Sufi poetry and national unity

“Only Sufi poets can guarantee national unity,” World Punjabi Congress chairman Fakhar Zaman said on Tuesday.

Zaman made the remarks at a conference on Khwaja Farid. He said only Sufi poets could guarantee national unity due to their emphasis on tolerance, brotherhood and love that could overcome the social and political degeneration.

Zaman said Farid lived in a time when the Punjab had been annexed by the British who were quickly establishing their paramountcy over the Indian subcontinent. He said the celebrated words of the poet “patt angrezi thaney” were an eloquent testimony to his anti-British leanings. Zaman said former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had also commenced his last speech before the Supreme Court with a famous line by the poet. / Tribune.com.pk

Khwaja Ghulam Farid (Urdu: خواجہ غُلام فرید) or Khwaja Farid (1845–1901) – the most famous 19th-century sufi poet of the Indian subcontinent, polyglot, scholar and writer. (Wikipedia)