by ASGHAR VASANWALA
Dear friends,
In Urdu poetry, there is impatience and yearning for the instant gratification. Life is very short…. just few days. Again, in this little period, youth is infinitesimally short, just momentary. If this prime time is lost, our lives remain unfulfilled. Then, old age, sickness, and diseases take over, our bodies start crumbling, and death ends the life. Yet, we are told to forgo the pleasure of the moment for a doubtful distant future, for receiving great rewards. For example if a person stays pious and withholds his young libido, a better reward in form of Hooris is waiting in Qayamat or the Day of Judgment. The great Urdu poet Dagh Dehlavi (1831–1905) has written beautiful Ghazals. He laughs at the idea of waiting. He says:
HooroN ka intezar kaun kare hashr tak?
MiTTi ki bhii mile to rava hai shabab mein
Who wants to wait until dooms day for the promised perfect body Hoori?
Instead, if I get during my prime youth, I will happily accept the one created from dirt,
Mitti=dirt; According to Islam, the 1st man, Adam was created from dirt. Therefore, we human beings are product of dirt. By emphasizing “MiTT ki bhi” the poet has made verse very lively. Hashr= the end of the world, The Day of Judgment, The day of reckoning, The Armageddon. Rava=acceptable shabab =youth
Asghar Vasanwala can be reached at asgharfv@gmail.com