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musalmaaN bana diya-chandr bhan kaifi dehlavi

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For word meanings and explanatory discussion in English click on the tabs marked “Roman” or “Notes”.

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Recitation

  • اُردو
  • देवनागरी
  • Roman
  • Notes

    • مُسلماں  بنا  دیا  ۔  چندر  بھان  کیفیؔ  دہلوی

    ۱

    نیرنگیِ  مآل  نے  حیراں  بنا  دیا

    اِنساں  کو  خاک،  خاک  کو  اِنساں  بنا  دیا

    ۲

    ہے  وسعتِ  خیال  میں  نظّارۂ  جمال

    سارے  جہاں  کو  کوچۂ  جاناں  بنا  دیا

    ۳

    بختِ  سیہ  سے  ہے  مرے  ظلمت  میں  آفتاب

    صبحِ  وطن  کو  شامِ  غریباں  بنا  دیا

    ۴

    تھی  کیا  فنا  کے  رنگ  سے  کلیوں  کو  بیکلی

    موجِ  نسیم  نے  گلِ  خنداں  بنا  دیا

    ۵

    انساں  کی  دو  جہان  میں  مِٹّی  خراب  تھی

    دو  عشق  کو  دعا  اُسے  اِنساں  بنا  دیا

    ۶

    دی  ہے  جمالِ  یار  نے  ہر  شئے  کو  منزِلت

    ذرّے  کو  آفتابِ  درخشاں  بنا  دیا

    ۷

    کیفیؔ  ہے  ایک  بات  خدا  کی  نگاہ  میں

    کافر  بنا  دیا  کہ  مُسلماں  بنا  دیا

    ۸

    مہنگی  شراب  ہوگئی  کیفیؔ  نے  چھوڑ  دی

    کافر  کو  مُفلسی  نے  مُسلماں  بنا  دیا

    मुसलमां बना दिया – चन्द्र भान कैफ़ी देहलवी

    १

    नैरंगी-ए मा’आल ने हैरां बना दिया

    इंसां को ख़ाक, ख़ाक को इंसां बना दिया

    २

    है वुस’अत-ए ख़याल में नज़्ज़ारा-ए जमाल

    सारे जहां को कूचा-ए जानां बना दिया

    ३

    बख़्त-ए सियह से है मेरे है ज़ुल्मत मैं आफ़्ताब

    सुबह-ए वतन को शाम-ए ग़रीबां बना दिया

    ४

    थी क्या फ़ना के रंग से कलियों को बेकली

    मौज-ए नसीम ने गुल-ए ख़न्दां बना दिया

    ५

    इन्सां की दो जहान में मिट्टी ख़राब थी

    दो इश्क़ को दुआ इसे इन्सां बना दिया

    ६

    दी है जमाल-ए यार ने हर शय को मंज़िलत

    ज़र्रौं को आफ़्ताब-ए दरख़्शां बना दिया

    ७

    कैफ़ी है एक बात ख़ुदा की निगाह में

    काफ़ेर बना दिया के मुसलमां बना दिया

    ८

    महंगी शराब हो गई कैफ़ी ने छोड़ दी

    काफ़ेर को मुफ़्लिसी ने मुसलमां बना दिया

     

    Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. munshi chandr bhaan kaifi dehlavi (????-1941). He taught faarsi and urdu and was editor of a bi-weekly magazine called ‘hamaari zabaan’. Much of his work was lost. One of his shaagird, sheesh chandr taalib dehlavi, collected and published it ten years after his death. He wrote Ghazal in classical style on classical themes but also wrote many nationalistic nazm. He has composed a beautiful tribute to Ghalib and a few Ghazal in using popular radeef of Ghalib. This one has very nice twists in several ash’aar.

    1
    nairaNgi1-e ma’aal2 ne hairaaN3 banaa diyaa
    insaaN ko Khaak4, Khaak ko insaaN banaa diyaa    1.magic, deception, fickleness 2.end result 3.bewildered 4.clay, dust
    This is about the fickleness of creation and the unpredictability of life. It is said that humans were made of clay and it is a common expression that when they die they go back to being dust. The poet is bewildered at the fickleness of the result, this cycle of dust to human and human to dust.
    2
    hai vus’at1-e Khayaal2 meN nazzara3-e jamaal4
    saaray jahaaN5 ko koocha6-e janaaN7 banaa diyaa    1.expanse, vastness 2.thought, imagination 3.sighting, appearance 4.beauty, glory 5.world 6.street 7.beloved
    In the vastness of thought/imagination, beauty/glory appears before me, turning the entire world into the alley of the beloved. The poet speaks of the transformative power of thought and imagination. vus’at-e Khayaal
    3
    baKht1-e siyah2 se hai mer’e zulmat3 meN aftaab4
    sub’h-e vatan5 ko shaam-e GhariibaaN6 banaa diyaa    1.fate 2.dark 3.darkness 4.sun 5.homeland 6.exile, grief
    Because of my dark fate, the sun is covered in darkness. It (my dark fate) has changed the dawn of the homeland into the night of exile/grief. Here sun symbolizes hope, knowledge and progress while darkness symbolizes ignorance, fear and decline.
    4
    thii kyaa fanaa1 ke raNg2 se kaliyoN3 ko bekali4
    mauj5-e nasiim6 ne gul-e KhandaaN7 banaa diyaa    1.annihilation 2.colour, style, mode 3.buds 4.restlessness, eagerness 5.gust 6.morning breeze 7.smiling
    It is said that the morning breeze blows and tickles sleeping buds to bloom into flowers. Soon after they bloom, they decay, their petals fall off and they are ‘annihilated’. The poet wonders … were the buds eager for the mode of annihilation that the gust of the morning breeze turned them into smiling (blooming) flowers? Eagerness of ‘fanaa’ is a highly valued sufiyaana concept.
    5
    insaaN ki do jahaan meN miTTi1 Kharaab thi
    do ishhq ko dua, usay insaaN banaa diyaa     1.used for basic nature, character
    The prospects for human nature were not very good either here or in the hereafter, material or spiritual world. It was love that changed clay into humans. Thus, love is the essence of being human.
    6
    dii hai jamaal1-e yaar2 ne har sha’e3 ko manzilat4
    zarr’e5 ko aaftaab6-e daraKhshaaN7 banaa diyaa     1.beauty, glory 2.friend, beloved, divine 3.commodity, thing 4.status 5.particles/grains of sand/dust 6.sun 7.brilliant, shining
    Sunshine reflects off grains of dust which then appear brilliant/shining. Thus, the beauty of god confers a (high) status to every (lowly) thing, just like the sun makes every every grain of sand shine brilliantly.
    7
    kaifi1 hai aek baat Khuda ki nigaah2 meN
    kaafir3 banaa diyaa keh musalmaaN banaa diyaa    1.pen-name of the poet 2.eyes, sight 3.non-believer
    This is a sarcastic statement. O kaifi, there is something unique about the glance of god. With one glance, he can make one a believer and the other a non-believer. There is an implication that one is blessed with salvation and the other is condemned. Thus, the making of believer and non-believer is sarcastically presented as totally arbitrary.
    8
    maheNgi1 sharaab ho ga’ii kaifi2 ne chhoR di
    kaafir3 ko muflisi4 ne musalmaaN banaa diyaa     1.expensive, pricey 2.pen-name of the poet 3.non-believer 4.poverty, indigence
    This is a rather humorous she’r. The defining characteristic of being musalmaan is abstaining from wine. The poet, kaifi, used to enjoy wine, therefore is regarded as non-believer/kaafir. But then wine becomes expensive and he can no longer afford it and has to give it up. Thus, indigence has forced the non-believer to give up wine and in effect become musalmaan.

    munshi chandr bhaan kaifi dehlavi (????-1941).  He taught faarsi and urdu and was editor of a bi-weekly magazine called ‘hamaari zabaan’.  Much of his work was lost.  One of his shaagird, sheesh chandr taalib dehlavi, collected and published it ten years after his death.  He wrote Ghazal in classical style on classical themes but also wrote many nationalistic nazm.  He has composed a beautiful tribute to Ghalib and a few Ghazal in using popular radeef of Ghalib.  This one has very nice twists in several ash’aar.

    1
    nairaNgi1-e ma’aal2 ne hairaaN3 banaa diyaa
    insaaN ko Khaak4, Khaak ko insaaN banaa diyaa

    1.magic, deception, fickleness 2.end result 3.bewildered 4.clay, dust

    This is about the fickleness of creation and the unpredictability of life.  It is said that humans were made of clay and it is a common expression that when they die they go back to being dust.  The poet is bewildered at the fickleness of the result, this cycle of dust to human and human to dust.

    2
    hai vus’at1-e Khayaal2 meN nazzara3-e jamaal4
    saaray jahaaN5 ko koocha6-e janaaN7 banaa diyaa

    1.expanse, vastness 2.thought, imagination 3.sighting, appearance 4.beauty, glory 5.world 6.street 7.beloved

    In the vastness of thought/imagination, beauty/glory appears before me, turning the entire world into the alley of the beloved.  The poet speaks of the transformative power of thought and imagination. vus’at-e Khayaal” (the vastness of thought) allows the poet to see beauty everywhere, turning the whole world into a metaphorical street where the beloved resides. This reflects the poet’s romantic worldview, where the beloved becomes the center of everything, remembering that this could be the divine beloved.

    3
    baKht1-e siyah2 se hai mer’e zulmat3 meN aftaab4
    sub’h-e vatan5 ko shaam-e GhariibaaN6 banaa diyaa

    1.fate 2.dark 3.darkness 4.sun 5.homeland 6.exile, grief

    Because of my dark fate, the sun is covered in darkness.  It (my dark fate) has changed the dawn of the homeland into the night of exile/grief.  Here sun symbolizes hope, knowledge and progress while darkness symbolizes ignorance, fear and decline.

    4
    thii kyaa fanaa1 ke raNg2 se kaliyoN3 ko bekali4
    mauj5-e nasiim6 ne gul-e KhandaaN7 banaa diyaa

    1.annihilation 2.colour, style, mode 3.buds 4.restlessness, eagerness 5.gust 6.morning breeze 7.smiling

    It is said that the morning breeze blows and tickles sleeping buds to bloom into flowers.  Soon after they bloom, they decay, their petals fall off and they are ‘annihilated’.  The poet wonders … were the buds eager for the mode of annihilation that the gust of the morning breeze turned them into smiling (blooming) flowers?  Eagerness of ‘fanaa’ is a highly valued sufiyaana concept.

    5
    insaaN ki do jahaan meN miTTi1 Kharaab thi
    do ishhq ko dua, usay insaaN banaa diyaa

    1.used for basic nature, character

    The prospects for human nature were not very good either here or in the hereafter, material or spiritual world.  It was love that changed clay into humans.  Thus, love is the essence of being human.

    6
    dii hai jamaal1-e yaar2 ne har sha’e3 ko manzilat4
    zarr’e5 ko aaftaab6-e daraKhshaaN7 banaa diyaa

    1.beauty, glory 2.friend, beloved, divine 3.commodity, thing 4.status 5.particles/grains of sand/dust 6.sun 7.brilliant, shining

    Sunshine reflects off grains of dust which then appear brilliant/shining.  Thus, the beauty of god confers a (high) status to every (lowly) thing, just like the sun makes every every grain of sand shine brilliantly.

    7
    kaifi1 hai aek baat Khuda ki nigaah2 meN
    kaafir3 banaa diyaa keh musalmaaN banaa diyaa

    1.pen-name of the poet 2.eyes, sight 3.non-believer

    This is a sarcastic statement.  O kaifi, there is something unique about the glance of god.  With one glance, he can make one a believer and the other a non-believer.  There is an implication that one is blessed with salvation and the other is condemned.  Thus, the making of believer and non-believer is sarcastically presented as totally arbitrary.

    8
    maheNgi1 sharaab ho ga’ii kaifi2 ne chhoR di
    kaafir3 ko muflisi4 ne musalmaaN banaa diyaa

    1.expensive, pricey 2.pen-name of the poet 3.non-believer 4.poverty, indigence

    This is a rather humorous she’r.  The defining characteristic of being musalmaan is abstaining from wine.  The poet, kaifi, used to enjoy wine, therefore is regarded as non-believer/kaafir.  But then wine becomes expensive and he can no longer afford it and has to give it up.  Thus, indigence has forced the non-believer to give up wine and in effect become musalmaan.

    The post musalmaaN bana diya-chandr bhan kaifi dehlavi appeared first on UrduShahkar.

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