The following is a selection of ash’aar all sensitively calling for communal harmony.
MOHAMMED IQBAL
firqa-bandi hai kahiN aur kahiN zaateN haiN
kya zamane meN panapne ki yahi baateN hai
In some places we are divided into (religious) communities, in others into castes. Is this the way to survive in this world.
ALTAF HUSAIN HAALI
ummat ko chhaaNT Daala, kaafir bana kar
Islam hai faqiho, mamnuN bahut tumhaara
. You have divided up the community by pronouncing this or that as un-Islamic. Islam is greatly indebted to you O jurist.
KRISHAN BIHAARI NOOR
parda-e dair o haram ab to miTa de yaa rabb
ho chuka jitna tamasha vo tamasha hai bahut
O lord, at least now erase the curtain/division between temple and mosque. Whatever mischief we have had, is more than enough!
Eeshvar kahiye use chaahe Khuda kahiye magar
vo MusalmaaN ki tarah hai na vo Hindu ki tarah
Call him Ishwar or Khuda, if you please, but he is neither Muslim nor Hindu.
MOMIN KHAAN MOMIN
momin na toR rishta-e zunnar-e barahman
mat kar vo baat jis se koii dil shikasta ho
momin (pious man) do not cut the thread of relationship with the brahman (used to mean Hindu, not in the casteist sense). Do not do anything that will break hearts.
BRIJ NARAYAN CHAKBAST
balaa-e jaaN haiN ye tasbeeh aur zunnaar ke phande
dil-e haq-biiN ko hum is qaid se aazad karte haiN
The heart can see the truth (of love/faith) but the noose fashioned by the tasbih and the janev has imprisoned it. We are going to free the heart of this curse.
azaaN dete haiN but-Khaane meN jaa kar shaan-e momin se
haram ke naara-e naaqoos hum eejad karte
Chakbast declares that he/they (the broad minded) will intermingle the rites of the mandir and the masjid. We issue a (Islamic) call for prayer from the temple with the dignity/composure of the muezzin. We invent conch shell sounds for the mosque.
MIRZA GHALIB
kaabe meN jaa raha to na do ta’ana kya kaheN
bhoola huN haqq-e sohbat-e ahl-e kunisht ko
Ghalib rhetorically declares that he has not forgotten the rights/demands of his Hindu friends. Just because he has gone to the kaaba do not think that I have forgotten them. Of course, Ghalib himself was far from religious and never went to the kaaba.
KAIFI AAZMI
basti meN apni hindu musalmaaN jo bas gaye
insaaN ki shakl dekhne ko hum taras gaye
