Naat
March 7th, 2012
To read the original Urdu text of the naat, click on the image below to enlarge it, and then click on it again to magnify further.
Transliteration:
Khuda’ay Raheem o Kareem nay bakhsha humain
Ik insaan banaya jis nay banaya insaan humain
Hataya jiss nay humain buton say paray
Aur ik khuda ka batay humain
Khuda ka jo paigham tha, sikhaya humain
Muhabbat ka, ulfat ka paigham tha, sikhaya humain
Qabeelon qafilon main jo batay thay hum
Dar-e-khuda pay la kay bithaya humain
Soch samajh kay Buraq par bithaya humain
Hum jo bigray thay, mi’raj par bithaya humain
Haqeeqat-e-Muhammad yehee hai, pehen lo burda-e-Muhammad
Un pay qurban yeh sab, Sale-Allah nay sikhaya humain
Translation
God, in his mercy and benevolence, granted us a treasure,
In creating a man, to give mankind it’s meaning,
A man that rid us of the idols that plagued us,
And spoke of the One God, such was he
The message of God, he taught us
Of love, of passion, he taught us
Broken into fragments, tribes and castes were we
Until in in the House of God he united us
With wisdom did he show us Buraq
Spoilt and rotten we were, until he shared the Miraj
The reality of Muhammad is plain: seek comfort below his mantle
For his sake all my world is naught, such was the love of the Beloved
Analysis
This na’t was inspired by our reading In Praise of Muhammad: Sindhi and Urdu Poems, by Professor Asani. The poem is written in the Rubay’i format, which as the reading explains (p173) is a poetic form composed of quartets that follow the rhyme pattern aaba. The na’t is composed as a tribute to the prophet, and as the reading makes clear, it has certain characteristic elements that make it a distinguished style in and of itself.
This na’t begins with an affirmation. The first verse, when translated, speaks of how God has “granted” us “a mercy”. The use of the Urdu verb ‘baksha’ here is deliberate, as this carries two distinct meanings in the language. The first, that of granting someone something, and the second, that of forgiving someone. The verse therefore has a subtle complexity which might at first be missed. In ‘granting’ Muslims the figure of Muhammad as a guide, God has in effect forgiven them for their sins because they are now guaranteed his intercession on the Day of Judgment. The na’t continues with praise of the Prophet, referencing in the first quartet the historic occasion after the Conquest of Makkah when Muhammad removed the pagan idols in the ka’bah. In the second quartet, the poem refers to love and passion, and the Urdu terms used are “muhabbat” and “ulfat”. The use of these words is a deliberate nod to Urdu love poetry and, as the Asani reading makes clear through the example of Firaqi’s na’t (p179), there is a custom amongst Urdu poets of mixing the traditions of love-poetry and na’t. In Firaqi’s case, he refers to the epic romance of Laila and Majnu, incorporating this typical element of the Urdu love poem into na’t writing as well.
The final quartet is filled with more imagery from the Islamic tradition, but with a pronounced Sufi feel. The idea that the reader too was show Buraq, and taken on the mi’raj is reminiscent of the Sufi belief that the mi’raj is/was a spiritual journey that all people make in their lives. In the final lines, another Sufi symbol of the ‘haqeeqat-e-Muhummad’ appears and reference is made to the ‘burda’ (mantle) of the Prophet as a sanctuary. This final reference was inspired by the Quranic verse in which Muhammad is called upon with the words “O thou wrapped up in the mantle!” (Quran 74:1).