Daily Times

Late AshfaqAhmed, the former host of television program Zaavia, introduced Baba ji (old man) as a living character in his books and talk shows. The author of Tali Thallay promoted Baba ji as a person full of wisdom, a man who could answer most difficult moral questions with relative ease and simplicity.Whether that person existed in real world or Ashfaq Saheb created him out of thin air to make his stories more appealing, we do not know.We also do not know how Ashfaq Sb found his Baba ji, or recognized him as a sage, tested his intelligence or why he trusted him that much or what part of the city he lived in. What we know is that Baba ji did not lead a lavish lifeinstead hestayed in relative obscuritylike an unsung hero, his professionunrevealed, his career accomplishments unknown.

Although promoted as quasi-religious, he seemed to be different from the traditionalSufi master as Ashfaq Ahmed did not display the reverence reserved for the Pirs- the spiritual preceptor of a specific order who has been ordained to pass on the message of mysticism by his master who has been ordained by his and so on. Instead,Baba jisounded more like a friend: casual, collegial, approachable.

The idea caught on though. Before Ashfaq Ahmed, the educated urban elite of Pakistan avoided to share such details about their personal or religious lives even when they or their families believed in having a Sufi master. Many Barelvi families do follow one teacher who takes every member under his ‘spiritual supervision.’ However, once intellectuals like Ashfaq Ahmed and Mumtaz Mufti, the author of Alipurka Ailee, disclosed their predilection towards having semi-formal mystic guides in their lives, the stigma lifted. People felt more comfortable to discuss those details.

Ashfaq Saheb probably referred to him metaphorically which means we must not look for one in actual life as we are not looking for a James Bond in real world

Over years, as our society has grown more religious, the pendulum has swung in the oppositeextreme. Now if you need to be considered a religious intellectual- a loose term for people who did not obtain a formal education in religion but have read few history books, a little bit of Quran, some Hadith and touched upon Philosophy and poetry to formulate their own opinion- you need to bring Baba ji in your conversations. With his reference alone, you will be taken more seriously as you will be counted in one of the fortunate people who not only sought for a guide out of your mundane commitmentsbut you also found a true maharishi. A lot of people, for that reason, have learnt to insert a short story related to Baba ji or quote one of his catch phrases to make their own statement sound more powerful. Look up Urdu newspaper Op-eds or listen to inspirational YouTube videos by Pakistanis, you will find many writers discussing complex moral, religious, or legal issues through Baba ji.

What Ialso remember from listening to Ashfaq Ahmed, he did not portray Babji as some highly educated or financially successful individual instead he talked about him as a man of ordinary means and education who could have been an honest clerk or a junior officerworking for the government, a rickshaw driver, a paramedic or a shopkeeper. Nonetheless, he possessed special wisdom that he had acquired through his mystic journey. That special wisdom, the thought is,cannot be attained through formal education. Local poets like Sultan Bahu of Jhang, Bulleh Shah of Qasur and Mian Mohammad Baksh of Mirpur, have also promoted a similar idea that undermines regimented degrees.To some extent they ignored the academic success of leading Sufi masters of Islam like Jalaluddin Rumi and Abu Hamid Al Ghazali in their poetry while they focused on their devotion to the Sufi master which they thought would open their hearts to receive divine blessings. Baba ji of Ashfaq Ahmed does not fit into that criteria either: he does not have conventional followers nor does he follow anyone in particular.

How wise is it then to bring up a less educated, less successful person as a sagaciouscounselor on television, andon top, to do that in the name of Islam? No matter how hard I try-and I have tried very hard-to wrap my mind around this idea of seeking moral advice from a person with a questionable intelligence, saintliness and qualification, I stay unimpressed and to some extent disenchanted. I would rather open a book and read, or go to an expert if I had a burning question. If it was a religious question I would take it to the religious scholar, a person with a known track record. If we get sick, we do the same, we seek advice from the most qualified, the most reliable. In the pandemic too, we look for the research coming out of the UnitedStates not from Nigeria or Sudan.

Baba ji, therefore need to be taken out of our urban dictionary. Ashfaq Saheb probablyreferred to him metaphorically which means we must not look for one in actual life as we are not looking for a James Bond in real world.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist