Bridging Faiths: Pandit Mustafa Arif’s Mission of Harmony Through Sacred Texts
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Copy Edited By Adam Rizvi, The India Observer, TIO: Seated comfortably on a modest sofa in his middle-class Versova flat, 75-year-old Pandit Mustafa Arif gently turns the pages of the Bhagavad Gita. His seasoned fingers pause at a shlok where Lord Krishna urges Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra:
“You have the right to perform your duty, but not to the fruits of your actions.”
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Moments later, peering through thick glasses perched on his nose, Arif recites a couplet by the poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal:
“Amal se zindagi banti hai jannat bhi jahanum bhi / Yeh khaki apni fitrat mein na noori hai na naari hai”
(By deeds, we shape our lives, be it heaven or hell. In our mortal nature lies neither angelic light nor demonic fire.)
“Look at the striking similarity between Krishna’s message and Iqbal’s verse — both stress the importance of action, of deeds,” Arif says. A scholar of both Hindu and Islamic scriptures, he has spent a lifetime exploring the spiritual and philosophical intersections between the two faiths.
Arif is currently engaged in a unique and profound project: translating all 700 Sanskrit shlokas of the Gita into 786 verses of simple Hindi. His goal is to bring the essence of this ancient text to the common reader — free of esoteric language and complex symbolism, and written from the heart.
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Last year, he recited six of these Hindi verses during Gita Jayanti celebrations hosted by the Dr. Shiv Mangal Singh Suman Shodh Pratishthan in Ratlam. The response from scholars and Sanskrit experts was overwhelmingly positive, encouraging him to continue his endeavor.
Why 786 verses? “786 is a sacred number in Islam — many Muslims begin their writing with it as a substitute for Bismillah. My intention is to create a bridge, not a wall, between communities,” Arif explains. Deeply disturbed by the increasing divide between Hindus and Muslims in India, he believes that sacred wisdom should be accessible to all, not confined by identity.
Famed bhajan singer Pandit Rajiv Sharma and his brothers — the celebrated Sharma Bandhu — are planning to set Arif’s work, titled Gita Bharati, to music in a six-verse format.
This project follows his earlier spiritual accomplishment — a poetic Hindi interpretation of the Quran titled Ek Hi Hai Sarva Shaktiman (The Almighty Is One), consisting of 10,000 verses. For Arif, the Gita translation is a natural next step.
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“I came to the Gita after immersing myself in the Quran. The Gita, over 5,000 years old, carries universal values that transcend boundaries,” says Arif, who was born in Ratlam and studied Archaeology and Ancient Indian History in Ujjain — his early karmabhoomi.
A former journalist who once edited the BJP’s publication Sadhbhavna Sandesh, Arif moved to Delhi in 2000 during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as Prime Minister. Vajpayee, who affectionately addressed him as “Pandit,” inspired him to adopt the title. Arif later wrote 131 poems in Vajpayee’s honor, compiled in a book titled Dharti Par Atal Mahan.
On December 20, 2000, Vajpayee unveiled Arif’s first poetry collection, Yeh Dil Mange More, at the Parliament House — a moment of great pride.
Among his many notable achievements is his appointment to the administrative committee of Ujjain’s revered Mahakaleshwar Temple — a rare honor for a Muslim. Although he no longer holds the position, he remains a lifetime advisor to the Bal Hanuman Temple in Ujjain.
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Arif has received numerous accolades, including recognition from the Vishwa Hindi Academy and various social organizations, for promoting communal harmony and national integration.
Now dividing his time between Mumbai and Ujjain, Pandit Mustafa Arif remains steadfast in his mission: to dismantle misunderstandings and build spiritual unity.
“We are all creations of the same Divine,” he says simply.
Source: The Times of India
Curated by Humra Kidwai
