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24 Jumada al-Ula 144824 Jumada al-Ula 1448 in Pakistan24 Jumada al-Ula 1448 in IndiaMaghribMaghrib in IpswichMaghrib in Ipswich

Manqabat · 28 stanzas

Saz-e-Yak Zarra Nahin Faiz-e-Chaman Se Bekaar سازِ یک ذرّہ نہیں فیضِ چمن سے بیکار

by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib · for Wiladat of Imam Ali (a)

About this manqabat

Mirza Ghalib's first qasida in praise of Imam Ali (a), headed Manqabat-e-Haidari in his diwan. It opens with spring, whose bounty leaves nothing idle, and turns to the King for whose house Gabriel served as builder and whose dust of Najaf is the goal of the mystics; a second opening addresses Imam Ali (a) as the candle of spring. Written in Ghalib's early, highly Persianised style, it is among the hardest poems of his diwan; the English gives the plain sense of each couplet.

Source: Urdu text: Urdu Wikisource (public domain). Roman Urdu and English: prepared by the Centre.

The manqabat

Stanza 1

سازِ یک ذرّہ نہیں فیضِ چمن سے بیکار سایۂ لالۂ بےداغ سویداۓ بہار
Saz-e-yak zarra nahin faiz-e-chaman se bekaar Saaya-e-lala-e-bedagh suwaida-e-bahar

Through the bounty of the garden, not one speck's instrument lies idle;
The shadow of a tulip without its dark spot becomes the black core of spring's heart.

Stanza 2

مستئ بادِ صبا سے ہے بہ عرضِ سبزہ ریزۂ شیشۂ مے جوہرِ تیغِ کہسار
Masti-e-baad-e-saba se hai ba arz-e-sabza Reza-e-shisha-e-mai jauhar-e-tegh-e-kohsar

From the intoxication of the morning breeze, in the guise of green grass,
The watered steel of the mountain's sword is shards of a wine flask.

Stanza 3

سبز ہے جامِ زمرّد کی طرح داغِ پلنگ تازہ ہے ریشۂ نارنج صفت روۓ شرار
Sabz hai jaam-e-zumurrad ki tarah daagh-e-palang Taza hai resha-e-naranj sifat roo-e-sharar

The leopard's spots are green as an emerald cup;
The face of the spark is fresh as the fibres of an orange.

Stanza 4

مستئِ ابر سے گلچینِ طرب ہے حسرت کہ اس آغوش میں ممکن ہے دو عالم کا فِشار
Masti-e-abr se gulchin-e-tarab hai hasrat Ke is aaghosh mein mumkin hai do aalam ka fishar

From the intoxication of the clouds, even longing gathers the flowers of delight,
For in this embrace both worlds can be held close.

Stanza 5

کوہ و صحرا ہمہ معمورئِ شوقِ بلبل راہِ خوابیدہ ہوئی خندۂ گل سے بیدار
Koh-o-sehra hama mamoori-e-shauq-e-bulbul Raah-e-khwabida hui khanda-e-gul se bedar

Mountain and desert are all thronged with the nightingale's longing;
The sleeping road has woken at the laughter of the rose.

Stanza 6

سونپے ہے فیضِ ہوا صورتِ مژگانِ یتیم سر نوشتِ دو جہاں ابر بہ یک سطرِ غبار
Saunpe hai faiz-e-hawa surat-e-mizhgan-e-yateem Sar navisht-e-do jahan abr ba yak satr-e-ghubar

The bounty of the air makes the cloud entrust, as to an orphan's eyelashes,
The fate of both worlds to a single line of dust.

Stanza 7

کاٹ کر پھینکۓ ناخن جو باندازِ ہلال قوت نامیہ اس کو بھی نہ چھوڑے بیکار
Kaat kar phenkiye nakhun jo ba andaz-e-hilal Quwwat-e-namiya us ko bhi na chhore bekaar

If you clip a nail and throw it away, curved like the new moon,
The power of growth will not leave even that idle.

Stanza 8

کفِ ہر خاک بہ گردون شدہ قمری پرواز دامِ ہر کاغذِ آتش زدہ طاؤسِ شکار
Kaf-e-har khaak ba gardoon shuda qumri parwaz Daam-e-har kaghaz-e-atish zada taoos shikar

Every handful of dust tossed to the sky flies off like a turtle-dove;
Every scorched sheet of paper is a net that snares peacocks.

Stanza 9

مےکدے میں ہو اگر آرزوۓ گل چینی بھول جا یک قدحِ بادہ بہ طاقِ گلزار
Maikade mein ho agar aarzoo-e-gul chini Bhool ja yak qadah-e-bada ba taaq-e-gulzar

If in the tavern you long to gather flowers,
Leave a single cup of wine forgotten in a niche of the garden.

Stanza 10

موجِ گل ڈھونڈھ بہ خلوت کدۂ غنچۂ باغ گُم کرے گوشۂ مےخانہ میں گر تو دستار
Mauj-e-gul dhoondh ba khalwat kada-e-ghuncha-e-baagh Gum kare gosha-e-maikhana mein gar tu dastar

Look for the wave of the rose in the secret chamber of a garden bud
If you lose your turban in a corner of the tavern.

Stanza 11

کھینچے گر مانئ اندیشہ چمن کی تصویر سبزہ مثلِ خطِ نو خیز ہو خطِّ پرکار
Khenche gar Mani-e-andesha chaman ki tasveer Sabza misl-e-khatt-e-nau khez ho khatt-e-parkar

If the Mani of imagination should paint the garden,
The line of the compass would turn to green grass, like the first down on a young man's cheek.

Stanza 12

لعل سے کی ہے پۓ زمزمۂ مدحتِ شاہ طوطئِ سبزۂکہسار نے پیدا منقار
Laal se ki hai pa-e-zamzama-e-midhat-e-shah Tooti-e-sabza-e-kohsar ne paida minqar

Out of ruby, to sing the praises of the King,
The parrot of the mountain's greenery has grown a beak.

Stanza 13

وہ شہنشاہ کہ جس کی پۓ تعمیرِ سرا چشمِ جبریل ہوئی قالبِ خشتِ دیوار
Wo shahanshah ke jis ki pa-e-tameer-e-sara Chashm-e-Jibreel hui qalib-e-khisht-e-deewar

That King of kings, for the building of whose house
The eye of Gabriel became the mould for the bricks of the walls;

Stanza 14

فلک العرش ہجومِ خمِ دوشِ مزدور رشتۂ فیضِ ازل سازِ طنابِ معمار
Falak-ul-arsh hujoom-e-kham-e-dosh-e-mazdoor Rishta-e-faiz-e-azal saz-e-tanab-e-memar

The heaven of the Throne is but the bent shoulders of its labourers;
The thread of eternal grace is the master builder's measuring cord.

Stanza 15

سبزۂ نُہ چمن و یک خطِ پشتِ لبِ بام رفعتِ ہمّتِ صد عارف و یک اوجِ حصار
Sabza-e-nuh chaman-o-yak khatt-e-pusht-e-lab-e-baam Rifat-e-himmat-e-sad arif-o-yak auj-e-hisar

The green of the nine gardens of heaven is but one line of down above the lip of its roof;
The lofty resolve of a hundred mystics is but one height of its rampart.

Stanza 16

واں کی خاشاک سے حاصل ہو جسے یک پرِکاہ وہ رہے مِر وحۂ بالِ پری سےبیزار
Waan ki khashak se hasil ho jise yak par-e-kah Wo rahe mirwaha-e-baal-e-pari se bezaar

Whoever gains from the straw of that place a single blade,
Will ever disdain a fan made of a fairy's wings.

Stanza 17

خاکِ صحراۓ نجف جوہرِ سیرِ عُرفا چشمِ نقشِ قدم آئینۂ بختِ بیدار
Khaak-e-sehra-e-Najaf jauhar-e-sair-e-urafa Chashm-e-naqsh-e-qadam aaina-e-bakht-e-bedar

The dust of the desert of Najaf is the essence of the mystics' journeying;
The eye of a footprint is the mirror of a waking fortune.

Stanza 18

ذرّہ اس گرد کاخورشید کو آئینہ ناز گرد اُس دشت کی اُمّید کو احرامِ بہار
Zarra us gard ka khursheed ko aaina-e-naaz Gard us dasht ki ummeed ko ehram-e-bahar

A speck of that dust is a mirror of pride for the sun;
The dust of that desert is, for hope, the pilgrim's robe of spring.

Stanza 19

آفرینش کو ہے واں سے طلبِ مستئ ناز عرضِ خمیازۂ ایجاد ہے ہرموجِ غبار
Aafrinish ko hai waan se talab-e-masti-e-naaz Arz-e-khamyaza-e-ijad hai har mauj-e-ghubar

From there creation seeks the intoxication of grace;
Every wave of dust displays the yawning craving of creation.

Second opening مطلعِ ثانی

Stanza 20

فیض سے تیرے ہے اے شمعِ شبستانِ بہار دلِ پروانہ چراغاں، پرِ بلبل گلنار
Faiz se tere hai ae shama-e-shabistan-e-bahar Dil-e-parwana charaghan, par-e-bulbul gulnar

By your bounty, O candle of the chamber of spring,
The moth's heart is lit with festive lamps, and the nightingale's wing is red as the pomegranate flower.

Stanza 21

شکلِ طاؤس کرے آئینہ خانہ پرواز ذوق میں جلوے کے تیرے بہ ہواۓ دیدار
Shakl-e-taoos kare aaina khana parwaz Zauq mein jalwe ke tere ba hawa-e-deedar

The hall of mirrors would take wing like a peacock
In its delight in your splendour, longing to behold you.

Stanza 22

تیری اولاد کے غم سے ہے بروۓ گردوں سِلکِ اختر میں مہِ نو مژۂ گوہر بار
Teri aulad ke gham se hai ba roo-e-gardoon Silk-e-akhtar mein mah-e-nau mizha-e-gauhar baar

From grief for your children, upon the face of the sky
The new moon among the strings of stars is an eyelash shedding pearls.

Stanza 23

ہم عبادت کو، ترا نقشِ قدم مُہرِ نماز ہم ریاضت کو، ترے حوصلے سے استظہار
Hum ibadat ko, tera naqsh-e-qadam muhr-e-namaz Hum riyazat ko, tere hausle se istizhar

For our worship, your footprint is the tablet on which we bow in prayer;
For our discipline, we draw our strength from your fortitude.

Stanza 24

مدح میں تیری نہاں زمزمۂ نعتِ نبی جام سے تیرے عیاں بادۂ جوشِ اسرار
Madh mein teri nihan zamzama-e-naat-e-nabi Jaam se tere ayan bada-e-josh-e-asrar

Hidden in your praise is the song in praise of the Prophet;
From your cup the wine of seething mysteries shows plain.

Stanza 25

جوہرِ دستِ دعا آئینہ یعنی تاثیر یک طرف نازشِ مژگان و دگر سو غمِ خار
Jauhar-e-dast-e-dua aaina yani taseer Yak taraf nazish-e-mizhgan-o-digar soo gham-e-khaar

The grain of the hand raised in prayer is a mirror, that is, of its effect:
On one side the pride of eyelashes, on the other the grief of the thorn.

Stanza 26

مَردُمک سے ہو عزا خانۂ اقبالِ نگاہ خاکِ در کی ترے جو چشم نہ ہوآئینہ دار
Mardumak se ho aza khana-e-iqbal-e-nigah Khaak-e-dar ki tere jo chashm na ho aaina dar

Let its pupil make a house of mourning for the fortune of its sight,
That eye which does not hold up a mirror to the dust of your door.

Stanza 27

دشمنِ آلِ نبی کو بہ طرب خانۂ دہر عرضِ خمیازۂ سیلاب ہوطاقِ دیوار
Dushman-e-aal-e-nabi ko ba tarab khana-e-dahr Arz-e-khamyaza-e-sailab ho taaq-e-deewar

For the enemy of the Prophet's family, in the pleasure-house of the world,
May the niche in the wall gape like the jaws of a flood.

Stanza 28

دیدہ تا دل اسدآئینۂ یک پرتوِ شوق فیضِ معنی سے خطِ ساغرِ راقم سرشار
Deeda ta dil Asad aaina-e-yak partau-e-shauq Faiz-e-mani se khatt-e-saghar-e-raqim sarshar

Asad, from eye to heart I am a mirror of a single ray of longing;
By the bounty of meaning, the writer's cup is brimming to its line.

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