Abdur-Rehman (1650 – 1715 A.D) widely known as Rehman Baba was a great Pushtu Sufi poet who is regarded as the most read and quoted Pushtu poet of the larger belt of Afghanistan and the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan. There isn’t much known about his life due to the lack of eyewitness accounts yet a few legends portray him to be a reclusive poet, singing his poems near the Bara River while strumming a Rubab.
His poetry shows him to be a poet who had full command on fiqah (jurisprudence) and tasawwuf (Sufism). A powerful Sufi touch in his poetry notwithstanding, he was not inclined to a particular order of Sufism and it is more likely that Rehman Baba was a free soul, with an individualistic practice of Sufism similar to that of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in Sindh. Thus he says:
“On the path which I travel to see my love, make holy Khizer and Ilyas my guidesâ€
His tomb is at Hazarkhwani, in the suburbs of Peshawar.
Why I’m not dying
Why I’m not dying,
Of the sorrow of separation,
Why I’m not dying,
Of this mourning intense.
Why I’m not dying,
Of the cruelty of this age,
Which snatches a lover from the lover.
Why I’m not dying
Of witnessing these mornings,
Which laugh at my sobs every rising day.
Why I’m not dying
Without my lover,
For it is a death, not to stare in the lover’s eyes.
Why I’m not dying,
To see these unfaithful drops of dew,
That leave the flower upon seeing a slight warmth.
Why I’m not dying,
Of this deadly miserable life,
That I’m carrying with myself,
O’Rehman from so long.II
Such have your sorrows overpowered me,
That I’ve lost every place in and out.My sobs have rendered people restless,
Like fire of a burning dry wood engulfing the moistured.In your pain, I’m weeping like a candle,
But you are smiling at me like a bright morn.My heart’s hanging in your path,
Like your black hair dangling in front of your face.Tis’ a norm for all the sorrows to be crushed under your feet,
When you are burdened with that single grief.They come towards you, leaving me behind,
All those who advisingly forbade me from your path.Such is the effect of yours over the face of Rehman,
Like a flame of fire over a thinly dry stalk.
Credits: This article was earlier posted at Pak Tea House.
I think the wisdom contained in the poetry of giants like Rahman Baba, Bulleh Shah, Bhitai and others is a treasure that we must all cherish and learn form. Thank you for recording it here.
Thanx a lot The Pakistaniat.com for publishing my post on the great pushto sufi poet. I would also like to thank Raza Rumi who’s encouragement brought these translations out of me.
So very thanx Ali, for liking the poems and yes, such is the variety of Rehman baba’s poetry that you’ll find something relevent every now and then.
Tina, the original poems in pushto can be found on my blog in a few days time.
Thank you Sidhas, for your appreciation..
Thank you for enlightening us with Rahman Baba’s poems. It is great to read about legendary icon.
Thanks so much for the poems translated into English, but some of our readership might be able to enjoy them in Pushto also. Is this available for you to post? Thanks.
Thank you for a very informative post.I have always heard of Rahman Baba but never had the opportunity to read his poetry.
Is the translation yours?
I must say that reading the first poem it seemed like it was a commentary on everything happening in Pakistan today.