Sufiyana Qalam on Been

Ustad Nazre Khan is from Pugal, Bikaner in the state of Rajasthan. He is a deft player of been (a kind of bagpipe). He sings as well often accompanying others in a sufiyana qalam.

In one of the mornings in his house in Pugal he played been

Ustad Nusrat Ali Fateh Ali Khan: The Legend Lives on

Sanson ki mala pe simron mein pi ka naam

hear this

Ingenious Puns

 

Safir-i Simurgh, "The Whistling of the Simurgh"

This epic is the most perfect poetic introduction to the mystical path, with its seven valleys, in which are described all the difficulties the soul will encounter on the road.

The thirty birds who have undertaken the painful journey in search of the Simurgh, the king of birds, realize finally that they themselves—being si murgh, "thirty birds"—are the Simurgh.

This is the most ingenious pun in Persian literature, expressing so marvelously the experience of the identity of the soul with the divine essence.

Excerpted from: Anne Marie Schimmel Mystical Dimension of Islam, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1975

For More on Safar-i-Simurgh see

Quest for Simurgh

The birds assemble and the hoopoe tells them of the Simurgh

The world’s birds gathered for their conference

And said: “Our constitution makes no sense.

All nations in the world require a king;

How is it we alone have no such thing?

Only a kingdom can be justly run;

We need a king and must inquire for one.”

They argued how to set about their quest.

The hoopoe fluttered forward; on his breast

There shone the symbol of the Spirit’s Way

And on his head Truth’s crown, a feathered spray.

Discerning, righteous and intelligent,

He spoke: “My purposes are heaven-sent;

I keep God’s secrets, mundane and divine,

Set free your soul; impatient of delay,

Step out along our sovereign’s royal Way:

We have a king; beyond Kaf’s mountain peak

The Simorgh lives, the sovereign whom you seek

Excerpted from:

THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS Farid ud-din Attar, 1177

Translated by Afham Darbandi and Dick Davis, London: Penguin, 1984

More About Farid Du Din Attar