Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak

At a time when Pashto in Afghanistan was left at the mercy of Arab-inspired and highly
radicalised Islamist legions, Dr Khattak became the torchbearer of modern methodology
in research and current trends in literature

Baley shamey ta nazar krra

Che pa sa zharri khpal zaan
Baar de wotarra Khushala
Da jaras awri fughaan
(Glance at the lit candles flame
Why does it cry and itself blame
Load up and depart o Khushal

The jingle of the caravan bell finally came) - Khushal Khan Khattak. For one of the most
illustrious descendants of the great Khushal Khan Khattak, the bell did toll last week,
beckoning him quite prematurely to his final departure. The peerless Pashtun
polymath, Professor Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak, is no more. He breathed his last on
Monday July 20 of a sudden cardiac event, leaving the candle of Pashto language and
literature lit brightly, just as he had wanted it to be, but with its tears rolling down in deep
sorrow. Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak belonged to the league of modern Pashto literary titans
that started in the early 20th century perhaps with the renaissance men Fazal-e-Mahmood

Makhfi and Muhammad Gul Khan Momand to the east and west of the Durand Line
respectively, and went on to include giants like Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, Maulana
Abdul Qadir, Ghani Khan, Qalandar Momand and Ajmal Khattak. He was a poet, critic,
researcher, writer and academic but, above all, a linguistic purist in love with his darling,
the Pashto language.

Dr Khattak was born in 1952 to Mr Qadeem Shah of the Abbas Khel sub-clan of the
Khattak tribe, in Dag Ismail Khel, a sprawling village in the foothills of the lovely Cherat
resort, some 40 kilometers from Peshawar. He completed his early education in his native
village and after matriculation moved to Peshawar where he studied at the Islamia
College and Government College. By the time he was ready to graduate, his literary
sparkle had endeared him to men of letters in the greater Peshawar valley like the then
director of the Pashto Academy at Peshawar University, Mian Said Rasool Rasa,
Professor Pareshan Khattak, Qalandar Momand, Amir Hamza Shinwari and, above all,
Ghani Khan. Dr Khattak was appointed a lecturer at the Edwardes College, Peshawar,
circa 1975 upon a personal recommendation by Ghani Khan to the colleges principal, Dr
Phil Edmonds. He completed his masters in Pashto around the same time and eventually
came to the Pashto Academy, which turned out to be his true calling.

Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattaks postgraduate thesis, The literary movements in Pashto,
which was later published in book form, is perhaps the best representation of his creed,
i.e. to modernise the Pashto language without sacrificing its originality, giving equal
importance to the literary and popular/folk aspects of literature and promoting language
as the foremost exponent of the Pashtun national identity. He called the Pashto language
the unwritten constitution of Pashtunwali or the Pashtun code of life. In doing so,
however, Dr Khattak maintained what could be described as an apolitical nationalism.
Just like Amir Hamza Shinwaris poetry, Dr Khattaks verse comes across as totally
indigenous and a refreshing blend of modern and classic trends but remains free of
Marxist, ideologically-anchored nationalism or orthodox religious influences. Perhaps
therein was the key to his success as a campaigner and an administrator. He earned kudos
from Professor Pareshan Khattak and Mian Said Rasool Rasa to the right of the political
spectrum and committed progressives like Qalandar Momand and Ghani Khan to the left.

He served as the director of the Pashto Academy for about a decade at one of the most
crucial junctures in Pashtos contemporary history. The Pashto Academy (later Academy
of Sciences) in Kabul was founded in the mid-1930s thanks to Muhammad Gul Khan
Momand and was the engine that pulled the research train till Maulana Abdul Qadir, who

had served as an ambassador in Kabul and was inspired by the formers work, pioneered
the Pashto Academy, Peshawar, in 1955. Still, due to the different political milieus east
and west of the Durand Line, the Pashto Academy, Kabul, continued to do the heavy
lifting till the fall of the late Dr Mohammad Najibullahs government in 1992 when the
work there came to a grinding halt. Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak assumed the reins at the
Pashto Academy, Peshawar, circa 1995 and picked up where its Kabul counterpart had
left off. He wrote, spoke, networked and, most importantly, groomed a generation of
scholars and literati. At a time when Pashto in Afghanistan was left at the mercy of Arabinspired and highly radicalised Islamist legions, Dr Khattak became the torchbearer of
modern methodology in research and current trends in literature. His opening doors to
Afghan scholars and collaboration with linguists like Dr Mujawer Ahmad Zyar to
preserve and promote Pashto literature earned him respect from Kabul and Kandahar to
Khyber and Karachi.

Research and administrative work perhaps did take a toll on Dr Khattaks beautiful
ghazal (sonnet) writing. While he produced over a dozen published prose books and over
70 papers, his only poetry collection remains Sangzaar (the rocky path). He sacrificed his
poetic pursuits for his beloved Pashto for which both the language and its connoisseurs
will forever remain in his debt. Sangzaar, nonetheless, remains a testimony to Dr Raj
Wali Shah Khattaks prowess in poetry, especially the ghazal form. He spent perhaps
most of his formative years under Ghani Khans wing but his style in verse was
deceptively simple like Hamza Baba and vibrant like Qalandar Momand. Like Hamza
Baba who was an ordained Chishti Sufi, Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak drew tremendous
inspiration from Sufi poets like Mirza Khan Ansari of the Roshaniyya Sufi order and
Rahman Baba. Indeed, mysticism was not just an undercurrent in Dr Khattaks poetry but
also the subject of several of his lectures. He wrote:
Bal zama aw sta tar menza raqeeb sok de?
Kho da zaan di, khpal zaan sara pa jang ye!
(Is there my rival between you and me?
No, tis me and the fight thus is between I and me!)

Dr Khattak, who used Wali, i.e. holy man as his takhallus (poetic nom de plume), is
presenting in this verse the perennial Sufi Wahdat-ul-Wujood (unity of existence) theme,
which has been the credo of poets from Omar Khayyam to Ghalib, with a romantic
overlay. Rebellious romance and love are the leitmotif of Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattaks

poetry and like Hamza Baba, he expressed it with refinement, restraint and predominantly
native tropes. He steered clear of ideological sloganeering in poetry and devoted his verse
to the expression of self and love of the Pashtun people, culture and lands. His literary
canvas was as broad as his lands between the Amu and Attock rivers, and he painted it
with his lifeblood. He once wrote:
Ma da zhuand la paanrri paanrri taki tol krra
Ta pray soomra pa asana karkha ra-aakhka
(My lifework word by word like petals, I collected
But how swiftly you struck a line across it).
RIP Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak sahib. You are mourned from Kabul to Peshawar; no one
can strike a line through the marvelous work you have so painstakingly done.

The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com and he tweets @mazdaki