From: memon@acsu.buffalo.edu (Naveed Siraj Memon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Sufi feminism
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:27:54 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: UB

From: anajam@athena.mit.edu (ADIL NAJAM)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: SoHni, Iishq aur Naveed........


(moi)
|>         Anyway it is interesting that SoHni initiates her Final Search while
|>         Mahival takes the lead from her and proceeds to the river soon after
|>         Sohni is swallowed by the River. The River is Iishq, Adil. What do you
|>         think :)


(monsieur adil)
	>To me it is the "ghara" which represents iishq, while the "mazboot
	>kashtiaayan" are materialism with all its attendant worldly domains.
	>To me the "naddi charhee hoee" would be the world --the zamana-- along
	>with all its ups and downs and its turbulent waves.....The truth that 
	>SoHni seeks is not IN the river but is in OVERCOMING the river...that
	>is, in overcoming the world, the zamana with all its be-karani(z).....
	>......what do you say?			;-)


       Your interpretation is moving indeed. Reaching the other side could
       signify passing the test or justify being worthy of the achievement that
       lay on the other side. Give me a second to picture the river :). Hummmmm!
       I think you are right. I realised that the destination was not the
       river but the other side of the river where Mahival waits for her. Maybe
	what I was thinking is how the river needs to be interpreted after 
	Mahival himself jumps into the river?  River does not represent zamana,
	then, would it? Just wondering aloud! :)

      
(I've appended the second article)


(me)
|> I am trying to think how the story of laila majnoN ends. Did'nt MajnoN  
|> become part of the desert waiting for laila's caravan to return? And by the
|> time she returned he did not have too long to live. So they Unite but only 
|> for forever by ending their lives in the desert at the spot where laila finds
|> Him. So if I let my crazy mind thinking then MajnoN is the Truth and laila 
|> It's seeker. Same holds for Romeo Juliet.


(adil)
	>Except that I would content [and again, I may be wrong] that niether
	>Laila nor MajnooN is represents the Truth....they both **seek** the 
	>truth......the difference is that here it is MajnooN who is at the
	>"cutting" edge of the search....same goes for Romeo Juliet......for
	>that matter Shereen Farhad is the extreme.........in all these cases
	>I feel that the Truth is not what they phically find (e.g., Laila finds
	>MajnooN or Farhad finds the doodh ki naddi] but the real Truth is
	>embodied in the spiritual ordeals of the search for the Truth....in
	>the process and in the pain......and most of all in resolutely
	>maintaining ones belief through the process and in enduring that
	>main with the same faith and belief.  To me the notion of one (MajnooN)
	>being the Truth and the other (Laila) being the seeker sounds
	>simplistic.........I for one would insist that it is in fact the 
	>process.......the **Attainment** of Truth (iishq) is not necessarily
	>synchornous with the **Arrival** at Truth........In Biblical contexts,
	>when did Moses (Musa) attain TrutH?.......Did he attain it when God
	>granted him the tablets with the commandments?.....or did he attain
	>it in the process of appeasing God that led to that event?.........
	>my interpretation of iishq...or seeking Truth would vote for the latter	
	>.............again this is just my interpretation....my Truth :-)

	>Comments, anyone......


The process of appeasing Him. It was naive of me to infer simplistic 
interpretations about Romeo & Juliet. About Laila majnoN I am not sure.
About the statement that women are the torch-bearers, this interpretation
seems to fit the local folklore. There are a couple of other folk stories
that I may write about that need to be looked at before we talk about
the role of the two sexes. Meanwhile if we could have more from you and other
netters about other anecdotes.                



Naveed
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan