Name | Sufi Rahman Baba رحمان بابا |
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Alt | رحمان بابا |
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Caption | Portrait of Rahman Baba |
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Birth name | Abdur Rahman |
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Birth date | 1650 |
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Birth place | Peshawar, pakistan, |
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Death date | 1715 |
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Death place | Peshawar,Current Pakistan |
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Death cause | Natural death |
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Resting place | Peshawar, Current Pakistan |
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Resting place coordinates | |
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Ethnicity | Pashtun |
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Citizenship | Mughal Empire |
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Other names | Sufi Rahman Baba |
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Known for | Poetry, Sufism |
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Notable works | Diwan |
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Home town | Peshawar |
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Title | Baba, Sufi, Shahir |
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Religion | Sunni, Muslim |
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Abdur Rahman Baba (1650–1715) () is popularly known as Rahman Baba (), and remains the most popular poet among the
Pashtuns. His poetry expresses a peaceful mystical side of local culture which is becoming increasingly threatened by less tolerant interpretations of Islam.
Rahman's lineage
Rahman was a member of the Khalil Muhmand (Bahader Kalay) sub-tribe of Pukhtuns, a group which originally migrated from Kandahar to the Peshawar valley from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. He grew up in a small pocket of Mohmand settlers on the outskirts of
Peshawar. Rahman apparently lived peacefully in the area, and never mentions his involvement in the fierce inter-tribal conflicts of his day.
Opinion is divided about Rahman's family background. Several commentators are convinced that his family were village Maliks (chieftains).
Abdur Rahman Baba died in 1715 AD, and his tomb is housed in a large domed shrine, or mazar, on the southern outskirts of Peshawar (Ring Road Hazar Khwani). The site of his grave is a popular place for poets and mystics to collect to recite his popular poetry. In April each year there is a larger gathering to celebrate his anniversary.
Religious background
Rahman Baba was an ascetic but various unfounded theories have been made about who Rahman's guide may have been, and to which order he was attached. Sabir suggests that Rahman had a
Naqshbandi Sufi tariqa initiation in
Kohat, as well as training from the sons of Pir Baba. Schimmel and Saad Ahmed Baksh casually assign Rahman to the
Chishti order. Aqab, himself of the
Qadiriyyah order, claims Rahman was a Qadiri.
Published work
A collection of Rahman's poetry called the Diwan (Anthology) of Rahman Baba contains 343 poems, most of which are written in his native Pukhto, which is a dialect of the Pashto language found in Afghanistan and parts of Western Pakistan. The Diwan of Rahman Baba was in wide circulation by 1728. There are over 25 original hand-written manuscripts of the Diwan scattered in various libraries world wide, including ten in the Pukhto Academy in Peshawar, four in the British Library, three in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, as well as copies in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the University Library Aligath. The first printed version was collected by the Anglican Missionary T.P. Hughes and printed in Lahore in 1877.
It is this version which remains the most commonly used to this day.
Selected verses from Rahman Baba's Dewan translated into English rhyme
About 111 verses were translated into English Rhyme and published by Arbab Hidayatullah, himself a Ghoriakhel Mohmand, in 2009. The original Pashto version has been transliterated into roman alphabet in order to make it easier to read for those who can not read Pashto alphabet. This translation, with a tilt to the romantic side of Rahman Baba's poetry, has been very well received.
Recommended reading
H. G. Raverty, The Gulistan-i-Roh: Afghan Poetry and Prose
H. G. Raverty, Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans, from the 16th to the 19th Century
Rahman Baba, Abdu'l, Robert Sampson, and Momin Khan. The Poetry of Rahman Baba: Poet of the Pukhtuns. Translated by Robert Sampson and Momin Khan. Peshawar: University Book Agency, 2005.
Robert Sampson. "The Poetry of Rahman Baba: The Gentle Side of Pushtun Consciousness." Central Asia 52 (2003): 213-228.
Robert Sampson and Momin Khan. Sow Flowers: Selections from Rahman Baba, the Poet of the Afghans. Peshawar: Interlit Foundation, 2008.
Robert Sampson. "The War on Poetry: Snuffing out Folk Tradition Along the Pakistan-Afghan Border." The Frontier Post, 7 December 2008.
See also
Khushal Khan Khattak
Abdul Ghani Khan
Ameer Hamza Shinwari
References
External links
/ Rahman Baba's Kalaam Dase Makh de Manawwarr (translated)
The Life of Rahman Baba
Biography and Information
Abdur Rahman Baba
Rahman Baba in English
Mohammad Zarin Anzor about the life and works of Rahman Baba
Interlit Foundation
Pashto Poets by Dr Tanvir Orakzai
The Afghan Pashto Poet Rahman Baba: Philosopher and Poet of the Heart
Category:Pashto poets
Category:Pashtun people
Category:Sufi mystics
Category:Sufism in Afghanistan
Category:People from Peshawar
Category:1650 births
Category:1715 deaths