60 quotes found
"Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's voice was otherworldly. For 25 years, his mystical songs transfixed millions. It was not long enough .... He performed qawali, which means wise or philosophical utterance, as nobody else of his generation did. His vocal range, talent for improvisation and sheer intensity were unsurpassed."
"There are great singers, and then there are those few voices that transcend time. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan could not only transcend time, but also language and religion. There was magic when he opened his mouth, a sense of holy ecstasy that was exciting and emotional. It wasn’t uncommon even for Western listeners, who didn’t understand a word he was singing or follow his Sufi traditions, to be moved to tears upon hearing him."
"He’s my elvis. I idolize Nusrat, he's a god, too"
"Nusrat is one of the greatest singers of our time. When his singing takes off, his voice embodies soulfulness and sprituality like no other."
"His voice was a conduit to heaven."
"The place where my voice finishes ,Nusrat used to start from that place."
"He used to go and sit by the ocean, and watch it for hours and hours. And one day it occoured to me, that I, as a viewer, am in fact seeing two oceans, for this man himself is an ocean."
"Working with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the closest I got to god."
"A man learns all his life, and dies the day he thinks that he has learnt everything."
"When I sing for God, I feel myself in accord with Allah, and the house of God, Mecca, is right in front of me. And I worship. When I sing for Muhammad, peace be upon him, our prophet, I feel like I am sitting right next to his tomb, Madina, and paying him respect and admitting to myself that I accept his message."
"To be a qawwal is more than being a performer, more than being an artist,One must be willing to release one's mind and soul from one's body to achieve ecstasy through music. Qawwali is enlightenment itself."
"Sufi music tries to banish the hatred living within all human beings. It does not belong to any one culture, but to all of us. It stands for bhaichara. The great Sufis have said that there is no value in namaz if your soul is not clean, no value of bathing in the Ganga, if your thoughts are impure. God is to be achieved through love. Mohabbat (love) is the ultimate reality."
"I have nothing but dust from the mazars where the beloved of Allah sleep.I transform this dust through my surs into my songs. A recreation , a perennial recitation of the Holy names of Allah, the Holy Prophet(PBUH) and Ali is my heritage. I will pass it on to the next generation. Perhaps Allah likes what I do and He has opened the gates of blessings on me.I love Him. I go far and wide with the name of my Beloved on my lips. To those who do not know language I chant Allah hoo, I sing of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and sing of Ali, the people are enchanted.I claim no skill, it is because of the great men of Allah, when I was awarded the Grand Prixin Paris Uxi Mufti came to me in thr green room and said that I possessed no skill for the honour and that it was because of saintsand blessings of Allah. He was right. what is man but a handful of dust and what can he do?"
"Myself, I am nothing, If I am anything it is because of my companions. An axe cannot chop wood without its handle. I also cannot do anything without my companions and friends who work with me. They are as important as a thumb is in hand."
"The more honors I am given , the more afraid I become, that I might not slip in the eyes of my fans. I pray to Allah to preserve me and keep me in his favor. I need his friendship . I do not bother about the disaffections of the times."
"Naheed, my wife and Nida (my daughter) are the two rulers sitting on the throne of my heart. I travel long and wide to extend their empire. But I never forget them. In my heart are two portraits. Whenever I have an opportunity I bend and see them in my heart. The strings of my heart are in their hands. Farrukh and Rahat are my two eyes. I see the world through them. The world looks so beautiful. When these two eyes open it is daylight for me when the close ,the evening strats."
"My father Ustaad Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, his brothers are my spritual gurus. I am their son, their acolyte. It is my duty to preserve and protect the knowledge the music that they gave me. I do a lot of experiments but the base is classical music. I ambound with ragas. I may road around the world and may acquaint myself with the western instuments I never wander from the central point. from the stage of WOMAD and from the studios of Peter Gabriel, I always emerge depths of my own music."
"The musical instuments may be western but my voice never wavers away from my own ragas. it is good to make experiments and I do a lot of them but my thoughts always round the centre and that centre is the tradition of my elders and it is classical music.."
"The attack on the Sri Lankans means we should brace ourselves for some tough times."
"You live life once, you live it by your principles and you live it courageously- that’s what it's about."
"“I felt sure that none of Islam’s once powerful moral imperatives existed within him, but he was a Muslim because he doubted the Holocaust, hated America and Israel, thought Hindus were weak and cowardly (despite marrying a Hindu journalist Tavleen Singh), and because the glories of the Islamic past excited him. The faith decayed within him, ceased to be dynamic, ceased to provide moral guidance, became nothing but a deep, unreachable historical and political identity,” wrote Aatish."
"The message is clear and loud. The fortunes of the persons who rule the country and the contents of the textbooks run in tandem. When Ayub Khan was in power in 1969 and the Urdu book was published it was right and proper that the bulk of it should be in praise of him. When, in 1970, he was no longer on the scene and this English translation was published it was meet that the book should ignore him. All the books published during Zia's years of power followed this practice. The conclusion is inescapable: the students arc not taught contemporary history but an anthology of tributes to current rulers. The authors are not scholars or writers but courtiers."
"Secondly, the student is trained to accept historical mis-statements on the authority of the book. If education is a pre- paration for adult life, he learns first to accept without question, and later to make his own contribution to the creation of historical fallacies, and still later to perpetuate what he has learnt. In this way, ignorant authors are leading innocent students to hysterical conclusions. The process of the writers' mind provides excellent material for a manual on logical fallacies. Thirdly, the student is told nothing about the relationship between evidence and truth. The truth is what the book ordains and the teacher repeats. No source is cited. No proof is offered. No argument is presented. The authors play a dangerous game of winks and nods and faints and gestures with evidence. The art is taught well through precept and example. The student grows into a young man eager to deal in assumptions but inapt in handling inquiries. Those who become historians produce narratives patterned on the textbooks on which they were brought up. Fourthly, the student is compelled to face a galling situation in his later years when he comes to realize that what he had learnt at school and college was not the truth. Imagine a graduate of one of our best colleges at the start of his studies in history in a university in Europe. Every lecture he attends and every book he reads drive him mad with exasperation, anger and frustration. He makes several grim discoveries. Most of the "facts", interpretations and theories on which he had been fostered in Pakistan now turn out to have been a fata morgana, an extravaganza of fantasies and reveries, myths and visions, whims and utopias, chimeras and fantasies."
"So my answer to why I wrote this book [about Pakistani textbooks] is: I have written for posterity. (Sometimes I feel that I have written all my books for the generations whom I will not see). In a hundred years' time; when the future historian sets out to contemplate the Pakistan off an age gone by and look for the causes that brought it low, he might find in this book of mine one small candle whose quivering flame will light his path."
"What I have written will bring no change to our textbooks or to the education system which produces them. Few will read this book. Fewer will remember it after reading it. Our own little stubborn world will go on as it has been going on for 45 years."
"Here I may add an interesting footnote to the sociological history of modern Muslim India and Pakistan. Almost every Muslim of any importance claimed, and still claims today, in his autobiography reminiscences, memoirs, journal and bio data, that his ancestors had come from Yemen, Hejaz,* Central Asia, Iran, Ghazni,† or some other foreign territory. In most cases, this is a false claim for its arithmetic reduces the hordes of local converts (to Islam) to an insignifi cant number. Actually, it is an aftermath and confi rmation of Afghan and Mughal exclusiveness. It is also a declaration of disaffi liation from the soil on which the shammers have lived for centuries, and to which in all probability, they have belonged since history began. If all the Siddiquis, Qureshis, Faruqis,‡ ... have foreign origins and their forefathers accompanied the invading armies, or followed them, what happens to the solemn averment that Islam spread peacefully in India? Are we expected to believe that local converts, whose number must have been formidable, were all nincompoops and the wretched of the earth—incapable over long centuries of producing any leaders, thinkers, or scholars?”"
"I am hoping that potential recruits from the diaspora of Pakistani youth will realize they are being taken for a ride by the Islamists and are nothing more than gun fodder for the supremacist cults that use Islam as a political tool to further its goals. I hope Pakistanis and their children realize that they are victims of what one of Pakistan’s leading historians, Professor K.K. Aziz, called The Murder of History. In his book by that name, he reveals that for fifty years Pakistanis have been fed myths disguised as truths."
"A raindrop stuck up in my lashes and sank in the eye."
"Even though the gusts of zephyr knock till eternity on the red stone walls behind the city of flowers, no change will occur. Only that they will tire themselves."
"Like the rest of them, will you also examine the white, crystal today in the haze and mist of slimy yesterday? Do what you will but keep it in mind: the sun has also been accused of having necked and cuddled the night."
"When the noisy tide receded from the shore the frozen shiny sands suddenly moved beneath her feer. The girl standing knee-deep in water came to herself and mused: 'How familiar is this moment!'"
"Muhammad b. Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazna, and Shihabuddin Ghori emerged as powerful symbols in Muslim politics in the context of the 1930s’ communal atmosphere in India. Interestingly they continue to be used as symbols of perfect Muslim heroes who have the ability to restore peace and order through their belligerence. [….] The consequences of hero worship have resulted in disaster for Pakistan. Following the footsteps of the conquerors, the rulers of Pakistan treated it as a conquered country and, therefore, legitimated plunder and loot of its wealth and resources. The only difference between them and the model conquerors is that in the past the wealth was taken away from India and deposited in the state treasuries of Damascus, Bhagdad, and Ghaznin. Now the Swiss banks or American and Western countries provide safe haven to the plundered wealth."
"In the present times of grave crisis we need dissident intellectuals who can challenge the establishment... Pakistan did not develop any tradition of dissident intellectual activity."
"When we talk about culture, it includes literature, paintings, music, dance, sculpture, folklores, festivals, and celebrations."
"Culture plays also an important role in the life of minorities, who are generally discriminated in such societies where there is no political and religious freedom. Under these circumstances, their cultural values and symbols help them to retain their identity."
"In Victory and defeat, War is a drama which most historians, poets, and writer like to narrate with passion and vigor. It is such a powerful and moving topic that when they describe scenes of battlefields, killing and bloodshed, dialogues between victors and vanquished, they make epics out of such descriptions which sensationalize and thrill the coming generations when they read them. In case of victory or defeat, both sides eulogize their warriors and transform them into heroes, who sacrifice their lives defending honour and dignity of their country."
"There are two types of writers: those who write to support the existing system and prove and augment its legitimacy through their writings. On the other hand, there are those who critically examine society and make an attempt to restructure and reform it on the basis of fresh ideas."
"History records that those who ruled with an iron hand and implemented oppressive and draconian laws, in the end failed to keep their power. People can endure suppression up to certain limit and a certain period of time; after that they rebel to get rid of callous rulers."
"History is full of the accounts of those who imposed their absolute power against popular will."
"History is a powerful subject which can be used to create a true historical consciousness. Unfortunately, it can also he misused and we often sec how politician distort it to whip up the emotion of people in older to achieve their political agenda. As they have a large following their version of history becomes popular among their followers. If not corrected the falsification of history is accepted as the absolute truth. This reaise the question whether historians should challenge the popular emotions of the people and correct historical facts or keep silent and let the falsification go on unchecked."
"In our society, we don not study history to understand the process of change but just to entertain ourselves with past events. For this reason, history is not regarded as a useful subject. The history that we teach in our educational institutions is political history and, as such, it is used by the ruling classes."
"History is a repository of human experiences and one can not only understand the present by studying history but also find solutions to its problems as well. However, historians sometimes present a very pessimistic view of life whereas at other times, they inspire dejected and disillusioned people to struggle for survival."
"Historical process is not a linear one. It is also not stagnant. On the contrary, it moves ahead and brings changes to social, political and economic structure."
"If history remains neutral and does not condemn and declare such acts as immoral, it would fail to create any consciousness about these evil deeds."
"Power intoxicates those who hold it."
"However, the question who built Taj Mahal no longer remains a mystery. Surely it was not built by Shah Jahan but by architects, calligraphers, masons, stone-cutters, and metal workers and ordinary laborers who built it and made it a symbol of creative mind of the Indian society."
"True love has be-guided me, O friend! Reveal to me the land of my Beloved. At my parents' I was an innocent maid. With love to me He has robbed me of my heart. Logic, semantics and a store of knowledge— Such pedantry has left me devoid of Him. Of what use are fasts and prayers to them, Who have drunk deep from the front of love? Sitting in the company of the Spouse, Bullah is free from all rituals, O friend!"
"If I tell a lie, something is left out; If I speak out the truth, there is a blaze. My mind fears both the alternatives, But haltingly my tongue speaks out. Words that come to my tongue cannot be held back. If I were to unravel the mysteries, All would forget to discuss and debate. They would then kill our friend Bullah, For only the hidden truth befits here."
"By going to Mecca the mystery is not obtained, so long as the ego is not annihilated. By going to the Ganga the mystery is not solved, though you may take a hundred dips in it. By going to Gaya the mystery is not solved, though you may offer many rice-cakes at funerals. O Bullah, salvation will be obtained only when the 'I' is completely eliminated."
"Accursed be prayers, to hell with fasts, and let confession of faith be damned. O Bullah, I have found the Lord within, and the world wanders in delusion!"
"In shrines dwell robbers, in idol-houses, thugs. In mosques live vagabonds, the lovers of God remaind aloof."
"Poverty is poison. Poverty is a pain. We need to rise together and make concerted efforts to reduce poverty and make this world a happy place to live in."
"O Farid ! Friend is not hidden; everywhere He is openly manifest. Darkness is all pervaise Light. Only it has been named differently."
"The mysteries of Oneness of Being are remarkable. They are known by the dealers of unity who behold the real Sinai Flash in each and every existent."
"Beauty and ugliness are manifestations of the self-The lovely colorless is in each color."
"From the hand of the cup-bearer I drank the goblet of love. Oneness became overpowering, forget infidelity and Islam."
"Whoever found the beloved in the temple of the heart, got purged of all affliction and sin, by meditation attained permanence. Farid subsists without individuality."
"Leave aside craving for other than God: anything else is pseudo thought. Except the Real One, all things are perishable. Each instant concentrate on the Real; undoubtedly this is the committed way."
"The greatest irony about (the Quid's August 11 Speech) is that it is generally believed to have addressed only the minorities' rights. This is only partly true. The Quaid's words were directed at all citizens of Pakistan; the progress of the entire population depended on burying the past (communal politics). What he clearly meant was that discrimination against the minorities would impede Pakistan's progress. Thus, in Jinnah's Pakistan, the rights and interests of the minorties will be protected by the constitution and the law, not only as something due to them, but also as an insurance of the state's integrity."
"It should be interesting to find out why the Pakistani film industry has shown little interest in celebrating 100 years of filmmaking – 2013 marks the centenary of film production in Subcontinent and not of film exhibition that had started earlier. And this despite being invited by Indian filmmakers to partake of shared glory. One reason could be the muddled thinking about the Pakistani people's cultural heritage. If they reject the arts and literature produced in the Subcontinent before it was partitioned, they repudiate not only the legacy of the great Indo-Islamic culture, that grew over centuries, but also the poetry of Mir, Ghalib and Iqbal (who spent all his life as a citizen of India). If the cultural history of our people is supposed to have begun in 1947, then we have no cultural heritage worth the name."