Amir Khusrau - a case of mistaken atttribution of couplets?

[RC]

I had recently, on a thread on my wall in FB, posted what I thought to be Hazrat Amir Khusrau's couplet in response to various Persian couplets shared by acquaintances there. The couplet in question was:

<quote: RC>
az sar-e-baaleen-e-man barKhez, ai naadaaN tabeeb
dardmand-e-'ishq raa daaroo ba.juz deedaar neest

[Khusrau]
</quote: RC>

My memory of this couplet was jogged by a couplet someone shared with me, penned by Khwaja Nazeeri, which was:

rooye nikoo mu'allijah-e 'umr-e kooteh ast
een nusKhah az bayaaz-e maseeha navishteh.am
[Khwaja Nazeeri]

To my reply on this, I got a response by a well-read, retired gentleman from PK Abdullateef Chinioti sahab, which I quote in full, as follows:

<quote: AC>
Janab Rajiv Chakarvarti Saahab se yeh anparh faqeer arz guzaarta hai mandarja e baala bait jisko aapne sirf Khusrau likh kar mansoob farmaaya hai aslan Nasir Khusrau Isfahani ka hai! Barr e Sagheer ke muta'addid afraad is bait ko aur iski munsalik ghazal ko (Mat'la ~ "Ae keh goyi heich mushkil chun firaq e yaar neist! Gar umeed e wasl baashad hamchunan dushwaar neist!") Hazarat Amir Khusrau Laachin Dehlavi R.A. ki kahi hui jaante hain! Buhat saalon ki mehnat aur safar e Iran o UK o USA aur imdaad e daanishwaraan e barr e sagheer Hind o Pak se aur az nazar e khud mat'aala e makhtoota o matb'oua dawaween e Ameer Khusro mein na yeh ghazal dikhi faqeer ko aur na woh mashhoor ghazal "Namidaanam che manzil bood shabjaaye keh man boodam! Baharsu raqs e bismil bood shabjaaye keh man boodam!" hi nazar aayi! Albatta yeh donon ghazalein alaltarteeb matb'oua Diwan e Nasir Khusrau Isfahani mein (Danishgaah Tehraan, Saltykov - Shechedrin Public Library St Petersburg Russia mein maujood hain!
</quote: AC>

----------

I am just sharing this comment here in case some members may be interested in the finding of the couplet and the Ghazal in the "Deevaan-e-Nasir Khusrau Isfahani" and not in Hazrat Ameer Khusrau's works. Further more, Chinioti sahab also says he found the Ghazal: "na mee daanam che manzil bood... " in Nasir Khusrau's deevaan in St. Petersburg! Another eye-opener for me, personally. To be completely honest, the name of Nasir Khusrau Isfahani was new to me, but then again, I admit I my lack of familiarity with Persian poets, classical or modern.

---
I await comments, rebuttals, confirmations, bricks, bats, stones ... or whatever members here have to "offer"

Regards,
RC

PS: I almost forgot -- I recently also got feedback from someone that the couplet I thought to be Ameer Khusrau's:

agar firdaus bar.rooye zameen ast
hameen ast -o- hameen ast -o- hameen ast

was, in fact, penned by a Mughal King(?) and not Khusrau -- unfortunately, I cannot remember where I read this or who the author was.. If anyone can verify this as well, I'd appreciate it a lot.

Thank you again.
RC

[Naseer]

janaab-i-Rajiv SaaHib, aadaab.

Talking about "agar firdaus..." couplet, I have never read anywhere
that it was Amir Khurau's. Like you, if my memory serves me right, it
is by a Mughal King who upon visiting Kashmir and seeing its natural
beauty could not contain himself and uttered this couplet.

The Ghazal, "kaafir-i-3ishq-am musalmaanii maraa dar-kaar nest" is
given on Iranin sites as belonging to Amir Khusrau.

http://janan.eu/?p=198

This of course does n't mean anything. Only access to a diivaan of
Amir Khusrau compiled by some scholar is likely to prove or disprove
this one way or another. One thing is worth asking. Where did "our
people" get these Ghazals from? Nasir(uddiin) bin Khurau Al-Isfahani
died in 1335 and it is not a name that I was familiar with before.
Once again, this does n't mean anything either! Nevertheless, here is
something about him in relation to a work called the Sa3aadat-naamah,
wrongly attributed to THE Nasir-i-Khusrau.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=snchIYFE9D0C&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=Nasir+Khusrau+Al-isfahani&source=bl&ots=nZ0f8eohQq&sig=XzFmjNf90atuErad1eOzQWfoalQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k0V9Udj5K_T30gXykYHwDw&ved=0CGMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Nasir%20Khusrau%20Al-isfahani&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F-lH8aQ9-HsC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=Nasir+Khusrau+Al-isfahani&source=bl&ots=SzGmAyz7u1&sig=uH3UyJWBGZ-vwdzEoyAwyXD7YQo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k0V9Udj5K_T30gXykYHwDw&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Nasir%20Khusrau%20Al-isfahani&f=false

If I find anything more, I shall get back. I will say one thing
though. You may have something in all this!

Naseer

[RC]

On Apr 28, 11:02 am, Naseer <qures...@gmail.com> wrote:
> janaab-i-Rajiv SaaHib, aadaab.
>
> Talking about "agar firdaus..." couplet, I have never read anywhere
> that it was Amir Khurau's. Like you, if my memory serves me right, it
> is by a Mughal King who upon visiting Kashmir and seeing its natural
> beauty could not contain himself and uttered this couplet.
>
> The Ghazal, "kaafir-i-3ishq-am musalmaanii maraa dar-kaar nest" is
> given on Iranin sites as belonging to Amir Khusrau.
>
> http://janan.eu/?p=198
>
> This of course does n't mean anything. Only access to a diivaan of
> Amir Khusrau compiled by some scholar is likely to prove or disprove
> this one way or another. One thing is worth asking. Where did "our
> people" get these Ghazals from? Nasir(uddiin) bin Khurau Al-Isfahani
> died in 1335 and it is not a name that I was familiar with before.
> Once again, this does n't mean anything either! Nevertheless, here is
> something about him in relation to a work called the Sa3aadat-naamah,
> wrongly attributed to THE Nasir-i-Khusrau.
>

> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=snchIYFE9D0C&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq...
>
> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F-lH8aQ9-HsC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq...

>
> If I find anything more, I shall get back. I will say one thing
> though. You may have something in all this!
>
> Naseer

janaab Naseer QP saahib - aadaab 'arz:

[ Disclaimer: A long post follows below -- sorry for the length, but
there is enough reason to warrant the post here. Apologies, in
advance, to those not interested in this topic]

Many thanks for the reply. I was not going to take this thread any
further if there was no response here, so as not to take up valuable
time and bandwidth on this forum. I was aware that there are several
couplets that people attribute wrongly to Khusrau, and from the looks
of it, now there is mention of incorrect attribution to Naseer Khusrau
as well! This is, in all honesty, not too surprising -- but I was
hoping that at least "old" records would be more true to actual than
recent ones.

On the topic Naseer Khusrau -- I have further learnt several other
interesting things, based on the thread progressing on my wall on FB.
janaab "Abdullateef Qadri Chinioti" sahab (denoted as "AC" in the
quoted section in the original post) had referred to the poet as
"Isfahani" -- to which I received a rejoinder from muhtaram Ahmad
Javaid sahab ( the current director of the Iqbal Library and Research
Centre, Lahore, PK : a very learned man whose videos are found of YT)
-- who states, and I quote below, in chronological sequence:

[ Legend ::
AJ: Ahmad Javaid sahib,
AQC/AC : Abdullateef Qadri Chinioti,
RC : yours truly ]

=================================================
(A) On the topic of the Ghazal: " .................. *aar neest"
=================================================
<quote: AJ>
Mein nay DEEVAAN E NAASIR KHUSRAU aur DEEVAAN E GHAZALIYAAT E KHUSRAU
mangvaaya hai, un main daikh kar kuchh arz karoon ga. Sar e dast yeh
kehnaa chaahoon ga keh Ameer Khusrau ki asli ya ilhaaqi ghazal ka
matla' yeh hai: KAAFIR E ISHQAM MUSALMAANI MARAA DAR.KAAR NEEST/HAR
RAG E MAN TAAR GASHTEH HAAJAT E ZUNNAAR NEEST.

Rajiv Saahib! Yeh theek hai keh donon ghazlain Ameer Khusrau kay
Deevaan main maujood nahin hain, lekin yeh bhi saabit hai keh yeh
donon Nasir Khusrau ki bhi nahin hain. Yeh Nasir Khusrau Qabbadiyaani
Balkhi hain jo Hakeem Nasir Khusrau kay naam say mash'hoor hain. In ka
Deevaan is waqt mairay saamnay hai, isay Sayyed Taqi Hasan Zaadeh nay
murattab kiya hai aur Inteshaaraat e Nigaah, Tehran nay chhaapaa hai.
Is Deevaan main BEEMAAR NEEST ki zameen main aik nazm numa ghazal hai
jo Shi'ee/Ismaa'eeli tasawwur e imaamat aur deegar makhsoos aqaaid ka
aik jaarihaana aur muta'assibaana bayaan hai, us main bhi woh sh'er
nahin hai jis kay baaray main Chinioti Sb kehtay hain keh Nasir
Khusrau ka hai. Is nazm numaa ghazal ka matla' hai: JUZ JAFAA BAA AHL
E DAANISH MAR FALAK RAA KAAR NEEST/ZAANKEH DAANAA RAA SUY E NAA.DAAN
BASEE MIQDAAR NEEST. Chinioti Saahib nay Nasir Khusrau ko Isfahaani
likhaa hai, Hakeem Nasir Khusrau Isfahaani na thaa, us ka ta'alluq
Balkh say thaa. Un say poochaa jaaey keh aayaa yeh Isfahaani Hakeem
Nasir Khusrau hai yaa yeh koi aur shakhsiyat hai?
</quote: AJ>

----------
<quote: ALC>
'Kaafir e ishqam musalmaani mara darkaar neist! .... zunnaar neist'
usi ghazal ka matl'a e saalis hai jiska matl'a e awwal "Ai keh goyi
heich mushkil chun firaaq e yaar neist! .........dushwaar neist!" keh
jisko faqeer ne yahaan pesh kiya hai! Makhtoota e qalmi 'Diwan e Nasir
Khusrau e Isfahaan' ke nuskhey ka mutaala Saltykov Shechedrin Public
Library St. Petersburg mein 1979 mein faqeer ne ba chashm e khud kiya
hai jahaan shaair ka ism sarwarq par yunhi darj hai! Iske kaatib ka
naam Muhammad Murad Samarkandi hai aur ispar muhar e Maktab e
Sultaniyya Hussainiyya (Sultan Hussain Mirza ki zaati milkiyyat) aur
muhar o dastkhat e Ameer Nizamuddin Ali Sher 'Nawaai' bhi sabt hai!
Naasir Khusrau ke baarey mein mazeed maaloomaat muhaqqiqeen ka kaam
hai! Faqeer shahar Leningrad (maujooda St. Petersburg mahaz kaarobaari
silsiley mein Archangelskhoye ki chobkaari ke qadeem namoonon ko
dekhne aur unka charba utaarne aaya tha jo keh uske tarkhaani peshey
sa waasta rakhta hai! Albatta Hindostaan ke saf e awwal ke mu'arrikh
marhoom Dr. Khaleeq Ahmad Nizami (Aligarh Muslim University) aur Iran
ke daanishgaah Qum ke mudarris e aala shoba e sibk shanaasi ke marhoom
Dr. Sayyad Ghulam Haidar Baraatzaadeh Saahab se faqeer ka saalon tak
murasalaa raha hai aur yeh donon hazaraat ki yahi raaye thi keh ghazal
(1) 'Ae keh goyi heich mushkil......' aur ghazal (2) 'Namidaanam che
manzil bood.......' yeh donon ka waasta Hazarat Ameer Khusrau Lachin
Dehlavi se sareehan naheen hai! Wallahu Aalam Bissawaab!

Aur yaad aaya faqeer ko keh Sultan Ul Mashaaikh Hazarat Nizamuddin
Auliya R.A. ki eik ghazal jiski naql shoba e Farsi Punjab University
Pakistan mein bhi maujood hai/rahi hai kisi qalmi makhtoota mein,
faqeer ne yeh misr'a parha tha "Ein Naasir Khusrau hast o Khusrau e
maa neist!" Mazeed malfuzaat e Hazarat Sultan Ul Mashaaikh mein yeh
aik tazkara parha tha faqeer ne keh Hazarat Shaikh Nizamuddin R.A. ne
Hazarat Ameer Khusrau R.A. se yun taakeed ki thi "Ba tarz e
Safahaaninyaan magau keh chun Nasir Khusrau megoyad!" Faqeer ki
darkhwast haik keh Facebook mein eik zabardast aalim e taareekh o
sukhan filwaqt maujood hain jo keh Hindostaan ka mashhoor o maaroof
idaara e tahqeeq o tasdeeq Khudabakhsh Oriental Public Library Patna
ke sadar muntazim rahe hain aur jinka ism e girami Md Shafiur Rahman
hai, aap hazaraat unse rajou farmaaein aur unki raaye bhi maaloom
karein! Jazakallah!
</quote: ALC>


<quote: AJ>
Zehmat mua'af, aik havaala milaa hai jis say pata chaltaa hai keh
kuchh logon nay ghalat.fehmi ki binaa par Nasir e Khusrau ko Isfahaani
bhi likhaa hai: "PAS DAR BOODAN E ASL E OO AZ KHURAASAAN O VILAAYAT E
BALKH SHAKAY NEEST, VA NISBAT E ISFAHAANI KEH BA'ZI TAZKARAHAA O KUTUB
E MUTA'AKKHIREEN DAADEH AND, BEE ASAAS AST..." (Muqaddameh, Deevaan e
Naasir e Khusrau, Sayyed Hasan Taqi Zaadeh).
</quote: AJ>


=================================================
(B) On the topic of the couplet: " agar firdaus bar rooye zameen ast"
=================================================
The first response I got was from Ahmad Javaid sahab, who said:
<quote: AJ>
yeh bait Shah Jahan say mansoob hai Kashmir ki madh main. Kal insha
Allah tehqeeq kay bad kuchh arz karoon ga,
</quote: AJ>

which, as readers may readily see, was different than the first
response (attributing this to Nasir-e-Khusrau) by Abdullateef Qadri
sahab (see my original post in this thread). Since I got two responses
with different answers, I thought I would see what I could find on my
own -- a brief search online led me to yet "another" response, which I
post here:

<quote: RC>
abhi abhi nazar se yeh safha guzraa, socha yahaaN lagaa dooN.

http://www.hendiran.com/showarticle.aspx?id=99

agar maiN saheeh paRh raha hooN (aur 'ain mumkin hai kih maiN hamesha
ki tarah Ghalat hi paRh aur samajh rahaa hooN) -- "agar firdaus
bar.rooye zameen ast" vaala sh'er yahaaN "Jalaaluddin Akbar" ke naam
se mansoob kiyaa jaa rahaa hai?

aap hazrat se guzaarish hai kih is safhe ko bhi dekh leejiye.
</quote: RC>

For those unable to read the Persian script, the above link
(hendiran.com) states that the couplet "agar firdaus bar rooye zameen
ast" was uttered by Jalaaluddin Akbar -- on his trip to Kashmeer and
inspired by a poem written by 'Urfi -- the famed Persian master poet,
the first 2 lines which went as follows:

har sookhteh jaanee kih ba.Kashmeer bar aayad
gar morGh-e kabaab ast kih baa baal-o-par aayad

[** I'll leave it to someone more knowledgeable than myself (QP sahib,
perhaps?) to translate this couplet to English/Urdu ]


When I posted my finding, the last (so far) response I obtained was by
muhtaram Ahmad Javaid sahab again, 3 days ago - posted below:

<quote: AJ>
Yeh nisbat mushtabeh aur kamzor lagti hai. Bahar.haal, kuchh
tehreerain daikh kar arz karoon ga keh yeh bait kis ki hai...
Jahaangeer ki, Shah jahaan ki, ya phir Akbar ki!
</quote: AJ>

=============================================

Regards,
RC

[Afzal A. Khan]

On 4/29/2013 9:31 AM, RC wrote:


> On Apr 28, 11:02 am, Naseer <qures...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> janaab-i-Rajiv SaaHib, aadaab.
>>
>> Talking about "agar firdaus..." couplet, I have never read anywhere
>> that it was Amir Khurau's. Like you, if my memory serves me right, it
>> is by a Mughal King who upon visiting Kashmir and seeing its natural
>> beauty could not contain himself and uttered this couplet.
>>
>> The Ghazal, "kaafir-i-3ishq-am musalmaanii maraa dar-kaar nest" is
>> given on Iranin sites as belonging to Amir Khusrau.
>>
>> http://janan.eu/?p=198
>>
>> This of course does n't mean anything. Only access to a diivaan of
>> Amir Khusrau compiled by some scholar is likely to prove or disprove
>> this one way or another. One thing is worth asking. Where did "our
>> people" get these Ghazals from? Nasir(uddiin) bin Khurau Al-Isfahani
>> died in 1335 and it is not a name that I was familiar with before.
>> Once again, this does n't mean anything either! Nevertheless, here is
>> something about him in relation to a work called the Sa3aadat-naamah,
>> wrongly attributed to THE Nasir-i-Khusrau.
>>

>> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=snchIYFE9D0C&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq...
>>
>> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F-lH8aQ9-HsC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq...

>>
>> If I find anything more, I shall get back. I will say one thing
>> though. You may have something in all this!
>>
>> Naseer
>
>
>

> Naseer saahib,
>
> I posted a rather lengthy response to your post just a few minutes
> ago:
>
> https://groups.google.com/group/alt.language.urdu.poetry/tree/browse_frm/thread/66fdce299940f098/140adffc8e3e784a?hl=en&rnum=1&_done=%2Fgroup%2Falt.language.urdu.poetry%2Fbrowse_frm%2Fthread%2F66fdce299940f098%3Fhl%3Den%26#doc_cd1261e6eacb8e28
>
> --
> Though its in there, I just wanted to (re)state two points here:
>
> a) The name, Nasir-i-Khusrau, till the point I saw the responses
> above, was completely new to me. That, admittedly, would be my own
> lack of knowledge or exposure.
>
> b) What was an interesting "aside" for me in all this was that though
> one of the gentlemen who responded (Abdullateef Chinioti sahab) called
> the poet "Nasir Khusrau *Isfahani*," the other very learned gentleman
> (muhtaram Javaid Ahmad sahib) insisted that the "Nasir Khusrau" in
> question had NO relation to "Isfahan" by stating:

>
> " Yeh Nasir Khusrau Qabbadiyaani Balkhi hain jo Hakeem Nasir Khusrau

> kay naam say mash'hoor hain ..(edited) ... Chinioti Saahib nay Nasir

> Khusrau ko Isfahaani likhaa hai, Hakeem Nasir Khusrau Isfahaani na
> thaa, us ka ta'alluq Balkh say thaa"
>

> and then finding a reference somewhere, Javaid sahab further stated:

>
> " Zehmat mua'af, aik havaala milaa hai jis say pata chaltaa hai keh
> kuchh logon nay ghalat.fehmi ki binaa par Nasir e Khusrau ko Isfahaani

> bhi likhaa hai..."
>
> without referencing this "havaala" -- but that does explain why "AC"
> sahib knew him as "Isfahani"
>
> ---
> Regards,
> RC



Rajiv Saheb,

I haven't gone through these (long and detailed) posts. For one
thing, I am not familiar with Faarsi.....

But, to remove any confusion, can we not write "Naasir" (for that
was his name) instead of "Nasir" (which can also correspond to the
name of our worthy friend Naseer Saheb) ?


Afzal

[RC]

On Apr 29, 10:55 am, "Afzal A. Khan" <me_af...@privacy.net> wrote:
>       Rajiv Saheb,
>
>       I haven't gone through these (long and detailed) posts.  For one
>       thing, I am not familiar with Faarsi.....
>
>       But, to remove any confusion, can we not write "Naasir" (for that
>       was his name) instead of "Nasir" (which can also correspond to the
>       name of our worthy friend Naseer Saheb) ?
>
>       Afzal

muhtaram Afzal sahib, aadaab:

I admit to misspelling Khusrau's first name as "Naseer" above -- it
was too late for me to fix my inconsistency. As for using the double
"aa," I am ok with it myself, if everyone else wants to go along with
your suggestion. I left the spelling from the original posters in the
"quoted" paragraphs though.

Aside: Does anyone know for sure how "Naasir" Kazmi wrote his own name
in the Roman alphabet? Now that this point is raised, I am simply
curious.

Thanks for your suggestion, Afzal sahib. I'll go along with whatever
the majority decides, I am sure the old Persian poet himself (d 1335
per QP sahib) had no known "Roman" spelling in his mind :)

Regards,
RC

[haqg...@gmail.com]

Aadaab Arz Hai,

I stumbled upon your posts and found the discussion interesting so thought of adding a few replies from my side.
Not many shayari lovers are there so really really wanted to add comments and reply.
Gar Firdaus Bar-Roo E Zameen Ast, HameeN Ast-O, HameeN Ast-O, HameeN Ast...
Emperor Jahangir is believed to have uttered the above mentioned words...
Would definitely get back but for the other posts.
Thanks & Best Regards
Ghazal