Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai

Partaw-i Shah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hubb-i 'Ali Hunzai (15 May 1917 – 14 January 2017), known also as <nowiki/>'Allamah (lit. learned) Hunzai,', 'Allamah Sahib, or by his epithets, Baba-yi Burushaski (lit. The Father of Burushaski), Lisan al-Qawm setting forth original theological, metaphysical and teleological expositions, based on the historically unprecedented philosophical injunctions of the 48th Isma'ili Imam, Sultan Muhammad Shah. These works also constitute a vast corpus of original Isma'ili esoteric exegesis, 'Allamah Hunzai's zeal for self-study earnt him proficiency in Burushaski, Urdu, Arabic and Classical Persian, which allowed him to study manuscripts collected by his father and other local scholars, including, among others, Khusraw's Wajh-i Din (which he later translated into Urdu), Jami' al-Hikmatayn and Zad al-Musafirin, and Ja'far b. Mansur's Sara'ir wa-Asrar al-Nutaqa - some of the most complex in their genre. As a result, he became well-versed in classical Isma'ili Neoplatonic philosophy and hermeneutics before having even reached the end of puberty. This early phase of inquisition also saw him take to poetry, with Sa'di's Bustan, Gulistan and Karima, as well as Hafiz-i Shirazi's Divan and Rumi's Kulliyat-i Shams included in his father's collection of manuscripts.

During this early phase, 'Allamah Hunzai was forced to take up shepherding in order to sustain his family. He would later recall how he used to carry his herding-stick in one hand, and the Qur'an in the other, which he studied with great avidity, and began to develop original theological and hermeneutical positions over its injunctions.

Military life

'Allamah Hunzai was recruited into the Gilgit Scouts on 8 April 1939, aged 21. He recalls having become "habituated" to seeking knowledge as a result of nurturing the zeal he possessed therefor during his days as a shepherd,

It was during his service in the Gilgit Scouts that 'Allamah Hunzai began to compose poetry, As one of the world's 129 language isolates, Burushaski possesses unique sounds, grammar and syntax, and to account for these, 'Allamah Hunzai - whilst in his first year of service in the Gilgit Scouts - developed his own Burushaski script, using an Arabic base to which he added eight special letters and ten vowel symbols 'Allamah Hunzai jests at his misfortune in the absence of a photocopier in 1940, because the popularity of his poem within the Gilgit Scouts meant having to hand-write hundreds of copies of the poem upon request from his peers, who wished to take it home to their families.

'Allamah Hunzai resigned from the Gilgit Scouts on 1 September 1943, and joined the British Indian army in Srinagar on 5 October in the same year. Drawing on this injunction and others, 'Allamah Hunzai develops a monistic metaphysical framework wherein the absence of an ontological barrier between mind and matter offers a solution to the problem of causal interaction that plagues much of substance dualist philosophy, whilst still accounting for their difference with respect to properties, inasmuch as his framework posits one.

Teleology

'Allamah Hunzai's monistic metaphysical framework - but also posits an original exposition of the rational soul's annihilation, drawing on the recurring notion of a two-fold process of ontological return throughout the sayings of the Prophets. For 'Allamah Hunzai, it is this second annihilation that marks one's fana'<nowiki/> in and baqa with God.

Hermeneutics

Past Isma'ili hermeneutical works deal primarily with interpreting scriptural symbolism by appeal to the phenomena of the hierarchy in which the Isma'ili summons was ordered, known as the hudud al-din. Doubt was thus cast on the relevancy of this past corpus of exegesis following the 48th Isma'ili Imam's abolishment of this physical hierarchy. 'Allamah Hunzai's corpus of esoteric exegesis both extensively expands and saves the Isma'ili hermeneutical tradition from the charge of redundancy, by elucidating scriptural parables with respect to the phenomena in and between an individual's quadripartite soul, offering a deeper return (ta'wil) of scriptural symbolism in doing so.

Poetry

'Allamah Hunzai wrote the first known Burushaski poem in 1940 during his service in the Gilgit Scouts, which spanned a range of devotional and philosophical genres. In 1951, he began to compose poetry in Uighur, having mastered the language during his missionary work in Xinjiang. In 1961, 'Allamah Hunzai published his first poetry collection, entitled Nagmah-yi Israfil, which featured a selection of his Burushaski poems. The collection was telegrammed in the same year to the 49th Isma'ili Imam, Shah Karim al-Husayni, who, in his response, ascribed to 'Allamah Hunzai's collection the status of a "ginan book in the Burushaski language'. In 1980, a Latin-script transliteration of this Diwan was published, having been rendered by Professors Ettiene Tiffou and Yves Charles Morin of the University of Montréal, who had prior to this approached 'Allamah Hunzai for assistance with their research on the Burushaski language.

Renditions

Musical of renditions of 'Allamah Hunzai's poetry have amassed millions of views across the several streaming platforms to which they have been shared. Bayan's 2016 hit, Raz-i Fitna, is a rendition of an Urdu poem published in 'Allamah Hunzai's Guldastah-yi Irfan.

Honours

70px Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence), awarded by the President of Pakistan on 23 March 2001 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to literature.

International Recognition

Allama Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai received international recognition for his scholarly and spiritual contributions. He was included in the International Award of Recognition and was listed among the “5000 Personalities of the World” (Edition 6). This recognition acknowledged his work in discovering spiritual science and preserving cultural heritage, highlighting his influence beyond regional and national boundaries.

Acknowledgement by U.S. President Barack Obama

In December 2016, United States President Barack Obama sent a congratulatory letter to Allama Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary.

In the letter from the White House, President Obama expressed his pleasure in joining Hunzai’s family and admirers in wishing him a happy 100th birthday and noted that his scholarly work had the potential to broaden people’s vision in the years to come. Obama also acknowledged the courage and perseverance of Hunzai’s generation through historical challenges.