"Lust for power, grandeur, and glory negate the Sufi spirit" – a Sufi maxim

Change, like death, is inevitable. Gruelling experiences, events and happenings in the lives of most people do not let them remain what they had been before. Trial and tribulations leave an everlasting impact on the mind and soul of such persons. The impression of the events totally transforms them from within. Their entire behavioural pattern and attitude towards life undergoes a change. Devils transform into saints. Similarly, the humble convert into hardcore criminals. Apart from events, coming into contact with dervishes, saints and Sufis entirely alters the attitude of a person in dealing with the people around him. In the same way serious study of the life and philosophy of Sufis like Bhagat Kabeer, Bulhay Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Shah Latif, Sultan Bahu, Rumi and other mystics melts the thought process of a person, and moulds him into a Sufi.

A couple of years before his unsavoury exit as president of Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf, in one of his notorious merry moods, had constituted the Pakistan National Sufi Council. A bank seized the promotional opportunity, and brought out an artistic, almost life-size calendar adorned with the excellent photographs of the shrines of the Sufi saints and dervishes, and the Sufi singers of Pakistan. The retired general became the self-appointed patron in chief of the council, and he selected Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as its chairman. It was presumed the general might have come into contact with the Sufis and saints, and that motivated him to form a Sufi Council. Maybe he had undertaken a serious study of the life and philosophy of Sufis! People with analytical minds believed it was a trick of the trade.

It is personal privilege of a person to reveal himself as anything, as he deems desirable -- a crusader for the wretched of the earth, a rescuer of the wronged, protector of the weak, upholder of justice where injustice pervades. For that matter, he is at liberty to declare himself a deity, a demigod, or an apostle. Nothing can possibly keep him from lofty proclamations. The mind is like a mirror. You put on a costume of your choice in imagination, step in front of the mirror of the mind, and behold the image of your liking in the reflection, and get carried away. The world has not been able to enact laws against tall claims. Wishful thinking is like quicksand. It sucks you. It devours you. Running after illusions leaves you disillusioned in the desert of life.

After his proclaiming himself a Sufi, and becoming the patron-in-chief of the Sufi Council, we thought Gen Pervez Musharraf had undergone a change from within. We naïvely believed he would give up his wild desire for ruthless power, properties here and abroad, wealth, and hidden fortunes. At the time of his creating the Sufi Council he was chief of the army staff, a vile dictator, and a self-imposed president of Pakistan. He was a tough autocrat. His aspirations knew no bounds. The formation of the National Sufi Council appeared a positive step in curbing the virus of Mullahism in the country. We assumed he had embraced the Sufi teachings of Sachal Sarmast, Sultan Bahu, Bulhay Shah, Latif, Fareed, Kabeer and Rumi.

We had no reason to doubt his intentions. Not all people are born either wise or dunces. Not all people are born either brave or cowards. Not all people around you happen to be either loyal or disloyal. The world consists of deities and the devils. Angels and demons have lived together for ages. We are born with both the negative and positive traits. A cultured person maintains balance between his pleasant and unpleasant qualities. He doesn't let his vices overshadow his virtues.

What transpired later on dashed the hopes of the people imbued with a strong Sufi bent of mind. The general kept swaying between arrogance and haughtiness. He never refrained from boasting and self-praise. Clinching fists, he would tell you how nonchalantly brave and death-defying combat commando he was! Fear had no meaning for him! Lofty claims continued to dominate his mannerism. He in his own estimate was an avowed champion of democracy, antiterrorist campaigner, enlightened moderate, detester of fundamentalism, torchbearer of liberalism, and finally a Sufi. He thought himself indispensable for Pakistan.

His sinister role in the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles paved the way for the super powers to meddle in the internal and external affairs of Pakistan. A person with a Sufi bent of mind won't ever bargain the honour and independence of his country. The general did. To extend his rule he provided dubious and unlawful protection to the corrupt, the criminals, and the thugs who had run away from this country with ill-gotten wealth.

They returned, and entered the corridors of power. Not the way of the Sufis! He gained nothing from the gamble. The wagging tails barked at him. Smelling trouble, the impostor Sufi general cleverly abdicated. He entered into an unholy alliance with the ruling clique, his beneficiaries, received a farewell guard of honour, and flew to his safety.

Sunk in the cosy comforts of his luxurious abodes abroad the fake Sufi general nurtures his desire of returning to Pakistan someday, and becoming the God-forsaken country's ruler for the second stint, and resuming his self-styled Sufism – Khao, Piyo, Mauj Karo (Eat, drink, and be merry).



The writer is a seasoned journalist.