Amjad Sabri, who spread love, faith and happiness through music in the face of intolerance
LAHORE: The brutal murder of Amjad Sabri was more than just the death of a significant personality. Usually when such a death occurs, it is met with condemnations from other important personalities, reported on, and then forgotten. There is sometimes a short-lived increase in popularity of their work. However, Amjad Sabri’s death cannot be limited to such transient reactions. His murder is more than the passing of a popular singer; it struck at the hearts of the masses and was an attack on Pakistani culture itself.
When the bullets left the gun held in the hands of a likely satisfied individual, perhaps believing he had pleased God with his act of cowardice, he hadn’t only impacted a musician who had dedicated his life to spreading the love of God and His prophet (peace be upon him). He had pierced the very foundations of the 800-year-long tradition of Sufi music in South Asia and left behind a nation with one less voice. A nation that would never again be mesmerised with Sabri’s soulful vocals and heart-wrenching words.
A nation awash in the kind of silence that can only be caused by the fear of injustice. The kind of fear that keeps talented youth at bay, lest a self-proclaimed defender of religion may one day declare their work blasphemous and empty the contents of a pistol into them.
It is only with the work of those like Amjad Sabri, who spread love, faith and happiness through music in the face of intolerance that extremists are proven wrong and Pakistani culture is preserved and silence is broken.
Hassan Kamal Wattoo
Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2016.
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