Jawab-e-Shikwa

I started out chronologically correct, with writing down the Shikwa before moving onto Jawab-e-Shikwah.  However, I thought about the dire time our beloved country is going through.  I thought about how the same land of Baba Bulleh Shah has been taken hostage by an army of thugs with their own warped sense of Islam.  How women and children are killed by hundreds with impunity at a Meena Bazaar in Peshawar.  How old army pensioners are murdered on a busy Mall Road in Pindi by the dozens.  And how, while all this is happening, our leaders are no where to be seen, except with their statements of consolation.

Pakistan is yet again at the all too familiar crossroads of “Nazuk morh,” as Shehzad Roy puts it.  The media is having the time of their lives covering it all. But we cannot blame the media. Yes, events are being sensationalized but these events are, in fact, occurring.

We are a nation of survivors, look at the Twenty-20 World Cup that we won this year (and my picture of dancing on mall road).  Okay, don’t look past that event – but you must acknowledge that we were indeed the “cornered tigers” once again and yet, once again, we came out on top, beating all odds, to the chagrin of the rest of the world.

Anyway, what has all this to do with Iqbal and his epic poems?  Absolutely nothing…for most of us.  But for some of us, it is a time to reflect and understand our history and to know our mistakes, to learn from people who are doing it right.  Instead of being envious, learning from them the same way they learnt from us to pull themselves from the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

Anyway, coming back to Iqbal, I am going to be copying his Jawab-e-Shikwah into Latin script and my undertanding/analysis of the 36 stanza poem first, before that of the Shikwa.  And the reason for that is it is important to hear what Allamah thought was wrong with the Ummah, why it had gone into a recession from a pinnacle which it achieved only years after the new religion was born.

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Jawab-e-Shikwa

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Dil say jo baat nikalti hay asar rakhti hay

Par nahin, taqat-e-parwaz magar rakhti hay

Qudsi alasal hay, raf’at pay nazar rakhti hay

khaak say uthti hay, gardooN pay guzar rakhti hay

Ishq tha fitnagar o sarkash o chalaak mira

AasmaN cheer gaya nala bay-baak mira

Tashrih/Explanation: Anytime someone speaks from their heart, it carries a lot of weight.  If you really mean something and ask God from the bottom of your heart, your dua (or complain/shikwa in this case) will surely reach Him.  Even though your prayer is without wings, it has the power to fly (taqat-e-parwaaz).  And because it is pure in its nature (Qudsi alasal), it can reach the highest heights (rafat).  Sure, the dua/shikwah was made by someone on the earth (khaak) but it was meant for people in the heavens (gardooN).

Iqbal’s complaint was full of love (a loose translation of Ishq, a word found in abundance in his poetry). And love is full of mischief and is head-strong, that is why his blatant complaint (nala baybaak) was able to go right through the heaven (AasmaN) and straight to God’s ears.

—

Peer-e-gardooN nay kaha sun kay, kahiN hay koi

Bolay saiyyaray, sar-e-arsh-e-bareeN hay koi

Chand kehta tha, ahl-e-zamiN hay koi

KehkashaN kehti thee, poshida yahiN hay koi

Kuch jo samjha meray shikway ko tau rizwaN samjha

Mujhay jannat say nikala hua insaaN samjha

(notice the rhyming: “kahiN hay koi,” “bareeN hay koi, ” “zamiN hay koi,” “yahiN hay koi” and before this, in first stanza: “asar rakhti hay,” “magar rakhti hay,” “nazar rakhti hay,” “guzar rakhti hay”)

Tashrih/Explanation:  Now that Iqbal’s complaint was heard in the heavens, all the entities there are confused.  First, it is the old heaven itself (Peer-e-gardooN) says that the person complaining is here nearby.  The Planets (saiyyaray) say that that someone is on the heaven itself (sar-e-arsh-e-bareeN).  But the Moon says that no, the person is actually a resider of Earth (ahl-e-zamiN).  Galaxy (KehkashaN) chimes in by saying that the person is in hiding close by.

It is in fact the Guard of the Heaven (RizwaN) itself that knows my identity. He says that the complainer is the man who was kicked out of the heaven.  This is not one particular man, but mankind.  He is alluding to Adam – a man – who was kicked out of the heaven.  To RizwaN, it seems logical that only Man would have something to complain about as he was thrust from arsh-e-bareeN to become an ahl-e-zamiN.

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Thee farishtoN ko bhi hayrat kay yeh aawaz hay kya

Arsh waloN pay bhi khulta nahiN yeh raaz hay kya

Ta sar-e-arsh bhi inssan ki tug-o-taaz hay kya?

Aa gaiee khak ki chutki ko bhi parwaaz hay kya?

Ghafil Aadaab say s’kkaan-e-zamiN kaisay haiN

Shokh o gustaakh yeh pasti kay m’keeN kaisay haiN

Tashrih/Explanation: The angels (farishtay) are surprised (hayrat) about the voice in their midst. The reason for their bewilderment is what the voice is carrying, which is a complaint directed at God.  Angels in heaven (Arsh) only sing hymns of God. They are busy praising God, it is complete mystery (raaz) to them that someone would raise their voice in dissension.

How is it possible, they wonder, that man, who lives on earth, can, through his multiple tries (tug-o-taaz) can have his voice be heard in the heavens.  Iqbal continues with his theme of the disparity between heaven and earth, Arsh and Zameen in the next verse when he says how is it possible that man, who was made from a pinch of dirt/khaak, can fly to heavens.

Man’s audacity is troubling.  An analogy can be made of someone from low class and from a poor neighborhood who, through some stroke of luck, makes his way into the high society, a place that should otherwise be out of this wretched person’s reach.  And once there, he has the effrontery to speak ill to the esteemed host.

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Is qadar shokh kay Allah say bhi burham hay

Tha jo masjood-e-malayek yeh wahi Adam hay?

Alam-e-kaif hay, dana-e-ramooz-e-kum hay

HaaN magar a’jaz kay asraar say na mehram hay

Naaz hay taqat-guftaar pay insaanoN ko

Baat karnay ka saliqa nahiN naadaanoN ko

Tashrih/Explanation: This stanza too continues with the theme of the boorish nature of man who has the nerve to complain to the Almighty.  Angels cannot fathom how is it that something that is so small can direct their ire to something so big and exalted as the God.  Angels call man shokh, which is a term that is used sometimes for a child who does not know better or someone who is bold and outrageous. It is not entirely a derogatory term.

Man is so out of place, so loud that he is upset (barhum) with God.  Is it the same [son of] Adam in front of whom we were asked to kneel (masjood-e-malayek) by God?  True, man is a learned being that knows about the quality (kaif) or health of things; he knows about the mysteries or quantities (kum) of things, but he sure is unaware of the mystery of humbleness or is severely lacking in his manners.

It is a sorry state of affairs that man is so proud (naaz) of his ability to communicate (taqat-guftaar) but the manner in which the communication should be conducted – polite and full of decorum – is something that is missing.

—

Aaee awaaz, ghum angaiz hay afsaana tera

Ashk-e-betaab say lubraiz hay paymana tera

AasmaaN geer hua nara-e-mastaana tera

Kis qadar shokh zabaN hay dil-e-deewana tera

Shukr shikway ko kea husn adaa say tu nay

Hum sukhan kar dea bandoN ko Khuda say tu nay

Tashrih/Explanation: From here onwards, God will speak directly to man.  He starts out by taking a different stance than the angels.  God is more sympathetic to man’s travail in trying hard and being full of so much remorse that his heart’s voice was able to traverse up to the heavens.

A voice from heaven is heard (which belongs to God) that your story, your litany of complains is indeed quite tragic (ghum angaiz).  Your eyes are full of tears.  Iqbal likens the eyes to a goblet (paymana) that is full to the brim (lubraiz) with tears that are ready to spill (Ashk-e-betaab).  It is a very apt and beautiful analogy.

Your unbridled clarion call (naala mastaana) was able to reach the heavens (aasmaN geer).  Your unrelenting heart was able to speak quite candidly and outrageously (shoq).  God appreciates the manner in which man was able to present his case. He understand that it is a complaint but he likes the way in which the poet, the man, was able to weave his case.  What was unappealing and revolting to the angels is not so unpleasant toward whom the complaint is directed (Shukr shikway ko kea husn adaa say tu nay).  Because of his andaaz-e-bayaaN, his style of communication, God acknowledges that the poet was able to get man to talk directly to God.

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(continuing after 3 years of the last post)

Hum tau Ma’il ba karam haiN, Koi Saa’il hi nahiN
Rah dikhlaiN kisay, koi rah raway manzil hi nahiN
Tarbiyat aam tau hay, Johar-e-qabil hi nahiN
Jis say tameer ho Aadam ki ye wo gil hi nahiN
Koi qabil ho tau hum shaan-e-Kaiee daitay haiN
Dhoondnay waloN ko dunya bhi naiee daitay haiN

—
Hath bayzor haiN, alhaad say dil khugar haiN
Ummati ba’is-e-ruwaiee paighambar haiN
But sh
To be continued