Poets

Allama Sharar was son of Revd. Barkat Masih and was born in Mandhiala Tega, a suburb of District Gujranwala Punjab province (now in Pakistan). He studied at CTI Mission High School Sialkot and later went to the American Mission Gordon College Rawalpindi for further studies. Before completing his graduation he joined the armed forces and served n Rana Garh (Bengal), Colombo (Sri Lanka) Bilaspur (India), and Lahore (now in Pakistan).

Sharar apparently  inherited from his ancestors the vigour and predilection's for serving humanity, the glimpses of which we undoubtedly see in his inspiring messages in  the form of colossal poetical precepts which he has left behind  apart from the memories of his indefatigable zeal  he demonstrated through his active participation, presentation and performances in the community affairs as well as being the author of ten books with eight diwans and also he served as the Chief Editor of  Tajalli Magazine issued from Glasgow/UK and later he served as Patron of Christian Times published from Luton, UK.

Sharar's books:

• Naqoosh-e Saleeb  ( نقوش صلیب )
• Saleebain zinda hain ( صلیبیں زندہ ہیں )
• Nada-e Saleeb (نداۓ صلیب )
• Saleeboun kay sa'ay (صلیبوں کے ساۓ  )
• Keilain Kantay aur saleeb ( کیلیں، کانٹے اور صلیب )
•  Irfan-e saleeb ( عرفان صلیب )
• Rodada-e saleeb (روداد صلیب  
• Karwan-e saleeb ( کاروان صلیب )
• Masihi Mashaheer  volume 1. ( مسیحی مشاہیر جلد اول )
• Masihi Mashaheer volume 2. ( مسیحی مشاہیر جلد دوئم )

Sharar was a social activist, a political theorist and made some remarkably accurate predictions about the future of his people in India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, however, I am afraid that these attributes of his insightful personality will not be remembered for long. This is a pity. However, what cannot be easily forgotten, even in centuries to come is his great poetic gift and the voluminous poetry he has written and published during his lifetime.

Sharar's great literary achievement is not the amount of poetry he has produced, though it is no meagre feat in itself, but the unique ways in which he has kneaded Biblical and Christian theological phraseology in novel poetical renditions. He is a towering master of inventing original metaphors, similes and personifications using Biblical references. Throughout his voluminous work reader can find one enduring theme and that is his unwavering devotion to the cross of his Lord Jesus Christ and his uncompromising love for his chosen beloved, the Christian Church.

This truly great scholar, and an irreplaceable son of the Asian Christian community, slept in the Lord on 28th December 1999, and is buried in Luton, UK.

The poet behind the famous Punjabi literary work Kakh naien mayray palley (  ککھ نیں میرے  پلے  ) is the towering Christian Sufic personality of Baba Rustam Khan ( بابا رستم خان ). Though his formal education ended with matriculation (St. Thomas High School Khushpur),  his literary flight has soared beyond the limits of many university graduates and titled scholars.

Baba Rustam Khan hails from Khushpur, Chack no. 51 Samundri Faisalabad, where he was born in 1941 in an agrarian headed by Baba Qadir Bukhsh.  Mr. B R Khan married in 1962 and has lived faithfully with his wife Martha, with whom he has five children.  He enjoys reading good literature in Urdu and Punjabi, and acknowledges Allama Ernest Paul as his teacher in both poetry and prose composition.  He uses Baba (بابا )as a short literary name.

Baba has a long and checkered service record having worked in various foreign embassies and in the Catholic Church Karachi Diocese in the Kotri Parish. He served as a receptionist in the Italian Embassy (1951-1963), as a club manager in Korean Embassy (1965-1969) as a Church man in Karachi (1970-1973), as a guest house manager in an Italian company (1974-1980), as a chef in French Embassy (1981-2006) and then spent one year in Danish Embassy (2007 -2008).

His book Kakh naien mayray palley was published in 2009. When I had the privilege of speaking to this master artisan of words, he stated, 'people say, Baba plays with words, but the truth is otherwise, for in reality it is not I who plays with words, but rather words play with me'. Several more of his books are in various stages of publication and will be featured here and on our definitive website: www.cuwap.org, in due course.

Here is a sample of Baba's poetry:

کہاں    تاب   گستاخی   کی    کہ   روبرو    آؤں

بابا خاک کے ذرے بھی سورج کو گھورتے ہیں

And here is a poem by Baba, especially written and dedicated to CUWAP.ORG

جن چراغوں نے روشنی بکھیری تھی

ان چراغوں  کے  چراغدان  بن  جاؤ

مانا  ہوا  خاتمہ   تیل  و   روئی   کا

ان چراغوں میں جلو داستان بن  جاؤ

کیا   ہوا سوے   ادب    کے   پجاری

ادبی   محل  کے  نگہبان   بن   جاؤ

ارواح  ادیبوں   کو  دکھ  نہ   پہنچے

سوۓ  ہوؤں  کے  شهادتدان  بن  جاؤ

علم  سے   آمدنی  چاہنے   والے لوگو

کچھ  علم  کے  بھی   قدردان  بن   جاؤ

ناسوروں    کے  فقد ن  نہ  بنو   بابا

ادب  والو ں  کے   قلمدان  بن    جاؤ

Joseph Saeed  Aasi ( جوزف سعید عا صی  ) is a choir director (at Waris Pura Faisalabad), chief organizer (at Classic Recording Studios), a researcher and producer (at Aasi Psalm Ministry), producer at Jalali Jaltrang  ( جلالی جلترنگ ) and chief adviser at D&D ministries Sargodha, Pakistan. His father Mehar-uddin Aasi was  a distinguished teacher and a celebrated scholar of Urdu and Farsi (Persian). He published three anthologies; two in Urdu: Jalali Jaltrang ( جلالی جلترنگ ) and Saz-e-Janoon  (ساز جنوں), and one in Punjabi 'Saran' (ساراں). Hence, it can be rightly asserted that Joseph Saeed Aasi belongs to a very academic and literary family. He also has a deep love for music which he inherited from his maternal grandfather Sharam Dass Sahib. According to one very reliable source, cuwap.org has learned that the  Padri Sahib and tabla nawaz ,Padri Thakkur Dass of Naulakha Church, Lahore,  was a  pupil of Mr. Sharam Dass. Joseph Aasi himself learned the intricacies of the Eastern music from Peyaray Khan Sahib (maternal uncle of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan).  He has had the distinct honour of composing and presenting the poetry of his father into musical renditions which were broadcast from Pakistan Television (PTV) twice on Christmas and once during the Easter festivities.

  The Psalms arranged by him and others can be accessed directly by clicking on this link Psalms on YouTube

Joseph Aasi's father had great love and admiration for I.D. Shahbaz, and Joshua Fazal-uddin Sahib, and hounouring these sentiments, he has done some ground-breaking research work on these two literary giants of the Urdu speaking Christian world.