At the dawn of seventeenth century, at the age of invasions from the West by
Persians and East by Moghols, a the time when Afghans were in the mist of
war in every corner of the nation, a the time when education was the last
thing in peoples' mind, a legend was born.
In the high hills of the Afghan nation, in the provincial area of Mohmand, a
child was born, by the name of Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman would become one
of the greatest poet in the history of the Pashto literature. Abdul Rahman
was a man of character and great charisma. As a child, he loved to study and
always occupied himself in getting a good education, no matter what it took.
He spent much time and effort trying to teach himself.
At a young age, he started studying and reading poetry and became fond of
it. He had a gift, poetry, which he would not realize, until later in his
life. As he grew older, he started having doubts upon what he was doing,
which was studying and writing poetry. He felt lost and not sure about what
he was writing, why he was writing and to whom he was writing. Because of
this, he entirely abandoned material needs of this world and gave himself to
the mercy of God.
The spiritual aspect of God's presents upon him, made him understand that
the true way of life was through his religion, Islam. Living a life in
solitude, he did not want anyone bothering him when he prayed to God. He had
a unique and creative way of praying to God through the gift he had, poetry.
He had a deep passion for God, which resulted in writing numerous poems in
His honor. Through the understanding of his religion, he wrote magnificent
poems, which made him famous in a short period of time.
People admired his work, from Afghanistan to Central Asia to the Indian
Subcontinent. Religious scholars found the real meaning of life in his
poems. National and political leaders used his poetry for independent
uprisings. Musicians used his poetry in their songs. Soon everyone wanted
his books, be it for political, religious or other interests and desires.
Due to his popularity, Afghans gave him an honorable name "Baba" (Grand
father of the nation).
One of the great religious scholar of Suwat(A city in current Pakistan),
Suwat Saheeb, said:
"If any other then, the book of God, was permissible for prayer, I would
have defiantly chosen Rahman's book."
Rahman Baba published two books from his collections of poetry, which were
distributed all over the Afghan nation. Soon his work became a model for new
poets, and as a result, many people started learning his way and his
direction. A school of poetry was built in his honor and many people came to
study in this schools. The Founding Father of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Baba,
was one of the students of his school of poetry.
Shakespeare has mentioned that philosophers, poets and insane people are of
one nature. A person cannot become one of these just by trying, but they are
born that way and they have no choice other then to live by the nature of
their life.
After looking through Rahman Baba's poetry, one comes to the conclusion that
this great poet was born a poet and had brought the gift of poetry with him
from eternal life. Readers will not understand his poetry unless they feel
that what their reading is indeed their own thoughts. This might be hard to
comprehend but poetry was never meant to be easy. When one opens Rahman
Baba's book, they immediately realize that their heart is speaking to them.
A reader might wonder how a book written more then four hundred years ago
would have their feeling and thoughts of today. It seem as if Rahman Baba's
books were written for today's need of literature and one can be sure, that
is the case.
Rahman Baba has written difficult poetry in such a unique way that one can
immediately grasp the meaning. He has put comprehensive subject into a very
layman term. Rahman Baba wanted to teach Afghans and, through Afghans, the
whole world the real meaning of life through the love and magnificence of
God. He fought against humans' greediness and mischief and promptly explains
this devilish worship in most of his poems.
Louis Dupree, in his book "Afghanistan", pointed out to Rahman Baba's teaching:
"Rahman Baba was a mystic then warrior. But his mysticism, born of Sufism, also
touches the Pashtun cultural essence. Not so proud and fiercely militant as
Khushal Khan Khatak1, Rahman Baba continually warned the ambitious and proud
of their base earthly origin."
Rahman Baba himself explain here:
Live not with thy head showing in the clouds,
Thou art by birth the offspring of this earth,
The stream that passed the sluice cannot again flow back,
Nor can again return the misspent time that sped,
Consider well the deeds of the good and bad,
Whether in this thy profit lieth or in that.
Rahman Baba loved music and dancing. He specially loved to play the Rabab
(an Afghan musical instrument similar to a guitar). By loving beauty of
every kind, no matter if it was a human, an animal, or nature, he would
describe the eternal beauty of God as a final stage. Considering the beauty
here on earth as merely small portion of the beauty to come, he always
focused on eternal greatness and beauty which to him was his love, God.
Dr. Abdul Hay Habibi PHD, a great scholar of Afghanistan, described Rahman
Baba's poetic structure in these terms. He stated the following:
Rahman Baba's poetry is still a great value to Pashto literature and still there are numerous student of his structure today. His fans and students of his school come to his grave side in Peshawar ( N.W.F.P) to remember him on his birth date each year. Poets from all over come to honor him in this special occasion by reciting poems and speeches on his honor, and this will continue for ages. '
