KARACHI: The Sindh Culture Department is planning to set up a Sufism Research Cell, the first of its kind, to conduct a detailed research on the roots of Sufism and the life and work of Sufis from the four provinces of the country, to help Sufism researchers and publish the work of Sufis.
Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palijo said the Sindh chief minister has allocated a special fund of Rs 10 million for the initial investment for the establishment of the cell. The cell would comprise of five major components including the research and publications of famous Sufis of Sindh including Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sachal Sarmast, Sami and Shah Inayat.
The Sindh Culture Department has started working on a project under which ‘Shah-jo-Risalo’, the poetry of Sindh’s Sufi poet Bhittai would be published in Gurumukhi language and would be brought in the market next year.
Gurumukhi is the most common script used for writing Punjabi language and before being converted into the Arabic script, Sindhi was also written in this script. If published in Gurumukhi, Bhittai’s poetry would be read in Punjab and major portions of India. “It would be a revolution to translate Shah-jo-Risalo in Gurumukhi and by doing this we would be able to let non-Sindhi communities such as Punjabis, Sikhs and the people speaking several other languages in India enjoy the poetry of the great Bhittai,” said Palijo.
She said translating Sufi poetry in different languages would help bring an end to the rising religious extremism and terrorism. Shah-jo-Risalo is already translated in Urdu, English and German languages. “We have also started working on the translations of Risalo into Russian, Chinese, Dhatki and Gujarati languages and soon we will publish it in these languages,” said the culture minister.
She said that the Sufism Research Cell is not limited only to the Sufis of Sindh, but it would also work on the life, preaching, poetry and the work of the Sufis of Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan as well. She said the poetry of Haq Bahoo, Baba Bulleh Shah, Gaus Bahawal Zakeria, Rehman Baba and other Sufis would also be published in international languages by this unique cell. amar guriro
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