Just let all the Urdu poets worth their salt try their hand at replicating these 2 naats:- 1. Lam Ya'te Nazeeroka fee nazarin.......... 2. Woh sarware kishware risalat........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WARzhOmaCcA&feature=related words can't do justice to this poem. we just have to say: gooNj gooNj uTThe haiN naghmaat e raza se baustaaN kyuN na ho kis phool ki mid'hat meiN waa minqaar hai
While I have cursorily glanced at sharh of bang-e-dara, bal-e-Jibril etc., none of these commentaries are very profound or voluminous. Sharh of Hadaiq-e-Bakhshish by Mufti Faiz Ahmad Owaisi, on the other hand, runs in 12 volumes. Other commentaries span over 1,000 pages and still fail to do complete justice to the AlaHazrat's kalaam. Sharh Salaam-e-Raza is a big book on its own. Commentary on each Qaseeda (Qaseeda Nur, Qaseeda Miraj etc.) itself would fill a big volume. As sidi abu Hasan pointed, even someone (like me) with limited comprehension of refined Urdu can enjoy AlaHazrat's naatiya kalaam.
faiz is nowhere close to alahazrat's level in his awesome command of the many languages. iqbal and ghalib are wizards, but their expertise is only with urdu and persian. (granted, iqbal also knew and wrote in english and german but that has nothing to do with urdu poetry) in fact, alahazrat's poetry is superior to ghalib (and iqbal as well) for the very fact that he is equally at home with urdu, arabic and farsi, in addition to hindi. both ghalib and iqbal (though they smartly mask this) had only a cursory* knowledge of arabic. anybody who is well acquainted with the works of all three writers (alahazrat, ghalib and iqbal) will not fail to notice this. hali acknowledged this in his yadgar-e-ghalib: "even though ghalib did not know arabic, his natural facility with languages enabled him to use (arabic) phrases and idioms with such alacrity that no one could tell he didn't know arabic". ghalib was a master of complex expression which prompted a contemporary to say:agar apna kaha tum aap hi samjhe to kya samjhe maza kahney ka jab hai ik kahe aur duusra samjhe, kalaam-e-mir samjhe aur zabaan-e-meerza samjhe, magar in ka kahaa yeh aap jaaneN ya khudaa jaane ghalib took pride in it and intentionally wrote complex verse. the famous literary critic and author kc-kanda, writes citing the first verse of ghalib's diwan (naqsh faryadi hai kis ki shokhi e tahreer ka..): "In fact, the whole of this ghazal seems to have been painstakingly written, and it requires for its comprehension a fair degree of intellectual sharpness and a mature literary sensibility." to understand alahazrat's verse, one also requires a sound understanding of hadith, fiqh, tafsir, sirah and arabic poetry. that is the beauty of alahazrat's verse - a common man can enjoy it as he finds it accessible, but yet, delights a connoisseur who recognises the many aspects of the verse and the history or background of why it is being said. ----- what do you mean by 'overall'? regardless, the term 'greatest' is subjective and relative. my point is that alahazrat's poetry is among the finest and from my perspective, greatest. from a literary perspective, technically, poetry is about prosody and genre, words and idioms; from the pov of taste, it would be how words are woven delicately and intricately; the word play, the context behind a particular phrase, the history behind a word or the background for a line - the ability to bring many meanings into one phrase or line, how complex or impossibly simple the tapestry is, and the imagery the poet paints in words such that you can hear colours speak and sense the fragrance of the sounds. in other words, the greatness of the poet is in his ability to move you to tears or ecstasy; to reach inside your soul, touch it, stroke it, prod it, grab it or vigorously shake it. alahazrat wrote every kind of poetry, except that he had only one theme - the love and praise of the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. ----- ghalib on the other hand (as he chided someone) was a yak-fana himself: he only wrote poetry, some letters and a couple of books. alahazrat was a versatile genius who wrote fatawa like poetry. and was immensely creative in scores of things. indeed, he did not opt for an art career - wa lillahi'l Hamd: sana-e-sarkar hai wazifah qabul-e-sarkar hai tamanna na sha`yiri ki hawas na parwah, rawi thi kya kayse qafiye the! ---- where ghalib and iqbal debased themselves for worldly princes and rulers, alahazrat did not allow such things to dirty even his blessed shoes. karuN mad'H ahl e duwal raza? paRey is bala meiN meri bala main gada huN apne karim ka, mera deen paarah e naaN nahiN. he was a leader of men and he kicked aside anything that would interfere with his principles. ---- wa billahi't tawfiq. ---- * major biographies list that iqbal served as a reader of arabic in lahore college. so this claim is moot, but it is true that arabic is largely absent from his works.
yeh, i translated it as part of a longer project i was working on... about ala hazrat alayhirahmah i would say he is definitely the greatest naatiyya poet of urdu but to say overall urdu poet--i am not so sure. i would rank both Ghalib and Iqbal above him as overall poets for sure and possibly Faiz as well...
jazakAllahu khayran for this beautiful naat. can you please also share the audio recited by mushtaq qadri sahab.
jazakAllahu khayran, nj! i didn't know you had translated it. alahazrat has got to be the best poet urdu has had. as for mushtaq qadri, he was amazing!
it is one of his masterpieces! a long time ago I translated it. i present that here: 786/92 Whose splendour is being glimpsed? What’s this light? What does the amazed onlooker see here? Ask whatever you will for you shall receive your heart’s desire! Here none are refused, nor are you asked why you have come! Advice can seem harsh o’ adviser, don’t be so bitter o’ Ego O’ soul drowned in the poison of your sins, does anything taste sweet to you? We are the Prophet’s; he is Yours; thus we too are Yours- What greater intermediary to You is there than this? You created us in his nation and sent him as a mercy Do not then say, ‘what claim on mercy do you have?’ For the sake of Your Beloved’s modesty, do not take me to task Forgive me unreservedly—why put such a sinner to test? O’ ascetic I am his sinful slave and he is my Intercessor What do you think? Isn’t that enough for my salvation? When I am helpless during the Questioning about my deeds Friends, how can I describe to you my sole hope for that time? Alas! If only on hearing my shrieks my Prophet does say: “Go and see what is this noise, this commotion? Who is this terrified person? Upon whom has calamity befallen? In what difficulty is he? What is his sorrow? To whom does he call out, ‘By God! Hear my plea’? Why is he restless? What is this distressed wailing? His pain bears heavily upon me indeed! Someone go ask him: ‘what has befallen you?’” Thus the angels do respectfully reply: “It is a sinner; He is being asked: ‘Tell us, what have you earned in the world below?’ He is facing torment; the Record of his deeds is laid bare before him He is terrified about how Almighty God shall judge him And beseeches you thus: ‘O’ King of Messengers! Your slave is helpless! Master, what is taking you so long? Soon I shall be inflicted with a terrible punishment but If you come to my aid then what worries do I have, what fear?’” Upon hearing this petition of mine that Sea of Compassion surged forth And in this way commanded the angels: “Wait! What is this? Who is it that you wish to throw into the hellfire? Let me come and see for myself What this uproar is all about!” Upon hearing his voice I shall cry out instinctively with joy And ardently exclaim: ‘Now I need not worry any more! See! Here comes my succour, the Saviour of Mankind! At his command the dead are quickened—this is nothing for him!’ Then my liege-lord shall cover me with his holy robe and remark: ‘Aside o’ angels! What claims do you have over him?’ Letting me go the angels shall reply: ‘Master, we are mere servants Who are we to dare go against your august command?’ Seeing this scene a great cry shall go up on the Plain of Judgement: “Bravo! See that? How wonderfully has he saved his slave from destruction!” Riza, at your melodies the songbirds make an offering of their souls O’ nightingale of the garden of Medina, how lovely is your song! (translated by aj naqshbandi)
a brother told me about this na'at of alahazrat and i listened to it from the late mushtaq qadri rahimahullah and was taken aback. it has become one of my favourite's. the way alahazrat has captured the scene of qiyamah is something only he can do. part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKKSflzZRzM#t=9m15s part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pt5f0XrXPs
