0058_07

{58,7}

saḳht kāfir thā jin ne pahle mīr
mażhab-e ʿishq iḳhtiyār kiyā

1) he was a thoroughgoing infidel-- he who originally, Mir,
2) decreed/established the 'religion/sect of passion'

Notes:

mażhab : 'Way, course, mode, or manner, of acting or conduct or the like;—canon, law, rule, institution;—a belief, creed, persuasion, doctrine; an opinion, a tenet; a body of tenets or articles of belief, a religion; a sect'. (Platts p.1018)

iḳhtiyār : 'Choice, election; preference; option, will, pleasure, discretion; disposal, management, control, power, authority; right; privilege; liberty; office, official position or power, jurisdiction; rule, sway'. (Platts p.30)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

He has excellently established the opposition between 'infidel' and 'religion'. Arzu Lakhnavi probably took advantage of this verse when he composed his closing-verse:

ārzū hai ʿishq meñ pīr-e t̤ārīq
yih chalan us javān se niklā

[Arzu is, in passion, the elder of the path
this movement emerged from that young man]

In Mir's verse there's also the point that the person who first of all established the 'religion of passion' became, as it were, the prophet of that religion.

The religion of which the prophet would be a thoroughgoing infidel-- for goodness sake, what must the rest of its adherents be like! Muhammad Hasan Askari has called this verse too an example of Mir's 'humanism' [insān-pan].

FWP:

SETS == OPPOSITES
MOTIFS == RELIGIONS
NAMES
TERMS == OPPOSITION

It's a verse with a clear, punchy pattern of wordplay. I can't think of anything special to add.

Note for translation fans: During a recent reading by our poetry group (April 2016), somebody suggested translating saḳht as 'hard-core'. I think it has possibilities!