A Key to Wisdom - Foreword
Foreword
Tags: Ra'is Amrohwi
In the name of He Who has no name
`Allāmah Nasīr al-Dīn Nasīr Hunzai is an eloquent poet, a meticulous scholar and a perspicacious writer. I have had the good fortune of his closeness and companionship. Recently I had the opportunity of studying his scholarly and wisdom-filled work "Mīzānu'l-Haqā'iq (Balance of Realities)". He has shed light in it on a thought-provoking and illumining reality that "the atomic cycle is the prelude to the spiritual cycle". This is a revolutionary concept and he has presented it with such proofs and demonstrations that the heart and mind are inspired, and thought and reflection refreshed. Having benefitted from the contents of "Balance of Realities", I am fortunate to study another of his books, "Miftāhu'l-Hikmat (A Key to Wisdom)", which consists of several thought-provoking chapters. In order to fully understand `Allāmah Nasīr Hunzai's point of view, it is important to remember that there is a world of difference between the exteriors and interiors, or the apparent and hidden of things, bodies and signs of the universe. Unless we remove the veil of the external things and signs and study the Reality of realities, we can neither understand the secrets of life, nor the secrets of the universe. Prior to trying to understand the meaning and purpose of the contents of "Miftāhu'l-Hikmat", it is necessary for the reader to understand the author's point of view concerning knowledge, so that there should not be any confusion in the comprehension of realities. In the preface to the "Balance of Realities", `Allāmah Nasīr Hunzai has written:
Miftāhu'l-Hikmat consists of the following chapters:
- Explanation of the preface to the Wajh-i Dīn
- Ta'wīl of Istirjā`
- The Verse of Obedience
- Investigation of Miracles
- Physical Recognition of the Perfect Man
- The Naw-rūz Festival
- What is outside Heaven?
- Spiritual Majlis
- Ta'wīl of Sūratu'l-Kawthar
- The Way of Seeking (Divine) Help
- Man's Travel in the Planets
- Are the Heavens and the Earths, seven and seven, fourteen?
In the seventh chapter of the book (What is outside Heaven?), the author has expressed his views about the composition of the universe in these words: "If again someone asks what is outside the circumambient sphere, the answer is that beyond the supreme or circumambient sphere there is no body at all. There is neither space nor void, rather there it is the imaginary void. In reality it is the boundary of the non-spatial world. That is, it is not a physical place, but it is the boundary of the sphere of the soul, namely, the boundary of the Universal Soul upon which depends the entire universe."
This explanation of the composition of the universe reveals the author's philosophical perception and point of view. `Allāmah Nasīr Hunzai is a profound poet of the "Burushaski" language. What is interesting is that, he also composes verses with extreme elegance and beauty in Urdu. I hope that his efforts in research and his creativity, will continue to benefit both Urdu prose and verse. He is the choicest flower of the land of Hunza, and addressing him in his own words, I say:
Sulh-i kull rā ma`nī-ī shīr-u shakar Hunā'iyān
Dil-kashān-i ahl-i danish az rah-i mihr-u wafā
Bā-kamāl-i husn-i sīrat jilwah-gar Hunzā'iyān
Shi`r-i dil-khwāh Nasīr āyīnah-i āyindah-ī
Ka-andarān bā kām-i dil bā karr-ū farr Hunzā'iyān
Their courage and resolve in tasks are harder than granite
And for universal tolerance are like milk and sugar, the Hunzais.
Through love and fidelity they win the hearts of the people of wisdom,
And they come forward with excellent characters, the Hunzais.
The pleasant verse of Nasīr is the mirror of a future,
In which they will be successful and victorious, the Hunzais.
Faquir
(Sayyid Muhammad Mahdī al-Husayni) Ra'īs Amrōhwī,
21 May, 1965, the blessed Friday, 19 Muharram, 1385.
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