Literature For Life

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"...how intricately woven literature was in the patterns of the lives of early Muslims. Whether you studied Science, philosophy or religious sciences, literature was always a discipline of study that you grew up with. No wonder Saladin had memorised many diwaans of Arabic poetry! It had a role to play in the lives of people. Adab played an integral part in the teaching of  adab! It was during my formal study of literature at the university when I realised how informally literature once made a part of the tradition that I belonged to. Education remained incomplete without it. But all this, my teachers told me, was now history – history of the tradition we belong to. A history, that, sadly, I did not even know till the nineteenth year of my life. And it is my study of literature that has inculcated in me a love for excavating this history. Literature students, after all, have been branded as Romantics (if you know what the word really means) since time immemorial. And Romanticism was all about nostalgia – being nostalgic for the times that are no longer there and the traces of which have also been usurped by the corporate culture we now live in.  



I liked a post from my fellow blogger, above is the part of that post. read it in full, here: http://mosaafir.blogspot.com/2012/06/life-literature-and-nostalgia-by-naeema.html
Ye khaki apni fitrat mein na noori hai na naari hai.

Comments

  1. CNJuly 19, 2012 at 3:50 AM

    I like seeing your progression with literature first -- an approach many students and teachers ignore. Thus your line: "it is my study of literature that has inculcated in me a love for excavating this history"... you are a fortunate student and a truly alive person. I enjoy your comments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NoorJuly 19, 2012 at 1:13 PM

      @CN: you are generous. :) it applies to me too to some extent yet it wasn't my post. it was originally from NA's blog; here: http://mosaafir.blogspot.com/2012/06/life-literature-and-nostalgia-by-naeema.html I hope you enjoy it too. :)

      Delete
  2. robertJuly 27, 2012 at 5:40 AM

    Greetings,

    I very much like this. Thank you so much for it. I like how literature brought love for other things.

    All good wishes,

    robert

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NoorJuly 27, 2012 at 6:30 AM

      @Robert: indeed. your comment reminds me of Iqbal's verse:

      love without power is sorcery
      love with power is prophecy.

      and literature is one of the keys to this love.

      Thank you for the visit. :)

      Delete
  3. CNJuly 27, 2012 at 10:54 AM

    I can see so clearly that I've been missing out on some special gifts of the heart by not coming by much more often here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. NoorJuly 27, 2012 at 12:14 PM

    @CN: better late than never, Connie. :) everything has a purpose.

    ReplyDelete

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