the beauty of kanzu'l iman

Discussion in 'Bibliography' started by Aqdas, Aug 28, 2023.

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  1. Aqdas

    Aqdas Staff Member

    Chaman should read this.
     
  2. Unbeknown

    Unbeknown Senior Moderator

    muHit o markaz meiN farq mushkil, rahey na faasil khuTuT e waSil
    kamaneN Hayrat meiN sar jhukaye ajeeb chakkar meiN daayirey the


    the master has left us speechless.

    Who can compete with him when even the well-known old-hands have abdicated their perches to him:

    aye Raza, wasaf-e-rukh e paak sunaane ke liye
    nazr dete hain chaman murgh e gazal khaan ham ko
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2018
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  3. abu Hasan

    abu Hasan Administrator

    disclaimer: the juxtaposition of the lines below is only in the linguistic aspect (i.e. beautiful/complex imagery to convey a point) because there can be no comparison of ghalib's poetry with alahazrat's as far as content is concerned.

    ghalib:
    aagahi daam e shanidaaN jis qadar chaahe bichhaay
    mudda`a anqaa hai apne aalam e taqreer kaa


    theme: it is not easy to understand what i say.



    =======================================
    alahazrat:

    khirad se kahdo ke sar jhuka le, gumaN se guzrey guzarne waale
    paDhey haiN yaaN khud jihat ko laaley, kisey bataye khidar gaye the



    or a tougher one to send your head in a tailspin:

    muHit o markaz meiN farq mushkil, rahey na faasil khuTuT e waSil
    kamaneN Hayrat meiN sar jhukaye ajeeb chakkar meiN daayirey the


    another:

    aysa guma de un ki wila meiN khuda hameN
    dhunda kare par apni khabar ko khabar na ho


    or

    arsh ki aql dang hai charkh meiN aasman hai
    jaan e muraad ab kidhar haay tera makaan hai
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2018
  4. abu Hasan

    abu Hasan Administrator

    yes.

    wrong deduction. theoretically, there could be a better one, wallahu a`alam, but in my opinion and knowledge i have not seen a better one in urdu. further, even though it is my opinion, it is not merely based on an emotion.

    see above for the clarification. yet, i don't think anyone can better it in our age - because it is only downhill; people go from better to worse and the earlier scholars are better than the later ones.

    in terms of language itself (urdu), people do not have the same quality of urdu as yesteryears. urdu spoken or written is quite impoverished in our time; or atleast deteriorated. i suppose that is because, the richness of urdu in the past was on account of scholars/poets knowing arabic and farsi; which is lamentably lacking in our time. the urdu scholar had the choice of using a hindustani (urdu/hindi) word or if required borrow from the extensive farsi and arabic lexicon.

    ghalib's verses are outstanding because of the rich vocabulary, as much as they are for the imagery, turn of phrase and poetic brilliance. and biased as i am, alaHazrat is no less.

    aagahi daam e shanidaaN jis qadar chaahe bichaay
    mudda`a anqaa hai apne aalam e taqreer kaa

    hasrat e lazzat e aazar rahi jaati hai
    jaadah e raah e wafa juz dam e shamshir nahiN

    paa e afgaar pe jab se tujhe rahm aaya hai
    khaar e rah ko terey ham, mihr e giya kahtey haiN

    ranj e naumeedi e jaaved gawaara rahiyo
    khush huN gar naalaa zabuni kash e ta'seer nahiN

    ishrat e paaraa e dil zakhm e tamanna khaana
    lazzat e reesh e jigar gharq e namakdaaN hona

    dashna e ghamza jaaN sitaN, naavak e naaz e bepanaah
    teraa hi aks e rukh sahi, saamane tere aaye kyuN

    ay taaza waaridan e bisaat e hawaa e dil
    zinhaar gar tumheN hawas e naa o nosh hai

    dil e hasrat zadah thaa mayidah e lazzat e dard
    kaam yaaroN ka baqadr e lab O dandaN niklaa

    sar gashtagi meiN aalam e hasti se yaas hai
    taskiN ko de naveed ke marney ki aas hai

    maiN aur hazz e wasl? khuda saaz baat hai
    jaaN nazr deni bhuul gayaa iztiraab meiN

    dil hawa e khiraam e naaz se phir
    mahsharistan e beqarari hai

    bas ke huN ghalib aseeri meiN bhi aatish zaar e paa
    muu e aatish deedah hai halqaa meri zanjeer kaa

    ghalib hameN na ch'heD ke phir josh e ashk se
    baithe haiN hum tahayya e tufaaN kiye huwe
    ----
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2007
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  5. Aqdas

    Aqdas Staff Member

    did you mean urdu instead of arabic?

    also, from your sentence above, it is deduced that there cannot be a better translation in urdu than kanzu'l iman.

    why not?
     
  6. Aqdas

    Aqdas Staff Member

    alaHazrat's translation of the qur'an kanz al-iman is the most beautiful explanatory translation - in terms of urdu diction and its tafsiresque rendering of arabic.

    highlights of alaHazrat's tarjamah:

    1. about 90% of the translation is straighforward.

    2. the translation is the finest that can be rendered in arabic

    3. verses that are difficult/perplexing are not translated verbatim; instead an explanation substituted- that is about 10% of the verses

    4. the translation attempts to indicate the tones used; for example 'qul' is a command of Allah ta'ala to RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam: alaHazrat translates it as 'tum farmaO' compared to all others who said: 'aap kahdeejiye.' aap is a word used to address others with respect, or deference - usually when addressing elders; alaHazrat shows by his translation that Allah sub'hanahu wa ta'ala COMMANDS Rasul sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam.

    thereby destroying the myth perpetuated by an ignoble group that accuses him to have 'elevated' RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam to be 'almost' equal to Allah.

    5. polysemous words are avoided where one of the meanings might be detrimental to our basic belief; for example: 'fadh'kuruni adh'kurukum' [2:152] is translated: 'tum mujhe yaad karo, main tum'hara charcha karunga' / remember me and i shall mention you. because 'yaad' is used as rememberance and it also has an undertone of forgetfulness; that is if someone 'remembers' you, it could be possible that they could have forgotten. so it is 'remembrance' for the slave and 'mention' for the Lord. it is absolutely right lexically and also makes a statement of belief.

    personally, this blessed translation was my most effective guide in learning arabic. my teacher - may Allah preserve him - used to teach me in this manner and advised me to keep to it, after he left. [he had come from the north] doing this was a multiple treat; i learnt a great deal of arabic. i understood how the same word could be used in different tenses and contexts with different meanings; and at the same time, read the tafsir of the qur'an. today, alHamdulillah i can understand the arabic of the qur'an but needless to say, when i am in doubt kanzu'l iman is the first place i look for clarification.

    anything after kanzu'l iman looks lacklustre to me.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2023
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