JAAM - E - ZARGAR : REMEMBERING AHAD ZARGAR
I saw the kingly stay inside Kabba
and now he appears an infidel of the idol temple
I saw him shoot arrows of death
Ahad Zargar, I saw, offers his body to dwell them.
Abdul Ahad Zargar, the writer of codes, a philosopher, and a rebel who penned down most venomous verses was born in one of the most celebrated, fable piece of earth, the mysteriously unique picturesque valley often equated to heaven- Kashmir- in the year 1882. His father was a weaver, weaver of sophisticated wool – Pashmins – for which the weavers of vale have always been praised, everywhere, from ordinary home to royal palaces. And so was Ahad, he would weave the beauty of his land, soil filled with the linage of mystics, into his eternal words
He was multilingual in his verses and multi genera in expression, but his pyramid always strived in search of divine, the ultimate. His epigrams, couplets and Sufi Ghazals commingle three most ancient languages, that also form the languages of vast religious literature Arabic Sanskrit and Persian with native Kashmiri .Folk has it that, he started intensely fervent Sufi poetry at the age of 20.
His early renuncification of the world and aristocracy enthralled the think tanks of all times.
In Kashmir where the concept of beauty and art has always been equated to godhood, Zargar proved the supernatural quality of his soil for producing Reshis and Sufis, by his ethereal Gnostic vision, ornate expression, skillful eulogy of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him ) and preaching of Love in the contemporary times. He was the shining stalwart to continue traditional Sufi poetry after centuries old mystics like Lalla Ded and Nund Reshi. Ahad is known to be a follower of qadiri silsila
Zargar always articulated and emphasized the need of peace and was an inciter of love and harmony even in the most turbulent time of Kashmir, the chaotic times when first mass uprising and freedom struggle against the Maharajas was on peak. He was a versified and gifted poet with a unique Sufi insight and would hardly come out of his Sufi realm. The Pursuit of knowledge and the quest for divine is all the book of Zargar. Zargar left this world and transcended to hereafter in 1973 leaving behind his rich poetic literature and Sufi concept. Each year Sufi festival called Sham-E – Zargar – is observed at his tomb, as a tribute to literary legend.
Ahad Zargar Memorial foundation annually celebrates the Ahad Zargar Day on 12 august
and has set up a mausoleum under his patronage in their ancestral hometown of Narwara in downtown srinagar.
