[Reader-list] Two Iqbals & One Faiz

[kirdar singh]

Dear Shuddha/others
I am probably being an andhon mein kana (a deaf among the blind) while
discussing Urdu poetry on Sarai, but I can imagine that the real
Urdu-wallahs would be quite amused to see what sort of absurd
interpretations go on here (when the discussants are not fully aware
of the real meanings/contexts of the words and phrases). Though I am
not saying that the non-Urdu wallahs have no right to interprete
things in their own unconventional way. But it would help if we got to
know the language and its history a little more before stretching
"karega-karegi" beyond its limits.
Of course Urdu-Hindi grammer is a bit awkward in deciding the gender
of things/concepts - like this khalqat, khalq-e khuda, bheed, is alway
feminine, while hujoom and majma is masculine, and no one knows why.
But by limiting ourselves to a connection between Faiz and Sikh
slogans, are we assuming that these are the only examples of Raaj
karega and karegi. Such words/phrases are being used in poetry since
the time of Vali Dakkani and Quli Qutb Shah. I have even heard folk
lyrics for Rani of Jhansi where she would surely "Raaj karegi". But
why force all of your 3000 subscribers to such non-issues.

I think people on Sarai, especially Shuddha, have this art of taking
the most mundane of ideas and spicing them up with jargon and
presenting it as the most profound statment on the earth. Even the
experts are left speechless. And when things come from Stanbul, or
while packing the bags for the morning flight, things acquire even
higher levels of scholarship.

cheers

Kirdar



On 9/10/07, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Dear Ramaswamy,
>
> Many thanks for your thoughtful response, I learnt a lot from your
> nuanced reading of Faiz. Just to throw a not so well wrought thought,
> which occurs to me, mainly through an aural resonance of a fragment of
> the text, and to add to your rich mix of interpretation -
>
> could it be that the  phrase 'raaj karay gee khalq e khudaa' could also
> be read as an sort of riposte to the slogan 'raaj karega khalsa' (the
> pure shall prevail - a Sikh motto ) which had travelled a certain
> distance from being a declaration of the will of the oppressed (those
> originally rallying to the Khalsa/Sikh revolt against Imperial Mughal
> rule) to being a statement of secterian power (a slogan of Sikh
> political power and statehood,and used especially during 1947 by rioting
> Sikh mobs as they attacked Muslim villages and settlements)
>
> Also, if we entertain this thought, then, the transformation of the
> robustly masculine 'karega' (masculine verb ending) to the feminine
> 'karegee' (feminine verb ending) becomes another thing to think about.
>
> This is not said seriously, but whimsically, albeit with some
> appreciation of the need for the impure to prevail.
>
> regards
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
> hpp at vsnl.com wrote:
>
> > Dear Friends
> >
> > I read with interest Yasir's posts on Iqbal and Faiz.
> >
> > "...and the absence of religious metaphor as in faiz's 'raaj karay gee khalq e khudaa' or as hard as that is to translate.
> >
> > raaj karay gee : will rule
> > khalq e khuda : lit. creation of god - but also meaning the laity,
> > crowd, people, awaam
> >
> > or, utthay ga analhaq kaa naara
> > the cry 'i am truth/god' will rise above (mansur hallaj was crucified
> > for this utterance)"
> >
> > I was struck by the term "khalq e khuda" used by Faiz. From the little I know,
> > and that too accreted in the strangest of ways - this has great resonance
> > in Sufi consciousness. To me this directly recalls "khidmat e khalq" - service of
> > people ("one who loves my people is beloved to me"), which is also the secret
> > 100th name of Allah, knowing which gives immense power to the knower,
> > "knowing" here meaning an existential state, of being. Thus, the person
> > whose life is lived entirely for others, possesses great powers, blessed to
> > him by God whose work he is fulfilling. There is also I believe a Koranic
> > link to this conception, if I'm not mistaken, in the "Cave" chapter. Of course
> > the term "khalq e khuda" can also be seen as a (sacred?!) political principle / ideal,
> > where the people are sovreign. Thus, religion and God has been cast aside, the world
> > liberated from their thrall and tyranny, and in its place the conviction
> > that humanity is foremost, and human needs, human ideals, human progress, human
> > freedom, human happiness are pre-eminent, sacred.
> >