All the scientists, artists, inventors, philosophers, statesmen, religious figures had been lovers or Aashq in their pursuits.
REVIEWED BY NASIR SOOMRO
The book Voices of Love, sensitivity, excellence, and diversity is a visionary attempt by Noor Ahmed Janjhi, to get across the voices of legends, in this day and age, it’s very important to contain voices, especially as there is a vivid collision of technology and history. Prof Noor has contained spine-tingling voices; he is an advocate of voice that provides the basis, medium, and movement for the dynamism of the universe. As he writes, “Love is the fundamental genesis of creation, life, and the universe.” It suffices to say that Prof Noor’s prose is like Matryoshka doll there are many layers in his prose, and all we need is a pensive deliberation, he triggers emotion and provokes sentiment since he has remained in the company of great minds virtually. He has been broadening the understanding of Sufism in his works; he has been attempting to make his readers understand what it means to be Sufi. While he has traveled alongside this transformation, escaping from narrow definitions of Sufism, there is a degree of scrutiny in him every time he speaks or writes from time to time.
In most of his writings, I find Universe is the constant element since I deem that he has the quest for lapping up all the existing matter and space in his writings, he travels through light years in an enormous number of galaxies; despite being inquisitive about the Universe, he has made his small universe called Tharparkar. The Thar Desert has an edge over other places due to its serene beauty. Despite its challenging life, he is an unending search for the betterment of Thar. The writer has categorized these write-ups into four categories as ‘voices of love’, ‘voices of sensitivity’, ‘voices of excellence’, and ‘voices of diversity. Prof Noor puts it as “All the scientists, artists, inventors, philosophers, statesmen, religious figures had been lovers or Aashq in their pursuits, the impossible things are turned into an arena of possibility because of the love of those people. However, their pursuits were tagged initially as the ‘moves of madness’ but millions of billions are getting benefits from those moves of madness.”
All the voices have their significance. However, the Poetry of great versifiers has remained an inspiration and solace for him. Shah Abdul Latif is very much embedded in each voice this book. Undoubtedly, Shah Latif is the light of the classical period of Sindh and is the greatest architect of all times, he has discovered the existence of the Sindhi Nation. So, Prof Noor has realized that the only voice that could bring his ideas to a logical end is Shah Latif’s poetry, his poetry contains not only Sufism but also social, political, revolutionary, and aesthetic thoughts, which are quite unraveled by the writer, Shah Latif gridlocked the routes of Sindh through his poetry and spread the message of peace, love, and brotherhood amongst all the nations. Prof. Noor has encapsulated most faculties of knowledge, anthropology, economics, geography, sociology and social work in his book, hope it reaches to right readers.
__________________
Nasir Soomro is working with Government of Sindh. He is the author of the book, ‘Peaks and Perils of Life’ (English Poetry) and is currently working on his semi-autobiographical novel in English.
