VERSE TO BETTER TIES-HINDUSTAN TIMES

Hindustan Times, New Delhi, Saturday June 27, 2009 Page. 7

Verse to better ties

‘Pundit’ Mustafa Arif will pen 10,000 verses for communal peace

10,000 The number of verses Mustafa Arif’s poem would have in order to set the world record for the longest Sufi poem in Hindi. Till now, over a period of a year, Arif has penned 1,204 verses.

“There are a lot of misconceptions, sometimes due to the acts of a few misguided
men in our community itself, regarding Islam in the country...Raah a Khuda will bring out the innate goodness in Quran a Sharif- MUSTAFA ARIF ,,


Abhishek Sharan
New Delhi, June 26


EVERY TIME he reads or hears of violence in the name of Islam or Hinduism. Mustafa Arif (59) a Hindi poet, says some thing dies within him.

A follower of Sufism, Arif takes pride in introducing himself as ‘Pundit’ since this honorific was bestowed upon him by the All India Brahmin Samaj for his services to an Ujjain temple 17 years ago.

His ‘20 year long desire’ to neutralize those seeking to drive a wedge among people in the name of religion has led Arif to set upon himself the arduous task of composing the world’s longest Sufi poem in Hindi that would have 10,000 verses.

Arif’s work in progress has already attracted the attention of Guinness World Records, the universally recognized authority on record breaking achievements.

Till now over a period of a year. Arif has penned 1,204 verses – known as hamd in Sufi literature. Each hamd consists of 18 lines.

‘The poem will be a rhymed collection of 10,000 verses composed in conversational Hindi,” said Arif.

Titled book Raah-e-khuda (Path to God), the poem aims to act as bridge amid Hindus and Muslims, says Arif.

“There are a lot of misconceptions some time due to the acts of a few misguided men in our community itself, regarding Islam in the country- Raah a Khuda will bring out the innate goodness in Quran e Sharif that exhorts Muslims to be noble and peace loving.”

“The Guinness World Records’ authority recently informed me that once my poem is composed and recited in front of their observers, they would consider it as a record.” Said Arif.

Till now Arif has finished writing 1,204 verses and is keen to wrap up the rest soon. “Once the poem is done I will have to recite it non-stop. That might take have than 48 hours.”

“Ye kaisa jihad hai? Yeh kaisa ittehad hair? Allah se darne walon, ye kais shankhnad hai? (Of what sort of is this ubity? What is this unity? If you really honor Allah, what is this calmour about? reads an angry verse from his collection.

Another verse presents his take on the essence of religious identity.

“Jo hinsa se dur rahein woh Hindu kehlata, salamati de saarey jag ko Islami ho jata hai. (Hindu is one who stays away from vilience. A true Muslim provides succour to the world.”

Arif writes only when “inspired”’ across scrapebooks that are carefully preserved by him. “Two of the verses I wrote, I believe, were dictated to em in sub-conscious state by divine powers,” he said.

Abhishek.sharan@hindustantimes.com