World literature features many enduring, heartbreaking and devastating love stories driven by feuds, obsession, economic disparities, racism, discrimination, tribal conflicts, religious extremism, social ills and ethnic tensions. Especially, the folklore of the Indus (Sindh) valley is filled with some of South Asia’s most famous romantic tragic tales, famously immortalized in Sufi poetry and “Shah Jo Risala” by the eighth century Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhatti.
These stories often grouped as the “Seven Queens of Sindh“, blend deep spiritual yearning with intense human passions. Especially, the love story of “Sassi and Punnu.” This tragedy took place when Punnu’s brother’s horrified that a royal prince would marry a commoner girl who is the daughter of a fisherman. They kidnapped him on his wedding night and carried him back to Makran.
Distraught, Sassi ran barefoot across the scorching desert sands calling his name until she collapsed and died. The earth miraculously split open and swallowed her. Upon walking miles away, Punnu reached back into desert, found her grave and prayed for the earth to open and unite them in death.
In world folk lore literature, we find the tragic love stories as well. The tale of Sohni and Mahinwal , Momal and Rano, Heer and Ranjha, Shireen and Farhad, Romeo and Juliet, and the tale of Marvi of Sindh are well known love stories.
Shafqat Naghmi is a Pakistani novelist and former Federal Secretary of the government of Pakistan. He has written some novels in English and Urdu and revived the heritage of the love stories. Saat Jannam (Seven Lifetimes), is his acclaimed debut novel which blends emotional depth with political and spiritual satire tracking Pakistan’s tumultuous history through the lens of a central character named Mohammad Khan.
In this novel, he uses knowledge to build a rich, symbolic story using metaphors, magical realism and political commentary. The book has 34 chapters divided into six parts. It tells the story of not just one person Mohammad Khan, but the journey of an entire nation. This novel invites readers to question, not only Pakistan’s political journey but also deeper spiritual, social and moral matters about identity, change, destiny, destination and purpose of the creation of Pakistan.
The novel that begins as a personal story, quickly becomes a larger tale about the country’s transformation. The early chapters of the novel span key historical events, from 1857 rebellion against British colonialism in United India to the 1971 break up of Pakistan, highlighting how personal lives are closely tied to national history.
Mohammad Khan, at first just one man, slowly becomes a symbol of the nation itself. This novel depicts deep rooted patriotic, progressive and national spirit of the author. Dry Tree is a symbol which means that the country is autumn ridden without flowers and fruits. Then the story changes with positive weather and spring weather is sure to come and make the dry tree a fresh green tree.
The author is optimistic about the bright future of his country. He is of belief that the dry tree one day will bloom. The author quotes from the religious texts, poetry and history that shows the writer is well read person and has imbibed the sips of pure wind and wisdom from different taverns.
“Chain of Being“, is his English novel. It was published in June 2005 in the United Kingdom under the pseudo name Khan Shafqat. This is also the story of one man’s odyssey; a journey both spiritual and physical that shifts across perspectives, time, and geography.
This is an epic novel that weaves fable and tradition in an intricate tracery of the imagination. Its protagonist, Mohammad Khan, experiences different ages, cultures and countries, yet remains firmly rooted within tradition. It is also a parable of nationhood and is a sharp powerful satire.
In English literature, we find political satire in Jonathan Swift’s novel titled “Gulliver’s Travels” published in 1726. It is a scathing socio-political satire disguised as an adventure tale. He used fantastical voyages to expose the corruption, petty pride, and intellectual vanity of 18th century Europe, specifically of British society. Lilliput mirrors the petty treacherous politics of British courts under King George and Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.
Similarly, Geoffrey Chaucer in “The Canterbury Tales”, which is the collection of 24 stories mostly written in verse, uses a pilgrimage framework to heavily satirise 14th century English society, the church, and various social classes and the social order of his age.
Shafqat Naghmi’s novel represents the true spirit exhibited in the works of Jonathan Swift and Geoffrey Chaucer. He also satirizes the corrupt system of his beloved country. He criticizes the elite culture, class society, feudal and capitalist system, political tricks and trickeries, religious bigotry, economic inequality and social injustice. He writes for freedom, democracy, peace, love, justice and humanity.
In this novel, he emerges as a great reformer and revolutionary. Though, he spent the major part of his life as a civil servant and was an efficient officer, his mind was free and didn’t succumb to bureaucratic constraints. He is born with natural gift of creative, critical, innovative, and reformatory zeal and zest.
Recently, his latest novel in Urdu has been published. Its title is: “بند دروازوں کا شہر” (The City of Closed Doors). He has kindly gifted a copy to me. The very title is very alarming and symbolic. The City of Closed Doors insinuated that this city is like a prison. The doors are not open also means that the people of this city are closed minded duffers and duds. They have no passions for human dignity and lack decency. Apparently, it is tale of love tale of Marvi and Umar, which encompasses all aspects of human life and the excesses of tribal culture.
The novel is quite voluminous and sheds light on many topics. Some sentences are very appealing and are like philosophical maxims. They are the result of deep thought and experiences of the author. The novel is set against the backdrop of rural Sindh and uses rich allegories, magical realism, and folklore to dissect contemporary Pakistan’s existential, intellectual, spiritual, social and political anxieties and dynamics.
This novel is an intersection of Myth and Reality. It blends folklore with modern anxieties. The novelist frequently quoted relevant Sindhi poetry to strengthen his viewpoint and saturate the events according to the situation. The book achieves excellence for weaving the classic Sindhi folk tale of Umar and Marvi into the structural fabric of modern Pakistani society.
That ancient romantic tale is given new context and color by narrating the tale of Rahim and Marvi. The times and climes are changed and in the modern world, this love story opens the new vistas of political turmoil and state agencies and their role. The difference between the tale of Umar-Marvi and of the sad saga of Rahim-Marvi, is that the former is about the traditional tribal culture and the later is about political victimization.
The characters such as Mantho Chandeo, Peer Dildar, Chano, Saein Satchal, Gamoo, Mae Thulhi, Matho, Shamoonand Gamoo are mythological figures. Thirteen hundred soldiers play their own role.
In the beginning of the story, Rahim is portrayed as a disturbed mind oscillating between two extremities of a pendulum. On one hand, he is seen with a visa form standing on the sea shore and determined to leave for good to Europe to settle there permanently for bright future. On the other, we see him deeply sunk in the soil of his mother land which is his last abode of life. He is stuck with the Sufistic tradition.
The novel has a refined storytelling style, refreshing and elegant. It attracts the reader for its simplicity and literary exuberance. It is charming, engaging and engrossing. It is written in lyrical and atmospheric prose. His incorporation of traditional Sindhi poetry, local folklore and Sufi themes immensely enrich the content and diction.
Mostly, Shafqat Naghmi’s novels depict the spiritual and miraculous aspects of Sindhi Sufism. Though, the modern scientific mind does not believe in miracles or the spiritual powers of saints, yet there are some true saints who have spiritual powers bestowed on them by God. At the same time, there are fake and false Sufis; they are spiritual swindlers and they have brought a bad name to Sufism.
As Sufism is an integral part of Sindhi culture, it reflects in the novel at zenith. The traditional Sufi mindset and tradition give the novel a hypnotic dream like atmosphere under the thin line between reality and fantasy. The impact of traditional tinge of Sufism pervades in the novel. Besides its spiritual significance, it is a critique of State surveillance, and oppression. It is a protest against undemocratic practices and servile behavior of the men at the helm of state affairs. It utilizes powerful chilling metaphors like “The Spider’s Web” (Makri Ka Jala). The Register of the Missing Persons (Qamoos-e-Ghumshudagaan) and The Line of Extinction (Khat-e-Fana), to comment on state control, forced disappearances, and the agonizing weight of enforced silence.
The author believes in the power and supremacy of law and justice. The tragedy of displaced dreams is one of the most poignant motifs in the novel that how human aspirations are lost in transit. It perfectly captures the melancholia of migration and unfulfilled expectations. The slogan in creating Pakistan was the establishment of a welfare state which will uproot injustice and slavery but the dreams are shattered.
The novel promises and promotes democracy, freedom and social justice and diametrically opposes terrorism, sectarianism, fascism and dictatorship. The last words of Rahim, who is arrested by unseen forces and is being taken to some unknown place shouted out: “If after me they say that I was one of the traitors, do not believe.”
The voice of Marvi is heard: She says: “I will never believe”. These happenings are shown in a mythical way but are the hard and bitter realities of the societies of all those countries where autocrats, kings, and fascists rule. So far as Pakistan is concerned, it wouldn’t be out of place to cite a couplet of great poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz Ahmed who had said:
یہ داغ داغ اجالا, یہ شب گزیدہ سحر
وہ انتظار تھا جس کا یہ وہ سحر تو نہیں
(This tarnished, stained light, This night-bitten dawn.
This is not the morning we longed and waited).
In a nutshell, it seems proper to say that this novel acts as a mirror to societal wounds while maintaining exceptionally high artistic standards and reformatory norms. One pivotal point in these novels is the ardent desire to make his country the place of peace, justice, prosperity and love. Naghmi boldly expresses his views and concerns metaphorically. It makes him stand apart among living novelists.
Dr. Maqsood Jafri is a Pakistani American author, poet and scholar, who served as Professor of English Literature at Gordon College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He is the author of 36 books on different topics such as of poetry, philosophy, Islam, Dr. Allama Iqbal, Comparative World Literature and International Affairs. He is based in Islamabad and New York.
