“Poetry is the voice of God speaking through the lips of man. If a great painting puts you in direct touch with nature, great poetry puts you in touch with God.” Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
Pirs and Sayyids, endowed with spiritual knowledge and experience, composed poetry known as ginans in local Indic languages to be sung according to specific melodies (ragas). Ginans served as literary vehicles for conveying Ismaili doctrines that focus on penetrating to the inner (batin) significance of the Qur’an, into the framework of the societies of the Indian subcontinent. The themes of ginans are diverse ranging from laments of the soul as it proceeds on a spiritual quest, to ethical precepts concerning proper business practice. One ginan may contain more than one theme that are blended together, however, the corpus comprises some major motifs.
Read more at the source: Ginan themes include laments of the soul, supplications, and ethics
Nimira’s Blog (Nimira Dewji) comprises short articles on Ismaili history and various topics of Muslim civilisations including art, architecture, devotional and other literature, and quotes by Mawlana Hazar Imam. https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/
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