Bulleh Shah: the bastion of religious tolerance

Thousands of devotees pay homage to the Sufi saint for his message of peace and love

KASUR: Bullehya! To me I am not known

Not a believer inside the
mosque, am I

Nor a pagan disciple of false rites

Not the pure amongst the impure

Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh

“If someone reads Baba Bulleh Shah’s poetry mindfully, it will be impossible for him to discriminate people on the basis of religion,” commented a devotee, Jasim Jamshed, who came to Kasur city to pay homage to Baba Bulleh Shah during the 260th Urs which ended on Sunday.



“This land is the beautiful composition of different sects, religions and castes, but now its social fabric is on the verge of collapse,” he said, adding that the poetry of the people like Shah spread the message of peace, love and religious tolerance and we should respect it.”

The three-day Urs of Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri, popularly known as Baba Bulleh Shah (1680–1757) was celebrated with zeal and fervour. Thousands of devotees flocked the shrine of the Sufi saint from across the country and abroad.



The local political dignitaries and officials of the district administration inaugurated the Urs celebrations by performing ‘Ghusal ceremony’ at the shrine of Bulleh Shah, laid a Chaddar (sheet) and offered Fateha. Seminars and musical events were organised by different organisations on the occasion.

“Bulleh Shah's writings represent him as a humanist,” commented Urooj Aurangzaib, a stage actress, who came from Lahore for her play during the celebrations. She said he (Bulleh) of provided solution to the problems our society.

Stop it now!

Just a few hundred metres from the shrine of Baba Bulleh Shah, some stage actors were busy discussing their roles in the play they were going to perform. They said the land of Bulleh Shah was all about religious tolerance. These young artists came from Lahore to pay homage to the great Sufi saint by portraying his teachings in the form of a stage play.



“The name of our play is ‘Hun! Bas kar (stop it now),” said actress Neha Shafqat, adding “the play is a reflection of our society which is still grappling with chaos.”

However, the theater play could not be performed due to interference of the law enforcement agencies.

“We selected the venue and began erecting tents for our stage play. Even the audience had gathered in large number but when we were just about to start our play, some personnel from law enforcement agencies came and termed our activities ‘suspicious’,” Shafqat said while elaborating how the play was suspended.

“Instead of promoting us as our play was the depiction of Bulleh Shah’s poetry, they (police) forced us to stop our performance by saying ‘stop it now’ the exact name of our play,” she remarked.

Umair Bazmi, another stage actor, told The Express Tribune that the play was against feudal and capitalist values. “I don’t know why police have stopped us?” he wondered.

He said it was an outrageous act of the law enforcement agencies and administration itself as they did not let us perform in the play to educate people about tolerance. “Our country needs such teachings more than the past in order to counter extremism which is destroying our social fabric,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2017.