Fahmida Riaz learns no one knows Shaikh Sa’di

Poet and writer Fahmida Riaz was thoroughly disappointed when the audience shook their heads ‘no’ after she asked them who Shaikh Sa’di was.

“Unfortunately, our children read more Western writers than our Muslim intellectuals, poets and philosophers who spread the message of love, unity and talked about every major issue faced by mankind hundreds of years ago,” she said, before she started discussing a book she translated from Persian literature, ‘Our Shaikh Sa’di: A Selection from Gulistan and Bustan’ at its launch on the second day of the fifth Karachi Literature Festival.

“Poets like Shaikh Sa’di are our legacy, which had been snatched from us, not by others, but by our own people,” she said. “In our times, we were taught poetry, logic, chemistry, and many other subjects along with Quranic teaching,” she reminisced.

Given the increasing tilt in society towards extremism, Riaz has tried to convey a message in the book that all religions are basically the same. The only difference is some people go to mosques, some go to the church and some to the temple, she said.

Na tera khuda koi aur hai

Na mera khuda koi aur hai

Yeh jo rastay hain juda juda

Yeh mamla koi aur he

This pictorial poetry book is written in a philosophical way mainly for teenagers. Simurgh is a mythological bird which has all the power to do everything. “You cannot find God in a mosque or temple because He is within you,” she said. “God is Light so find Him inside you.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2014.