MULLA AEIN MAKH SHAH LATEEF SINDHI TOPI POETRY

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an emeritus professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, described Shah Latif as a 'direct emanation of Rumi's spirituality in South Asia.' His work has been compared frequently to that of the Persian poet Rumi. His collected poems were assembled in the compilation Shah Jo Risalo, which exists in numerous versions and has been translated into English, Urdu, and other languages. Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (also referred to by the honorifics: Lakhino Latif, Latif Ghot, Bhittai, and Bhitt Jo Shah) (18 November 1689 – 1 January 1752) was a Sindhi Sufi scholar, mystic, saint, and poet, widely considered to be the greatest Muslim poet of the Sindhi language. Shah did for Sindhi language and literature and the Sindhi people what other world poets have done for their own language and country in their own particular way, Hafiz for the Persian Lyric, Dante for the' illustrious vernacular' of Italy, and Tulsidas for Hindi language and literature. And there were others besides Sachal to keep up the tradition of Shah. It is well-known that Shah looked upon Sachal Sarmast (who wrote more than a million couplets in 7 languages) as his spiritual successor. Nor is it correct to call him the last of the traditional or medieval poets in Sindhi, as some have tried to make out Shah is no Milton, the last of the Elizabethans. His poetry is not that of a pioneer, it is the poetry of fulfillment it is not the poetry of experimentation or innovation, it is the poetry of gracious benediction. Shah was the finest flower in a garden of poetry.

It has become clear now that, far from being the only poet of Sind, or the only singer of his time, Shah was only one albeit the greatest of a multitude of poets who formed a 'nest of singing birds' in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first foreigners who explored the civilization and culture of Sind thought that Shah was the only Poet and Philosopher Sind had produced, and the universal vogue of Shah-Jo-Risalo, or Shah's Poetical Works, in the land of the Sindhu, inclined them to believe that the Risalo was the only literary work in the Sindhi language.

He is not only the greatest of Sindhi writers, but he has been equated with the literature of his land, as if he were co-terminous with Sindhi literature. SHAH ABDUL LATIF of Bhitt, called simply' Shah' or 'Monarch’ is a unique figure in Sindhi literature.

MULLA AEIN MAKH SHAH LATEEF SINDHI TOPI POETRY