“Tu sonah, terray kam vi soneh, sonah jeenvay savera
Main kojay, meray kam vi kojay, koja jeenvay hanaira
Main koja, main koj lukavan, her koey koj lukavay
Tu sonah kuon luk luk baithain, aeh gal samaj na aaway.”
Main kojay, meray kam vi kojay, koja jeenvay hanaira
Main koja, main koj lukavan, her koey koj lukavay
Tu sonah kuon luk luk baithain, aeh gal samaj na aaway.”
This quartet explains poet-cum-spiritualist Sultan Mahmood Ashufta’s theory of life in the most befitting manner. Both as a poet and spiritualist, he endeavours to create a relationship between the creator and the creation and explore exact nature of the Divinity. Thus to formulate a opinion about his personality separately as a poet and spiritualist is impossible.
He strikes a wonderful balance between the two: while his poetry, mystical and spiritualistic in essence, revolves around the image of an ideal which is achievable and attainable, as a spiritualist he suggests ways of getting closer to that ideal. He firmly believes that this pursuit is the sole reason behind the creation of this universe.
Sultan Mahmood Ashufta has a multi-dimensional personality. He is city’s best reputed spiritual-healer. He writes a column on spiritualism for a monthly magazine along with answering questions regarding spiritualism for a weekly magazine. As the leading Punjabi poet and critic, he has contributed a lot to the uplift and enrichment of the language.
Although his stint in the films was not a very long one, he is rated among the best ever Urdu and Punjabi story, song and dialogue writers of the silver screen. He has also written some excellent plays and songs for the television and radio. As if all this is not enough, he is also the leading homeopath of the city.
What helps him in adjusting in all these different roles is his theory of life. He sees no distinction between his different roles as he believes that all that is present on this earth is inter-related and goal of every human being, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is the quest of the Divine.
He maintains that everybody is a mystic in his own right as he strives for perfection in his field. “A scientist enjoys an edge over a spiritualist in this regard as the latter starts his pursuit as a believer while the former starts his quest as a non-believer,” he contends.
He is in fifty-fifth year of his life. Telling about his family background, he informs that he hailed from a poor family which migrated from India well before the partition. He has to go to Saudi Arabia at a very young age in order to earn a living for his family.
It is for this reason that his formal education ended after matriculation but his interest in reading more than covered up for this shortcoming. He is of the view that reading broadens one’s horizon and vision. “Even a book written by a person of ordinary intellect teaches you something as everybody’s experiences of life are different from that of the other.”
While residing in the Walled City, Sultan Mahmood Ashufta spent his evenings at a roadside hotel near Bhatti Gate along with Late Saeed Jaffari and Late Allahditta Sabir, leading Punjabi poets of the period. “Although all sorts of topics were discussed in these sittings, the atmosphere had a literary touch. People from all walks and stratums of life used to visit us.”
As the place was a very crowded one (because of its closeness to the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajveri), he got an excellent opportunity to observe different sorts of people and enhance his experiences of life. These experiences coupled with his stay abroad helped him in his later life both as a poet and spiritualist.
He was acclaimed as a Punjabi poet of immense talent after his poetry written during the 1965 war appeared on the scene. Critics of the calibre of Safdar Mir wrote extensively on him and introduced him to the people having no direct access to the Punjabi poetry.
Leading Urdu literary magazine Savera had a special section on his war poetry along with Safdar Mir’s article. The poems included Sucha Qalam (Faithful Pen), Savair di Azan (Prayer Call Of The Morning), Ik Buddah (An Old Man), Heer da Sajra Pyar (Fresh Amour Of The Heer) and Jang da Atharwan Din (Eighteenth Day Of The War). In September 1966, he came up with a poem Chhey Sitamber sey Chhey Sitamber tak (From Sixth September To Sixth September) which further established him in the role of a poet.
His stay in Saudi Arabia helped him in many ways as he spent eight years at a place having desert on one side and beach on the other. The two extremes matured him as a poet. In Saudi Arabia, he did a number of courses in Arabic and as a result, as Safdar Mir puts it, “his acquaintance with Arabic is just like as with Urdu and punjabi.”
He is candid enough to admit that he wrote film songs without inspiration and with the sole aim of making money out of them. But at the same time he claims that his poetry for films was also literary and he was never accused of copying or writing vulgar songs throughout his film career.
Although he has written a lot of prose in form of drama and criticism, he is yet to make his debut as a novelist and short story writer. “I think writing a novel or short story is no big deal for me, it is time restraints because of which I am unable to try my hands at them.”
Sultan Mahmood Ashufta held a long association with Ustad Damin and admires him both as a person and poet. “Ustad used to dominate mushairas,” he recalls, “and believed in one man show.” Other people who influenced his literature include great names like Safdar Mir, Khurshid Alam and Ghulam Ahmad pervaiz.
He is yet to publish a book of his poetry or articles on spiritualism and seems in no hurry to get them published although it is one of the major reasons he is still to be get the recognition he deserves. “I would rather like to spend the money on my children rather than wasting it on the publication of the book which will decorate only my drawing room.”
What distincts Sultan Mahmood Ashufta from his contemporaries is his knowledge of the Islamic cultural heritage which is depicted in his poetry in the full. On can say with complete confidence that he has single-handedly carried the poetic tradition of great Punjabi poets and promises to do a lot more.
By: Mustafa Nazir Ahmad
He strikes a wonderful balance between the two: while his poetry, mystical and spiritualistic in essence, revolves around the image of an ideal which is achievable and attainable, as a spiritualist he suggests ways of getting closer to that ideal. He firmly believes that this pursuit is the sole reason behind the creation of this universe.
Sultan Mahmood Ashufta has a multi-dimensional personality. He is city’s best reputed spiritual-healer. He writes a column on spiritualism for a monthly magazine along with answering questions regarding spiritualism for a weekly magazine. As the leading Punjabi poet and critic, he has contributed a lot to the uplift and enrichment of the language.
Although his stint in the films was not a very long one, he is rated among the best ever Urdu and Punjabi story, song and dialogue writers of the silver screen. He has also written some excellent plays and songs for the television and radio. As if all this is not enough, he is also the leading homeopath of the city.
What helps him in adjusting in all these different roles is his theory of life. He sees no distinction between his different roles as he believes that all that is present on this earth is inter-related and goal of every human being, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is the quest of the Divine.
He maintains that everybody is a mystic in his own right as he strives for perfection in his field. “A scientist enjoys an edge over a spiritualist in this regard as the latter starts his pursuit as a believer while the former starts his quest as a non-believer,” he contends.
He is in fifty-fifth year of his life. Telling about his family background, he informs that he hailed from a poor family which migrated from India well before the partition. He has to go to Saudi Arabia at a very young age in order to earn a living for his family.
It is for this reason that his formal education ended after matriculation but his interest in reading more than covered up for this shortcoming. He is of the view that reading broadens one’s horizon and vision. “Even a book written by a person of ordinary intellect teaches you something as everybody’s experiences of life are different from that of the other.”
While residing in the Walled City, Sultan Mahmood Ashufta spent his evenings at a roadside hotel near Bhatti Gate along with Late Saeed Jaffari and Late Allahditta Sabir, leading Punjabi poets of the period. “Although all sorts of topics were discussed in these sittings, the atmosphere had a literary touch. People from all walks and stratums of life used to visit us.”
As the place was a very crowded one (because of its closeness to the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajveri), he got an excellent opportunity to observe different sorts of people and enhance his experiences of life. These experiences coupled with his stay abroad helped him in his later life both as a poet and spiritualist.
He was acclaimed as a Punjabi poet of immense talent after his poetry written during the 1965 war appeared on the scene. Critics of the calibre of Safdar Mir wrote extensively on him and introduced him to the people having no direct access to the Punjabi poetry.
Leading Urdu literary magazine Savera had a special section on his war poetry along with Safdar Mir’s article. The poems included Sucha Qalam (Faithful Pen), Savair di Azan (Prayer Call Of The Morning), Ik Buddah (An Old Man), Heer da Sajra Pyar (Fresh Amour Of The Heer) and Jang da Atharwan Din (Eighteenth Day Of The War). In September 1966, he came up with a poem Chhey Sitamber sey Chhey Sitamber tak (From Sixth September To Sixth September) which further established him in the role of a poet.
His stay in Saudi Arabia helped him in many ways as he spent eight years at a place having desert on one side and beach on the other. The two extremes matured him as a poet. In Saudi Arabia, he did a number of courses in Arabic and as a result, as Safdar Mir puts it, “his acquaintance with Arabic is just like as with Urdu and punjabi.”
He is candid enough to admit that he wrote film songs without inspiration and with the sole aim of making money out of them. But at the same time he claims that his poetry for films was also literary and he was never accused of copying or writing vulgar songs throughout his film career.
Although he has written a lot of prose in form of drama and criticism, he is yet to make his debut as a novelist and short story writer. “I think writing a novel or short story is no big deal for me, it is time restraints because of which I am unable to try my hands at them.”
Sultan Mahmood Ashufta held a long association with Ustad Damin and admires him both as a person and poet. “Ustad used to dominate mushairas,” he recalls, “and believed in one man show.” Other people who influenced his literature include great names like Safdar Mir, Khurshid Alam and Ghulam Ahmad pervaiz.
He is yet to publish a book of his poetry or articles on spiritualism and seems in no hurry to get them published although it is one of the major reasons he is still to be get the recognition he deserves. “I would rather like to spend the money on my children rather than wasting it on the publication of the book which will decorate only my drawing room.”
What distincts Sultan Mahmood Ashufta from his contemporaries is his knowledge of the Islamic cultural heritage which is depicted in his poetry in the full. On can say with complete confidence that he has single-handedly carried the poetic tradition of great Punjabi poets and promises to do a lot more.
By: Mustafa Nazir Ahmad
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