مقامی آدمی کا موقف | رفعت عباس | منور آکاش

Q. You wrote kafis. What is the justification for writing kafis in the 21st century?

A. Yes, absolutely. I wrote kafis, and in the first decade of the 21st century, two collections of kafis—'Ishq Allah Sain Jagiya' (2005) and 'Mukh Adam Da' (2008)—were published. In my opinion, the justification for the modern kafi emerged back in 1947, when in this state created in the name of God, the concept of divinity was used against the local man. Everything appeared wrapped in the fog of an ideology: ideological state, ideological borders, the doctrine of necessity. In all this abstraction, the real inhabitants of this land are victims of extreme despair and loneliness. The state did not sprout from our roots but was imposed from above, as if brought in on a cart. Great pavilions were set up by the state, and the local man could not see the spectacle happening inside even after buying a ticket. Flowerpots were placed in the corridors of the state, in which ideological plants grew. Here, everything was grown in pots. Politics, economy, state, religion—everything here was grown in a pot, and nothing could take root in the soil. Even the benevolent concept of God was forgotten, and an attempt was made to grow the rulers' self-styled god in a pot. We want to break these so-called pots and see the roots of everything firmly established in the soil. We want to see the benevolent concept of God in harmony with this land. They were intent on using the concept of the Great Lord against the local man, but we had the tradition and experience of the kafi. We could deflect their attack. We know the Lord is our strength and cannot be used against us.

When the power of the Lord becomes the solace of the local man instead of the weapon of the invader, the kafi is born.

An excerpt from the book of interviews and dialogues with Sain Riffat Abbas, "Maqami Aadmi Ka Mauqif" (The Stance of the Local Man).