Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan: Face of culture vs face of reality

By Dr. Uxi Mufti

Writer: Muhammad Saeed Chishti Nizami

What does it mean to truly know a civilization? Is it enough to preserve its songs, stories, traditions and historical monuments, or must we also discover the wisdom and deeper truths that give these cultural expressions their meaning? This question lies at the heart of Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan, a thought-provoking work by Dr. Uxi Mufti, whose lifelong engagement with Pakistan’s cultural heritage appears to have led him towards a more profound exploration of human existence and spiritual reality.

Some people study culture; others write about it. A rare few devote their lives to rescuing the fading memories of a civilization and preserving for future generations what time might otherwise erase. Dr. Uxi Mufti belongs to this rare category. His journey, however, has not remained confined to the preservation of cultural traditions. It has gradually evolved into a deeper quest for identity, meaning and spiritual truth.

The son of the distinguished Urdu writer and thinker Mumtaz Mufti, Dr. Uxi Mufti grew up in an intellectual environment where literature, ideas, art and human experience were part of everyday life. Yet he did not simply inherit his father’s intellectual legacy; he developed a distinctive path of his own. His studies in psychology, followed by a PhD in Western Philosophy from Charles University, Prague, equipped him with the intellectual tools to examine his own society and civilization from a wider perspective.

Paradoxically, his encounter with Western thought appears to have brought him closer to the cultural and spiritual roots of his own land. He came to recognize that the identity of a people is preserved not merely in monuments, official records or written histories, but also in folk songs, legends, crafts, customs, languages, beliefs and the collective memories passed from one generation to the next.

This understanding shaped much of his subsequent life. After returning to Pakistan, Dr. Uxi Mufti joined Pakistan Television and became associated with programmes such as Lok Tamasha, bringing the richness of folk culture into the national consciousness. But his vision extended far beyond television. Through years of sustained effort, he became closely associated with the development of Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, and the National Heritage Museum in Islamabad. As Chief Executive of Lok Virsa until 2002, he helped establish the institution as an important Centre for preserving and presenting Pakistan’s diverse cultural traditions. His work was therefore much more than an academic exercise. It was an act of cultural preservation—a determination to ensure that the voices of ordinary people, their stories, music, crafts, beliefs and traditions would not disappear beneath the pressures of modernity. Yet beneath this lifelong engagement with the visible expressions of culture, there seems to have been a deeper search unfolding.

From Cultural Heritage to Spiritual Inquiry: Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan offers an intriguing glimpse into this deeper dimension of Dr. Uxi Mufti’s intellectual journey. The book was kindly sent to me by the author himself. I approached it not merely as a literary work, but as a window into the reflections of a man who has devoted much of his life to discovering the soul of a civilization.

After reading it, one is left with the impression that his quest has moved beyond preserving the visible remnants of the past. He now seeks to explore the wisdom concealed within that heritage and to consider how it might speak to the concerns of the present generation. The title itself is intriguing. Mukh Wekhan literally means to see the face. Yet the face suggested here seems to signify something far beyond outward appearance. It points towards the reality behind appearances, the truth that remains hidden beneath the visible form.

Seen in this light, the title provides an illuminating perspective on Dr. Uxi Mufti’s life and work. For decades, he searched for the face of a civilization in its songs, stories, crafts, customs, folk traditions and Sufi poetry. In this book, that search appears to take another turn: from the face of culture to the face of reality itself.  Drawing upon the spiritual and intellectual traditions associated with Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahu, Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani and Ibn-e-Arabi, the book touches upon questions that have occupied the human mind for centuries: the nature of existence, the mystery of the self, the relationship between the Creator and creation, and the enduring search for meaning.  What makes the book particularly appealing is the manner in which these profound ideas are approached. Dr. Uxi Mufti does not overwhelm the reader with unnecessary philosophical terminology or intellectual complexity. Instead, he seeks to bring a vast spiritual tradition within the reach of the ordinary reader. There is wisdom expressed through simplicity, and this may well be one of the book’s greatest strengths.

Why This Search Matters Today:  The relevance of such a search becomes even more apparent in our own age. We live in a world overflowing with information. A smartphone can put an extraordinary amount of knowledge at our fingertips within seconds, while artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the ways in which we acquire, process and use information. Yet the abundance of information has not necessarily made humanity wiser. The fundamental questions of human existence remain remarkably unchanged. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What is the purpose of life? And, ultimately, what should we become?

These are not merely philosophical questions reserved for scholars, mystics or intellectuals. They are questions that emerge in moments of uncertainty, personal reflection and profound human experience. No matter how advanced our technology becomes, we must still confront them for ourselves. Information can tell us what something is. Knowledge can help us understand how it works. Wisdom, however, asks more demanding questions: Why does it matter? What does it mean? And how should it change the way we live?

It is at this point that Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan becomes particularly relevant to the modern reader, especially the younger generation. Young people today do not necessarily suffer from a shortage of information. What they often need is direction, meaning, inner balance and a sense of purpose. Technology can make life more convenient, but convenience alone cannot provide fulfilment. Connectivity can bring people closer in a physical or digital sense, yet it cannot guarantee inner harmony. And access to knowledge, however extensive, does not automatically lead to self-understanding.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply to know more, but to understand more deeply. It is to discover a relationship between what we know, what we believe and how we live. This is where the spiritual traditions explored in the book may offer a valuable point of reflection.

A Continuing Intellectual Legacy: The book can also be read within the wider intellectual and spiritual tradition of Mumtaz Mufti, particularly his celebrated works Labbaik and Talash. Yet Dr. Uxi Mufti does not merely repeat his father’s journey. He carries the conversation forward in his own distinctive voice, shaped by decades of engagement with philosophy, psychology, culture and the living traditions of the subcontinent.

In this respect, the book represents an important continuation of a family’s intellectual legacy—a legacy in which the search for meaning has remained a central concern. At the same time, it is very much Dr. Uxi Mufti’s own journey, reflecting his particular experiences, intellectual interests and sustained engagement with the cultural and spiritual inheritance of this region.

Perhaps the most revealing way to understand Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan is to see it as a continuation of the author’s lifelong movement from the outer to the inner.

For decades, he worked to preserve the outer heritage of our civilization: its music, crafts, stories, customs and traditions. These are not merely remnants of a bygone age; they are living expressions of a people’s collective memory and identity. Yet cultural heritage acquires an even deeper significance when we begin to explore the ideas, values and spiritual insights that animate it.

The outer form preserves the memory; the inner meaning gives it life.

This may be the larger significance of Dr. Uxi Mufti’s intellectual journey. The preservation of culture and the search for spiritual truth need not be separate endeavors. One can lead towards the other. By listening carefully to the voices of the past, we may discover questions that remain urgently relevant to the present.

The Face Beyond the Face:  Ultimately, Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan is more than a book about Sufism, cultural history or philosophical reflection. It invites the reader to pause—to step away, if only briefly, from the noise, haste and distractions of contemporary life and turn towards the more enduring questions of existence.  Its title, in this sense, acquires a special resonance. To see the face is not necessarily to understand what lies behind it. The deeper task is to look beyond appearances, to question our assumptions and to seek the meaning concealed within what we take for granted.

Perhaps this is also the journey that connects Dr. Uxi Mufti’s cultural work with his spiritual inquiry. The man who spent decades seeking the face of a civilization now invites us to look more deeply at the reality that gives that civilization its meaning.  And this brings us back to the question with which we began: what does it mean to truly know a civilization?

Perhaps its purpose lies in something far greater than simply preserving our archaeological heritage, documenting our traditions, or celebrating our past. Perhaps it lies in uncovering the wisdom embedded within that heritage, reflecting on the truths it sought to convey, and discovering how those truths might continue to shape and enrich our lives today. In an age of overwhelming information, scattered attention, and an ever-accelerating pace of life, where the space for contemplation grows increasingly scarce, such an invitation is not merely timely; it is essential. For a civilization does not live on simply because its heritage endures. It lives on when its wisdom continues to illuminate the present, deepen our understanding of ourselves, and inspire us to imagine a more meaningful future.

Perhaps, then, this is the deeper journey of Mein Aaya Mukh Wekhan: a journey beyond the face we see toward the truth we seek; beyond the information we gather toward the wisdom we so desperately need; and beyond the world as it appears toward a more profound understanding of what it truly means to be human.