength
We are drowning in our own selves
There are no boats or rough waters; only truth
Stop seeking this knowledge my friend
Stop seeking this knowledge


For me, the song seemed like a Muslim scholar's version of what Jesus said to Martha, when she was concerned about Mary's seeming indifference to the demands of service. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42).

In the poem, Bulleh Shah reminds himself not to chase after all this learning, as though that will take him to God. He also scolds himself for focusing on the fight against Satan instead of worrying about the evil that is in his own heart. Both concerns seem appropriate to me, though as a Christian called to academia and in the midst of the struggle to write my dissertation, I have to acknowledge that part of my focus on God requires a focus on books and knowledge. In the same way, many housewives feel the story of Mary and Martha cannot be taken to mean that the laundry and the dinner preparations should be completely ignored, but still find that it is relevant to their lives.

"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:
'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength.'"
(Mark 12:28-30)



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