Yeh Ishq Hai English Translation
Desiderato Chouinard
Among classical Muslim authors, the notion of love was developed along three conceptual lines, oftentimes conceived in an ascending hierarchical order: natural love, intellectual love and divine love.[1] The growth of affection (mawadda) into passionate love (ishq) received its most probing and realistic analysis in The Ring of the Dove by the Andalusian scholar Ibn Hazm.[1]
The term ishq is used extensively in Sufi poetry and literature to describe a "selfless and burning love" for Allah. It is the core concept in the doctrine of Islamic mysticism as is key to the connection between man and God. Ishq itself is sometimes held to have been the basis of "creation". The term ishq is widely used in the sacred text of Sikhism.
Some scholars objected to the use of the term 'ishq' due to its association with sensual love but despite the linguistic, cultural or technical meanings, Sufis believe that 'ishq' can only be associated to the Divine.[3]
The word ishq referred to traditional ghazals and Indo-Persian literary culture[4] and has made its way to many other languages which were influenced by Sufism. Some of the most notable languages which have this word are Persian, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto, Arabic, Sindhi, Saraiki: عشق, Turkish: aşk, Azerbaijani: eşq, Bengali: এশ্ক, romanized: eshk and Punjabi: ਇਸ਼ਕ.
In Turkish, Aşk is commonly used to express love, passion or adoration. The Turkish version replaces the 'q' with a 'k', as Turkish lacks voiceless uvular plosive, and the letter 'ş' with the cedilla denotes the "sh" sound, /ʃ/. In comparison with Arabic or Urdu, (like Persian) the word is less restrictive and can be applied to many forms of love, or simply romance. It is common in the lyrics of Turkish songs.
Ishq is used in the Hindi-language, especially in Bollywood movies (Hindi cinema), which often use formal, flowery and poetic Urdu loanwords derived from Persian. The more colloquial Hindi word for love is pyar. In Hindi, ʻIshq' (इश्क़) means lustless love.[6] In Arabic, it is a noun. However, in Hindi-Urdu it is used as both verb and noun.
Ishq-e Majāzi (Persian: عشق مجازی) literally means "metaphorical love". It refers to the love for God's creation i.e. love of a man for a woman or another man and vice versa. It is said to be generated by beloved person's external beauty but since it is connected to lust, it is against the law and considered unlawful. Hence, in Faqr, the term Ishq-e-Majazi is directed only towards Ishq-e-Murshid.[7] This love for one's Murshid eventually leads to love for Muhammad and eventually for God, upon which one that understands Ishq-e-Haqeeqi is in fact the source of all 'metaphorical love'.
Ishq-e Rasūl (Persian: عشق رسول) means "love of Muhammad," an important part of being a Muslim. In Sufism, however, the Ishq-e-Majazi changes its form to Ishq-e-Rasool through the development of an intense feeling of Ishq for Muhammad. Every existent form of creation is in fact the slave of the Creator (in the sense of being subject to His will). Since Muhammad is the most beloved to Allah, the true Lover feels Ishq-e-Rasool till "the Prophet becomes dearer to him than his life, wives, children, house, business and everything else". (Sahih Bukhari and Muslim)[8]
Ishq-e Haqīqi (Persian: عشق حقیقی) literally means "the real love" i.e. "the love of God". It refers to the belief that only God is worth loving and He is the only one who can return His creature's love for Him.[9]The inner subtlety whose locus is the heart is felt by the true seeker of God only. According to this view, this is what differences man from beast because even beasts have senses, whereas inner sight is characteristic of humans.
Thanks, Shweta dear! Hope one is forgiven for having missed the date...? :-)
You know, for me, it's always tricky to decide how 'exact' to be in the translations. There are bits that sound horribly clumsy when translated literally, and could probably be made to read a lot 'nicer' if one allowed oneself to depart from the exact expressions chosen by the poet. On the other hand, one also fears putting down something which is more like an independent poem in English than a faithful translation of the original!
In most cases, I opt to be fairly 'literal', except in cases where idiomatic usage makes the original words not directly relevant.
I justify this approach with the expectation that most readers of these posts use the translations merely to supplement their understanding of the poems, and not as their main means of accessing them. Hence they can probably appreciate the 'beauty' of the poem directly from the original, and do not require the translation to be independently 'beautiful'.
It is, nonetheless, often a troubling sort of decision to make.
Your two bits on this...?
Yes, the tetchy problem of translation, no? I find myself superiorly dissatisfied with all translations where I know the primary language and pathetically grateful when I don't. :D
In this case (this blog) I find your approach to be the best one.
But in books which are entirely in translation, I suppose the poem has to stand by itself...
But with Faiz,as we know, the difficultly is manifold. He sounds sublime in Urdu and (to my mind) mawkish in translation. But your translations being so exact keep me culturally with the original rather than try and impress with a false sweetness. That is just my take...
I came across this post as I was searching for the complete poem.
And I came to know about the poem as Javed Akhtar saab quoated aline from it ...is raah mein sab pe jo guzarati hain woh guzari hain...
while giving an interview on NDTV.
Thanks for the complete poem again.
A little late on the comments by awesome song n lyrics, especially with this translation.
The first part starts of like the person is talking/complaining/etc to His Maula in first person. Then goes on to praise how great and omnipresent is His Maula is. Towards end, goes on to tell that one must go to the depths of pain and suffering(over simplified) in order to raise above one self, cause His Maula loves him a lot and all this suffering must have a reason.
However the last part of going through pain, etc makes sense only if we take the meaning darshan has given.
Atleast I find this word play, watever is to be mind blowing ?
Thanks for introducing me to these beautiful songs, I shall surely try my best to post a decent translation soon. By the way, how is that movie Gulaal, never heard about it, but after listening to the song, I feel like watching it, is it worth watching? Do you have any idea?
The poem is written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), one of the pillars of Urdu Literature alongside Mir, Ghalib and Iqbal. Having been nominated four times for Nobel Prize, Faiz is often regarded as Pablo Neruda of the East. I view the poem as being pivoted around body politics, with the body being torn in maintaining a balance between love and work. Unable to do so, it ultimately results in a fragmented end.
The poet here can be seen as the body faced with the same dilemma, oscillating between the workings of mind (reason) and heart (emotions). On one hand, is his love for his beloved, while on the other, is his work. This is the reason he calls those people fortunate and privileged that either love their work or consider love as their work. Unfortunately, for the poet the conflict between heart and mind becomes too much to handle as both keep intertwining with each other, and as the conflict reaches its apex, it forces him to leave both undone; thus falling prey to the conflict of reason and emotions.
There are numerous translations available for this poem, which according to me are unsuccessful to convey the actual meaning. As for my translation, rather than laying stress on the rhythm, I have literally interpreted each word so that the soul/essence of the poem is not lost.
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Woh hanske agar maa.Nge.N to hum jaan bhi dede.N,
If she laughs and asks, then I would even give my life
Haa.N yeh jaan to kya cheez hai? Imaan bhi dede.N!
Yes, after all what is this life? I would even give up my faith!
Kyo.N ki yeh ishq ishq hai, ishq ishq, yeh ishq ishq hai, ishq ishq
For this is love, this is love, this is love
FEMALE:
Bahut kaThin hai Dagar panghat ki
The path to the riverside is very dangerous
Ab kya bhar luau.N mai.N Jamuna se matki?
Now how can I fill my jug with water from the banks of the Jamuna River?
Mai.N jo chali jal jamuna bharan ko dekho sakhi ji mai.N jo chali jal jamuna bharan ko
As I was on my way to fill my jug with water from the Jamuna,
Nand kishor mohe roke jhaadon
The young boy of Nanda [Krishna] stopped me
To kya bhar luau.N mai.N Jamuna se matki?
So how can I fill my jug with water from the banks of the Jamuna River?
Did you know Bharat Bhushan actually got married in real life to Ratna (who ironically played the only character in the film NOT in love with him!) Surprise, right!? She was his second wife, and some even say that later mild-mannered Bharat Bhushan had had an affair with none other than Meena Kumari. Did the scandals never end in this town?
i am completely bowled over by your passion for writing , translating and brining to life the SPIRIT of this great quawwali. i l was truly in search of the menaing of the URDU words though the meaning came through the rendering of the song.quawwali, i sincerely thank you for this service that you have done for the listeners and readers..may god bless you and may god shower you with love and affection..
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