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Biography
Imam-Din Shahbaz (1845-1921) was born in a Shia Muslim family at Zafarwaal, Punjab, in Pakistan. A gifted poet and a convert from Islam, Shahbaz was baptized at sixteen and reached the ranks of the first Hindustani Presbyterian Pastor (1886), first secretary of the Presbyterian Synod, and the first local Moderator of the U.P. Synod (1901-02). Rooted in Reformed tradition, the U.P church deeply desires to publish metrical Psalms to sing in the vernacular. In 1882-91, the Presbytery commissioned the Psalm Committee to prepare the first version in Western metrical Psalmody. In July 1880, after winning a poetry competition in Noor-e-Afshan, the magazine Rev. Gordon requested Shahbaz to start the Psalms project.
During his pastoral ministry in Sialkot, Shahbaz translated the Psalms into poetic form in Urdu, Persian, and English from 1891 to 1908. An attempt was made to translate it into Urdu first, but it failed because most of the converted people were Punjabi. The committee decided on it Punjabi lyrical poetry. All 150 psalms were translated and lyrically composed by Rev. Dr. Imam Din Shahbaz, while A Hindu musician named Radha Kishan composed the raga based musical setting of this Punjabi Psalter.1 Punjabi Psalms resonate as Hindu bhajans, Sikh Guru Granth Bani, and Muslim Sufi poetic style, the devotional and meditational singing commonly used in India. When eventually compared with the Hebrew, Shahbaz’s work was found to be excellent, even after a century, with no errors. The Punjabi Zabor (Psalms) book is called the “Bible of the Illiterate” in Pakistan. Until the publication of the Punjabi Psalter, Shahbaz’s eyesight was working well.
He has already finished three projects:
One Urdu and two Punjabi versifications of translated Psalms in lyrical poetry. When he started the Urdu translation of Nazm-Al-Mazamir, he lost his eyesight during the project. Shahbaz laid the foundation for the first hymn by translating the Psalms into 405 parts, all using the same meter and lyrics in the simple cadence of rote memory. The musical
composition in indigenous ragas (musical scales) gave voice to vernacular singing. Shahbaz’s work focused on the internal and spiritual nourishment of the first-generation, newly converted Christians rather than most of their neighbors’ external, missional engagement. However, Shahbaz’s Shia Muslim background created a shared expression of cultural music and linguistic bridge to the Muslim society in Pakistan.Main Sources of Information
Primary Persian Punjabi Zabor: Desi Raga tey Punjabi Boli Which, 1906-09Punjabi Zabur: Desi Raga Vich Jehre Ki, 1st edition, Banaras: Medical Hall Press, 1908,
Nazm-Al-Mazamir in Urdu Lyrical Poetry, 1912
The Zaboor corpus of 150 psalms lyrically translated into Punjabi and musically composed in Indian ragas in 1908. Punjabi Zabor–Desi Raga Wich is the translated book in North India and Pakistan. In 1890, the
United Presbyterian Church’s (U.S.) mission board formed a Psalm Committee to translate the book of Psalms into a lyrical ethnic Punjabi language and musically compose them in the Indian music system of ragas. The Punjabi translations were formed into 405 parts using the same meter (Dadra: with six beats, 123 456; and
Kehrwa: with eight beats, 1234 1234).Contribution by: Rev. Dr. Eric Sarwar (Ph.D.) Founding President, Tehillim School of Church Music & Worship, Pakistan https://tehillimworshipschool.org/
PUNJABI ZABUR: IMAM DIN SHAHBAZ
