Honoring Zawahir Moir:
Catalogue of 114 Khojki Manuscripts in Searchable Form
Ali Jan Damani
(Institute of Business Administration)
Brief note:
Zawahir Noorally (now, Zawahir Moir) prepared a catalogue of 114 Khojki manuscripts in 1971. The manuscripts catalogued by her were then under the custody of the Ismailia Association for Pakistan (now; ITREB, Pakistan). Unfortunately, the catalogue remained in the scanned form with some scholars and no efforts were made to re-type and arrange the catalogue in searchable form. Hence, this is the pioneer effort by Ali Jan Damani to
re-type the catalogue in searchable form. Mistakes, errors and inconsistencies of all types are maintained as they appear in the original catalogue. This work was undertaken by Ali Jan Damani while he was studying the catalogue critically for his forthcoming article on the project of how the khojki manuscripts must be subject to cataloguing by potential scholars.
pdf file at:
ismailimail.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/zawahir-catalogue__searchable__damani.pdf
Miscellaneous Articles on Ginans
Pirs composed Ginans to teach Ismaili doctrines
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;
evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.
Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light;
boundless will be the joy in your heart. (tr. Ali Asani). Listen
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent in the eleventh century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam. The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century (IIS)
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), Guru Nanak (1469-1539), among others. A tradition of mystical poetry was also developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. The Pirs used the subcontinent’s many languages, folk songs, myths, and traditional music to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96). Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The form of Nizari Ismail tradition in the subcontinent came to be known as sat panth (‘true path’). The term panth, “an Indic term meaning path, doctrine or sect, is popularly used in the names of groups that crystallized around the different religious personalities of medieval India. For example, followers of the poet Dadu call their movement Dadupanth while those of Kabir use the term Kabirpanth. The term satpanth used by the Ismaili pirs echoes the Qur’anic concept of sirat al-mustaqim (the right path).
Through the medium of Ginans, the Pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner meaning (batin) of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects. The Ginan literature “came to be perceived within the community as a kind of commentary on the Qur’an. Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah explained “In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 30).
“According to Paul Walker, the Ismailis have:
tolerated a surprising intellectual flexibility and leeway. That in turn has allowed men of various philosophical temperaments to enter into and promote with enthusiasm this particular kind of Islam… This fact may explain why the Ismaili movement attracted a number of brilliant and creative thinkers and also why others of equal brilliance seem to lean in their direction.”
Cited in Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 7
Language of Ginans
Ginans were composed in Punjabi, Multani (Saraiki), Sindhi, Kachhi, Hindustani/ Hindi, and Gujarati. Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path.’)
Themes
The number of verses in Ginans varies from four to ten in the shorter ones to over five-hundred in the longer ones. Generally the shorter versions do not possess titles, therefore, the first verses or refrains serve as titles for identification purpose. Longer Ginans designated as Granths, have titles that may reflect the main theme or message such as the Bujh Niranjan (Knowledge of the Attributeless Deity), a long mystical poem on the spiritual quest of the soul; Soh Kiriya (One-Hundred Obligatory Acts) provides instruction for proper conduct.
Several Ginans are stories or parables that are meant to be interpreted mystically such as Kesri sinh swarup bhulayo (The Lion Forgot his Lion-form), which describes a lion who has forgotten its true identity on account of its upbringing among a flock of sheep. Listen
Many Ginans are supplications (venti) for spiritual enlightenment and vision (darshan, didar) such as Hun re piasi tere darshan ki (I Thirst for a Vision of You), which draws on the symbol of a fish writhing in agony outside its home in water. Listen
Unch thi ayo (Coming From an Exalted Place) is a lament of the soul’s fate in the material world and a plea for the intercession of Prophet Muhammad. Listen
Music
The Ginans were a counterpart to the traditions of the geet, bhajan, and kirtan among the many traditions prevalent in the subcontinent. Like most Indian devotional poetry, Ginans are meant to be sung. Music, therefore, is a vital characteristic of Ginans to invoke specific emotional states such as on special occasions, morning prayers, evening prayers, ghatpat ceremony, or at funerals. Each Ginan is distinguished by its raga, or musical mode, with the name of the composer at the end, a characteristic of North Indian poetry. If a Ginan does not possess a refrain, the first verse is used as refrain, a common practice in the Bhakti and Sant traditions of the subcontinent.
Furthermore, Ginans are meant to be sung from memory and heart rather than from a script in order to eliminate the intermediary (the book) between worshipper and the Divine. To compensate the differences between the poetic and musical metre of a ginan, extra syllables such as ‘re’ and ‘eji’ are often inserted during recitation (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, p 52, n 50).
Although initially an oral tradition, Ginans were recorded in Khojki, a special script adopted by the Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent primarily to record the community’s religious literature.
Pir Satgur Nur (d.1094) was the earliest Pir sent to the subcontinent. Nanji states that “Satgur Nur came to Jambu-dvipu from Sahetar-dvipa via the city of Bhildi and proceeded to Patan in Gujarat” (Listen).
The term jambu-dvipa refers to “the land of the jambu tress,” jambu being the name of the species of Jambul (Syzgium cumini of the myrtle family Myrtaceae) or Indian blackberries, dvipa meaning ‘island’ or ‘continent.’ The jambu trees were native to the Indian subcontinent as well as other areas of South Asia and Australia, although subsequently grown in other tropical climates around the world. The trees were considered sacred to Lord Krishna and therefore planted close to Hindu temples.
Pir Satgur Nur was followed by Pir Shams al-Din, who was active in the mid-fourteenth century, mainly in Uchchh and Multan in the province of Sind, and associated with Imam Qasim Shah (r. ca. 1310-1370). Pir Shams is also featured prominently in a number of Sufi traditions.
Satgur Nur pir
Pir Satgur Nur’s Mausoleum. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Garbis
Very popular during the Gujarati culture of western India was the garbi, a folk dance in which individuals move around in a circle and sing to the accompaniment of a rhythmic clap of hands and feet. “the dancers in motion, as well as the songs composed for the occasion are known as garbis” (Nanji, The Nizari Ismaili Tradition p 20)
Pir Shams, who is said to have joined in the dancing of the Hindu festival of Navratri, substituted his own words for theirs, thus teaching them the principles of Ismailism. Pir Shams composed 28 garbis. Listen to the garbi titled Evi garbi sampuran saar.
Pir Sadr al-Din
Pir Shams was succeeded by his son Nasir al-Din and grandson Shihab or Sahib al-Din, both conducting activities in secrecy to avoid persecution. The latter was succeeded by Pir Sadr al-Din, who worked during the time of Imam Islam Shah (r. 1369/70 to 1425/26), and is considered the founder of the Nizari Ismaili Khoja community.
Pir Sadr al-Din played a prominent role in converting many Hindus, giving them the Persian title of khwaja (meaning ‘master’), corresponding to the Hindu title of thakur. He is credited with authoring the largest number of Ginans, and establishing the earliest jamatkhanas in Kotri, Sind in the fifteenth century, with additional ones in Panjab and Kashmir.
Pir Sadr al-Din died between 1369 and 1416; he was succeeded by Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, (d. ca. 1470) and Pir Taj al-Din (d. end of the 15th century).
Pir Sadr al-Din Uchch
Pir Sadr al-Din’s mausoleum in Uchchh, India. Source: Ismaili Gnosis
Pandiyat-i javanmardi
As a result of dissension in the community upon the appointment of Pir Taj al-Din, Imams did not appoint Pirs after his death. Instead, a book – Pandiyat-i javanmardi (‘Counsels of Chivalry‘) – containing the guidance of Imam Mustansir billah II (d.1480) was sent. This book came to occupy the twenty-sixth place in the traditional list of Pirs. The Pandiyat also found its way to remote areas in Hunza, Chitral, and Badakshan.
Pandiyat jawanmardi pirs
Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi, copied between 1736 and 1879, scribe unknown. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Sayyids
After Pir Taj al-Din, the work of Pirs was continued by a line of Sayyids, generally regarded as the descendants of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din.
The Arabic word sayyid, meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master,’ refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. It is also used as a title for Sufi masters and notable theologians. (IIS Glossary)
Imam Begum Karachi
Imam Begum’s mausoleum in Karachi, Pakistan. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Imam Begum
The last in the line of Sayyids and the only known female composer of Ginans, Imam Begum, who composed ten Ginans, sang her compositions to the accompaniment of the fiddle (sarangi).
Asani notes that the singing of Ginans in unison of the entire congregation “can also be very powerful in its emotional and sensual impact. Even those who may not fully understand the meanings and significance of the words they sing may experience an emotion difficult to describe but which sometimes physically manifests itself through moist eyes or tears” (Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 41).
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Ginans: A Tradition of Religious Poetry, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/03/pirs-composed-ginans-to-teach-the-ismaili-interpretation-of-islam/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;
evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.
Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light;
boundless will be the joy in your heart. (tr. Ali Asani). Listen
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent in the eleventh century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam. The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century (IIS)
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), Guru Nanak (1469-1539), among others. A tradition of mystical poetry was also developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. The Pirs used the subcontinent’s many languages, folk songs, myths, and traditional music to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96). Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The form of Nizari Ismail tradition in the subcontinent came to be known as sat panth (‘true path’). The term panth, “an Indic term meaning path, doctrine or sect, is popularly used in the names of groups that crystallized around the different religious personalities of medieval India. For example, followers of the poet Dadu call their movement Dadupanth while those of Kabir use the term Kabirpanth. The term satpanth used by the Ismaili pirs echoes the Qur’anic concept of sirat al-mustaqim (the right path).
Through the medium of Ginans, the Pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner meaning (batin) of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects. The Ginan literature “came to be perceived within the community as a kind of commentary on the Qur’an. Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah explained “In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 30).
“According to Paul Walker, the Ismailis have:
tolerated a surprising intellectual flexibility and leeway. That in turn has allowed men of various philosophical temperaments to enter into and promote with enthusiasm this particular kind of Islam… This fact may explain why the Ismaili movement attracted a number of brilliant and creative thinkers and also why others of equal brilliance seem to lean in their direction.”
Cited in Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 7
Language of Ginans
Ginans were composed in Punjabi, Multani (Saraiki), Sindhi, Kachhi, Hindustani/ Hindi, and Gujarati. Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path.’)
Themes
The number of verses in Ginans varies from four to ten in the shorter ones to over five-hundred in the longer ones. Generally the shorter versions do not possess titles, therefore, the first verses or refrains serve as titles for identification purpose. Longer Ginans designated as Granths, have titles that may reflect the main theme or message such as the Bujh Niranjan (Knowledge of the Attributeless Deity), a long mystical poem on the spiritual quest of the soul; Soh Kiriya (One-Hundred Obligatory Acts) provides instruction for proper conduct.
Several Ginans are stories or parables that are meant to be interpreted mystically such as Kesri sinh swarup bhulayo (The Lion Forgot his Lion-form), which describes a lion who has forgotten its true identity on account of its upbringing among a flock of sheep. Listen
Many Ginans are supplications (venti) for spiritual enlightenment and vision (darshan, didar) such as Hun re piasi tere darshan ki (I Thirst for a Vision of You), which draws on the symbol of a fish writhing in agony outside its home in water. Listen
Unch thi ayo (Coming From an Exalted Place) is a lament of the soul’s fate in the material world and a plea for the intercession of Prophet Muhammad. Listen
Music
The Ginans were a counterpart to the traditions of the geet, bhajan, and kirtan among the many traditions prevalent in the subcontinent. Like most Indian devotional poetry, Ginans are meant to be sung. Music, therefore, is a vital characteristic of Ginans to invoke specific emotional states such as on special occasions, morning prayers, evening prayers, ghatpat ceremony, or at funerals. Each Ginan is distinguished by its raga, or musical mode, with the name of the composer at the end, a characteristic of North Indian poetry. If a Ginan does not possess a refrain, the first verse is used as refrain, a common practice in the Bhakti and Sant traditions of the subcontinent.
Furthermore, Ginans are meant to be sung from memory and heart rather than from a script in order to eliminate the intermediary (the book) between worshipper and the Divine. To compensate the differences between the poetic and musical metre of a ginan, extra syllables such as ‘re’ and ‘eji’ are often inserted during recitation (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, p 52, n 50).
Although initially an oral tradition, Ginans were recorded in Khojki, a special script adopted by the Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent primarily to record the community’s religious literature.
Pir Satgur Nur (d.1094) was the earliest Pir sent to the subcontinent. Nanji states that “Satgur Nur came to Jambu-dvipu from Sahetar-dvipa via the city of Bhildi and proceeded to Patan in Gujarat” (Listen).
The term jambu-dvipa refers to “the land of the jambu tress,” jambu being the name of the species of Jambul (Syzgium cumini of the myrtle family Myrtaceae) or Indian blackberries, dvipa meaning ‘island’ or ‘continent.’ The jambu trees were native to the Indian subcontinent as well as other areas of South Asia and Australia, although subsequently grown in other tropical climates around the world. The trees were considered sacred to Lord Krishna and therefore planted close to Hindu temples.
Pir Satgur Nur was followed by Pir Shams al-Din, who was active in the mid-fourteenth century, mainly in Uchchh and Multan in the province of Sind, and associated with Imam Qasim Shah (r. ca. 1310-1370). Pir Shams is also featured prominently in a number of Sufi traditions.
Satgur Nur pir
Pir Satgur Nur’s Mausoleum. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Garbis
Very popular during the Gujarati culture of western India was the garbi, a folk dance in which individuals move around in a circle and sing to the accompaniment of a rhythmic clap of hands and feet. “the dancers in motion, as well as the songs composed for the occasion are known as garbis” (Nanji, The Nizari Ismaili Tradition p 20)
Pir Shams, who is said to have joined in the dancing of the Hindu festival of Navratri, substituted his own words for theirs, thus teaching them the principles of Ismailism. Pir Shams composed 28 garbis. Listen to the garbi titled Evi garbi sampuran saar.
Pir Sadr al-Din
Pir Shams was succeeded by his son Nasir al-Din and grandson Shihab or Sahib al-Din, both conducting activities in secrecy to avoid persecution. The latter was succeeded by Pir Sadr al-Din, who worked during the time of Imam Islam Shah (r. 1369/70 to 1425/26), and is considered the founder of the Nizari Ismaili Khoja community.
Pir Sadr al-Din played a prominent role in converting many Hindus, giving them the Persian title of khwaja (meaning ‘master’), corresponding to the Hindu title of thakur. He is credited with authoring the largest number of Ginans, and establishing the earliest jamatkhanas in Kotri, Sind in the fifteenth century, with additional ones in Panjab and Kashmir.
Pir Sadr al-Din died between 1369 and 1416; he was succeeded by Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, (d. ca. 1470) and Pir Taj al-Din (d. end of the 15th century).
Pir Sadr al-Din Uchch
Pir Sadr al-Din’s mausoleum in Uchchh, India. Source: Ismaili Gnosis
Pandiyat-i javanmardi
As a result of dissension in the community upon the appointment of Pir Taj al-Din, Imams did not appoint Pirs after his death. Instead, a book – Pandiyat-i javanmardi (‘Counsels of Chivalry‘) – containing the guidance of Imam Mustansir billah II (d.1480) was sent. This book came to occupy the twenty-sixth place in the traditional list of Pirs. The Pandiyat also found its way to remote areas in Hunza, Chitral, and Badakshan.
Pandiyat jawanmardi pirs
Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi, copied between 1736 and 1879, scribe unknown. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Sayyids
After Pir Taj al-Din, the work of Pirs was continued by a line of Sayyids, generally regarded as the descendants of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din.
The Arabic word sayyid, meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master,’ refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. It is also used as a title for Sufi masters and notable theologians. (IIS Glossary)
Imam Begum Karachi
Imam Begum’s mausoleum in Karachi, Pakistan. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Imam Begum
The last in the line of Sayyids and the only known female composer of Ginans, Imam Begum, who composed ten Ginans, sang her compositions to the accompaniment of the fiddle (sarangi).
Asani notes that the singing of Ginans in unison of the entire congregation “can also be very powerful in its emotional and sensual impact. Even those who may not fully understand the meanings and significance of the words they sing may experience an emotion difficult to describe but which sometimes physically manifests itself through moist eyes or tears” (Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 41).
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Ginans: A Tradition of Religious Poetry, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/03/pirs-composed-ginans-to-teach-the-ismaili-interpretation-of-islam/
Pirs and Sayyids composed ginans within the framework of the society of the time
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent. From the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans contain emotive knowledge that can transcend the material to connect to the Divine.
“God has treasures beneath His Throne, the keys of which are the Tongues of Poets”
Hadith of Prophet Muhammad
Source: Ali S. Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom
More on Ginans and Satpanthi Tradition
During the time of the da’wa, Vaishnavism (devotion to Vishnu and his many incarnations, avatars) was one of the dominant Indic streams of religious life in northern India. Pirs introduced their teaching “without totally rejecting the conceptual and even social framework of the society” (Nanji, The Nizari Isam’ili Tradition p 102). Many traditions incorporated indigenous framework into their teachings; for example, “among Sunnis in Bengal, Prophet Muhammad was regarded as the ‘incarnation of God himself.’ He was seen as the last, tenth incarnation of Vishnu, the avatara of Kali-yuga,’ superseding the nine previous incarnations. (Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 29).
Themes
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. “One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
1) Integration of Ismaili thought within Vaishnava framework
In this category, ginans explain that “to know the truth, which can be done only through true faith, it is necessary to break once and for all, the relentless chain of karma… which make the wheel of re-birth spin on and on. In this way, the idea of re-birth is invoked not to promote it as an object of belief but to promote commitment to the true faith. The idea of myriad rounds of birth (eight hundred and forty thousand…according to ancient Indian belief), invokes the sense of a human ordeal on a formidable scale. This foreboding is turned into a case for seeking salvation through wholehearted commitment, a surrender of body, mind, and soul to the true faith” (Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 66-67), as taught by Sayyida Imam Begum in verse 2 of the Ginan Aye rahem raheman
Regarding the concept of reincarnation, Esmail notes that the doctrine “is a very old one, as is evident in its presence in cultures across the world from Ancient Greece, Africa, through to India. It is not to be found… in scriptural traditions of Semitic languages. However, it was one of the elements in the extraordinary mix of cultural traditions in the Near East, and was thus one of the contenders in the battle of ideas which shaped the course of the Semitic civilisations. Like the doctrines of the ancient religions of Manicheanism and Zoroastrianism, [religions of ancient Iran] the doctrine of reincarnation was treated by these religious traditions as heretical… in India, it remained all-important, and not only in Hinduism. Popular Islam, including Sufism, retained it, together with a host of other significant, indigenous ideas and symbols….” (Ibid. p 64).
Figures of Hindu mythology such as Harischandra, Draupadi, and the Pandava brothers served as models of proper behaviour and conduct. In order that some of these figures might be of benefit to new converts, they were assimilated into the Ismaili tradition by being re-interpreted with Ismaili perspectives. For example, in the ginan tiled Amar te ayo (The Command has Come), Harischandra is carried over into the ginan tradition, where he becomes the paradigm of the true devotee who is ready to sacrifice everything for his religion (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
The term avatara in Vaishnavism “came to signify the assumptions of different forms, man or animal by God, in which Vishnu came down to earth and lived on it until the purpose for which he had descended into the Universe was fulfilled (Nanji, The Nizari Isam’ili Tradition p 111).
In the ginan Allah ek kasam sabhuka, Pir Hasan Kabirdin explains (v. 16):
Know the Creator [Brahma], Ruler [Vishnu], and the Destroyer of evil [Shiva]
In the present age Lord Vishnu is the Imam.
Those souls that have followed the Farmans,
have reached the abode of paradise.
(tr. Ismaili.net)
One of the functions of avatars “is that they have come, throughout the ages, not only to fight the forces of evil but also to “save” man from the shackles of the cycle of re-birth… Sat Panth is presented as the solution to escape from this cycle and to gain Paradise.” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition, p 121), as expressed by the Hindu concept of moksha – deliverance and final emancipation from the bondage of existence (Ibid. p 179 n. 89).
The Hindu doctrine had spoken of the coming of the tenth avatar (das avatara) from which the ginans take their name. The ten avatars “were fitted into the framework of a cyclical history on the basis of the Hindu concept of yuga, elaborated into the doctrine of the four yugas or Ages, the four cosmic cycles wherein the Universe was periodically created and destroyed. The four yugas were Krita, Treta, Davapara, and Kali (the present age) considered the age of darkness. The tenth avatar would fight the forces of evil in the Kali Yuga (Ibid. p 111-113). In the ginan titled Pahela karta jugmahe Shahna Pir Sadr al-Din addresses the four yugas, describing that in the present age, Lord Sri Naklank (Hazarat Ali) is seated on the throne. Sayyid Muhammad Shah narrates, in the ginan Sahebji tun more man bhaave :
Lord! I have visited and seen all the four yugas, there is none like you (v 2).
(tr. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Sadr al-Din warns of the danger of Kalinga in verse 4 of the ginan Firat neja tambal vaajshe:
daeet kaalee(n)gaa naa chhaasatth laakh jodhaa…
The devil’s army has a strength of the magnitude of 6.6 million…
(tr. Ismaili.net)
“Just as in Ismailism, in both its Fatimid and Nizari versions, the forces of evil symbolized by Iblis were set free and disturbed the state of harmony necessitating “the coming of a new Lawgiver to offset the forces of evil, so in Hindu doctrine the various avataras had come to earth to put things right.” The fulfillment of their doctrine of the tenth avatara however, would find its culmination, not in the standard figure of Kalki [Vishnu’s incarnation the destroyer], but as a form of Ali. He was to be the Mahdi who would kill Kalinga, the embodiment of evil, the Iblis of Hindu mythology” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition, p113).
Pir Imamshah parallels the Four Revealed Books of Islamic Tradition in Moman Chetamni to the Four Vedas, the primary scriptures of Hinduism. All the various chords, merge and centre upon the single figure of the “Imam of the Time,” the tenth avatara.
Tawrat –Prophet Musa
Injil – Gospel of Isa (Jesus)
Qur’an – Prophet Muhammad
Zabur – Book of Dawud (David)
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;
evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.
Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light;
boundless will be the joy in your heart.
(tr. Ali Asani). Listen
(Ginan themes to be continued)
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris Publishers in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2001
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, Delmar, 1978
Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002
Shafique Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis : A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Tradition,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/pirs-and-sayyids-composed-ginans-within-the-framework-of-the-society-of-the-time/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent. From the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans contain emotive knowledge that can transcend the material to connect to the Divine.
“God has treasures beneath His Throne, the keys of which are the Tongues of Poets”
Hadith of Prophet Muhammad
Source: Ali S. Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom
More on Ginans and Satpanthi Tradition
During the time of the da’wa, Vaishnavism (devotion to Vishnu and his many incarnations, avatars) was one of the dominant Indic streams of religious life in northern India. Pirs introduced their teaching “without totally rejecting the conceptual and even social framework of the society” (Nanji, The Nizari Isam’ili Tradition p 102). Many traditions incorporated indigenous framework into their teachings; for example, “among Sunnis in Bengal, Prophet Muhammad was regarded as the ‘incarnation of God himself.’ He was seen as the last, tenth incarnation of Vishnu, the avatara of Kali-yuga,’ superseding the nine previous incarnations. (Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 29).
Themes
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. “One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
1) Integration of Ismaili thought within Vaishnava framework
In this category, ginans explain that “to know the truth, which can be done only through true faith, it is necessary to break once and for all, the relentless chain of karma… which make the wheel of re-birth spin on and on. In this way, the idea of re-birth is invoked not to promote it as an object of belief but to promote commitment to the true faith. The idea of myriad rounds of birth (eight hundred and forty thousand…according to ancient Indian belief), invokes the sense of a human ordeal on a formidable scale. This foreboding is turned into a case for seeking salvation through wholehearted commitment, a surrender of body, mind, and soul to the true faith” (Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 66-67), as taught by Sayyida Imam Begum in verse 2 of the Ginan Aye rahem raheman
Regarding the concept of reincarnation, Esmail notes that the doctrine “is a very old one, as is evident in its presence in cultures across the world from Ancient Greece, Africa, through to India. It is not to be found… in scriptural traditions of Semitic languages. However, it was one of the elements in the extraordinary mix of cultural traditions in the Near East, and was thus one of the contenders in the battle of ideas which shaped the course of the Semitic civilisations. Like the doctrines of the ancient religions of Manicheanism and Zoroastrianism, [religions of ancient Iran] the doctrine of reincarnation was treated by these religious traditions as heretical… in India, it remained all-important, and not only in Hinduism. Popular Islam, including Sufism, retained it, together with a host of other significant, indigenous ideas and symbols….” (Ibid. p 64).
Figures of Hindu mythology such as Harischandra, Draupadi, and the Pandava brothers served as models of proper behaviour and conduct. In order that some of these figures might be of benefit to new converts, they were assimilated into the Ismaili tradition by being re-interpreted with Ismaili perspectives. For example, in the ginan tiled Amar te ayo (The Command has Come), Harischandra is carried over into the ginan tradition, where he becomes the paradigm of the true devotee who is ready to sacrifice everything for his religion (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
The term avatara in Vaishnavism “came to signify the assumptions of different forms, man or animal by God, in which Vishnu came down to earth and lived on it until the purpose for which he had descended into the Universe was fulfilled (Nanji, The Nizari Isam’ili Tradition p 111).
In the ginan Allah ek kasam sabhuka, Pir Hasan Kabirdin explains (v. 16):
Know the Creator [Brahma], Ruler [Vishnu], and the Destroyer of evil [Shiva]
In the present age Lord Vishnu is the Imam.
Those souls that have followed the Farmans,
have reached the abode of paradise.
(tr. Ismaili.net)
One of the functions of avatars “is that they have come, throughout the ages, not only to fight the forces of evil but also to “save” man from the shackles of the cycle of re-birth… Sat Panth is presented as the solution to escape from this cycle and to gain Paradise.” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition, p 121), as expressed by the Hindu concept of moksha – deliverance and final emancipation from the bondage of existence (Ibid. p 179 n. 89).
The Hindu doctrine had spoken of the coming of the tenth avatar (das avatara) from which the ginans take their name. The ten avatars “were fitted into the framework of a cyclical history on the basis of the Hindu concept of yuga, elaborated into the doctrine of the four yugas or Ages, the four cosmic cycles wherein the Universe was periodically created and destroyed. The four yugas were Krita, Treta, Davapara, and Kali (the present age) considered the age of darkness. The tenth avatar would fight the forces of evil in the Kali Yuga (Ibid. p 111-113). In the ginan titled Pahela karta jugmahe Shahna Pir Sadr al-Din addresses the four yugas, describing that in the present age, Lord Sri Naklank (Hazarat Ali) is seated on the throne. Sayyid Muhammad Shah narrates, in the ginan Sahebji tun more man bhaave :
Lord! I have visited and seen all the four yugas, there is none like you (v 2).
(tr. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Sadr al-Din warns of the danger of Kalinga in verse 4 of the ginan Firat neja tambal vaajshe:
daeet kaalee(n)gaa naa chhaasatth laakh jodhaa…
The devil’s army has a strength of the magnitude of 6.6 million…
(tr. Ismaili.net)
“Just as in Ismailism, in both its Fatimid and Nizari versions, the forces of evil symbolized by Iblis were set free and disturbed the state of harmony necessitating “the coming of a new Lawgiver to offset the forces of evil, so in Hindu doctrine the various avataras had come to earth to put things right.” The fulfillment of their doctrine of the tenth avatara however, would find its culmination, not in the standard figure of Kalki [Vishnu’s incarnation the destroyer], but as a form of Ali. He was to be the Mahdi who would kill Kalinga, the embodiment of evil, the Iblis of Hindu mythology” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition, p113).
Pir Imamshah parallels the Four Revealed Books of Islamic Tradition in Moman Chetamni to the Four Vedas, the primary scriptures of Hinduism. All the various chords, merge and centre upon the single figure of the “Imam of the Time,” the tenth avatara.
Tawrat –Prophet Musa
Injil – Gospel of Isa (Jesus)
Qur’an – Prophet Muhammad
Zabur – Book of Dawud (David)
Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;
evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.
Recite continually the Ginans which are filled with light;
boundless will be the joy in your heart.
(tr. Ali Asani). Listen
(Ginan themes to be continued)
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris Publishers in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2001
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, Delmar, 1978
Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002
Shafique Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis : A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Tradition,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005
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Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.”
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom
The term ginan is from the Sanskrit gyan meaning contemplative knowledge, wisdom or gnosis. Nasr translates the term to mean ‘supreme knowledge.’ Ivanow, generally considered the founder of the modern Ismaili studies, said this term ‘is used in the sense of the knowledge, i.e. the real and true, as the Arabic Ismaili term haqa’iq” (Virani, Reason and Inspiration p 504).
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs (Asani, Ecstatsy and Enlightenment p 45).
1) Integration of Ismaili thought within Vaishnava framework
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent.
More
2) Destiny of Soul
This category deals with the questioning the soul as it passes through fifty-two stages in the after-life, for example Bavan Ghati (Fifty-two Passes); Brahma Gayantri deals with the creative process from a pre-eternal divine light (an integration of Hindu creation myths into an Islamic context); Naklanki Gita is a mystical cosmogony; and Unchi thi aayo (‘Coming from an Exalted Place’) is a lament of the soul’s fate in the material world and a plea for the intercession of Prophet Muhammad (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
3) Ethics or Morals
Ginans in this category provide instructions for proper conduct of worldy life, for example So Kriya (One-Hundred Obligatory Acts); Bavan Bodh (Fifty-two Advices), and Moman Chetamni (A Warning for the Believers). (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 46).
4) Rituals and Festivals
A number of ginans are recited on specific occasions, for example:
Saat swargna kaim khuloya che dwaar (The Doors of the Seven Heavens Have Swung Open) on the birthday of Prophet Muhammad
Dhan dhan aajno dadalore (Happy and Blessed is This Day) on the birthday of the Imam
Navroz na din sohaman (On This Auspicious Day of Navroz) at the beginning of the Persian New Year
(Ibid. p 28)
5) Mysticism and Spiritual life
“The Ismailis have been notable in Islamic thought for the emphasis they give to the batin, the esoteric aspects of the faith, to complement the zahir, the exoteric or external. Ismaili literature has been concerned throughout its development with the spiritual life of the human soul, especially its search to transcend the shackles of material bondage. The ultimate destiny of the soul is to return to its origin in … God as per the ayat:
“Verily we come from God and to God we return” (Q 2:156).
Such a journey becomes feasible by means of the spiritual relationship that exists between the individual believer and the Imam. As keeper of the mysteries of the batin, the Imam becomes the supreme guide in the spiritual quest (Ibid.). There are compositions that guide an individual’s spiritual progress, composed in the same vein as Sufi manuals such as the granths (long ginans) Bujh Niranjan (Knowledge of the Attributeless Deity ) and Brahma Prakash (Divine Illumination), both of which include descriptions of mystical stages and advice on how to attain them (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 46).
“For the Nizari Ismailis, only the Imam’s spiritual insight and knowledge can provide the faithful with the correct interpretation (ta’wil) that penetrates beyond the formal and literal meaning of the divine word embodied in the Qur’an” (Ibid. p 56).
(Further reading: How the Ismaili Imam teaches esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) of the Holy Qur’an at Ismaili Gnosis)
In mystical ginans, the soul is often represented in the feminine mode as a wife anxious for the return of her husband or a bride awaiting her bridegroom. The woman-soul symbol is a conventional feature in most North Indian devotional poetry written in vernacular languages.
Tamaku sadhare sohodin (The Day that You Left)
Beloved, it has been long since the day you left
(and) anxiously I wait for you.
My merciful lord and kindly master,
O my beloved, how will I spend these days without you?”(Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 57)
It is not uncommon to find ginans using Indic terms for husband or lord (nar, nath, swami) in reference to the Imam. The idea of servitude is also expressed by representing the soul as the servant is slave of the lord. A popular ginan Darshan diyo mora naath (‘Grant me Your Vision, my Lord’), composed by the female saint Imam-Begum, is based entirely on this theme, with the supplicating servant craving didar/darshan (vision) of the Lord” (Ibid. p 58).
Like the sant and Sufi poetry, the ginans draw on a host of symbols taken from the world of nature, agriculture or folk culture to garb their message with a material form e.g. Hun re piasi tere darshan ki (‘I Thirst for a Vision of You’) the symbol of the fish writhing in agony outside its home in water, is used to underline the importance of love, symbolised by water, as the emotive principle of existence (Ibid. p 47). The ginan Kesri sinh swarup bhulayo (The Lion Forgot his Lion-form), describes a lion who has forgotten its true identity on account of its upbringing among a flock of sheep.
6) Supplications (Ventis)
“That Day will faces be bright, looking toward their Lord” (Q 75:22-23)
Ginans in this category are mainly supplications for spiritual enlightenment and vision (darshan or didar), the inner, mystical vision of the Imam’s spiritual light (nur). The concept of nur “constitutes a central motif in the ginans where, in fact, it stood as the primal cause out of which other creations came into being. Pir Shams, in his garbi tith athami avea gamna lok (On the 8th day [of the month] the villagers came and all are looking in amazement), explains Panjtan Pak having been created from Light:
In the ginan sarag bhavan thi maati mangaai Pir Fazal Shah alludes to the popular story of the creation of Adam from clay:
The face was moulded into a circle in which two lamps (eyes) were lit. In the human heart, He recited the Word (sabd). Hence we are connected through our hearts to God through the word – naam, shabd, the ism-e azam. This ginan reminds of our origin with God, and that we are strangers (pardesi) in this world on a long journey back to Him.
Seyyid Imam Shah, in verse 5 of his composition Hetesun milo mara munivaro, says:
Worship with such awareness that the Lord sits manifest in the heart.
(tr. M. and Z. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
In his granth titled Saloko Moto, Pir Shams explains, in the first verse:
Worship the Lord in the heart, and in the heart is the abode of the Lord. In your heart the Lord resides, and in the heart He bestows His Vision.
Photo: AKDN
“As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Speech
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2002
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Shafiqu N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis“, in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2005
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Intellect and Intuition: Their Relationship from the Islamic Perspective
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Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.”
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom
The term ginan is from the Sanskrit gyan meaning contemplative knowledge, wisdom or gnosis. Nasr translates the term to mean ‘supreme knowledge.’ Ivanow, generally considered the founder of the modern Ismaili studies, said this term ‘is used in the sense of the knowledge, i.e. the real and true, as the Arabic Ismaili term haqa’iq” (Virani, Reason and Inspiration p 504).
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs (Asani, Ecstatsy and Enlightenment p 45).
1) Integration of Ismaili thought within Vaishnava framework
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent.
More
2) Destiny of Soul
This category deals with the questioning the soul as it passes through fifty-two stages in the after-life, for example Bavan Ghati (Fifty-two Passes); Brahma Gayantri deals with the creative process from a pre-eternal divine light (an integration of Hindu creation myths into an Islamic context); Naklanki Gita is a mystical cosmogony; and Unchi thi aayo (‘Coming from an Exalted Place’) is a lament of the soul’s fate in the material world and a plea for the intercession of Prophet Muhammad (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
3) Ethics or Morals
Ginans in this category provide instructions for proper conduct of worldy life, for example So Kriya (One-Hundred Obligatory Acts); Bavan Bodh (Fifty-two Advices), and Moman Chetamni (A Warning for the Believers). (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 46).
4) Rituals and Festivals
A number of ginans are recited on specific occasions, for example:
Saat swargna kaim khuloya che dwaar (The Doors of the Seven Heavens Have Swung Open) on the birthday of Prophet Muhammad
Dhan dhan aajno dadalore (Happy and Blessed is This Day) on the birthday of the Imam
Navroz na din sohaman (On This Auspicious Day of Navroz) at the beginning of the Persian New Year
(Ibid. p 28)
5) Mysticism and Spiritual life
“The Ismailis have been notable in Islamic thought for the emphasis they give to the batin, the esoteric aspects of the faith, to complement the zahir, the exoteric or external. Ismaili literature has been concerned throughout its development with the spiritual life of the human soul, especially its search to transcend the shackles of material bondage. The ultimate destiny of the soul is to return to its origin in … God as per the ayat:
“Verily we come from God and to God we return” (Q 2:156).
Such a journey becomes feasible by means of the spiritual relationship that exists between the individual believer and the Imam. As keeper of the mysteries of the batin, the Imam becomes the supreme guide in the spiritual quest (Ibid.). There are compositions that guide an individual’s spiritual progress, composed in the same vein as Sufi manuals such as the granths (long ginans) Bujh Niranjan (Knowledge of the Attributeless Deity ) and Brahma Prakash (Divine Illumination), both of which include descriptions of mystical stages and advice on how to attain them (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 46).
“For the Nizari Ismailis, only the Imam’s spiritual insight and knowledge can provide the faithful with the correct interpretation (ta’wil) that penetrates beyond the formal and literal meaning of the divine word embodied in the Qur’an” (Ibid. p 56).
(Further reading: How the Ismaili Imam teaches esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) of the Holy Qur’an at Ismaili Gnosis)
In mystical ginans, the soul is often represented in the feminine mode as a wife anxious for the return of her husband or a bride awaiting her bridegroom. The woman-soul symbol is a conventional feature in most North Indian devotional poetry written in vernacular languages.
Tamaku sadhare sohodin (The Day that You Left)
Beloved, it has been long since the day you left
(and) anxiously I wait for you.
My merciful lord and kindly master,
O my beloved, how will I spend these days without you?”(Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 57)
It is not uncommon to find ginans using Indic terms for husband or lord (nar, nath, swami) in reference to the Imam. The idea of servitude is also expressed by representing the soul as the servant is slave of the lord. A popular ginan Darshan diyo mora naath (‘Grant me Your Vision, my Lord’), composed by the female saint Imam-Begum, is based entirely on this theme, with the supplicating servant craving didar/darshan (vision) of the Lord” (Ibid. p 58).
Like the sant and Sufi poetry, the ginans draw on a host of symbols taken from the world of nature, agriculture or folk culture to garb their message with a material form e.g. Hun re piasi tere darshan ki (‘I Thirst for a Vision of You’) the symbol of the fish writhing in agony outside its home in water, is used to underline the importance of love, symbolised by water, as the emotive principle of existence (Ibid. p 47). The ginan Kesri sinh swarup bhulayo (The Lion Forgot his Lion-form), describes a lion who has forgotten its true identity on account of its upbringing among a flock of sheep.
6) Supplications (Ventis)
“That Day will faces be bright, looking toward their Lord” (Q 75:22-23)
Ginans in this category are mainly supplications for spiritual enlightenment and vision (darshan or didar), the inner, mystical vision of the Imam’s spiritual light (nur). The concept of nur “constitutes a central motif in the ginans where, in fact, it stood as the primal cause out of which other creations came into being. Pir Shams, in his garbi tith athami avea gamna lok (On the 8th day [of the month] the villagers came and all are looking in amazement), explains Panjtan Pak having been created from Light:
In the ginan sarag bhavan thi maati mangaai Pir Fazal Shah alludes to the popular story of the creation of Adam from clay:
The face was moulded into a circle in which two lamps (eyes) were lit. In the human heart, He recited the Word (sabd). Hence we are connected through our hearts to God through the word – naam, shabd, the ism-e azam. This ginan reminds of our origin with God, and that we are strangers (pardesi) in this world on a long journey back to Him.
Seyyid Imam Shah, in verse 5 of his composition Hetesun milo mara munivaro, says:
Worship with such awareness that the Lord sits manifest in the heart.
(tr. M. and Z. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
In his granth titled Saloko Moto, Pir Shams explains, in the first verse:
Worship the Lord in the heart, and in the heart is the abode of the Lord. In your heart the Lord resides, and in the heart He bestows His Vision.
Photo: AKDN
“As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Speech
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2002
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Shafiqu N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis“, in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2005
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Intellect and Intuition: Their Relationship from the Islamic Perspective
Share this:
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/21/ginan-themes-include-laments-of-the-soul-supplications-and-ethics/
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah: ‘In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan’
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent as early as the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people.
The Pirs, sent by Imams residing in Persia, “were no ordinary missionaries …they were spiritually enlightened individuals whose religious and spiritual authority the Isma’ili imams had formally endorsed by bestowing on them the title of pir” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 84). One could not become a Pir through inheritance unless he had been so designated by the Imam of the Time. Hence, the Pirs became tangible symbols of the Imam’s authority in South Asia. (Asani, Medieval Ismaili History and Thought p 267-8). “They were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy” (Virani, “Symphony of Ginans,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 502-3). The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century (IIS).
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing in the subcontinent, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), Guru Nanak (1469-1539), among others. A tradition of mystical poetry was also developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. The Pirs used the subcontinent’s many languages, folk songs, myths, and traditional music to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96). Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The form of Nizari Ismail tradition in the subcontinent came to be known as sat panth (‘true path’). The term panth, “an Indic term meaning path, doctrine or sect, is popularly used in the names of groups that crystallized around the different religious personalities of medieval India. For example, followers of the poet Dadu call their movement Dadupanth while those of Kabir use the term Kabirpanth. The term satpanth used by the Ismaili Pirs echoes the Qur’anic concept of sirat al-mustaqim (the right path).
Common to all these traditions was the use of Indian vernaculars of the respective local regions enabling the composers to use local music styles to sing their poetry to facilitate the journey to spiritual ecstasy. Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local community in order to avoid persecution. About thirty da’is composed ginans in several languages over a period of six centuries.
Through the poetic medium of ginans, Pirs explained the Qur’an to the converts. In his pronouncement, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah guided the community in this issue: ‘In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan.’ (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 30).
A composition titled Moman Chetamni (‘A Warning for the Believers’) clarifies the Qur’an as the source of Satpanth :
Eji Ali Nabi thi je satpanth chaliaa
Tene sreviay gupt aapar
Atharvedi aa panth kahiae
Te to khojiya kuran minjar Cheto…. (v. 162).
Satpanth began from Ali and Prophet Muhammad;
follow it more discreetly.
this Satpanth is according to Athar Veda (the last Veda [Hindu scriptures])
you can find its proof in the Qur’an.
(Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, McKenna College)
In verse 202 of his granth titled Saloko Moto (also termed Vaek Moto), Pir Shams explains:
Satgur kahere Pir Shams kuran ja bhakhiya,
Ane bhakhiya char ved ja jan;
Te gat gangamanhe besi kari,
Kidhi sachi saankh nirvan re…
Pir Shams has preached the Qur’an
and preached the four Vedas;
among the gat jamat (congregation)
he has narrated the true signs.
(Tr. Ali Asani)
In his composition Sat maarag Shams Pir, verse 5 says:
Gur naache garbi maahe
Te gaae kuran ne re lol
The Pir danced to the garbi and
explained the teachings of the Qur’an.
(tr. M. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Sadardin, in his composition Aas punee hum Shah dar paaya, says:
Pir Sadardin yaaraa pade re Kuran
Baahaar jaave taaku andar laanaa,
Shah naa sujaano aapnaa pirne pichhaano (v. 6).
Pir Sadardin recites the Qur’an
He brings back into the fold those who leave it.
Know the Imam (in his essence) and recognise your Pir (Guide).
(tr. Ismaili.net).
In another of his composition Aasmani tambal vaajiyaa Pir Sadardin states:
Kal maanhe Muhammad Shaahni vinati; tame bhuli ma jaao ji (v 13)
In the present age Prophet Muhammad pleads: “do not be forgetful.”
Ved Quraan maanhe saakh chhe; teni aavi edhaanni ji (v. 14)
The evidence of the coming of and the function and authority of the Imam is to be found in the holy scriptures and the Holy Qur’an. You have been forewarned about it.
Pir Sadardin boliyaa; tame ginaan vichaaro ji (v. 15)
Pir Sadardin has said: “Reflect upon the ginans.”
(tr. Karim Maherali, Ismailimail)
In verse 2 of the ginan Allah ek kasam sabhu ka, Pir Hasan Kabirdin says:
Nabi Muhammad bujo bhai, to tame paamo Imam
mushrak mun to kaffir kahinye, moman dil qur’an
Brothers, know Prophet Muhammed, then you will attain recognition of the Imam
only a non-believer has polytheistic tendencies in his/her heart
but a momin’s heart is enlightened by Holy Qur’an.
(tr. Ismaiili.net)
This verse resonates in the Qur’an as:
“But it is clear revelations in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge and none deny our revelations save wrong-doers” (29:49).
In the ginan Tun hi gur tun hi nar, Pir Sadardin worries:
Ek fikar munivar tamaari chhe amne
maannas rupe saaheb jaanno ho bhaai ji (verse 4).
O true believers! We have one concern about you and that is that you might confuse Imam in his physical form as an ordinary man.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sources:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/imam-sultan-muhammad-shah-in-the-ginans-which-pir-sadardin-has-composed-for-you-he-has-explained-the-gist-of-the-quran-in-the-language-of-hindustan/
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent as early as the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people.
The Pirs, sent by Imams residing in Persia, “were no ordinary missionaries …they were spiritually enlightened individuals whose religious and spiritual authority the Isma’ili imams had formally endorsed by bestowing on them the title of pir” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 84). One could not become a Pir through inheritance unless he had been so designated by the Imam of the Time. Hence, the Pirs became tangible symbols of the Imam’s authority in South Asia. (Asani, Medieval Ismaili History and Thought p 267-8). “They were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy” (Virani, “Symphony of Ginans,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 502-3). The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century (IIS).
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing in the subcontinent, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), Guru Nanak (1469-1539), among others. A tradition of mystical poetry was also developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. The Pirs used the subcontinent’s many languages, folk songs, myths, and traditional music to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96). Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local populace in order to avoid persecution.
The form of Nizari Ismail tradition in the subcontinent came to be known as sat panth (‘true path’). The term panth, “an Indic term meaning path, doctrine or sect, is popularly used in the names of groups that crystallized around the different religious personalities of medieval India. For example, followers of the poet Dadu call their movement Dadupanth while those of Kabir use the term Kabirpanth. The term satpanth used by the Ismaili Pirs echoes the Qur’anic concept of sirat al-mustaqim (the right path).
Common to all these traditions was the use of Indian vernaculars of the respective local regions enabling the composers to use local music styles to sing their poetry to facilitate the journey to spiritual ecstasy. Compositions were also influenced by the various communities’ needs to assimilate the practices of the dominant local community in order to avoid persecution. About thirty da’is composed ginans in several languages over a period of six centuries.
Through the poetic medium of ginans, Pirs explained the Qur’an to the converts. In his pronouncement, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah guided the community in this issue: ‘In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan.’ (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 30).
A composition titled Moman Chetamni (‘A Warning for the Believers’) clarifies the Qur’an as the source of Satpanth :
Eji Ali Nabi thi je satpanth chaliaa
Tene sreviay gupt aapar
Atharvedi aa panth kahiae
Te to khojiya kuran minjar Cheto…. (v. 162).
Satpanth began from Ali and Prophet Muhammad;
follow it more discreetly.
this Satpanth is according to Athar Veda (the last Veda [Hindu scriptures])
you can find its proof in the Qur’an.
(Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, McKenna College)
In verse 202 of his granth titled Saloko Moto (also termed Vaek Moto), Pir Shams explains:
Satgur kahere Pir Shams kuran ja bhakhiya,
Ane bhakhiya char ved ja jan;
Te gat gangamanhe besi kari,
Kidhi sachi saankh nirvan re…
Pir Shams has preached the Qur’an
and preached the four Vedas;
among the gat jamat (congregation)
he has narrated the true signs.
(Tr. Ali Asani)
In his composition Sat maarag Shams Pir, verse 5 says:
Gur naache garbi maahe
Te gaae kuran ne re lol
The Pir danced to the garbi and
explained the teachings of the Qur’an.
(tr. M. Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Sadardin, in his composition Aas punee hum Shah dar paaya, says:
Pir Sadardin yaaraa pade re Kuran
Baahaar jaave taaku andar laanaa,
Shah naa sujaano aapnaa pirne pichhaano (v. 6).
Pir Sadardin recites the Qur’an
He brings back into the fold those who leave it.
Know the Imam (in his essence) and recognise your Pir (Guide).
(tr. Ismaili.net).
In another of his composition Aasmani tambal vaajiyaa Pir Sadardin states:
Kal maanhe Muhammad Shaahni vinati; tame bhuli ma jaao ji (v 13)
In the present age Prophet Muhammad pleads: “do not be forgetful.”
Ved Quraan maanhe saakh chhe; teni aavi edhaanni ji (v. 14)
The evidence of the coming of and the function and authority of the Imam is to be found in the holy scriptures and the Holy Qur’an. You have been forewarned about it.
Pir Sadardin boliyaa; tame ginaan vichaaro ji (v. 15)
Pir Sadardin has said: “Reflect upon the ginans.”
(tr. Karim Maherali, Ismailimail)
In verse 2 of the ginan Allah ek kasam sabhu ka, Pir Hasan Kabirdin says:
Nabi Muhammad bujo bhai, to tame paamo Imam
mushrak mun to kaffir kahinye, moman dil qur’an
Brothers, know Prophet Muhammed, then you will attain recognition of the Imam
only a non-believer has polytheistic tendencies in his/her heart
but a momin’s heart is enlightened by Holy Qur’an.
(tr. Ismaiili.net)
This verse resonates in the Qur’an as:
“But it is clear revelations in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge and none deny our revelations save wrong-doers” (29:49).
In the ginan Tun hi gur tun hi nar, Pir Sadardin worries:
Ek fikar munivar tamaari chhe amne
maannas rupe saaheb jaanno ho bhaai ji (verse 4).
O true believers! We have one concern about you and that is that you might confuse Imam in his physical form as an ordinary man.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sources:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/imam-sultan-muhammad-shah-in-the-ginans-which-pir-sadardin-has-composed-for-you-he-has-explained-the-gist-of-the-quran-in-the-language-of-hindustan/
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah: “Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man”
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent in the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking peoples.
Like most Indian devotional poetry, ginans are meant to be sung. Music, therefore, is a vital characteristic of ginans to invoke specific emotional states such as on special occasions, morning prayers, evening prayers, ghatpat ceremony, or at funerals. Each ginan is distinguished by its raga, or musical mode, with the name of the composer at the end, a characteristic of North Indian poetry. Literature in the local languages were instrumental in explaining Islamic concepts and the Ismaili interpretation in a manner that would be accessible to the local culture environment.
A distinctive aspect of Ismaili thought “is the belief that the Divine or the Truth (haqiqa) can only be accessed by penetrating the esoteric (batin) dimension concealed by the physical or exoteric (zahir) realm. … In this regard, they perceive their imams to be holders of authoritative knowledge (ilm) of both the exoteric and esoteric truth found in the Qur’an, sharia and legal rulings, [mystical] knowledge, and gnosis (ma’rifa). The Imams provide authoritative instruction (ta’lim) and the esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) of divine revelation by decoding the revelatory discourse (tanzil) brought by the prophets” (Asani, Nizari Ismaili Engagements with the Qur’an p 40-42).
“The belief in a pre-eternal or gnostic wisdom in the possession of the Prophet’s family (ahl al-bayt) has been a characteristic feature of Shi’i Islam since the earliest days. The Ismaili branch of Shi’ism, in particular, was well-known for its proselytising activities (da’wa) and call to recognise the inherited knowledge (ilm) of its line of Imams” (Ibid).
“Among the da’is dispatched were several figures whose names appear in the traditional list of pirs, or chief representatives of the Imams” (Asani, Ecstatsy and Enlightenment p 45). They were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy” (Virani, “Symphony of Ginans,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 502-503).
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, to convey teachings of the Qur’an.
One of the Qur’anic injunctions is the constant remembrance of the Lord:
“And remember the Name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with [complete] devotion”⁣
(Qur’an 73:8)⁣.
“The men of intellect are those who remember Allah standing, sitting and reclining.”
(Qur’an 3:190-191)
Pirs and their descendants Sayyids, conveyed this message through their poetic compositions:
Pir Shams narrates, in his ginan Kesri sinh swaroop bhoolaayo, about a lion who was raised among goats and forgot his lionish form. Pir reminds believers to not forget life’s purpose in the delusionary world, and to constantly remember the Lord:
Bharam sab chhodi bhai Ali Ali karnaa,
Hae bhi Ali ne hoeshe bhi Ali
Esaa vachan tame dil maahe dharnaa
Forsaking all delusions, brother, keep reciting the name of Ali,
‘Ali is now and Ali will [always] be’
are the words you should take to heart.
(tr. Ali Asani)
Pir Shams also guides in his composition titled Brahm Prakash, verse 2:
Sat shabd kaa karo veechaaraa
Pir Shah kaho jee vaaram vaaraa
Reflect (meditate) upon the True Word
and say Pir Shah (name of the Lord), repeat again and again.
(tr Ismaili.net)
Pir Hasan Kabirdin:
Khaadiya padiyaa letiyaa bethiyaa mede bhaaive,
hardam saami raajo sambhaariya. (v 1).
Standing or lying down, reclining or sitting,
remember the Lord at all times.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
In his composition Dur desh thi aayo vanjzaaro, he reminds of the soul’s journey from a faraway land, and says in verse 2:
Soote bethe bhaai raah chalantaa
naam Saahebji ko lijiye.
Sleeping, sitting or walking along the way,
take the name of the Lord.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Dur deshi thi aayo vanazro manuscript.
Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Pir Sadardin, in his composition Kahore pandito, guides:
Ali bolo Ali bolo munivar jan
Ali ke charan chit laavo ek man.
Remember the name of Ali again and again
concentrate and bring your heart at the feet of Ali.
Ek shabd thi bhavsaagar tariye
te japtaa aalas nav kariye.
The one Word which can take you across the ocean of life
do not be slothful in remembering it.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyid Imam Shah also states, in his composition Hetesun milo maaraa munivaro, verse 2:
Paak to Saahebji nu naam chhe,
tene jampiye saas usaas…
The name of the Imam is holy
remember it with every breathe….
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyida Imam Begum explains in verse 6 of her composition Tum chet man meraa:
Hardam zikar karnaa
surat nirat un par dharanaa
Pir Shah ka jap japnaa aath jaam lailo nihaar
Keep on remembering His name all the time
concentrate your thoughts on it
continuously repeat the name of Pir Shah day and night.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Imam Begum Ginans
Mausoleum of Imam Begum in Karachi. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.”
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
(Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom)
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
Ali Asani, “Nizari Ismaili Engagements with the Qur’an: the Khojas of South Asia” published in Communities of the Qur’an, Edited by Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders, Oneworld Academic, 2019
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/13/imam-sultan-muhammad-shah-poetry-is-the-voice-of-god-speaking-through-the-lips-of-man-2/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent in the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking peoples.
Like most Indian devotional poetry, ginans are meant to be sung. Music, therefore, is a vital characteristic of ginans to invoke specific emotional states such as on special occasions, morning prayers, evening prayers, ghatpat ceremony, or at funerals. Each ginan is distinguished by its raga, or musical mode, with the name of the composer at the end, a characteristic of North Indian poetry. Literature in the local languages were instrumental in explaining Islamic concepts and the Ismaili interpretation in a manner that would be accessible to the local culture environment.
A distinctive aspect of Ismaili thought “is the belief that the Divine or the Truth (haqiqa) can only be accessed by penetrating the esoteric (batin) dimension concealed by the physical or exoteric (zahir) realm. … In this regard, they perceive their imams to be holders of authoritative knowledge (ilm) of both the exoteric and esoteric truth found in the Qur’an, sharia and legal rulings, [mystical] knowledge, and gnosis (ma’rifa). The Imams provide authoritative instruction (ta’lim) and the esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) of divine revelation by decoding the revelatory discourse (tanzil) brought by the prophets” (Asani, Nizari Ismaili Engagements with the Qur’an p 40-42).
“The belief in a pre-eternal or gnostic wisdom in the possession of the Prophet’s family (ahl al-bayt) has been a characteristic feature of Shi’i Islam since the earliest days. The Ismaili branch of Shi’ism, in particular, was well-known for its proselytising activities (da’wa) and call to recognise the inherited knowledge (ilm) of its line of Imams” (Ibid).
“Among the da’is dispatched were several figures whose names appear in the traditional list of pirs, or chief representatives of the Imams” (Asani, Ecstatsy and Enlightenment p 45). They were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy” (Virani, “Symphony of Ginans,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 502-503).
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, to convey teachings of the Qur’an.
One of the Qur’anic injunctions is the constant remembrance of the Lord:
“And remember the Name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with [complete] devotion”⁣
(Qur’an 73:8)⁣.
“The men of intellect are those who remember Allah standing, sitting and reclining.”
(Qur’an 3:190-191)
Pirs and their descendants Sayyids, conveyed this message through their poetic compositions:
Pir Shams narrates, in his ginan Kesri sinh swaroop bhoolaayo, about a lion who was raised among goats and forgot his lionish form. Pir reminds believers to not forget life’s purpose in the delusionary world, and to constantly remember the Lord:
Bharam sab chhodi bhai Ali Ali karnaa,
Hae bhi Ali ne hoeshe bhi Ali
Esaa vachan tame dil maahe dharnaa
Forsaking all delusions, brother, keep reciting the name of Ali,
‘Ali is now and Ali will [always] be’
are the words you should take to heart.
(tr. Ali Asani)
Pir Shams also guides in his composition titled Brahm Prakash, verse 2:
Sat shabd kaa karo veechaaraa
Pir Shah kaho jee vaaram vaaraa
Reflect (meditate) upon the True Word
and say Pir Shah (name of the Lord), repeat again and again.
(tr Ismaili.net)
Pir Hasan Kabirdin:
Khaadiya padiyaa letiyaa bethiyaa mede bhaaive,
hardam saami raajo sambhaariya. (v 1).
Standing or lying down, reclining or sitting,
remember the Lord at all times.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
In his composition Dur desh thi aayo vanjzaaro, he reminds of the soul’s journey from a faraway land, and says in verse 2:
Soote bethe bhaai raah chalantaa
naam Saahebji ko lijiye.
Sleeping, sitting or walking along the way,
take the name of the Lord.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Dur deshi thi aayo vanazro manuscript.
Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Pir Sadardin, in his composition Kahore pandito, guides:
Ali bolo Ali bolo munivar jan
Ali ke charan chit laavo ek man.
Remember the name of Ali again and again
concentrate and bring your heart at the feet of Ali.
Ek shabd thi bhavsaagar tariye
te japtaa aalas nav kariye.
The one Word which can take you across the ocean of life
do not be slothful in remembering it.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyid Imam Shah also states, in his composition Hetesun milo maaraa munivaro, verse 2:
Paak to Saahebji nu naam chhe,
tene jampiye saas usaas…
The name of the Imam is holy
remember it with every breathe….
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyida Imam Begum explains in verse 6 of her composition Tum chet man meraa:
Hardam zikar karnaa
surat nirat un par dharanaa
Pir Shah ka jap japnaa aath jaam lailo nihaar
Keep on remembering His name all the time
concentrate your thoughts on it
continuously repeat the name of Pir Shah day and night.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Imam Begum Ginans
Mausoleum of Imam Begum in Karachi. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.”
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
(Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom)
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
Ali Asani, “Nizari Ismaili Engagements with the Qur’an: the Khojas of South Asia” published in Communities of the Qur’an, Edited by Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders, Oneworld Academic, 2019
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/13/imam-sultan-muhammad-shah-poetry-is-the-voice-of-god-speaking-through-the-lips-of-man-2/
The term jambu-dvipa refers to “the land of the jambu tress,” jambu being the name of the species of Jambul (Syzgium cumini of the myrtle family Myrtaceae) or Indian blackberries, dvipa meaning ‘island’ or ‘continent.’ The jambu trees were native to the Indian subcontinent as well as other areas of South Asia and Australia, although subsequently grown in other tropical climates around the world. The trees were considered sacred to Lord Krishna and therefore planted close to Hindu temples.
Can any one shed light on the above paragraph from an article "Pirs composed Ginans to teach Ismaili doctrines" by Nimira Devji.
Traditionally in Ginanic literature "JUMPU DWEPA" means Bhamar Ghufa or Heart and in physical sense Subcontinent.
Can any one shed light on the above paragraph from an article "Pirs composed Ginans to teach Ismaili doctrines" by Nimira Devji.
Traditionally in Ginanic literature "JUMPU DWEPA" means Bhamar Ghufa or Heart and in physical sense Subcontinent.
The term can mean many things depending upon the person's understanding. One of the reasons that the Ginanic tradition endures is that it can be interpreted in a manner that makes sense to the individual within his context.swamidada wrote: Can any one shed light on the above paragraph from an article "Pirs composed Ginans to teach Ismaili doctrines" by Nimira Devji.
Traditionally in Ginanic literature "JUMPU DWEPA" means Bhamar Ghufa or Heart and in physical sense Subcontinent.
According to my understanding of Anant Akhado, the term can mean the eternal home of the soul.
So in your opinion any one can understand, interpret, and explain Ginans according to his/ her capacity. Let me say, I understand Jumpu Dwepa as my soul where Hansa ji na Raja resides, am I correct?kmaherali wrote:The term can mean many things depending upon the person's understanding. One of the reasons that the Ginanic tradition endures is that it can be interpreted in a manner that makes sense to the individual within his context.swamidada wrote: Can any one shed light on the above paragraph from an article "Pirs composed Ginans to teach Ismaili doctrines" by Nimira Devji.
Traditionally in Ginanic literature "JUMPU DWEPA" means Bhamar Ghufa or Heart and in physical sense Subcontinent.
According to my understanding of Anant Akhado, the term can mean the eternal home of the soul.
In Indian homes and mundirs mostly I have seen plants of Tulsi and not Jumbu trees. I want to share some information which I googled regarding Jumbu Trees:
Myrtaceae or the myrtle family is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pohutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group.
Scientists hypothesize that the family Myrtaceae arose between sixty and fifty-six million years ago during the Paleocene era. Pollen fossils have been sourced to the ancient supercontinent Gondwana
Syzygium cumini, commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value.
Yes you are:swamidada wrote: So in your opinion any one can understand, interpret, and explain Ginans according to his/ her capacity. Let me say, I understand Jumpu Dwepa as my soul where Hansa ji na Raja resides, am I correct?
Consider the verses of Anant Akhado below
Aashaajee Peer Paygambar sarve jeev jaage
jaage te janpudeep maanhe jee
jampudeep maanhe melaann-j hoyshe
Imaam puree nagree jaanno ..............Haree anant...98
Oh Lord All souls will awaken with the Peers and Prophets
they will awaken in the Indian sub-continent
In the Indian sub-continent there will be a gathering
It will be called the town of Imam puri
Haree You are eternal...
Aashaajee Khane ajvaare sarve sen chaale
chaale te jampudeepe jee
tureeng palaanne ne daint ne maare
paanch nadee seer paase.................Haree anant..242
Oh Lord With the help from the light of the sword all the armies
will move
and will move in the Indian subcontinent(our home, soul)
He will mount the saddle of the horse and will slay the
evil power (the five evil natures within the body)
at the confluence of five rivers(five sense perceptions)
Haree You are eternal...
Aashaajee Evaa rakheesar koi koi hoyshe
ane hoyshe te veerlaa koi jee
te rakheesar gher vadhaayun hoyshe
ane pohonch-she te jampudeepe...........Haree anant..284
Oh Lord Such devoted souls will indeed be rare
and very few will be the courageous ones
The homes of such devotees will be filled with happiness
and they will reach the Indian Sub-continent (the
eternal home)
Haree You are eternal...
From the above verses Jampudeep can only mean the home of the soul.
Ginans convey teaching of Scripture of closeness of the Divine
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“And indeed We have created man
And We know what his soul whispers to him,
And We are nearer to him than [his] jugular vein” (Q 50:16).
“God said: I could not be contained in the heavens and the earth but can be contained in the heart of a true believer.”
Hadith of Prophet Muhammad
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent as early as the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people. To explain the ayat about closeness of the Divine, Pirs and their descendants, Sayyids, composed several ginans including:
In his compositions, Pir Sadardin said:
Sab ghat saami maaro bharpur bethaa,
tame gaafal dur ma dekho, ek jiyo jire bhaire (v 1).
My Lord resides in every heart,
don’t deem Him far o you mindless one, O brother! He is the only One.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sakhi maari aatam naa odhaar ke alag ma jaajore,
evo saroop mindariyo saar tiyaa tame biraajo re (v1).
O my friend! O saviour of my soul! Do not be separated from me,
come and sit in my heart which is a beautiful and exalted place.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyid Imam Shah, in his composition Hetesun milo maaraa munivaro, explained:
Paak to saheb ji nu naam chhe, tene jampiye saas usaas,
dur ma dekho dil maahe vase
jem champaa phool maahe vaas (v 4).
The Lord’s name is holy, remember it in every breath,
do not consider Him far, he dwells in the heart
just as fragrance exists in the flower champaa.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Champaa. Source; Wikipedia
Eji rome rome maaro Shah vase ane antar nahi ek til,
evo jaani ne bhagataaki kijiye, Shah partak bethaa dil (v 5).
Believers, Within every hair of my body, my Lord resides and He is not far by even a distance of one grain of sesame,
perform your worship while thinking of Him thus, the Lord is always present and seated in your heart.
(tr. Ali Asani)
Pir Imamdin, in verse 2 of his composition Aapnu aap pichhaano, instructs:
panj vaarantaa man varjine liyo
dil illala sun laavo.
Renounce selfishness by warding off the five passions (anger, greed, pride, lust, attachment to the illusionary world), fix your heart on “Except God”
[as in la ilaha illa’llah “There is no god except God”].
(tr. Ali Asani)
Sayyida Imam Begum, in her composition Hardam karo abhias, says:
damo dam maaraa saamine srevjo
saami maaro chhe tamaare paas, karine dekhoji (v 1).
Remember my Lord in every breath,
my Lord is very near to you.
Tamaaro saami tame manhe emaj bethi ji
jiyun hae phoolo maahe vaas ( v 3).
Your Lord is in you
as the fragrance is in the flower.
Ajampiyaa jaap bhaai ghat bhitaarji
sohi ghat hoeshe ujaash (v 7).
The heart in which there is silent remembrance
that heart will be enlightened.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Shams explains:
Hum dil khalakAllah sohi vase ji,
jene kaayam kudarat chalaai ebi Allah (v 1).
In our hearts, resides Allah the Creator; the same Lord Allah who establishes
and sustains the everlasting nature and creation. He is indeed the Lord.
(tr. Ismaili.net).
In his composition Saloko Moto, he teaches:
satgur kahere: dil mahe deval pujiye, ane dil maahe dev duvaar
dil maahe saayaa aape vase, ane dil maahe aape didaar.
Worship the Lord in the heart, and in the heart is the abode of the Lord.
In your heart the Lord resides, and in the heart He bestows His Vision.
(tr. Ismaili.net)
“The way to personal fulfillment, to individual reconciliation with the Universe that is about us, is comparatively easy for anyone who firmly and sincerely believes, as I do, that Divine Grace has given man in his own heart the possibilities of illumination and of union with Reality.”⁣
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, The Memoirs of Aga Khan, p 334
Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at the Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre, Aga Khan Museum and their
park. Photo: AKDN / Gary Otte
“As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Speech
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/ginans-convey-teaching-of-scripture-of-closeness-of-the-divine/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“And indeed We have created man
And We know what his soul whispers to him,
And We are nearer to him than [his] jugular vein” (Q 50:16).
“God said: I could not be contained in the heavens and the earth but can be contained in the heart of a true believer.”
Hadith of Prophet Muhammad
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent as early as the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people. To explain the ayat about closeness of the Divine, Pirs and their descendants, Sayyids, composed several ginans including:
In his compositions, Pir Sadardin said:
Sab ghat saami maaro bharpur bethaa,
tame gaafal dur ma dekho, ek jiyo jire bhaire (v 1).
My Lord resides in every heart,
don’t deem Him far o you mindless one, O brother! He is the only One.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sakhi maari aatam naa odhaar ke alag ma jaajore,
evo saroop mindariyo saar tiyaa tame biraajo re (v1).
O my friend! O saviour of my soul! Do not be separated from me,
come and sit in my heart which is a beautiful and exalted place.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Sayyid Imam Shah, in his composition Hetesun milo maaraa munivaro, explained:
Paak to saheb ji nu naam chhe, tene jampiye saas usaas,
dur ma dekho dil maahe vase
jem champaa phool maahe vaas (v 4).
The Lord’s name is holy, remember it in every breath,
do not consider Him far, he dwells in the heart
just as fragrance exists in the flower champaa.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Champaa. Source; Wikipedia
Eji rome rome maaro Shah vase ane antar nahi ek til,
evo jaani ne bhagataaki kijiye, Shah partak bethaa dil (v 5).
Believers, Within every hair of my body, my Lord resides and He is not far by even a distance of one grain of sesame,
perform your worship while thinking of Him thus, the Lord is always present and seated in your heart.
(tr. Ali Asani)
Pir Imamdin, in verse 2 of his composition Aapnu aap pichhaano, instructs:
panj vaarantaa man varjine liyo
dil illala sun laavo.
Renounce selfishness by warding off the five passions (anger, greed, pride, lust, attachment to the illusionary world), fix your heart on “Except God”
[as in la ilaha illa’llah “There is no god except God”].
(tr. Ali Asani)
Sayyida Imam Begum, in her composition Hardam karo abhias, says:
damo dam maaraa saamine srevjo
saami maaro chhe tamaare paas, karine dekhoji (v 1).
Remember my Lord in every breath,
my Lord is very near to you.
Tamaaro saami tame manhe emaj bethi ji
jiyun hae phoolo maahe vaas ( v 3).
Your Lord is in you
as the fragrance is in the flower.
Ajampiyaa jaap bhaai ghat bhitaarji
sohi ghat hoeshe ujaash (v 7).
The heart in which there is silent remembrance
that heart will be enlightened.
(tr. M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Pir Shams explains:
Hum dil khalakAllah sohi vase ji,
jene kaayam kudarat chalaai ebi Allah (v 1).
In our hearts, resides Allah the Creator; the same Lord Allah who establishes
and sustains the everlasting nature and creation. He is indeed the Lord.
(tr. Ismaili.net).
In his composition Saloko Moto, he teaches:
satgur kahere: dil mahe deval pujiye, ane dil maahe dev duvaar
dil maahe saayaa aape vase, ane dil maahe aape didaar.
Worship the Lord in the heart, and in the heart is the abode of the Lord.
In your heart the Lord resides, and in the heart He bestows His Vision.
(tr. Ismaili.net)
“The way to personal fulfillment, to individual reconciliation with the Universe that is about us, is comparatively easy for anyone who firmly and sincerely believes, as I do, that Divine Grace has given man in his own heart the possibilities of illumination and of union with Reality.”⁣
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, The Memoirs of Aga Khan, p 334
Mawlana Hazar Imam speaking at the Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre, Aga Khan Museum and their
park. Photo: AKDN / Gary Otte
“As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Speech
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis,” Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 502-521)
Ali Asani, Hymns of Wisdom, Claremont McKenna College (1:09:46)
Ali Asani, The Ginans – Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom (1:14:14)
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/ginans-convey-teaching-of-scripture-of-closeness-of-the-divine/
Ginans remind of the soul’s journey as per ayats: We Come from God to Him we return
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Verily we come from God and to God we return
(Q 2:156)
Every soul will taste of death. Then unto Us ye will be returned
(Q 29:57)
Lo! Unto thy Lord is the return (of all)
(Q 96:8)
Echoing the ayats, Pirs and Sayyids composed several ginans including:
Pir Hasan Kabirdin:
Dur desh thi aayo vanjaaro
Shah mil sodaa kijiya
O trader! You have come for faraway land,
do business jointly with the Lord.
Antkaal velaa:
Shahna didar jene bhetiyaa re
teno gadh amraapuri vaas ji (v 3).
Those who are blessed with the didar of the Lord,
their abode will be the eternal house.
Kalpat jalpat maaya emoi,
so rake jiv dozake jaae ho saami ji….. (v 1).
O my Lord! Being attached to this mirage-like and false world
my soul may go to hell. O Allah! O my beloved!….
Khadiya padiya:
Eji deshi thi pardesh aavyaa mede bhaaive
pardesh thi desh sadhaarsho (v 3).
O my brother! From your native land (original abode) you have come to a foreign land (this world),
from this foreign land, you will go to your native land.
Pir Shams explains in Unch thi aayo:
O brother! You have come from an exalted place, then why incline towards the low? You will live for only four days then why earn the falsity? What will you gain by this sin? Do not forget in the illusion of this world; be humble because you will have to die. (On the Day of Judgement) Prophet Muhammad will intercede. Fear the falsity and do not forget in the illusion of this world. Be humble because you will have to die (v 1).
Pir Sadardin, Pranido chhe maatinu (v 6):
Jirevire jiyaan thaki tame aayaa
jirevira vahelaa jaine tiyaa pahoncho,
jire amne tamne, ho virabhai ene ghare chalnaa…
O brother! From where you have come, reach there soon.
O brother! You and we all have to go to that house…
Day of Judgement and Accountability of Deed
“We shall set up scales of justice for the Day Of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least. And if there be (No more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account). And enough are We to take account” (Q 21:47).
On that day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.
And whoso doeth good an atom’s weight will see it then,
And whoso doeth ill an atom’s weight will see it then” (Q 99: 6-8).
These ayats were explained in ginans:
Pir Shams:
Suno suno momano sun man laavanaa, sune sarikhi baatiaan ji;
kiyaamat kaa dar bohot man laavanaa, aap daraao chhaatiaan ji…. (v1).
Listen O believers! Listen and keep in heart. It is worth listening to,
bring much fear in your heart for the Day of Judgement. Keep fear in your heart.
Sayyid Imam Shah:
Munivar mahaadan aavshe,
ane ved vichaarine joi… (v1).
O believers! The Day of Judgement will come,
Contemplate upon the scriptures …
Momam mahaadan aavshe ane
Saheb leshe hisaab,
iyaanaa kidhaa kartap puchhshe
tyaare tolshe pun ne paap (v 1).
O believers! The Day of Judgement will come;
the Lord will take account.
He will ask about the deeds done here,
He will weigh virtue and sin.
Sayyida Imam Begum, in verse 4 of Saiyaji more dar laago:
Ek din Saaheb sab kun bulaave
to lekhaa leshe til til ko.
One day the Lord will call everyone and
will take account of every small act.
(All translations: M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Ginans convey teaching of Scripture of closeness of the Divine
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/ginans-remind-of-the-souls-journey-as-per-ayats-we-come-from-god-to-him-we-return/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Verily we come from God and to God we return
(Q 2:156)
Every soul will taste of death. Then unto Us ye will be returned
(Q 29:57)
Lo! Unto thy Lord is the return (of all)
(Q 96:8)
Echoing the ayats, Pirs and Sayyids composed several ginans including:
Pir Hasan Kabirdin:
Dur desh thi aayo vanjaaro
Shah mil sodaa kijiya
O trader! You have come for faraway land,
do business jointly with the Lord.
Antkaal velaa:
Shahna didar jene bhetiyaa re
teno gadh amraapuri vaas ji (v 3).
Those who are blessed with the didar of the Lord,
their abode will be the eternal house.
Kalpat jalpat maaya emoi,
so rake jiv dozake jaae ho saami ji….. (v 1).
O my Lord! Being attached to this mirage-like and false world
my soul may go to hell. O Allah! O my beloved!….
Khadiya padiya:
Eji deshi thi pardesh aavyaa mede bhaaive
pardesh thi desh sadhaarsho (v 3).
O my brother! From your native land (original abode) you have come to a foreign land (this world),
from this foreign land, you will go to your native land.
Pir Shams explains in Unch thi aayo:
O brother! You have come from an exalted place, then why incline towards the low? You will live for only four days then why earn the falsity? What will you gain by this sin? Do not forget in the illusion of this world; be humble because you will have to die. (On the Day of Judgement) Prophet Muhammad will intercede. Fear the falsity and do not forget in the illusion of this world. Be humble because you will have to die (v 1).
Pir Sadardin, Pranido chhe maatinu (v 6):
Jirevire jiyaan thaki tame aayaa
jirevira vahelaa jaine tiyaa pahoncho,
jire amne tamne, ho virabhai ene ghare chalnaa…
O brother! From where you have come, reach there soon.
O brother! You and we all have to go to that house…
Day of Judgement and Accountability of Deed
“We shall set up scales of justice for the Day Of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least. And if there be (No more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account). And enough are We to take account” (Q 21:47).
On that day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.
And whoso doeth good an atom’s weight will see it then,
And whoso doeth ill an atom’s weight will see it then” (Q 99: 6-8).
These ayats were explained in ginans:
Pir Shams:
Suno suno momano sun man laavanaa, sune sarikhi baatiaan ji;
kiyaamat kaa dar bohot man laavanaa, aap daraao chhaatiaan ji…. (v1).
Listen O believers! Listen and keep in heart. It is worth listening to,
bring much fear in your heart for the Day of Judgement. Keep fear in your heart.
Sayyid Imam Shah:
Munivar mahaadan aavshe,
ane ved vichaarine joi… (v1).
O believers! The Day of Judgement will come,
Contemplate upon the scriptures …
Momam mahaadan aavshe ane
Saheb leshe hisaab,
iyaanaa kidhaa kartap puchhshe
tyaare tolshe pun ne paap (v 1).
O believers! The Day of Judgement will come;
the Lord will take account.
He will ask about the deeds done here,
He will weigh virtue and sin.
Sayyida Imam Begum, in verse 4 of Saiyaji more dar laago:
Ek din Saaheb sab kun bulaave
to lekhaa leshe til til ko.
One day the Lord will call everyone and
will take account of every small act.
(All translations: M & Z Kamaluddin, Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan)
Also see
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Ginans convey teaching of Scripture of closeness of the Divine
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/ginans-remind-of-the-souls-journey-as-per-ayats-we-come-from-god-to-him-we-return/
Ginans help to comprehend mystery of the True Guide
Posted by Nimira Dewji
O brother! Remain in the company of the true master (murshid kamil) so that ignorance is removed,
then you will see the reality of the heart, leave all illusions and say “Ali Ali.”
Pir Shams (Kesri sinha v 4)
The word ginan and its variants, gyan and gnan are derived from the Sanskrit jnana, which Seyyed Hossein Nasr has tellingly translated as ‘supreme knowledge.’ Nasr further notes that the ‘term jnana implies principal knowledge which leads to deliverance and is related etymologically to gnosis… Wladimir Ivanow, generally considered as the father of modern Ismaili studies, comments…. ‘It is used in the sense of the knowledge, i.e. the real and true, as the Arabic Ismaili term haqa’iq.” Hence, the term ‘ginan’ refers to the poetic compositions as well as to gnosis.
“According to Ismaili texts, the prefatory overture of this ‘symphony’ commenced at a time before the dawn of creation, A fifteenth-century work tells us that in the abysmal darkness of pre-eternity (dhandhukar), when the misty stars that compose the galaxies had not yet formed, the Incomprehensible One was rapt in profound contemplation. Before the curtains of the cosmos, he revealed his eternal gnosis (amar ginan) to the True Guide. A celestial concert thus unfolded in which the True Guide became the conductor of a Symphony of Gnosis and commenced his convocation to the Path of Truth (satpanth), summoning all souls to salvation through ginan (Sat Veni Nani v 3).
The belief in a pre-eternal esoteric or gnostic wisdom in the possession of the Prophet’s family (ah al-bayt) has been a characteristic feature of Shi’i Islam since its earliest days. The Ismaili branch of Shi’ism in particular was well known for its proselytizing activities (da’wa) and call to recognize the inherited knowledge (ilm) of its line of Imams.”
Since at least the time of the Fatimid empire, as well as during the Alamut and post-Alamut times, Imams sent da’is, or pirs, to the Indian subcontinent to propagate Satpanth, the Path of Truth. These pirs, who were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy, “sought to summon humankind to a recognition of the spiritual supremacy of the Prophet’s family.” These pirs and their descendants composed ginans “that deal with a wide array of subjects, including divine love, cosmology, meditation, ritual practice, eschatology, and ethical behaviour.”
As the traditional symphony is often divided into four movements so is the study of the Symphony of Ginans composed into four sections (p 504).
Sonata: Emergence from the Womb
O dear creature, at the time when you dwelt in the womb,
You were imbued with gnosis…
(Hojire parani jare tume girabha than vasanto v.1)
In the womb “the soul is endowed with supreme knowledge, with ginan. While in this state of gnosis, a momentous event takes place in the life of the unborn soul. It is approached by the Lord of the Resurrection, who asks it to proffer its sacred vow (kol, Ar. qual; Sk. vachan). The covenant is then consecrated forever binding the gnostic-soul with its Lord.”
(Juthire duniya tame kani bhulo v 2)
This encounter derives inspiration from the Qur’an, 7:172, “where the Almighty summons the hitherto uncreated descendants of Adam into his presence and asks, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ (alastu bi rabbikum). The unborn souls seal the convenant by replying in the affirmative, ‘Yes, we witness it (bala shahidna). The Islamic revelation draws attention to the holy pact lest the children of Adam ‘should say on the Day of Resurrection “Lo! We were unaware of this” (Satane marage chalie v 6).
But, the ginans tell us, despite being thus bound, upon entering this bewitching world, the soul is deluded into forgetting its primordial covenant and the gnosis with which it was entrusted (Sat Veni Moti v 20).
Thus deluded, ginan having been driven away, the soul loses consciousness of its lofty status. Like a mighty lion whose lifelong association with a herd of goats has made it forget its own nature, association with the physical world makes the soul fall into a state of ignorance and egoism because of which the divine Beloved is lost (Kesre sinh sarup bhulayo v 1-3).
Repeatedly the ginans prevail upon the believers not to forsake the ancient promise given while in the womb (dharam murat paella gur bharama pichhano v 8-9; Sum nahi tum jag savera v 2).
Pir Taj al-din bewails the soul’s failure to fulfill this promise and its even more dismal refusal to heed the ginans, which would make it remember the gnosis with which it was once entrusted:
Speak not to those who waver in the promise they give to the Guide
if they rejoice not in the ginans, fulfill not their covenant with the Guide,
What is the point of their existence?
Though we have composed in the diapason of sounds and musical modes,
The deaf will not listen
(Dehi gurake vacha thir na rehnam v. 1-3).
When the lotus of the heart does not produce gnosis, the soul is cast into chaos and the faith of the believers spins like a potter’s wheel (Sachi jano ne pir pichhano v 3).
However, within the deepest recesses of the soul resides the Great Gnostic (bada ginani), a reflection of the Guide from whom a divine and enchanting melody resonates within the heart, yet whose lofty status remains unknown to the heedless (Atama ram tame bada ginani v1).
If the soul hears the call of the Great Gnostic, it experiences a nostalgia and longs for the ginan that it once possessed while in the womb. However, having emerged from its former abode, it can only re-acquaint with that gnosis by submitting itself the True Guide, without whom the treacherous ocean of ignorance can never be crossed (Hojire parani jare tum girabha than vasanto).
The alluring pleasure of physical existence attract human beings, just as the delicacies placed in a nearby net by a hunter attracts unsuspecting birds. Despite the soul’s birthright of gnosis, it disregards its higher knowledge because it becomes fascinated by the gathering of souls that have already been caught. Ginan is forgotten as the soul ceases to fly and alights in the middle of the trap.
In order to escape from this ensnarement, the soul must fulfill its covenant with the True Guide. Its master is the Lord of the Resurrection, not the dictates of its passions. If the soul wishes to … escape from its cage and to be released from its illusions, it must receive the True Guide’s ginan.
Andante: The True Guide
Offer everything – body, self and possessions – to the Guide
So that by gnosis and through gnosis there will remain nothing but gnosis (Ae rahem raheman ab to rahem karoge ).
Absolute and utter submission to the Perfect Guide (murshid kamil), according to the ginans, is the only recourse for the soul plunged in ignorance and darkness:
Remain in the company of the true master so that the ignorance is removed. Then you will see the reality of the heart. Leave all illusions and say “Ali Ali” (Kesarisinh sarup bhulayo v 4).
Gnosis is unobtainable without him (Sacho dhiavo ne ginan vicharo v 1).
In a captivating text cast as a colloquy between the great Ismaili sage, Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, and the renowned yogic master, Kanipa, the Pir chastises Kanipa for failing to recognise the Ismaili Imam as the Guide of the Age. Kanipa is taught to seek out the Imam, described as the Man of Gnosis (ginan purush), and is told:
O ascetic, when you encounter the Guide
He shall reveal to you mysteries.
All your misgivings will be dispelled.
Certainly, a lotus cannot flourish without water…
(Abadhu man jite man ichha fal upaje v 7; Pir Hasan Kabirdin ne Kanipano Samvad).
The splendid lotus flower (kamal), with its delicate white pearls, blooms in the vile and putrid swamps. Despite its sordid habitat, it is the epiphany of purity and unsullied beauty, majestically rising above the murky quagmire. It refuses to feed on the repulsive bog and instead awaits the nourishment of crystal-clear rain from the heavens. The gnostic’s circumstances are similar.
Source: Flower Glossary
He lives in the world but is not of the world. Uninterested in the mundane temptations of his environs, he remains undefiled by the surroundings. Rather, he longs for the life-giving water of ginan (ginan jal) which the True Guide brings from the heavens. As the lotus would rather die than drink from its fetid swamp, the pure soul cannot survive without the water of gnosis from the True Guide. Without this precious source of nourishment, the lotus-soul would wither and ultimately die.
The mission of the Guide is thus to bring back to the Path by means of the ginans those who have forgotten (Saheb kero bhed na bujere koee v 5).
If, despite holding the lamp of ginan, the intrigues of the capricious self cause the believer to tumble into a dark well, what can the Guide do about it? (Vaek Moto v 52).
Thus, absolute and unconditional love for the Lord must conquer the self. Only this can render it submissive and amenable to receive gnosis.
Love the Beloved in such a way
That divine gnosis arises from within.
Slay the self and make your prayer carpet.
Brother, remain steadfast in contemplation.
(Pir vina par na pamie v 12; Shri Islamshah amane maliya v 3).
And again in the ginan ‘Awake! For the True Guide has arrived,’ in a verse that displays an ingenious play on words:
The Guide says:
Slay the self (man ne maro) that you may meet me
I shall hold you close.
For indeed, a precious diamond has come into your grasp.
Behold it, O chivalrous one – contemplate this ginan.
(Satgur padharea tame jagajo v 4)
However, contact with the Guide does not ensure the absorption of ginan. Unless the self has first been subdued, the believer is no better than the neighbouring bamboo trees which are next to the sandalwood tree but not affected in the least by it scent (Aj te amar avea v 2).
True ginan is unobtainable without the Guide. …Hence, Sayyid Qutb al-Din advises his disciples that though water-like teachings may abound, only that which is unfiltered, given by the True Guide, is fit for consumption. If it is not uttered by the Guide, how can it be considered ginan? Just as the sandalwood does not grow in every forest nor does a lotus flower bloom in every pond, the flawless wisdom of the Ismaili teachers are not available from any ordinary guide (Tadhum tadhum mithadum bolie v 1).
Here we come to the crucial question: who is this ‘True Guide’ who has the authority to dispense ginan? The texts themselves are very explicit on this point – nobody but the Shah (Imam) and the Pir (his supreme representative) have the authority to instruct the believers.
Scherzo: A Meaning that is Hidden, A Life that is Eternal
The ginans are insistent in their emphasis that the apparent words of their compositions contain depths of meaning hidden from unperceiving readers. Without attempting to understand this esoteric meaning, they will gain nothing. Part of the reason for the expulsion of Azazil (Satan) from Paradise when he refused to bow before Adam was because of his failure to perceive the essence of what he had studied. As one ginan tells us, despite acquiring the knowledge equivalent to having read 360 million books, he did not fathom the inner meaning (Allah ek kasam sabhuka v 6). Being unable to comprehend the mystery of the True Guide, he was banished into impenetrable darkness (god andhar) (Het gurnarasunm kijiye).
The Vaek Moto laments that:
All call themselves believers,
Every one of them hears the ginans,
But though the Guide has explained each and every letter,
They have not come to their senses (v 8-9).
This tremendous emphasis on plunging to the depths of inner meaning and not being satisfied simply with the superficial spans all periods and encompasses all geographical areas of Ismaili presence. Hence, the early Muslim heresiographers dubbed the Ismailis batiniyya, the Esotericists or ‘people of inner meaning.’ The Qur’an and other sacred texts are attributed with profound and enthralling worlds of understanding beyond their literal forms. … Only by probing beyond the zahir, the exoteric, into the batin, the esoteric, can the believers enter into a spiritual realm of all-encompassing supreme knowledge.
Within the ginan is to be found knowledge of everything,
Search, search and you will find it (Hum dil khalak Allah sohi vase v 10; Sarve jivumna jare lekham v 14).
He who does not open ‘their eyes of gnosis’ and remains oblivious to the hidden meaning of the ginans is compared to a stone. Though a stone may be placed in the ocean for a year, not a drop of water will be absorbed. Similarly, a fool may listen to the ginans constantly, but if he fails to understand them and they do not penetrate his heart, he is no better than a stone (Satant marage chalie v 26-28). However, in the case of a true believer, gnosis enters and permeates his heart, ‘as water is absorbed by the earth.’ (Vaek Moto v 26-28)….
For indeed, within the heart lie immeasurable riches, but only the key of ginan can unlock it (Mana mana mana mamhe rahena v 3).
Gnosis is essential for the mystic word to have its effect. This is emphasised in the Jog Vani of Sayyid Imam Shah:
A true jogi is he who knows the method of meditation,
Who applies gnosis to the Word.
When gnosis is achieved
The orbit blazes forth with brilliant light,
So remain focused on your absorption in the Word (Ad unade ahunkar upanan v 2).
This brilliance of the light must be achieved through the practice ordained by the True Guide (jugat, Sk. yukti). …The Guide’s lamp radiates ginan without which there is nothing but unfathomable darkness (Sarve jivumna jare lekha v 167) …. By treading the path with this lamp in hand, the believers will attain the beatific vision of the Lord (Man Samajani). However, the ginans do not claim to shed just any ordinary type of light, they claim to be Divine Light (nur) itself, as in the ecstatic verse of Pir Sadr al-Din:
Perpetually recite the ginans, for they are filled with Divine Light,
Your heart will be unable to contain such rapturous joy.
(Ginan bolo re nit nur bharia v 1)
But as the Almighty Lord is the Light of the heavens and the earth (nur al-samawat wa’l-ard, Qur’an 24:35), the ginans are the repositories of this Light (Sacha sahiamku nisadhin sirevo v 7).
Once the ginans completely penetrate the soul, they have the power to transform it…. The transforming power of ginan is no less than that of the legendary philosopher’s stone that transmutes base metal into gold: ‘How can there be drakness where the Guide has given the philosopher’s stone to the believers? If you are my saints, you will contemplate these ginans (Kaljug aviyo utavlo v 9) …. Indeed contemplating the ginans with full concentration liberates human souls (Navrojno din sohamna v 5; Sachaare sahiamku nisadhin v 5).
Finale: Consummation of the Symphony of Gnosis
Ginan is essential for the spiritual search. When it is applied to the mystical Word the lamp within the orbit of gnosis blazes forth with a brilliant light. But the light within the ginans is no ordinary light, it is Divine Light. The Beloved himself dwells in the ginans….the ginans enable one to comprehend the One who is beyond all comprehension…
Once their inner meaning is understood, the True Guide establishes his seat in the heart’s abode. Though the curtains are drawn on the concert and only silence remains, the whispering strains of celestial music continue to be heard and the eternal Symphony of Gnosis plays on…
Excerpts from:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Ginans: A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Tradition,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 503-521)
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/ginans-help-to-comprehend-mystery-of-the-true-guide/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
O brother! Remain in the company of the true master (murshid kamil) so that ignorance is removed,
then you will see the reality of the heart, leave all illusions and say “Ali Ali.”
Pir Shams (Kesri sinha v 4)
The word ginan and its variants, gyan and gnan are derived from the Sanskrit jnana, which Seyyed Hossein Nasr has tellingly translated as ‘supreme knowledge.’ Nasr further notes that the ‘term jnana implies principal knowledge which leads to deliverance and is related etymologically to gnosis… Wladimir Ivanow, generally considered as the father of modern Ismaili studies, comments…. ‘It is used in the sense of the knowledge, i.e. the real and true, as the Arabic Ismaili term haqa’iq.” Hence, the term ‘ginan’ refers to the poetic compositions as well as to gnosis.
“According to Ismaili texts, the prefatory overture of this ‘symphony’ commenced at a time before the dawn of creation, A fifteenth-century work tells us that in the abysmal darkness of pre-eternity (dhandhukar), when the misty stars that compose the galaxies had not yet formed, the Incomprehensible One was rapt in profound contemplation. Before the curtains of the cosmos, he revealed his eternal gnosis (amar ginan) to the True Guide. A celestial concert thus unfolded in which the True Guide became the conductor of a Symphony of Gnosis and commenced his convocation to the Path of Truth (satpanth), summoning all souls to salvation through ginan (Sat Veni Nani v 3).
The belief in a pre-eternal esoteric or gnostic wisdom in the possession of the Prophet’s family (ah al-bayt) has been a characteristic feature of Shi’i Islam since its earliest days. The Ismaili branch of Shi’ism in particular was well known for its proselytizing activities (da’wa) and call to recognize the inherited knowledge (ilm) of its line of Imams.”
Since at least the time of the Fatimid empire, as well as during the Alamut and post-Alamut times, Imams sent da’is, or pirs, to the Indian subcontinent to propagate Satpanth, the Path of Truth. These pirs, who were second only to the Imam himself in the Ismaili hierarchy, “sought to summon humankind to a recognition of the spiritual supremacy of the Prophet’s family.” These pirs and their descendants composed ginans “that deal with a wide array of subjects, including divine love, cosmology, meditation, ritual practice, eschatology, and ethical behaviour.”
As the traditional symphony is often divided into four movements so is the study of the Symphony of Ginans composed into four sections (p 504).
Sonata: Emergence from the Womb
O dear creature, at the time when you dwelt in the womb,
You were imbued with gnosis…
(Hojire parani jare tume girabha than vasanto v.1)
In the womb “the soul is endowed with supreme knowledge, with ginan. While in this state of gnosis, a momentous event takes place in the life of the unborn soul. It is approached by the Lord of the Resurrection, who asks it to proffer its sacred vow (kol, Ar. qual; Sk. vachan). The covenant is then consecrated forever binding the gnostic-soul with its Lord.”
(Juthire duniya tame kani bhulo v 2)
This encounter derives inspiration from the Qur’an, 7:172, “where the Almighty summons the hitherto uncreated descendants of Adam into his presence and asks, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ (alastu bi rabbikum). The unborn souls seal the convenant by replying in the affirmative, ‘Yes, we witness it (bala shahidna). The Islamic revelation draws attention to the holy pact lest the children of Adam ‘should say on the Day of Resurrection “Lo! We were unaware of this” (Satane marage chalie v 6).
But, the ginans tell us, despite being thus bound, upon entering this bewitching world, the soul is deluded into forgetting its primordial covenant and the gnosis with which it was entrusted (Sat Veni Moti v 20).
Thus deluded, ginan having been driven away, the soul loses consciousness of its lofty status. Like a mighty lion whose lifelong association with a herd of goats has made it forget its own nature, association with the physical world makes the soul fall into a state of ignorance and egoism because of which the divine Beloved is lost (Kesre sinh sarup bhulayo v 1-3).
Repeatedly the ginans prevail upon the believers not to forsake the ancient promise given while in the womb (dharam murat paella gur bharama pichhano v 8-9; Sum nahi tum jag savera v 2).
Pir Taj al-din bewails the soul’s failure to fulfill this promise and its even more dismal refusal to heed the ginans, which would make it remember the gnosis with which it was once entrusted:
Speak not to those who waver in the promise they give to the Guide
if they rejoice not in the ginans, fulfill not their covenant with the Guide,
What is the point of their existence?
Though we have composed in the diapason of sounds and musical modes,
The deaf will not listen
(Dehi gurake vacha thir na rehnam v. 1-3).
When the lotus of the heart does not produce gnosis, the soul is cast into chaos and the faith of the believers spins like a potter’s wheel (Sachi jano ne pir pichhano v 3).
However, within the deepest recesses of the soul resides the Great Gnostic (bada ginani), a reflection of the Guide from whom a divine and enchanting melody resonates within the heart, yet whose lofty status remains unknown to the heedless (Atama ram tame bada ginani v1).
If the soul hears the call of the Great Gnostic, it experiences a nostalgia and longs for the ginan that it once possessed while in the womb. However, having emerged from its former abode, it can only re-acquaint with that gnosis by submitting itself the True Guide, without whom the treacherous ocean of ignorance can never be crossed (Hojire parani jare tum girabha than vasanto).
The alluring pleasure of physical existence attract human beings, just as the delicacies placed in a nearby net by a hunter attracts unsuspecting birds. Despite the soul’s birthright of gnosis, it disregards its higher knowledge because it becomes fascinated by the gathering of souls that have already been caught. Ginan is forgotten as the soul ceases to fly and alights in the middle of the trap.
In order to escape from this ensnarement, the soul must fulfill its covenant with the True Guide. Its master is the Lord of the Resurrection, not the dictates of its passions. If the soul wishes to … escape from its cage and to be released from its illusions, it must receive the True Guide’s ginan.
Andante: The True Guide
Offer everything – body, self and possessions – to the Guide
So that by gnosis and through gnosis there will remain nothing but gnosis (Ae rahem raheman ab to rahem karoge ).
Absolute and utter submission to the Perfect Guide (murshid kamil), according to the ginans, is the only recourse for the soul plunged in ignorance and darkness:
Remain in the company of the true master so that the ignorance is removed. Then you will see the reality of the heart. Leave all illusions and say “Ali Ali” (Kesarisinh sarup bhulayo v 4).
Gnosis is unobtainable without him (Sacho dhiavo ne ginan vicharo v 1).
In a captivating text cast as a colloquy between the great Ismaili sage, Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, and the renowned yogic master, Kanipa, the Pir chastises Kanipa for failing to recognise the Ismaili Imam as the Guide of the Age. Kanipa is taught to seek out the Imam, described as the Man of Gnosis (ginan purush), and is told:
O ascetic, when you encounter the Guide
He shall reveal to you mysteries.
All your misgivings will be dispelled.
Certainly, a lotus cannot flourish without water…
(Abadhu man jite man ichha fal upaje v 7; Pir Hasan Kabirdin ne Kanipano Samvad).
The splendid lotus flower (kamal), with its delicate white pearls, blooms in the vile and putrid swamps. Despite its sordid habitat, it is the epiphany of purity and unsullied beauty, majestically rising above the murky quagmire. It refuses to feed on the repulsive bog and instead awaits the nourishment of crystal-clear rain from the heavens. The gnostic’s circumstances are similar.
Source: Flower Glossary
He lives in the world but is not of the world. Uninterested in the mundane temptations of his environs, he remains undefiled by the surroundings. Rather, he longs for the life-giving water of ginan (ginan jal) which the True Guide brings from the heavens. As the lotus would rather die than drink from its fetid swamp, the pure soul cannot survive without the water of gnosis from the True Guide. Without this precious source of nourishment, the lotus-soul would wither and ultimately die.
The mission of the Guide is thus to bring back to the Path by means of the ginans those who have forgotten (Saheb kero bhed na bujere koee v 5).
If, despite holding the lamp of ginan, the intrigues of the capricious self cause the believer to tumble into a dark well, what can the Guide do about it? (Vaek Moto v 52).
Thus, absolute and unconditional love for the Lord must conquer the self. Only this can render it submissive and amenable to receive gnosis.
Love the Beloved in such a way
That divine gnosis arises from within.
Slay the self and make your prayer carpet.
Brother, remain steadfast in contemplation.
(Pir vina par na pamie v 12; Shri Islamshah amane maliya v 3).
And again in the ginan ‘Awake! For the True Guide has arrived,’ in a verse that displays an ingenious play on words:
The Guide says:
Slay the self (man ne maro) that you may meet me
I shall hold you close.
For indeed, a precious diamond has come into your grasp.
Behold it, O chivalrous one – contemplate this ginan.
(Satgur padharea tame jagajo v 4)
However, contact with the Guide does not ensure the absorption of ginan. Unless the self has first been subdued, the believer is no better than the neighbouring bamboo trees which are next to the sandalwood tree but not affected in the least by it scent (Aj te amar avea v 2).
True ginan is unobtainable without the Guide. …Hence, Sayyid Qutb al-Din advises his disciples that though water-like teachings may abound, only that which is unfiltered, given by the True Guide, is fit for consumption. If it is not uttered by the Guide, how can it be considered ginan? Just as the sandalwood does not grow in every forest nor does a lotus flower bloom in every pond, the flawless wisdom of the Ismaili teachers are not available from any ordinary guide (Tadhum tadhum mithadum bolie v 1).
Here we come to the crucial question: who is this ‘True Guide’ who has the authority to dispense ginan? The texts themselves are very explicit on this point – nobody but the Shah (Imam) and the Pir (his supreme representative) have the authority to instruct the believers.
Scherzo: A Meaning that is Hidden, A Life that is Eternal
The ginans are insistent in their emphasis that the apparent words of their compositions contain depths of meaning hidden from unperceiving readers. Without attempting to understand this esoteric meaning, they will gain nothing. Part of the reason for the expulsion of Azazil (Satan) from Paradise when he refused to bow before Adam was because of his failure to perceive the essence of what he had studied. As one ginan tells us, despite acquiring the knowledge equivalent to having read 360 million books, he did not fathom the inner meaning (Allah ek kasam sabhuka v 6). Being unable to comprehend the mystery of the True Guide, he was banished into impenetrable darkness (god andhar) (Het gurnarasunm kijiye).
The Vaek Moto laments that:
All call themselves believers,
Every one of them hears the ginans,
But though the Guide has explained each and every letter,
They have not come to their senses (v 8-9).
This tremendous emphasis on plunging to the depths of inner meaning and not being satisfied simply with the superficial spans all periods and encompasses all geographical areas of Ismaili presence. Hence, the early Muslim heresiographers dubbed the Ismailis batiniyya, the Esotericists or ‘people of inner meaning.’ The Qur’an and other sacred texts are attributed with profound and enthralling worlds of understanding beyond their literal forms. … Only by probing beyond the zahir, the exoteric, into the batin, the esoteric, can the believers enter into a spiritual realm of all-encompassing supreme knowledge.
Within the ginan is to be found knowledge of everything,
Search, search and you will find it (Hum dil khalak Allah sohi vase v 10; Sarve jivumna jare lekham v 14).
He who does not open ‘their eyes of gnosis’ and remains oblivious to the hidden meaning of the ginans is compared to a stone. Though a stone may be placed in the ocean for a year, not a drop of water will be absorbed. Similarly, a fool may listen to the ginans constantly, but if he fails to understand them and they do not penetrate his heart, he is no better than a stone (Satant marage chalie v 26-28). However, in the case of a true believer, gnosis enters and permeates his heart, ‘as water is absorbed by the earth.’ (Vaek Moto v 26-28)….
For indeed, within the heart lie immeasurable riches, but only the key of ginan can unlock it (Mana mana mana mamhe rahena v 3).
Gnosis is essential for the mystic word to have its effect. This is emphasised in the Jog Vani of Sayyid Imam Shah:
A true jogi is he who knows the method of meditation,
Who applies gnosis to the Word.
When gnosis is achieved
The orbit blazes forth with brilliant light,
So remain focused on your absorption in the Word (Ad unade ahunkar upanan v 2).
This brilliance of the light must be achieved through the practice ordained by the True Guide (jugat, Sk. yukti). …The Guide’s lamp radiates ginan without which there is nothing but unfathomable darkness (Sarve jivumna jare lekha v 167) …. By treading the path with this lamp in hand, the believers will attain the beatific vision of the Lord (Man Samajani). However, the ginans do not claim to shed just any ordinary type of light, they claim to be Divine Light (nur) itself, as in the ecstatic verse of Pir Sadr al-Din:
Perpetually recite the ginans, for they are filled with Divine Light,
Your heart will be unable to contain such rapturous joy.
(Ginan bolo re nit nur bharia v 1)
But as the Almighty Lord is the Light of the heavens and the earth (nur al-samawat wa’l-ard, Qur’an 24:35), the ginans are the repositories of this Light (Sacha sahiamku nisadhin sirevo v 7).
Once the ginans completely penetrate the soul, they have the power to transform it…. The transforming power of ginan is no less than that of the legendary philosopher’s stone that transmutes base metal into gold: ‘How can there be drakness where the Guide has given the philosopher’s stone to the believers? If you are my saints, you will contemplate these ginans (Kaljug aviyo utavlo v 9) …. Indeed contemplating the ginans with full concentration liberates human souls (Navrojno din sohamna v 5; Sachaare sahiamku nisadhin v 5).
Finale: Consummation of the Symphony of Gnosis
Ginan is essential for the spiritual search. When it is applied to the mystical Word the lamp within the orbit of gnosis blazes forth with a brilliant light. But the light within the ginans is no ordinary light, it is Divine Light. The Beloved himself dwells in the ginans….the ginans enable one to comprehend the One who is beyond all comprehension…
Once their inner meaning is understood, the True Guide establishes his seat in the heart’s abode. Though the curtains are drawn on the concert and only silence remains, the whispering strains of celestial music continue to be heard and the eternal Symphony of Gnosis plays on…
Excerpts from:
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Ginans: A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Tradition,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Edited by Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2005 (p 503-521)
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/ginans-help-to-comprehend-mystery-of-the-true-guide/
Pir Hasan Kabirdin’s ginan “Aash tamari shri ho” is a plea for knowledge of good and evil
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Whatever of good befalleth thee (O man) it is from Allah, and whatever of ill befalleth thee it is from thyself…. (Qur’an 4:79)
Whatever of misfortune striketh you, it is what your right hands have earned. And He forgiveth much (Qur’an 42:30)
These ayats are echoed in Pir Hasan Kabirdin’s composition Aash tamari shri ho:
Aash tamari shri ho kaaem saami,
Saaheb chinta kijiye ya Shah
Sab gatie Shah ke khadere umaayo
Shah raaj rikhisar ghar dejo ………1
O Qaim Lord! In you alone we have hopes.
O Lord! Think of us.
All the jamat stood in the presence of the Lord and entreated:
O Lord! Grant kingdom to the houses of believers.
Eji karun sreva tamari shri ho kaaem saami
To mune sarve budh aave ya Shah
Sohi vachan maaraa mukhmaahe thi kaadho Shah
Jo Saheb tuj bhaave …….4
O Qaim Lord! I serve you
Whereby I obtain all understanding. O Lord!
Make me utter from my mouth
Only those words which please you.
(Tr. M & Z Kamaluddin)
Bhali bataavo ya Shah, buri tajaavo,
Hardoi haath tamare ya Shah,
Tere tarfko karam hamesha
Paap dosh hamera …….. 5
Show me the Good, my Lord,
And make me quit the Bad
For both are in your hands.
From you there’s always Grace,
Mine are sin and error.
(Tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p74).
“There is absoluteness about this utterance: absolute simplicity, absolute concentration, absolute sincerity. The words are straight from the spiritual core of life. They must surely count among that class of religious lyrics, in the collective heritage of mankind, which moves us because they speak from and to the soul, bypassing all psychological and intellectual digressions.
‘Show me Good! Make me quit the Bad!’ This is not ‘ethics,’ nor ‘morality.’ It is the core from which all ethics and morality flow. In comparison to this cry for knowledge of good and evil, all ethical discourse seems feeble and derivative. Only a mind in tune with the essentials, one which is ‘naïve’ in the best sense of the word, unencumbered by emotional or intellectual ‘sophistication,’ can find its way so quickly and so directly to the core of humanity’s spiritual neediness.
There is no perceived need here to define the ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad,’ no need to interpret; no need to qualify, explain, elucidate. There is merely the cry, the call, the prayer, to show, to reveal…. This cry, this form of speech, rests on the gift of a relationship, a bond between man and his God. If these words speak of a need, the need for the ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad’ to be shown, they are not the words of a soul enclosed on solitude, but a soul confidently linked in a relationship with the soul of the universe. ‘Show me’ implies something which is wanting. But the ability to say ‘show me’ implies the prior presence of a secure relationship. It is the ‘givenness’ of this bond between the soul and its Maker, which enables a plea for knowledge of good and evil, a knowledge which gives to human life its final meaning, to be uttered in such minimal terms, and in such a direct voice.
And this voice is a collective one, where the burden of individuality is, however momentarily, put aside. The entire congregation becomes a single subject, giving voice, in the moment of collective utterance, to the soul’s cry for knowledge and deliverance. ..It is a voice which in its time came from the inner depths of a people who were inspired by men with the gift of the spirit.”
Excerpts from A Scent of Sandalwood by Aziz Esmail, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002 p 74-76
Mausoleum of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din in Uchch, Pakistan. Source: Ismailimail
Further reading:
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Pirs and Sayyids composed ginans within the framework of the society of the time
Satpanthi Ismaili tradition interacted with local cultures and folk traditions
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/pir-hasan-kabirdins-ginan-aash-tamari-shri-ho-is-a-plea-for-knowledge-of-good-an-evil/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Whatever of good befalleth thee (O man) it is from Allah, and whatever of ill befalleth thee it is from thyself…. (Qur’an 4:79)
Whatever of misfortune striketh you, it is what your right hands have earned. And He forgiveth much (Qur’an 42:30)
These ayats are echoed in Pir Hasan Kabirdin’s composition Aash tamari shri ho:
Aash tamari shri ho kaaem saami,
Saaheb chinta kijiye ya Shah
Sab gatie Shah ke khadere umaayo
Shah raaj rikhisar ghar dejo ………1
O Qaim Lord! In you alone we have hopes.
O Lord! Think of us.
All the jamat stood in the presence of the Lord and entreated:
O Lord! Grant kingdom to the houses of believers.
Eji karun sreva tamari shri ho kaaem saami
To mune sarve budh aave ya Shah
Sohi vachan maaraa mukhmaahe thi kaadho Shah
Jo Saheb tuj bhaave …….4
O Qaim Lord! I serve you
Whereby I obtain all understanding. O Lord!
Make me utter from my mouth
Only those words which please you.
(Tr. M & Z Kamaluddin)
Bhali bataavo ya Shah, buri tajaavo,
Hardoi haath tamare ya Shah,
Tere tarfko karam hamesha
Paap dosh hamera …….. 5
Show me the Good, my Lord,
And make me quit the Bad
For both are in your hands.
From you there’s always Grace,
Mine are sin and error.
(Tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p74).
“There is absoluteness about this utterance: absolute simplicity, absolute concentration, absolute sincerity. The words are straight from the spiritual core of life. They must surely count among that class of religious lyrics, in the collective heritage of mankind, which moves us because they speak from and to the soul, bypassing all psychological and intellectual digressions.
‘Show me Good! Make me quit the Bad!’ This is not ‘ethics,’ nor ‘morality.’ It is the core from which all ethics and morality flow. In comparison to this cry for knowledge of good and evil, all ethical discourse seems feeble and derivative. Only a mind in tune with the essentials, one which is ‘naïve’ in the best sense of the word, unencumbered by emotional or intellectual ‘sophistication,’ can find its way so quickly and so directly to the core of humanity’s spiritual neediness.
There is no perceived need here to define the ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad,’ no need to interpret; no need to qualify, explain, elucidate. There is merely the cry, the call, the prayer, to show, to reveal…. This cry, this form of speech, rests on the gift of a relationship, a bond between man and his God. If these words speak of a need, the need for the ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad’ to be shown, they are not the words of a soul enclosed on solitude, but a soul confidently linked in a relationship with the soul of the universe. ‘Show me’ implies something which is wanting. But the ability to say ‘show me’ implies the prior presence of a secure relationship. It is the ‘givenness’ of this bond between the soul and its Maker, which enables a plea for knowledge of good and evil, a knowledge which gives to human life its final meaning, to be uttered in such minimal terms, and in such a direct voice.
And this voice is a collective one, where the burden of individuality is, however momentarily, put aside. The entire congregation becomes a single subject, giving voice, in the moment of collective utterance, to the soul’s cry for knowledge and deliverance. ..It is a voice which in its time came from the inner depths of a people who were inspired by men with the gift of the spirit.”
Excerpts from A Scent of Sandalwood by Aziz Esmail, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002 p 74-76
Mausoleum of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din in Uchch, Pakistan. Source: Ismailimail
Further reading:
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Pirs and Sayyids composed ginans within the framework of the society of the time
Satpanthi Ismaili tradition interacted with local cultures and folk traditions
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/pir-hasan-kabirdins-ginan-aash-tamari-shri-ho-is-a-plea-for-knowledge-of-good-an-evil/
Time To Think: Ginans – Ismaili Religious Literature from South Asia with Hussain Jasani
Video:
https://tv.ismaili/watch/time-to-think- ... ain-jasani
Ginans – Ismaili religious literature originating from the religious-cultural context of the Indian Subcontinent, have sometimes been viewed as “lacking Islamic personality”. This talk will challenge this view and introduce audiences to multiple examples of religious poetry used by various Muslim traditions from the region to highlight typical characteristics of the literature that are greatly influenced by South Asian cultural contexts. The talk will also introduce the audience to multiple IIS publications that one can turn to in order to learn more and gain further insights into this topic.
Video:
https://tv.ismaili/watch/time-to-think- ... ain-jasani
Ginans – Ismaili religious literature originating from the religious-cultural context of the Indian Subcontinent, have sometimes been viewed as “lacking Islamic personality”. This talk will challenge this view and introduce audiences to multiple examples of religious poetry used by various Muslim traditions from the region to highlight typical characteristics of the literature that are greatly influenced by South Asian cultural contexts. The talk will also introduce the audience to multiple IIS publications that one can turn to in order to learn more and gain further insights into this topic.
Sayyida Imam Begum’s Ginan “Darshan diyo” is a yearning for a vision of the Divine
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred Ginans, composed by Pirs and Sayyids, which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian Subcontinent now residing in many parts of the world. Pirs were sent to the Indian subcontinent by Imams since at least the Fatimid times (909-1171). From the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans contain emotive enlightenment that can transcend the material to connect to the Divine.
Aziz Esmail notes that those who are under the direct, natural spell of the poetry of Ginans “will be moved, without artificial encouragement, to sing it – that is, to give voice to it, in the head and the heart, and on the lips.” He adds, the English translations of Ginans are “pale and weak… in comparison to the haunting, uplifting, hypnotic, musical wealth of the original” (A Scent of Sandalwood p 46-48).
As a result of dissension in the community upon the appointment of Pir Taj al-Din, Imams did not appoint Pirs after his death. Instead, a book – Pandiyat-i javanmardi –containing the guidance of Imam Mustansir billah II (d.1480) was sent. However, the work of Pirs was continued by a line of sayyids, generally regarded as the descendants of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din.
The Arabic word sayyid, meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master,’ refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. It is also used as a title for Sufi masters and notable theologians. (IIS Glossary)
Imam-Begum, the last in the line of the Sayyids and the only known female composer of Ginans, spent most of her life in or near Bombay (now Mumbai), but is believed to have died in Karachi sometime during the late nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth, although very little is know about her life. An accomplished player of the sarangi (fiddle), Imam-Begum, composed a small number of Ginans of great beauty, to the accompaniment of this instrument (IIS).
A 19th century sarangi, Gujarat, India. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments at The Met Museum
Sayyida Imam Begum’s composition Darshan diyo mora nath is a yearning for a vision of the Divine:
Eji darshan diyo moraa naath, daasi chhu teri.
Show your beauteous face, My Lord,
I am your maid-servant.
Eji daasi teri saami, tere dar ubhi ji,
Araj kare chhe jodi haath, daasi chhu tere…..1
Attending on you, With joined hands pleading
Eji haath jodine saami araj karun chhu ju,
Hardam raehejo more saath, …2
With joined hands pleading:
At every breath, Be close by me, my Lord.
Eji hardam saami maaraa, ridah maahe rahejo ji
Alga ma thaajo ek saas, …..3
At every breath, Be present in my heart.
Be not aloof in the space, My Lord, of a single breath.
Eji saami algaa nathi tune alga kari nav jaanu ji,
Aa ghato ghat bolo chho moraa naath…..4
Aloof you are not, my Lord,I do not think of you as aloof,
Why, here are you, speaking to me, In the heart, Of my heart.
Eji saami tere antt ko antt tuhi ja jaano ji,
Saami maaraa motaa chho samaraath,….5
My Lord, only you know the bounds of your bounds.
You are my great protector, my Lord.
Eji jugaa jug saami maaraa bhagat ugariyaa ji
Utam sadi chhe satpanth,…. 6
Age after age, my Lord Redeemed his devotees
Excellence for ever Is the path of truth.
Eji kahet Imam Begum suno moraa saami ji
Etlu maangu chhu moraa naath,…. 14
Says Imam Begum: listen, my Lord,
This much, just this much, Do I ask of you, my Lord.
(tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 73)
“In this Ginan the’ I-You’ mode captures an atmosphere of especial intimacy. Sociologically, this linguistic feature corresponds to face-to-face relationships – relations characteristic of (ideal) families and small communities. When a community, a group of worshippers, recite a hymn in an ‘I-You’ mode, the dyad becomes a triad. ‘We,’ the reciters, speak with the ‘I’ of the hymn, in this way becoming joined to that ‘I.’ … “(Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 74).
Although the ‘I,’ the author of the Ginan, remains distinct from the ‘I’ and ‘We’ of the follower(s), at times, there is an erasing of such distinctions. “At such times, a remarkable power is released. When the entire, assembled audience becomes a chorus, when the authorial self in the hymn, and the individual voices in the congregation all merge into a single voice, when the utterance of each becomes one utterance and the hearts of all beat as one, the resulting voice rises with surpassing power. The words then speak directly from the soul… A ‘we,’ which is a perfect fusion of all separate ‘I’s, calls out, in unison to a divine ‘You.’… It is a voice which in its time came from the inner depths of a people who were inspired … with the gift of the spirit. That is why it carries, to this day, echoes of a rare, powerful candour and directness of feeling” (Ibid p 75-76).
Imam Begum Ginans
Mausoleum of Imam Begum in Karachi. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Further reading:
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Pirs and Sayyids composed ginans within the framework of the society of the time
Satpanthi Ismaili tradition interacted with local cultures and folk traditions
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Sayyida Imam Begum, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
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Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred Ginans, composed by Pirs and Sayyids, which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian Subcontinent now residing in many parts of the world. Pirs were sent to the Indian subcontinent by Imams since at least the Fatimid times (909-1171). From the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans contain emotive enlightenment that can transcend the material to connect to the Divine.
Aziz Esmail notes that those who are under the direct, natural spell of the poetry of Ginans “will be moved, without artificial encouragement, to sing it – that is, to give voice to it, in the head and the heart, and on the lips.” He adds, the English translations of Ginans are “pale and weak… in comparison to the haunting, uplifting, hypnotic, musical wealth of the original” (A Scent of Sandalwood p 46-48).
As a result of dissension in the community upon the appointment of Pir Taj al-Din, Imams did not appoint Pirs after his death. Instead, a book – Pandiyat-i javanmardi –containing the guidance of Imam Mustansir billah II (d.1480) was sent. However, the work of Pirs was continued by a line of sayyids, generally regarded as the descendants of Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din.
The Arabic word sayyid, meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master,’ refers to a person who possesses dignity or enjoys an exalted position among his people. It is also used as a title for Sufi masters and notable theologians. (IIS Glossary)
Imam-Begum, the last in the line of the Sayyids and the only known female composer of Ginans, spent most of her life in or near Bombay (now Mumbai), but is believed to have died in Karachi sometime during the late nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth, although very little is know about her life. An accomplished player of the sarangi (fiddle), Imam-Begum, composed a small number of Ginans of great beauty, to the accompaniment of this instrument (IIS).
A 19th century sarangi, Gujarat, India. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments at The Met Museum
Sayyida Imam Begum’s composition Darshan diyo mora nath is a yearning for a vision of the Divine:
Eji darshan diyo moraa naath, daasi chhu teri.
Show your beauteous face, My Lord,
I am your maid-servant.
Eji daasi teri saami, tere dar ubhi ji,
Araj kare chhe jodi haath, daasi chhu tere…..1
Attending on you, With joined hands pleading
Eji haath jodine saami araj karun chhu ju,
Hardam raehejo more saath, …2
With joined hands pleading:
At every breath, Be close by me, my Lord.
Eji hardam saami maaraa, ridah maahe rahejo ji
Alga ma thaajo ek saas, …..3
At every breath, Be present in my heart.
Be not aloof in the space, My Lord, of a single breath.
Eji saami algaa nathi tune alga kari nav jaanu ji,
Aa ghato ghat bolo chho moraa naath…..4
Aloof you are not, my Lord,I do not think of you as aloof,
Why, here are you, speaking to me, In the heart, Of my heart.
Eji saami tere antt ko antt tuhi ja jaano ji,
Saami maaraa motaa chho samaraath,….5
My Lord, only you know the bounds of your bounds.
You are my great protector, my Lord.
Eji jugaa jug saami maaraa bhagat ugariyaa ji
Utam sadi chhe satpanth,…. 6
Age after age, my Lord Redeemed his devotees
Excellence for ever Is the path of truth.
Eji kahet Imam Begum suno moraa saami ji
Etlu maangu chhu moraa naath,…. 14
Says Imam Begum: listen, my Lord,
This much, just this much, Do I ask of you, my Lord.
(tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 73)
“In this Ginan the’ I-You’ mode captures an atmosphere of especial intimacy. Sociologically, this linguistic feature corresponds to face-to-face relationships – relations characteristic of (ideal) families and small communities. When a community, a group of worshippers, recite a hymn in an ‘I-You’ mode, the dyad becomes a triad. ‘We,’ the reciters, speak with the ‘I’ of the hymn, in this way becoming joined to that ‘I.’ … “(Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 74).
Although the ‘I,’ the author of the Ginan, remains distinct from the ‘I’ and ‘We’ of the follower(s), at times, there is an erasing of such distinctions. “At such times, a remarkable power is released. When the entire, assembled audience becomes a chorus, when the authorial self in the hymn, and the individual voices in the congregation all merge into a single voice, when the utterance of each becomes one utterance and the hearts of all beat as one, the resulting voice rises with surpassing power. The words then speak directly from the soul… A ‘we,’ which is a perfect fusion of all separate ‘I’s, calls out, in unison to a divine ‘You.’… It is a voice which in its time came from the inner depths of a people who were inspired … with the gift of the spirit. That is why it carries, to this day, echoes of a rare, powerful candour and directness of feeling” (Ibid p 75-76).
Imam Begum Ginans
Mausoleum of Imam Begum in Karachi. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Further reading:
Pirs composed Ginans to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam
Pirs and Sayyids composed ginans within the framework of the society of the time
Satpanthi Ismaili tradition interacted with local cultures and folk traditions
Ginan composers were acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs
Pir Shams composed the largest number of the garbi form of ginans
Sources:
Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, Surrey, UK, 2002
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Sayyida Imam Begum, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
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Ginan “sarag bhavan thi maati mangai” expounds the creation of humans from clay, representing spiritual knowledge
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection consisting of several hundred compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent as early as the eleventh century to teach the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people. Through the poetic medium of ginans, the pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner (batin) meaning of the Quran to the external (zahir) aspects. In his pronouncement, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah guided the community in this issue: ‘In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan’ (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 30).
(More on ginans)
The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs of the ayats (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 45).
(More on themes)
One of several ginans comprising multiple themes is a composition by Pir Fazal Shah (d. ca.1659?) sarag bhavan thi maati mangaai; it discusses the creation of humans from clay as well as our return to God from Whom we have come.
Creation of humans:
He began the creation of man with clay…
He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit (32: 7–9 ).
Pir composed:
sarag bhavanthi maati mangaai bhaai mitadi mangaai
sania mil-kar ghat ghadaya;
jire mukh mandal doe divdaa jagaayaa,
ghat andar shabd sunaayaa ji.
From the realm of heaven the clay was ordered, o brother, the clay was ordered.
Then, Lord, together You caused the body’s form to be fashioned;
In the circle of the face, You lit two lamps,
and within the heart You recited the Word.
The creation is to be interpreted symbolically. Water represents spiritual knowledge, and dust is the initial or elementary level of faith. Dust is like a believer who is ready to accept knowledge just like dust mixes with water to make clay. Dust and clay symbolise the mu’min, but the clay is like the mu’min who has some true knowledge and therefore, can continue to be shaped, acquiring spiritual knowledge. The breathing of the spirit represents giving the Ism-e Azm (bol) (in conversation with Khayal Aly).
A similar narrative is God’s creation of Adam from clay, miraculously. Dr Khalil Andani explains:
“According to Ismaili spiritual exegesis, the true meaning of the Adamic creation story in the Quran is the spiritual and religious training of a human being named Adam through different levels of faith and knowledge. This Adam had a mother and a father and lived several thousand years ago; he was not the first human on earth, but rather, he was a person who lived at the commencement of the current 7,000-year cycle of history. The Quranic Adam was one of the disciples of the then Imam of the Time, whose name was Hunayd. The Imam Hunayd selected Adam from among the believers of that time and elevated him in spiritual status. … The Quranic account of Adam being created from dust and clay means that Adam was initially at the level of a common believer (“dust”) and was nourished with spiritual knowledge (“water”) such that he became an advanced believer (“clay”) (Evolving Creation p 21-22).
(More on water representing spiritual knowledge: Ritual of ghat-paat).
The refrain of Pir Fazal Shah’s composition explains the ayats:
Verily we come from God and to God we return (2:156)
Every soul will taste of death. Then unto Us ye will be returned (29:57)
Lo! Unto thy Lord is the return (of all) (96:8)
R Ham pardesi dur thi aayaa bhai dur chalna
Ala kia re jaanun molaa kiyaa re jaanun kiaa hoise;
Jire keni per saaheb maaro lekhaa lese, khalak gunaa bakshe.
R We are foreigners (pardesi) who have come from afar, brother, and have far still to go.
O God, how do I know, O Lord, how do I know what will happen, or how the Lord will check my account? May the Creator forgive our sins.
Subsequent verses also describe the futility of worldly existence and remind that our destination is in the spiritual realm.
Verse 2 – After the clay was dug, the palaces (mahal) were made. The foolish creature says, ‘These houses are mine.’ But death will come and take away the soul. O creature, lonely is the abode which lies ahead for you.
Verse 3 – You must sleep in a hole in the ground, with the earth above you, brother, with the earth above you, into which your flesh will be mingled as one, Your flesh will mingle with the earth, nd over you grass will grow.
Verse 4 – King Ravana’s city of Lanka was a city of gold, like King Bhoja’s city of Dhara. But do not be proud of your wealth and youth, do not be filled with selfish pride, for it will not be long before you depart.
(The references are to the sack of the mighty demon-king Ravana’s kingdom of Lankan by Rama, which is described in the Ramayana, and to the semi-legendary king Bhoja (d. 1082?) of Dhara … in Malwa, who was proverbial for his royal fame and fortune).
Verse 5 – Some are asleep while others are awake, but few are those creature who earn to meritorious effect. The whole world is asleep, only the Creature is awake, the Lord is awake. This is the sum of what Pir Fazal Shah has said.
(Tr: Shackle and Moir Ismaili Hymns from South Asia p 193)
Listen to ginan https://ginans.usask.ca/recitals/507440
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Christopher Shackle and Zawahir Moir, Ismaili Hymns from South Asia, Routledge, London, 2000
Khalil Andani, Evolving Creation: An Ismaili Muslim Interpretation of Evolution
Ismaili Gnosis, From Adam to Aga Khan
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2022/ ... knowledge/
In his garbis Pir Shams articulated the foundation of Satpanth Ismailism
Posted by Nimira Dewji
From the Sanskrit jnana meaning ‘contemplative knowledge,’ ginans are a vast corpus of poetic compositions whose authorship was attributed to preachers (pirs) sent by Imams residing in Iran to the Indian subcontinent around the 11th century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam to non-Arabic speaking people.
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing in the subcontinent, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), and Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), and Guru Nanak (1469-1539). Additionally, a tradition of mystical poetry was developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. Hence the traditions of the bhaktas, sants, Sufis, and Ismailis of the Indian subcontinent were all interconnected.
The compositions of ginans “pre-suppose individuals aware of the existence of and acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs and furthermore, possessing a degree of intellectual and spiritual sensitivity necessary to blend these beliefs with those current in the Indo-Muslim society of the time” (Nanji, The Nizari Ismaili Tradition p 134). Other communities, such as the Sufis, fostered interpretations of Islamic concepts that could relate to the indigenous religious and cultural contexts resulting in the development of parallel literary traditions” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 8-9). In addition, the Ismaili community disguised their identity under the mantle of Sufism and other traditions in order to escape persecution.
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation in the Indian subcontinent came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path’). “The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical terms such as Bhakti, Sant, Sufi, Vaishnavite, and yogic traditions to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96).
Through the poetic medium of ginans, pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner (batin) meaning of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects. “The Qur’an is proclaimed as the conclusive Veda, and the ginans as the inspired words of the pirs capture the gist of the Qur’an’s teachings. Satpanth is, therefore, the True Path, and the crowning phase of Hinduism (a claim not much different from the Qur’anic assertion of itself as the last Revelation, and of Islam as the perfection of the religion of the ahl al-kitab or People of the Book)” (Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p109-110).
More on Ginans – Music, Language and Themes
Pir Satgur Nur (d.1094) was the earliest pir sent to the Indian subcontinent. He was followed by Pir Shams al-Din who worked during the time of Imam Qasim Shah (r. ca. 1310-1370), mainly in Uchchh and Multan in the province of Sind in modern-day Pakistan.
Tazim Kassam notes that Pir Shams played a critical role in setting and articulating the religious foundations of Satpanth Ismailism (Songs of Wisdom p 116). Pir Shams explained the Satpanth tradition through his compositions known as garbis.
Garbis
During the 12th century in Gujarat, when pirs began their work in the region, the rasa form of music was prevalent. “The word rasa actually came to be applied to a form of composition recited to a raga. The rasa was mainly a medium used for religious instruction and for expression of religious feeling…. One particular form, very popular in Gujarati folk life is the garbi – a folk dance with the word applied to the singing party itself. The individuals move around in a circle and sing to the accompaniment of a rhythmical clap of hands and feet. The dancers in motion as well as the songs composed for the occasion are known as garbis” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition p 20).
Kassam narrates the story about Pir Shams’s garbis, whereby he arrives at a town called Analvad “to find the villagers celebrating the festival of narta. This is most probably the festival of Navratri, which literally means “nine nights” of worship and devotion to the Hindu goddess Durga… with five hundred Hindus dancing and thirty-six pandits chanting the Vedas. The Pir watches them worship and adore their idols… As a strategy to stop it, he decides to join in the dance and to sing his own garbis. Night after night, he returns to sing and dance, all the while admonishing the Hindus worshippers for paying homage to idols made of mere stone. Instead, he preaches to them the principles of sat panth, the Truth Path….
The Pir (referred to as Guru) continues singing his songs of wisdom (ginans), and soon enough, word spreads and the princes of the land arrive and join in the dancing” (Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 106-107). Eventually, inspired by the Pir, several pandits, the king, queen, townsfolk, and various religious ascetics … all prostrate themselves at the Guru’s feet and abandon their gods (deva) and scriptures (sastra)… The dancers throw away their garbi lamps, which they have worshipped all these nights, into the sea. The Guru then makes them drink holy water (paaval) to purify them …. He appoints a leader (mukhi) to oversee this new religious community… ” (Ibid. p 107). This story is narrated in his composition Aad gur shams munivar jaan (O believers! Pir Shams is the guide, who has travelled to many regions).
In his composition Gur avata sarave raat ke ginan sunavata re lol (The Guru came every night and made them listen to wisdom (ginans), Pir Shams explains:
The Imams are from light; they are ever present in the world (v 15)
Listen to this true wisdom and serve [them];
then you will reach the other shore and attain Heaven (svarg) (v 16).
(tr. Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 326)
Listen to garbi
In his garbi Gure kadhi chhe paval hathe amijal bhariya (no. 27), Pir Shams explains Satpanth as their new religion (dharma) with its own locus (satgur-avatar), its own scripture (ginan), its own religious official (mukhi), its own set of rituals (the drinking of holy water or paaval, the paying of tithe or dasond, and the congregational prayer..) (Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 110).
The Guru himself brought
the [cups filled with the] holy water (paaval)…1
He made sure one and all drank from it;
indeed the Pir was merciful…2
By drinking the nectar (amiras),
they were all purified by the True Path (satpanth)…3
(see below – Water: A symbol of esoteric knowledge)
The Lord (nara) Qasim Shah himself came
and gave his beneficent Vision (didar)….4
In the city there was great rejoicing,
and everybody sang [the Guru’s] ginans…5
He appointed the head (mukhi) of the gathering (gat).
and all gave offerings (daan)…6
He who has accepted Satpanth but does not follow it
is a fool…13
O my brother, be devoted to the religion
so you may attain the other shore (pahele paar)…15
Such a song (garbi) Pir Shams, the Guru
himself has sung…17
O Believers (mu’min), attain the Divine Vision (didar),
and your sins will vanish…18
(tr. Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 367-368)
Listen to garbi
Pir Shams’s mausoleum complex in Multan, which includes a number of Sufi shrines. Image: The Ismailis: An Illustrated History
Water – symbolises the hidden world of esoteric reality
Their Lord will give to them to drink a pure drink (76:21)
In the Qur’an, nature and water are explained as signs of God (ayah), which is also the term used for each verse of the sacred text. “That means that, like the words of God written as verses in the sacred text, nature and water specifically are signs of God on which people are called to meditate. Hence, nature is a scripture that surrounds us, which we must learn to read and interpret, just as we read and interpret explicit scriptures that God has revealed” (Asani, The Chautauquan Daily).
Water plays an important role in the writings of mystical Islamic poets. The vastness of the ocean was often used as a metaphor for vast knowledge, both divine and human. One might swim in it, enjoy a beautiful view of it, none can hope to fully master it.
In Islam water emphasises the unity of all God’s creations. All living things, though diverse, are connected through water.
Many religious traditions use consecrated water in their rituals, which are outer expressions to inner beliefs, re-affirming their relationship to the divine. Prophet Muhammad used water to heal spiritual and physical ailments. Believers would also ask the Prophet to dip his hand into a bowl of water, which they used for healing. Muslims believe the well of zam zam has healing power. Several Twelver Shi’i, “dissolve the dust of Karbala (khak-i shifa), where Imam Husayn is buried, or that of Najaf, the resting place of Imam Ali, and drink the resulting healing water (ab-i shifa) as a cure for illness, both spiritual and physical” (Virani, The Ismailis in the Middle Ages p 107).
In the esoteric Ismaili tradition, the consecrated water is partaken in the ghat-paat ceremony, whereby vessels are placed on a long, low table, the paat. The ritual of ghat-paat was introduced by the da’is sent to the subcontinent perhaps as early as the Fatimid period (909-1171). The divine drink is also called amrta.
(See Ritual of ghat-paat is a conscious effort to reach spiritual awakening)
Virani notes that Fidai Khurasani alluded “to the distribution of healing water by the Imam Islamshah [r. ca. 1370-1425], a tradition that is frequently referenced in the ginans. The sacred water is also termed paaval signifying ‘that which purifies.’ This ritual is similar to Sufi tradition pyala lena, ‘to take a cup’ (Virani, The Ismaili in the Middle Ages p107).
In esoteric traditions including the Ismaili Tariqah, both the outer (zahiri) and inner (batini) are essential in the practice of the faith, although emphasis is placed on the batini aspect of the ritual. Water is a symbol of knowledge “and this knowledge is the gnosis that unveils the secret of the divine mystery to the righteous” (Corbin, Temple and Contemplation).
In Ismaili religious symbolism, water symbolises the hidden world of esoteric reality, in fact for the entire esoteric realm that sustains the exoteric. This ‘pure water,’ like the physical water, nourishes life, transports the seeker to a farther shore, washes away error and sin, contains glorious spiritual foods, and holds within itself a vast territory of unfamiliar characters” (Hunsberger, Ruby of Badakhshan p 63).
“Ginan is the nectar of eternity, the most commonly recurring symbol for gnosis in the Ismaili texts. Like celestial ambrosia, it has the power to resurrect receptive souls to an eternal life of gnosis” (Virani, Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 514).
Pir Shams, who is also featured prominently in a number of Sufi traditions, composed 28 garbis.
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Alice C. Hunsberger, Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher, I.B. Tauris, 2003
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Henry Corbin, Temple and Contemplation, Flammarion, Paris, 1980
Mary Desmond, Asani reflects on water in Islamic sacred texts, poetry, The Chautauquan Daily
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis: A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Literature,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris, London, 2006
Tazim R. Kassam, Songs of Wisdom and Circles of Dance, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1995
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/in-his-garbis-pir-shams-articulated-the-foundations-of-satpanth-ismailism/
From the Sanskrit jnana meaning ‘contemplative knowledge,’ ginans are a vast corpus of poetic compositions whose authorship was attributed to preachers (pirs) sent by Imams residing in Iran to the Indian subcontinent around the 11th century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam to non-Arabic speaking people.
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing in the subcontinent, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), and Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), and Guru Nanak (1469-1539). Additionally, a tradition of mystical poetry was developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent. Hence the traditions of the bhaktas, sants, Sufis, and Ismailis of the Indian subcontinent were all interconnected.
The compositions of ginans “pre-suppose individuals aware of the existence of and acquainted with an already well-developed set of Ismaili beliefs and furthermore, possessing a degree of intellectual and spiritual sensitivity necessary to blend these beliefs with those current in the Indo-Muslim society of the time” (Nanji, The Nizari Ismaili Tradition p 134). Other communities, such as the Sufis, fostered interpretations of Islamic concepts that could relate to the indigenous religious and cultural contexts resulting in the development of parallel literary traditions” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 8-9). In addition, the Ismaili community disguised their identity under the mantle of Sufism and other traditions in order to escape persecution.
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation in the Indian subcontinent came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path’). “The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical terms such as Bhakti, Sant, Sufi, Vaishnavite, and yogic traditions to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96).
Through the poetic medium of ginans, pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner (batin) meaning of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects. “The Qur’an is proclaimed as the conclusive Veda, and the ginans as the inspired words of the pirs capture the gist of the Qur’an’s teachings. Satpanth is, therefore, the True Path, and the crowning phase of Hinduism (a claim not much different from the Qur’anic assertion of itself as the last Revelation, and of Islam as the perfection of the religion of the ahl al-kitab or People of the Book)” (Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p109-110).
More on Ginans – Music, Language and Themes
Pir Satgur Nur (d.1094) was the earliest pir sent to the Indian subcontinent. He was followed by Pir Shams al-Din who worked during the time of Imam Qasim Shah (r. ca. 1310-1370), mainly in Uchchh and Multan in the province of Sind in modern-day Pakistan.
Tazim Kassam notes that Pir Shams played a critical role in setting and articulating the religious foundations of Satpanth Ismailism (Songs of Wisdom p 116). Pir Shams explained the Satpanth tradition through his compositions known as garbis.
Garbis
During the 12th century in Gujarat, when pirs began their work in the region, the rasa form of music was prevalent. “The word rasa actually came to be applied to a form of composition recited to a raga. The rasa was mainly a medium used for religious instruction and for expression of religious feeling…. One particular form, very popular in Gujarati folk life is the garbi – a folk dance with the word applied to the singing party itself. The individuals move around in a circle and sing to the accompaniment of a rhythmical clap of hands and feet. The dancers in motion as well as the songs composed for the occasion are known as garbis” (Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition p 20).
Kassam narrates the story about Pir Shams’s garbis, whereby he arrives at a town called Analvad “to find the villagers celebrating the festival of narta. This is most probably the festival of Navratri, which literally means “nine nights” of worship and devotion to the Hindu goddess Durga… with five hundred Hindus dancing and thirty-six pandits chanting the Vedas. The Pir watches them worship and adore their idols… As a strategy to stop it, he decides to join in the dance and to sing his own garbis. Night after night, he returns to sing and dance, all the while admonishing the Hindus worshippers for paying homage to idols made of mere stone. Instead, he preaches to them the principles of sat panth, the Truth Path….
The Pir (referred to as Guru) continues singing his songs of wisdom (ginans), and soon enough, word spreads and the princes of the land arrive and join in the dancing” (Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 106-107). Eventually, inspired by the Pir, several pandits, the king, queen, townsfolk, and various religious ascetics … all prostrate themselves at the Guru’s feet and abandon their gods (deva) and scriptures (sastra)… The dancers throw away their garbi lamps, which they have worshipped all these nights, into the sea. The Guru then makes them drink holy water (paaval) to purify them …. He appoints a leader (mukhi) to oversee this new religious community… ” (Ibid. p 107). This story is narrated in his composition Aad gur shams munivar jaan (O believers! Pir Shams is the guide, who has travelled to many regions).
In his composition Gur avata sarave raat ke ginan sunavata re lol (The Guru came every night and made them listen to wisdom (ginans), Pir Shams explains:
The Imams are from light; they are ever present in the world (v 15)
Listen to this true wisdom and serve [them];
then you will reach the other shore and attain Heaven (svarg) (v 16).
(tr. Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 326)
Listen to garbi
In his garbi Gure kadhi chhe paval hathe amijal bhariya (no. 27), Pir Shams explains Satpanth as their new religion (dharma) with its own locus (satgur-avatar), its own scripture (ginan), its own religious official (mukhi), its own set of rituals (the drinking of holy water or paaval, the paying of tithe or dasond, and the congregational prayer..) (Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 110).
The Guru himself brought
the [cups filled with the] holy water (paaval)…1
He made sure one and all drank from it;
indeed the Pir was merciful…2
By drinking the nectar (amiras),
they were all purified by the True Path (satpanth)…3
(see below – Water: A symbol of esoteric knowledge)
The Lord (nara) Qasim Shah himself came
and gave his beneficent Vision (didar)….4
In the city there was great rejoicing,
and everybody sang [the Guru’s] ginans…5
He appointed the head (mukhi) of the gathering (gat).
and all gave offerings (daan)…6
He who has accepted Satpanth but does not follow it
is a fool…13
O my brother, be devoted to the religion
so you may attain the other shore (pahele paar)…15
Such a song (garbi) Pir Shams, the Guru
himself has sung…17
O Believers (mu’min), attain the Divine Vision (didar),
and your sins will vanish…18
(tr. Tazim Kassam, Songs of Wisdom p 367-368)
Listen to garbi
Pir Shams’s mausoleum complex in Multan, which includes a number of Sufi shrines. Image: The Ismailis: An Illustrated History
Water – symbolises the hidden world of esoteric reality
Their Lord will give to them to drink a pure drink (76:21)
In the Qur’an, nature and water are explained as signs of God (ayah), which is also the term used for each verse of the sacred text. “That means that, like the words of God written as verses in the sacred text, nature and water specifically are signs of God on which people are called to meditate. Hence, nature is a scripture that surrounds us, which we must learn to read and interpret, just as we read and interpret explicit scriptures that God has revealed” (Asani, The Chautauquan Daily).
Water plays an important role in the writings of mystical Islamic poets. The vastness of the ocean was often used as a metaphor for vast knowledge, both divine and human. One might swim in it, enjoy a beautiful view of it, none can hope to fully master it.
In Islam water emphasises the unity of all God’s creations. All living things, though diverse, are connected through water.
Many religious traditions use consecrated water in their rituals, which are outer expressions to inner beliefs, re-affirming their relationship to the divine. Prophet Muhammad used water to heal spiritual and physical ailments. Believers would also ask the Prophet to dip his hand into a bowl of water, which they used for healing. Muslims believe the well of zam zam has healing power. Several Twelver Shi’i, “dissolve the dust of Karbala (khak-i shifa), where Imam Husayn is buried, or that of Najaf, the resting place of Imam Ali, and drink the resulting healing water (ab-i shifa) as a cure for illness, both spiritual and physical” (Virani, The Ismailis in the Middle Ages p 107).
In the esoteric Ismaili tradition, the consecrated water is partaken in the ghat-paat ceremony, whereby vessels are placed on a long, low table, the paat. The ritual of ghat-paat was introduced by the da’is sent to the subcontinent perhaps as early as the Fatimid period (909-1171). The divine drink is also called amrta.
(See Ritual of ghat-paat is a conscious effort to reach spiritual awakening)
Virani notes that Fidai Khurasani alluded “to the distribution of healing water by the Imam Islamshah [r. ca. 1370-1425], a tradition that is frequently referenced in the ginans. The sacred water is also termed paaval signifying ‘that which purifies.’ This ritual is similar to Sufi tradition pyala lena, ‘to take a cup’ (Virani, The Ismaili in the Middle Ages p107).
In esoteric traditions including the Ismaili Tariqah, both the outer (zahiri) and inner (batini) are essential in the practice of the faith, although emphasis is placed on the batini aspect of the ritual. Water is a symbol of knowledge “and this knowledge is the gnosis that unveils the secret of the divine mystery to the righteous” (Corbin, Temple and Contemplation).
In Ismaili religious symbolism, water symbolises the hidden world of esoteric reality, in fact for the entire esoteric realm that sustains the exoteric. This ‘pure water,’ like the physical water, nourishes life, transports the seeker to a farther shore, washes away error and sin, contains glorious spiritual foods, and holds within itself a vast territory of unfamiliar characters” (Hunsberger, Ruby of Badakhshan p 63).
“Ginan is the nectar of eternity, the most commonly recurring symbol for gnosis in the Ismaili texts. Like celestial ambrosia, it has the power to resurrect receptive souls to an eternal life of gnosis” (Virani, Reason and Inspiration in Islam p 514).
Pir Shams, who is also featured prominently in a number of Sufi traditions, composed 28 garbis.
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., London, 2002
Alice C. Hunsberger, Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher, I.B. Tauris, 2003
Azim Nanji, The Nizari Isma’ili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Henry Corbin, Temple and Contemplation, Flammarion, Paris, 1980
Mary Desmond, Asani reflects on water in Islamic sacred texts, poetry, The Chautauquan Daily
Shafique N. Virani, “Symphony of Gnosis: A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Literature,” published in Reason and Inspiration in Islam Ed. Todd Lawson, I.B. Tauris, London, 2006
Tazim R. Kassam, Songs of Wisdom and Circles of Dance, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1995
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/in-his-garbis-pir-shams-articulated-the-foundations-of-satpanth-ismailism/
The presence of the Divine in every heart is explained in ginans
The presence of the Divine in every heart is explained in ginans
Posted by Nimira Dewji
From the Sanskrit jnana meaning ‘contemplative knowledge,’ ginans are a vast corpus of poetic compositions whose authorship was attributed to preachers (pirs) sent by Imams residing in Iran to the Indian subcontinent around the 11th century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam to non-Arabic speaking people.
At the time, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing in the subcontinent, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), and Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), and Guru Nanak (1469-1539). Additionally, a tradition of mystical poetry was developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent.
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation in the Indian subcontinent came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path’). “The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical terms such as Bhakti, Sant, Sufi, Vaishnavite, and yogic traditions to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96).
Through the poetic medium of ginans, pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner (batin) meaning of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects.
More on ginans – Music, Language and Themes
‘In the ginans which Pir Sadardin has composed for you, he has explained the gist of the Qur’an in the language of Hindustan’
Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris, London, 2002, p 30).
(Further reading)
The Lord is present in every heart
“When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calleth Me: Let them also, with a will Listen to My call and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way” (Quran 2:186).
“It is We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” (Qur’an 50:16).
These ayats are explained in several ginans including:
1)Pir Shams’s composition
Hum dil khalak Allah sohi vaseji,
Jene kayam kudrat chalai ebhi Allah…1
O brother! In my heart He lives, Allah
The Creator, He who fashioned
Nature’s eternal scheme.
(Tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, 2002 p 116)
Listen to ginan at Ginan Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan
2)Pir Sadardin’s composition Saloko Moto
Satgur kahere dilmaahe deval pujie,
Ane dilmaahe Shah duvaar;
Dilmaanhe saahiyaan aap vase,
Ane dilmaahe aape didaar re….1
The true guide says: Think of the heart as a place of worship,
And the heart is the abode of the Lord.
In the heart resides the Lord
and in the heart He gives didaar.
(Tr. M. Kamaluddin)
Listen to ginan
3)Pir Sadardin’s composition
Sab ghat saami maaro, bharpur bethaa,
tame gaafal dur ma dekho, ek jiyo jire bhaire….1
My Lord resides in every heart,
Don’t deem Him far o you mindless one, O brother! He is the only One.
Eji sache ku saami maaro har dum haajar,
Jem nanu maahe putli dekho…2
O brother! My Lord is ever present to truthful,
just as the pupil in the eye.
Eji jem phulun maahe vaas tiyun maaro saahiyaa,
Tame gaafal dur me dekho…8
O brother! As the fragrance in the flower, so is my Lord,
Don’t deem Him far, o you mindless one.
(Tr. M. Kamaluddin)
Listen to ginan
4)Pir Sadardin’s composition:
Ho jire viraa haajar gurnar jaanjo
Ane jiyaan joi tiyaa paas,
tem ghat ghat saami raajo vasi rahiyo
Jem ravi ugamiyo aakaash…. 1
O brother! The Lord (gurnar) is present
And wherever we see, He is near
In this way, the Lord resides in every heart,
As the sun rises in the sky.
(Tr. M. Kamaluddin)
Listen to ginan
5)Sayyid Imam Shah’s composition Hetesun milo maara munivaro
Eji paak to sahebji nu naam chhe,
tene jampiye saas usaas;
Dur ma dekho dilmaahe vase
jem champa phool maahe vaas…4
O brother! The Lord’s name is holy,
Remember it in every breathe;
Do not consider him far
He dwells in the heart
Just as fragrance in the flower champaa.
Eji rome rome maaro saaiyaan vase
Ane antar nahin ek til,
Evo janine bhaktai kijiye
Shah partak bethaa dil…. 5
O brother! The Lord dwells in each hair of mine
And there is not even a minute distance between us.
Worship with such awareness that
The Lord resides in every heart.
(Tr. M. Kamaluddin)
Listen to ginan
Champaa flower (Plumeria alba)
6)Sayyida Imam Begum’s composition Hardam karo abhiyas
Eji ajampiyaa jaap bhai jis ghat bhitarji,
Sohi ghat hoeshe ujash, karine dekho ji…7
O brother! The heart in which there is silent remembrance
that heart will be enlightened.
(Tr. M. Kamaluddin)
Listen to ginan
7)Pir Sadardin’s composition
Alaf niraale Khaalak raajaa,
Allah ghat bi andar sohi ji…1
The First Incomparable Creator-King
Allah – He is the very One in our hearts.
Jis ghat andar seva teri
Allah sohi ghat nirmal hoi ji…2
O Allah! The heart full of your worship
Is the pure translucent heart.
Imam pichhaano to sidak durastaa
Tusa jinat paaoge thaan ji…3
Recognise the Imam then your faith will be genuine faith
yours will be a place in paradise.
(Tr. Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood Curzon Press, 2002 p 93)
Listen to ginan
Mawlana Hazar Imam addresses gathering at the Foundation of the Ismaili Centre, the Aga Khan Museum and their Park in Toronto. 28 May 2010. Photo: AKDN/Zahur Ramji
“As the poet Rumi has written: “The light that lights the eye is also the light of the heart… but the light that lights the heart is the Light of God.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Speech
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2022/06/09/the-presence-of-the-divine-in-every-heart-is-explained-in-ginans/
Pirs explain in ginans the transitory nature of physical life
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Pirs, who came to the Indian subcontinent in the eleventh century to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam. The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century.
Through the medium of ginans, the Pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner meaning (batin) of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects.
(See Ginans-Language, Themes, Music)
To God we belong and to Him is our return (Qur’an 2:156)
Verily to thy Lord is the return (of all) (Qur’an 96:8)
These ayats are explained in several ginans including:
1)Verse 6 of Pranido chhe maatino (‘man is made of clay’) by Pir Sadardin
Jire viraa jiyaan thanki tame aayaa
Jire viraa vahelaa tiyann pahoncho…
O brother! From where you have come, reach there soon.
You and I have to go to that house.
Listen to ginan at Ginan Central, University of Saskatchewan
2)Verse 3 of Khadiya padiya by Pir Hasan Kabirdin.
Eji deshthi pardes aavyaa mede bhaaive,
pardes thi desh sadhaarsho
O brother! From your native land (original Abode)
you have come to a foreign land (the physical world).
From this foreign land, you will have to return to your native land.
Listen to ginan
3)Dur deshthi aayo vanjaro by Pir Hasan Kabirdin
Dur deshthi aayo vanjaro
O brother! You have come from a faraway land
(See We are traders in spiritual business)
Listen to ginan
Accountability of Deeds
On that Day will men proceed in companies sorted out,
to be shown the deeds that they (had done).
Then shall anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good, see it!
And anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil, shall see it! (Qur’an 99: 6-8).
We shall set up scales for the Day of Judgement, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly, and of there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will brong it (to account) (Qur’an 21:47).
For those who believe and work deeds of righteousness is a reward that will never fail (Qur’an 41:8).
These ayats are explained in several ginans including:
1)Tilbar tulna by Pir Sadardin
Tilbar tulnaa khaneki dhaar chalna,
Ya Shah til til ka lekha dianaa mere jiv ku;
To me kya karun jiv aapnaa…1
O brother! (On the Day of Judgment) man’s deeds, even sesame seed’s weight, will be weighed and he will have to walk on the edge of sword. O my Lord! My soul will have to account for deeds even of sesame seed’s weight. Then what can I do for the salvation of my soul?
Listen to ginan
2)Moman mahaden by Pir Imamshah
Moman mahadan aavshe Saheb leshe hisaab,
Iyaa naa kidhaa kartap puchhse, taare tolshe pun paap.
O believers! The Day of Judgement will come, the Lord will take account
He will ask about the deeds done here, He will weigh virtue and sin.
Listen to ginan
3)Verses 1 and 3 of Saiyanji more dar laago by Sayyida Imam Begum
Saiyanji more dar laago ek din ko
Din ko re ghadi palko…1
O my beloved! I am afraid of a Day (Day of Judgment). Not only the Day but of that time and that moment
Ek din saaheb sab ko bulaave,
to lekhaa leshe til til ko….3
One day the Lord will call everyone
and will take account of every deed.
Listen to ginan
On that Day wherein neither wealth nor sons will avail (Qur’an 26:88).
O mankind! Do your duty to your Lord, and fear (the coming of) a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, nor a son avail for his father. Verily, the promise of Allah is true: let not then this present life deceive you (Qur’an 31:33).
These ayats are explained in several ginans including:
1)Verse 18 of Saamine saachu karine sirevie by Pir Sadardin
Tiyaan nahin koi maataa ne nahin koi pitaa
Ane nahim koi bahen na bhai;
Aapni aap nimaa sab koi padse,
Ane koi kenu nahim thaae.
Neither father nor mother will be there, nor sister nor brother.
Everybody will be engrossed in their own worries.
Listen to ginan
2)Verses 1 and 2 of Sarve jivun naa jaare by Pir Hasan Kabirdin
Sarve jivun naa jaare lekhaa leshe,
Tyaare koi kene nahin paase, ebi taie tame…1
O brother! At the time when accounts of all the souls will be taken,
there will be nobody near.
Eji maai na baap bahen na bhaai,
te sarve potaa maahe padshe…2
O brother! Neither mother nor father, neither sister nor brother;
everybody will be engrossed in their own worries.
Listen to ginan
3)Verse 5 of Uganiya sohi din by Sayyid Muhammad Shah
Uganiya sohi din aathamyaa,
Kenaa chhoru ne kenaa vaachhru, haare kenaa maai ne baap,
antkaale jaavun jiv eklu, haare saathe pun ne paap.
Whose children? Whose parents? At the time of death, the soul will have to go alone,
and its good and bad deeds will accompany.
Listen to ginan
All translations by M. Kamaluddin
Pir Shams’s composition “Hum Dil Khalak” emphasises understanding the esoteric aspects of acts of worship
Posted by Nimira Dewji
Ginans are a vast collection comprising several hundred poetic compositions which have been a central part of the religious life of the Nizari Ismaili community of the Indian subcontinent that today resides in many countries around the world. Derived from the Sanskrit gyan, meaning contemplative knowledge, Ginans refer to the poetic compositions authored by Ismaili Da’is, known as Pirs, who were sent to the Indian subcontinent by Imams residing in Persia, beginning in the late eleventh or early twelfth century, to teach the Ismaili interpretation of Islam. These Da’is composed Ginans in local languages to explain the message of Revelation to non-Arabic speaking people. The literature is also shared by the Imamshahi community in Gujarat, who are believed to have split off from the Nizari Ismailis in the sixteenth century.
At the time that Pirs went to the Indian subcontinent, the field of devotional poetry was flourishing, with figures such as Narasimha Maeta (15th century), Mirabai (1498-1557), and Narhari (17th century), Kabir (1440-1518), and Guru Nanak (1469-1539). Additionally, a tradition of mystical poetry was developing among the Sufis in the subcontinent.
The assimilation of the local tradition of the Ismaili Da’is in composing Ginans “can be traced to a fundamental impulse within the community wherever it has manifested itself geographically and historically. The Ismailis, in their attempt to understand the central aspect of their faith – the concept of Imam – have called on the available tools of various philosophical and religious systems, making them highly adaptable to different political and cultural environments” (Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment p 7). “As a result Ismailism has been able to respond to cultural diversity by tolerating, in the words of Paul E. Walker, ‘a surprising intellectual flexibility and leeway.’ The motivation to integrate, reformulate and acculturate to different environments is hence part of the Ismaili legacy” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96).
Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent.
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah said:
“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.”
(Source: Ali S Asani, The Ginans: Awakening the Soul Through Wisdom)
The specific form of Nizari Ismaili interpretation in the Indian subcontinent came to be known by the translation of sirat al-mustaqim, rendered as Satpanth (sat panth, or ‘true path’). “The Satpanth tradition employed terms and ideas from a variety of Indic religious and philosophical terms such as Bhakti, Sant, Sufi, Vaishnavite, and yogic traditions to articulate its core concepts” (Asani, A Modern History of the Ismailis p 96).
Through the poetic medium of Ginans, Pirs provided guidance on a variety of doctrinal, ethical, and mystical themes for the community while also serving to explain the inner (batin) meaning of the Qur’an to the external (zahir) aspects.
(More on Ginans and Pirs)
Several Ginans emphasise the importance of acquiring knowledge and the batini aspects of the faith, including a composition by Pir Shams Hum dil khalak.
The Creator (Khlaliq) is in my heart and
in all else too; He has brought the
Eternal Universe into existence….1
He brought the whole world into being
out of clay…..3
[As per ayat 32: 7–9
He began the creation of man with clay…
He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit.
(See Ginan swarag bhavan thi )]
My mind is my prayer mat, Allah is my Qadi
and my body is my mosque…..6
The true believer (mu’min) is one
who is aware of all the mysteries.
let knowledge (ilm) guide your path…9
[As per ayat 11:123
to God belongs the unseen [secrets] of the heavens and earth]
Only through complete concentration
can one achieve illumination.
Seek hard and you shall find…. 10
Heed what Pir Shams says,
how will you reach the shore
without a Guide….11
(tr. Azim Nanji, Nizari Ismaili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent p 121)
The tone of this Ginan is one of persuasion. The Ginan opens with an appeal to the listeners to consider the Omnipresence of the Creator. … Together with the doctrine of the Omnipresence is woven the basic mystical theme of the Divine Being residing within Man” (Nanji, Nizari Ismaili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, p 122). The Ginan emphasizes “the unity of the Creation by the One Creator, Allah, and pinpoints the difference between Creeds that Man creates for himself, in what should otherwise be by definition a homogenous creation” (Ibid. p 122)
[Ayat 4:1 – O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from the twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.]
The Ginan emphasises the importance of the batini aspects of the acts of worship… the apt and succinct images convey the inner mode of mystical worship as against the two formal aspects of ritual of prayer; the rug and the mosque are given a personalized, spiritual meaning and become symbols that are contrasted with the formal acts of worship” (Ibid. p123). The true seeker (mu’min) “is defined as someone who is cognizant of all the mysteries (i.e. the batin) and who performs his duties in the light of the knowledge (ilm here should be taken to refer to an understanding of the haqa’iq, in Ismaili terms) that he has obtained. The emphasis in the Ginan … is on a path which is not based on formal outward acts of worship, but which stems spontaneously from a process of direct intuitive experience which through “illumination” brings about a new level of awareness. The awareness is seen as a continuing process …[which] comes only through a total absorption of the seeker in concentrated mediation. Awareness…springs from the state of having discovered the Divine within one’s self. …For this path, one needs a guide without whom it is not possible to traverse the vast ocean of struggle and land safely on the shore of true knowledge” (Ibid. p 124-125).
(See Presence of Divine in every heart)
Esmail notes “It is within the body, the temple of God, in which true worship takes place nature of this. Of this type of worship, the ‘fool,’ slave to externalities, will always be ignorant. The very nature of his ‘folly,’ his blindness, debars him from such knowledge.” (A Scent of Sandalwood p 57).
The idea of ‘knowledge’ in Ginans “is very different from formal book-knowledge. It is far from enough to know about the truth. What is essential is to live it, and to know it by living it. This is vital knowledge. To know truly is to be one with truth. All else is vanity, and worse. To be complacent on the basis of scriptural learning, and punctilious observance of ritual codes, betrays an egotism, a vanity. Vanity in these two senses – conceit and sterility – is vanity also in a third sense: emptiness, absence of reality” (Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood p 63).
(See Ego deterrent to soul’s progress)
Listen to ginan
[My Lord, increase me in knowledge” (Qur’ān, 20:114)]
General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, then president of Pakistan, presenting the Charter to Mawlana Hazar Imam as then president of AKU Shamsh Kassim-Lakha looks on. Photo: AKDN
“In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet [Salla-llahu ‘alayhi wa- sallam] and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect. Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers. Indeed one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam, Karachi, March 16, 1983
Speech
Sources:
Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment, I.B. Tauris, London, 2002
Ali S. Asani, “From Satpanthi to Ismaili Muslim: The Articulation of Ismaili Khoja Identity in South Asia,” A Modern History of the Ismailis, I.B. Tauris, London, 2011
Azim Nanji, Nizari Ismaili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Caravan Books, New York, 1978
Aziz Esmail, A Scent of Sandalwood, Curzon Press, Richmond, 2002
/nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2022/09/08/pir-shamss-composition-hum-dil-khalak-emphasises-understanding-the-esoteric-aspects-of-acts-of-worship/
Charting the Future of the Ginans: Needs and Expectations of the Ismaili Youth in the Western Diaspora
Karim Tharani
University of Saskatchewan Library, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
ABSTRACT
Objective – The heritage of ginans of the Nizari Ismaili community comprises hymn-like poems in various Indic dialects that were transmitted orally. Despite originating in the Indian subcontinent, the ginans continue to be cherished by the community in the Western diaspora. As part of a study at the University of Saskatchewan, an online survey of the Ismaili community was conducted in 2020 to gather sentiments toward the ginans in the Western diaspora. This article presents the results of the survey to explore the future of the ginans from the perspective of the English-speaking Ismaili community members.
Methods – An online survey was developed to solicit the needs of the global Ismaili community using convenience sampling. The survey attracted 515 participants from over 20 countries around the world. The English-speaking members of the Ismaili community between 18 to 44 years of age living in Western countries were designated as the target group for this study. The survey responses of the target group (n = 71) were then benchmarked against all other respondents categorized as the general group (n = 444).
Results – Overall, 85% of the respondents of the survey were from the diaspora and 15% were from the countries of South Asia including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The survey found that 97% of the target group respondents preferred English materials for learning and understanding the ginans compared to 91% in the general group. Having access to online ginan materials was expressed as a dire need by respondents in the two groups. The survey also revealed that over 90% of the respondents preferred to access private and external ginan websites rather than the official community institutional websites. In addition, the survey validated the unified expectations of the community to see ginans become an educational and scholarly priority of its institutions.
Conclusion – Based on the survey results, it can be concluded that the respondents in the target group are educated citizens of English-speaking countries and regard the heritage of ginans to be an important part of their lives. They value the emotive and performative aspects of the tradition that help them express their devotion and solidarity to the Ismaili faith and community. They remain highly concerned about the future of the ginans and fear that the teachings of the ginans may be lost due to lack of attention and action by the community institutions. The development and dissemination of curriculum-based educational programs and resources for the ginans emerged as the most urgent and unmet expectation among the survey respondents. The article also identifies actions that the community institutions can take to ensure continued transmission and preservation of the ginans in the Western diaspora.
PDF pf the full article: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eb ... 0055/22561
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eb ... view/30055
University of Saskatchewan Library, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
ABSTRACT
Objective – The heritage of ginans of the Nizari Ismaili community comprises hymn-like poems in various Indic dialects that were transmitted orally. Despite originating in the Indian subcontinent, the ginans continue to be cherished by the community in the Western diaspora. As part of a study at the University of Saskatchewan, an online survey of the Ismaili community was conducted in 2020 to gather sentiments toward the ginans in the Western diaspora. This article presents the results of the survey to explore the future of the ginans from the perspective of the English-speaking Ismaili community members.
Methods – An online survey was developed to solicit the needs of the global Ismaili community using convenience sampling. The survey attracted 515 participants from over 20 countries around the world. The English-speaking members of the Ismaili community between 18 to 44 years of age living in Western countries were designated as the target group for this study. The survey responses of the target group (n = 71) were then benchmarked against all other respondents categorized as the general group (n = 444).
Results – Overall, 85% of the respondents of the survey were from the diaspora and 15% were from the countries of South Asia including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The survey found that 97% of the target group respondents preferred English materials for learning and understanding the ginans compared to 91% in the general group. Having access to online ginan materials was expressed as a dire need by respondents in the two groups. The survey also revealed that over 90% of the respondents preferred to access private and external ginan websites rather than the official community institutional websites. In addition, the survey validated the unified expectations of the community to see ginans become an educational and scholarly priority of its institutions.
Conclusion – Based on the survey results, it can be concluded that the respondents in the target group are educated citizens of English-speaking countries and regard the heritage of ginans to be an important part of their lives. They value the emotive and performative aspects of the tradition that help them express their devotion and solidarity to the Ismaili faith and community. They remain highly concerned about the future of the ginans and fear that the teachings of the ginans may be lost due to lack of attention and action by the community institutions. The development and dissemination of curriculum-based educational programs and resources for the ginans emerged as the most urgent and unmet expectation among the survey respondents. The article also identifies actions that the community institutions can take to ensure continued transmission and preservation of the ginans in the Western diaspora.
PDF pf the full article: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eb ... 0055/22561
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eb ... view/30055
Symphony of Gnosis: A Self-Definition of the Ismaili Ginan Literature
Shafique Virani2005, Reason and Inspiration in Islam: Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in Muslim Thought
The Ginans are a corpus of South Asian Ismaili religious literature. Their subject matter ranges widely, and includes such topics as divine love, cosmology, meditation, ritual practice, eschatology and ethical behaviour. The word “ginan” is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit root jñāna and is etymologically related to the Greek word γνῶσις or gnôsis, which has derivatives in many languages. Several scholars have noted the dual significance of the term ginan among the Ismailis as referring both to their sacred literature as well as to gnosis. This comprehensive study explores the purport and use of the word "ginan" in the ginan tradition itself. As most ginans are recited in particular melodies, this study of the ginan tradition is inspired by the organization of the traditional symphony. An extended composition in Western classical music, a symphony is often divided into four movements. Similarly, this study of the "Symphony of Gnosis" is composed of four sections, each exploring different aspects of how the ginan tradition defines itself.
The entire article can be accessed at: https://www.academia.edu/36984287/Symph ... paper&li=0
Re: Miscellaneous Articles on Ginans
interesting information
Podcast Episode: The treasures of ginans with Professor Ali Asani
Podcast at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1pQRwm9DE62djA0Jj8fsVo
Episode Description
Ismailis from South Asia find their origins in Gujarat, Sindh and Punjab. Their ancestors belonged to various castes such as the Lohana and Bhatia communities, who found themselves drawn to the teachings of Muslim saints, known as pirs or sayyids.
According to community tradition, Ismaili pirs were sent from Persia by the Imams – or spiritual leaders – to spread knowledge of who the Ismaili Imams are, and the notion of the Imam as the guide to spiritual enlightenment. The pirs did this through ginans, one thousand or more religious hymns that are assumed to date as far back as the thirteenth century. The people that accepted these teachings came to be known as Satpanthis: those who followed Satpanth, or the True Path.
On this episode, Ali Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University, speaks to us about ginans, and the fascinating evolution of this particular Ismaili tradition over the past 800 years.
Episode Description
Ismailis from South Asia find their origins in Gujarat, Sindh and Punjab. Their ancestors belonged to various castes such as the Lohana and Bhatia communities, who found themselves drawn to the teachings of Muslim saints, known as pirs or sayyids.
According to community tradition, Ismaili pirs were sent from Persia by the Imams – or spiritual leaders – to spread knowledge of who the Ismaili Imams are, and the notion of the Imam as the guide to spiritual enlightenment. The pirs did this through ginans, one thousand or more religious hymns that are assumed to date as far back as the thirteenth century. The people that accepted these teachings came to be known as Satpanthis: those who followed Satpanth, or the True Path.
On this episode, Ali Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University, speaks to us about ginans, and the fascinating evolution of this particular Ismaili tradition over the past 800 years.