Down The Lane of Imagination:English Translation of Majzoob’s poem Kootha(کوڅه)

Here is an English Translation of a poem of the renowned Marwat Pashtu poet Abdul Rahim Majzoob where he describes the
realm of imagination and dreams in a spellbinding way:(Image of the original pashtu poem has also been given for which I am thankful to Asif Saleem):

Down The Lane of Imagination:English Translation of Majzoob’s poem Kootha(کوڅه):

Some are the lanes of this world,
Every nook of them desolate,
Strewn in them everywhere,
Dumps of garbage and rubble.
There is a lane made up of dreams and imagination,
Dreams and imagination of some beauties,
Charming are its scenes,
With flowers blooming everywhere,
Soul-stirring orchards,
Someone has planted here and there.
Like a soothing night,
Fetching deep silence, it stretches about,
Intoxicating the weary being, it sprawls about languidly,
Permeates the whole being.
Leaping off the flower, it glides away with the zephyr,
Raring to leap out,
It rushes ahead, turning into a waft of fragrance.
Similar a pageant of colors are my dreams about you,
Serene and tranquil is your lane,
Full of bliss, your lane matches heaven,
Your lane is bride, wreathed in flowers,
Awash with the scent of her garland of cloves ,
It swaying, swinging to and fro.
Nestled far up there,in the heavens,
In the clime of dreams,
In a far niche of the galaxy.

( Rendered into English by Aslam Mir on 29.5.2020 from Majzoob’s book “ Dar-Ul-Awham. I am thankful to my friend Syed-ul-Ameen for explanation of some Pashtu words and for the photo of Majzoob sahib to Zahid Amin.)

Majzoob's Hymn to God: “ I failed to recognize You( My God)!"(ما تۀ نۀ وپېژندلې )

Abdur Rahim Majzoob is a great Pashtu poet.
A living legend whose poetry is characterized by depth of thought, erudition, rich repertoire of local as well as classical lore and motifs. His exquisite diction, embedded in local dialects, spellbinds the reader.

Belonging to the Southern District Lakki Marwat of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa(Pakistan), he has blazed new trails in Pashtu poetry
which has immensely enriched the Pashtu literature.Detailed information about his life can be accessed at adabzar.blogspot.com and facebook group MAJZOB.
Here I am posting an English rendering of his HAMD(Hymn) in his book Dar-ul-Awham, titled as MA ta na wo pezhadaley( I failed to recognize You( My God!).
The poem describes in a beautiful symbolic way the theme,much cherished by Sufi poets, that God is manifested in various phenomenons but we fail to perceive
him becuase we are blinkered by our various worldly desires and engagements.

Majzoob's Hymn to God: “ I failed to recognize You( My God)!"(ما تۀ نۀ وپېژندلې)( English Rendering)

It was early evening; I could hear some distant shouts,
I thought this might be a beggar, knocking at some doors,
He might be begging for some scraps of bread,
Meanwhile my mind wandered off to some other things,
I failed to recognize You( My God) !
Lounging in my bed, I heard the bolt of the door rattled,
I brushed it off as some violent gust of wind,
A pitch dark night, dark clouds looming,
The moment I shut my eyes, sleep charmed me away,
Again I failed to recognize You!
At midnight some patter (on the roof) made me awake,
I thought it might be some rain, it might be drizzling,
The rain and wind made me fear for my crops of wheat and gram,
Amidst these apprehensions I dropped off to sleep,
I failed to recognize You !
Up in the rafters of the roof was a nest of the swallows,
In succession they were chirping out a variety of sounds and twitters,
What sweet , lilting music of those souls,
The day was breaking, birds were rising from sleep,
Again I failed to recognize You!
After sunrise I set out to eke out my living,
Spent all my day occupied in my daily jobs,
You must have crossed my path many a time,
But I was occupied with various errands, and these errands, You see, seldom end,
I failed to recognize You!
(Rendered Into English by Aslam Mir on 27.5.2020)

( Image: Courtesy: Zahid Amin-google group: Majzob, Syed-ul-Amin,Shabir Marwat)

Rahmatullah Dard: English Translation of one of his ghazals:

Belonging to District Lakki Marwat Of Khyber Pukhtnkhwa, Pakistan, Prof. Rahmatullah Dard(1937-2016) was a leading Pashtu poet. Although the late poet taught Urdu literature in different colleges of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,
all his poetry is in Pashto and he did very little in terms of Urdu poetry. He retired as the principal of the Government Post Graduate College in Bannu.

His literary efforts spread over several decades and almost all of his work was published in the form of a Kuliyat. It was known as Kuliyat-e-Dard and was compiled by Umar Daraz Marwat.His first poetry book was Ghazal, while the second one was Dard. In total, he published seven ghazal books. He had a very simple, lucid style, embedded in the simple lore and life of Lakki Marwat.( For his obituary visit https://tribune.com.pk/story/1173767/legendary-poet-rahmatullah-dard-passes-away/)

Following is my translation of one of his beautiful and insightful ghazals,my favorite one:(originally shared by me on my facebook wall on July 28 2018):

A Ghazal by Dard:( English Translation by Aslam Mir)

A spring of illumination is embedded in my being!
God forbid! The conscience gets snuffed out in my being !
Surging up to my lips,it turned into an ode,
A sacred document was stashed away in my being!
The moment a thought of sin I contemplate,
Somebody starts wailing in my being!
Neither my ego,nor my lusts could ensnare me,
My conscience is my preceptor in my being!
Every night they demand an account of the day,
The angels Munkar and Nakeer monitor my being!
Coveting neither crown,nor throne,
O Dard! a friar resides in my being!

Surah Al-Nur(24)- Summary and a thematic study:

A large part of Surah An-Nur (24) deals with the norms of gender interaction and with
certain ethical rules to be observed in the context of these relationship and interactions.
Explaining verse 01 of Surah An-Nur(24) Muhammad Asad(1990-1920) writes:
”It would seem that the special stress on Allah’s having laid down this sūrah “in plain terms” is connected with the gravity of the injunctions spelt out in the sequence: in other words, it implies a solemn warning against any attempt at widening or re-defining those injunctions by means of deductions, inferences, or any other considerations unconnected with the plain wording of the Qur’ān.” (Asad,1984).

In this regard Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872—1953AD) writes:” It must not be thought that the checking of sex offences or of minor improprieties, that relate to sex or privacy, are matters that do not affect spiritual life in the highest degree. These matters are intimately connected with spiritual teaching such as Allah has sent down in this Surah. The emphasis is on "We": these things are not mere matters of convenience, but Allah has ordained them for our observance in life (Yusaf Ali,413 A.H).

In the following a brief outline of Surah An-Nur (24) has been spelled out:-
1. Verses 1-3 Lay down definite legal injunctions for the punishment of those involved in illicit sexual intercourse.
2. Verses 4-5 spell out the punishment of slander, especially those who accuse chaste women of adultery/fornication.
3. Verses 6-10 deal with the cases when one of the spouses accuses his/her partner of adultery.
4. Verses 11-26 comment on the mishap of IFK (Monstrous lie/slander), the lessons the Muslim community must learn from it and weak points and gaps the nascent Muslim community need to plug and rectify.
5. Verses 27-29 spell out the etiquette and decorum while visiting other people’s homes. The norms of privacy have been drawn up.
6. Verses 30-31 enjoin upon the believers, both men and women, to guard their glances and observe modesty while interacting with one another. Believing women have been instructed not to display their charms and beauty in a suggestive manner and the parameters have been delineated where they can display their charms.
7. Verses 32-34 enjoin the fledgling Muslim community to arrange for the marriage of their bachelors, free among them as well the slaves. In this context, the Muslim community has been urged to help ameliorate the plight of slaves and help in their emancipation Those people who force their slave girls into whoredom have been condemned
8. Verses 35-40 illustrate conduct and acts of the true believers and hypocrites/unbelievers in two parables of light and utter darkness.
9. Verse 41 to 46 draw attention to various attributes of Allah in the light of His manifest signs in the universe and the creatures around us.
10. Verses 47-57 highlight some distinctive features of hypocrites and true believers. The alacrity of true believers in complying with the directives of Allah and his Prophet (peace be upon him) and shirking of the hypocrites in this regard has been underlined.
11. As a following-up to verses 27-29, the verses 58-59 lay down norms of privacy of the bedrooms in a Muslim household. Minors and servants of the house have been instructed to visit the bedrooms of their parents/masters in the specific times.
12. As a follow-up to verses 30-31, in verse 60 old women of the Muslim community has been exempted of certain curbs and strictures regarding display of charms and parts of body.
13. As a follow-up to verses 27-29, in verse 61 certain directives have been given to make sure the social mobility of Muslim community and avoidance of all unnecessary formalities in their mutual relations.
14. Verses 62-64 spell out certain instructions regarding the cohesion of Muslim community and certain quarters of the Muslim community are called upon to observe the etiquette of their conduct towards the prophet (peace be upon him).

Harf (Study Circle)- First Session:

On September 25th2019 حرف“Harf”(a Peshawar based study-circle)

embarked upon its intellectual journey by holding its first session at the Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar. The main aims of Harf(حرف) are to inculcate reading habits in both young and old and to make them tolerant towards different ideologies, philosophies, perspectives, opinions, worldviews and beliefs. The session was started by Mr. Aslam Mir with some verses from Quran, surah Ha mim(surah n0. 41) verses 33 to 36 and their translation and explanation, and later he recited a poem of Mavlana Jalal udin Rumi from Divan e shams Tabriz(Ghazl no.436) .Mr., Ibrahim Mir, a student of MS Management, presented a detailed review of a novel The Architect‘s Apprentice by Elif Shafak. Mr. Raja Kashif, MS Civil Engineering, reviewed the book Tazkia –e-Nafs(purification of the soul) by Amin Ahsan Islahi in which he covered most of the important aspects of the book. Sanaullah, A student of ImSciences, spoke about the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert kiyosaki and briefed the audience about the mindset of rich and poor people toward asset creation. Muhtad ullah khan, a student of BSc Economics in IMsciences, Peshawar is an author of three self- published novelettes, briefed the audience about his upcoming novelette “An Emotional Fallacy” Mr. Sikandar Tangi, assistant professor at the Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar ended the session with his detailed review of Paul Collier’s book The Bottom Billion. The session was attended by Mr. Tariq (Lecturer in PS), Prof. Sultan Rahim, Arshad Ali (lecturer in PS), Prof. Hasan Mustafa and students of the institute. Photography of the session was done by Tanver Malik.

Ghani Khan- Hymn(ثنا ) to God!

Pashtu philosopher poet Ghani Khan has been one of my favourite poets. While reading his poetry I sometimes try to translate him into English for better assimilation of the the beauty and depth of his poetry:
The poem given below,which I have tried to render into English, is second poem in his kuliyat(collections of poetry). It has been sung by Sardar Ali Takkar in his inimitable voice:
Following is my attempt to render this poem into English:


A Hymn:(ثنا)

Dark night of yours brings sometimes a torrent of sorrows,
Sometimes disguised as bar-tender and candle,
brings Khayyam and lyre!
Sometimes it turns into pitch darkness, sweeping everything into oblivion.
Sometimes it brings pageants of colours and raptures,
sometimes brings the sweetheart with her peals.
Sometimes submerged and restless it turns into an ocean of sobs.
Sometimes it changes into a mansion of colors,
bringing raptures and ecstasy.
All wild passions of mine is a serene glance of yours,
This Ocean of my beauty is just a drop from your rhapsody!

( Translated into English by Aslam Mir-13 August,2018)

The Alchemy of Love- Love turning copper into gold:

Saadi,Hamza Baba and Rahman Baba: The other day I posted the following couplet of Saadi(1210-1292) from one of his Ghazals at my facebook group Persian Class Peshawar with annotations and English and Urdu Translations, some forum members chimed in with beautiful relevant couplets of some other poets of Pashtu:The relevant couplets are given(with my English Translations) after the Saadi,s couplet and its explanation:
گویند روی سرخ تو سعدی چه زرد کرد
اکسیر عشق بر مسم افتاد و زر شدم
وہ کہتے ہیں ( وہ پوچھتے ہیں ) سعدی! کس چیز نے تیرے سرخ چہرے کو زرد کردیا ؟
( میں جواب دیتا ہوں )' عشق (کی کیمیا) کا اکسیر میرے مس (تانبے ) پر پڑگیا اور میں سونا بن گیا
They ask/they say,' What has turned your red face into a pale one O, Saadi?
( I reply)" The elixir of (the alchemy) of love befell my copper and turned it into GOLD
١: گویند : وہ کہتے ہیں ، وہ پوچھتے ہیںThey say,They ask ،٢:مِس:ایک معدنی جوہر کا نام جس کے برتن وغیرہ بنائے جاتے ہیں ، تانبا copper، مسم :میرا مس-مجھ جیسے مس My copper -٣:: افتاد : گر گیا ،پڑ گیا -٤: شدم : میں بن گیا - میں ہوگیا Was put, touched, befell, ( Translations: Aslam Mir)

Our valued forum member Hamyun Masood sb interjected with a beautiful couplet of Pashtu poet Hamza Baba(1907-1994):
اغيار مې رنګ ته ګوري، زېړ او سور، او شين او تور
دا چارې تل په ما کوې رنګرېزې سترګې ستا حمزہ بابا
( My rivals(in love) always peer ( and sneer) at my countenance, which intermittently changes into pale and red, and again into blue and black,, always play this sort of havoc with me your dyer/artist like `eyes ( Paraphrased into English by Aslam mir)
Another valued member MOhammad Ayub chipped in with this couplet of Rahmam Baba(1653-1706) which has amazing resemblance to above-cited couplet of Saadi:
چے ئے زٙر کو زیڑ رخسار زما دٙ خاورو عاشقی نہ شوہ پہ باب زما کیمیا شوہ
(Turning my pale dusty cheeks into gold, my love has become an alchemy for me.)