The more recent discussions have mainly centred on the following
shi3r.
xandah-zan kufr hai iHsaas tujhe hai kih nahiiN
apnii tauHiid kaa kuchh paas tujhe hai kih nahiiN
Iqbal
These infidels smirk and snigger at us, are You aware?
For the message of Your oneness, do You anymore care?
Khushwant Singh
Vijay SaaHib has said and I quote..
"“....To me the question is how can 'kufr', a collective abstract
noun, be said to be 'Khanda-zan'? To me it is obvious that to
laughingly mock, to laugh derisively, or to smirk and snigger, as KS
puts it, one needs the practitioners of 'kufr' to do it. One could use
many verbs with a collective noun like 'kufr', but I have difficulty
associating 'KhaNda- zanii' with it.”
"kufr" is not a "collective" noun but, in terms of English language, a
"verbal noun" and a "masdar" as far Arabic is concerned whence this
word has its origins. These Arabic nouns should best be translated on
most occasions as "the fact/act of verb-ing" and a transitive verb has
both an active and a passive connotation. For example "qatluhu"
without any further context would be translated as "us kaa qatl
(karnaa)" as well as "us kaa qatl (honaa)". But there is not always a
need to have the "practitioners" of qatl because in our own language
we say..
saaNch ko aaNch nahiiN
sach kaa bol baalaa, jhuuT kaa muNh kaalaa
3ishq par zor nahiiN...
In English there are many such phrases, one example being "Love
conquers all" where we do not need to bring the "practitioners" of
love, namely the lovers.
Let us now look at the word "kufr". Please forgive me if religion
(Islam) appears to be at the forefront of my discussion. I shall only
bring in what is relevant and will aim to keep it as brief as
possible. This word comes from the verb "kafara" which has its
"primeval" meaning of "to cover up (something)". As you are aware,
sometimes a verb has more than one noun (e.g lagnaa > lagan / lagaan /
lagaavaT etc) "kafara" has two, "kufr" and "kufraan". The active
participle of this verb is "kaafir" and most frequent plural for it is
"kuffaar" Chapter 57 verse 20 has the base meaning. I am quoting just
the relevant part.
".... It is like plants that spring up after the rain: their growth at
first delights the sowers, but then you see them wither away, turn
yellow and become stubble.... ".* Some translators have translated
"kuffaar" (sowers) as farmers, tillers, cultivators etc. A tiller
covers the seeds with soil, hence the use of this verb.
Before, I move onto the secondary and tertiary meanings of this verb
and by implication, its verbal nouns, I must quote Professor Toshihiko
Izitsu from his "Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an" where he has
devoted a whole chapter devoted to the concept of "kufr".
"The Qur'an emphasises most strongly the Almighty God's being
particularly a God of grace and goodness. Man, as His creature, owes
everything, his very existence, to the boundless mercy of God. This
means that he owes Him the duty of being grateful for His goodness
which is being shown to him at every moment of his life. A kaafir is a
man who, having thus received God's benevolence, shows no sign of
gratitude in his conduct, or even acts rebelliously against his
Benefactor. .."
Iqbal sets out the case for the Muslims in the following two
couplets..
hai ba-jaa shevah-i-tasliim meN mash_huur haiN ham
qissah-i-dard sunaate haiN kih majbuur haiN ham
ai xudaa shikvah-i-arbaab-i-vafaa bhii sun le
xuugar-i-Hamd se thoRaa saa gilaa bhii sun le.
Here "tasliim" is complete submission to the Almighty and Iqbal is
saying that we Muslims have been faithful in our duty. This is where
the second part of the meaning of the word "kufr" comes in, namely the
act of ingratitude towards the creator. There are many verses in the
Qur'an where this meaning of ingratitude or being ungrateful is the
core sense. 14:7 is just one example.."Remember that He promised, "If
you are thankful, I will give you more, but if you are thankless, My
punishment is terrible indeed". Here the verb "kafara" is used in the
sense of "ingratitude". In Urdu, we have "kufraan-i-ni3mat" for
ingratitude and in Arabic, as well as this there is "kaafir
bi_nni3mah" for "ungrateful".
The third meaning of "kufr" is "disbelief", "denial" or "rejection".
Quoting Toshihiko Izitsu again...
"This fundamental attitude of ingratitude with regard to God's grace
and goodness is manifested in the most radical and positive way by
"takdhiib", that is "giving the lie" to God, his Apostle and the
divine message he is sent with." Interestingly, this meaning of
"kufr" (rejection) is used quite cleverly by Faiz where this and other
Islam-centred words are given not the run of the mill connotations.
aa'iye haath uThaa'eN ham bhii
ham jinheN rasm-i-du3aa yaad nahiiN
....
jin kaa diiN pairavii-i-kizb-o-riyaa hai un ko
himmat-i-kufr mile, jur'at-i-taHqiiq mile
jin ke sar muntazir-i-teGh-i-jafaa haiN un ko
dast-i-qaatil ko jhaTak dene kii taufiiq mile
Those whose religion/way is to follow lying and hypocrisy
May they find the courage to reject and the daring to find the truth
Those whose heads are waiting for the sword of cruelty
May they have success to push away the hand of the murderer
diin/kufr are words used in religious contexts normally and "taufiiq"
actually means "success from God". "taHqiiq", usually translated as
"research" here has its base meaning of "getting to the truth".
In the "Shikvah" Iqbal mentions peoples before the advent of Islam,
namely Turks, Chinese, Iranians, Greeks as well as faith groups, Jews
and Christians.
bas rahe the yahiiN saljuuq bhii, tuuraanii bhii
ahl-ichiiN chiin meN, iiraan meN saasaanii bhii
isii ma3muure meN aabaad the yuunaanii bhii
isii dunyaa meN yahuudii bhii the nasraanii bhii...
For such a body of people consisting of non-believers and believers,
in my humble opinion the third meaning of "kufr" can not be applied
because they are all not those who deny the existence of the Supreme
Being. So, when Iqbal says..
xandah-zan kufr hai iHsaas tujhe hai kih nahiiN
apnii tauHiid kaa kuchh paas tujhe hai kih nahiiN
..the "kufr" that he has in mind is not just the disbelief, denial or
rejection of God but also the ingratitude of some people for His
bounties. In addition there are people who are associating other gods
with Him. And it is all these groups who are getting the "Houris" and
palaces. Iqbal would not have put the Jews and the Christians in the
fold of "disbelief" and "rejection".
qahr to yih hai ki kaafir ko mileN Huur-o-qusuur
aur be-chaare musalmaaN ko faqat va3dah-i-Huur
By the way "Huur" see post 10 please for the real meaning of "Huur".
https://groups.google.com/group/alt.language.urdu.poetry/browse_frm/thread/c774273f5e9e4943/89b238834b096404?lnk=gst&q=Huur+Naseer+#89b238834b096404
In summary, I do not believe Khushwant Singh has managed to get to the
spirit of Iqbal's poems. The factual and linguistic blunders have not
helped his cause. Translating "kufr" as "infidels" is not an accurate
or a fair translation if one reads the poem as a whole. In plain,
colloquial British English, "xandah-zan" could be equated to "having a
laugh.
kufr is having a laugh, are you aware of this or not?
For your Oneness, do you have any concern or not?
Ingratitude and disbelief is the norm, submission butt of ridicule
Of this and for your Unity of Being, are you aware, do you care?
Naseer
* Qur'an translation from "The Qur'an-A New Translation" by M.a.S.
Abdel Haleem