S. R. Faruqi:

In this verse too the lightness/swiftness of expression is fine. By calling the world and the final state 'houses' he has achieved two meanings. That is, 'house' means 'place' (the opposite of 'time') and also means 'home'. It's also very subtle that he hasn't made clear why the world and the final state are famous. Probably because these two places are the best (that is, in addition to them there are other places); or perhaps because in these two all existence is enclosed. There's also the subtlety that the final state has its fame in the world, and the world has its fame in the final state.

Another point is that in this world there's really a 'place', but in the final state there are no places; rather, there are emotions and situations. But he has construed both of them as makaan . In this way this world and the final state become a reality that is nearer to human life. The address to himself is excellent; its special benefit is that the occasion when this verse is said becomes fixed as one in which some person has come up against the event of passion.

As yet it's still a very new affair. The occasion [makaan] of the next meeting is not very clear. The lover says, in a tone of talking to himself, that both places of meeting are very famous, now the Lord knows where the meeting with her would be! In this there's no despair, but rather a sense of fully accepting the human condition. There's no grief, nor is there joy. Indeed, there's no doubt a touch of imperiousness: that somewhere or other the meeting will definitely take place.

There's also the possibility that 'Mir Sahib' might not be the speaker of this verse, but rather might be the addressee; that is, some other person is addressing 'Mir Sahib' and recounting the state of his heart.

A common point shared by both these readings is that both places for meeting are quite fine. Or else that wherever the meeting might be, that would be fine; there's no requirement about its place.

In order properly to appreciate the beauty that has been created by the style of address, and by calling both states of being makaan , look at this verse from the second divan [{917,2}]:

yihii mashshuur-e ((aalam hai;N do ((aalam
milaap us se ;xudaa jaane kahaa;N ho

[only/emphatically these two states/worlds are world-renowned
the meeting with her-- the Lord knows where it would be]

The theme is the same, but because the style has changed, the verse has become light/trivial. For just this reason, Mir himself has said, in the first divan [{179,6}]:

miir shaa((ir bhii zor ko)ii thaa
dekhte ho nah baat kaa usluub

[Mir was one powerful poet!
you see, don't you, the arrangement of his words?]

Although calling this world and the final state do ((aalam [in {917,2}] has the advantage of implication, because there's no metaphor there's not as much power in it as there is in the present verse. Then, in the present verse, by using the word ((aalam he has alluded to this world and the final state.

It's a very superb verse. It has a colloquial tone, and excellence of theme, and 'meaning-creation' too. Usually in a colloquial tone there's more 'mood' and less 'meaning-creation'.

At first glance it appears that the construction of the first line is somewhat limp/slack, because the work could get done without the repetition of kih -- that is, the first line could also have been ;xudaa jaane mile;N dunyaa me;N us se yaa kih ((uqb;aa me;N . But the fact is that the word kih does the work of foregrounding the crucial words of the line, dunyaa and ((uqb;aa . In kih dunyaa and kih ((uqb;aa there's weight and force. From simply saying kih once, this benefit would not have been obtained. In Persian, kih doesn't simply do expressive or parallelism-creating work. Sometimes it is also used only to create force: [an example].

Amir Mina'i has touched Mir's theme from rather a distance:

jaa))e aaraam nah dekhii kabhii is ((aalam me;N
nahii;N ma((luum kih hai ((aalam-e baalaa kaisaa

[I never saw a place of rest in this world
there's no telling how the world above is]

FWP:

SETS == KIH; WORDPLAY
MOTIFS == HOME
NAMES
TERMS

One more possibility is that the addressee is 'Mir Sahib', but that the speaker is some friend or sympathizer who's trying to offer the distracted lover some consolation (if that's what it is)-- or at least some perspective on where his passion might be taking him.

The juxtaposition of dunyaa (with its primary sense of this-worldliness) and ((aalam (with its extremely wide range of meanings) is also perfectly framed to force us into reflection (see the definitions above). If both 'places', this-world and the final-state, are 'of world-wide celebrity', does that mean their fame extends into both places, or simply exists in the 'world' as we know it? It depends of course on how we read the protean ((aalam . SRF seems to be sure that the relationship is reciprocal (thus his assertion that this world is famous in the final-state), but I don't see any grounds for such confidence.

It's also enjoyable that the lover doesn't seem very interested in any other qualities of either this world or the final state. It's almost as if he's looking for the right street address: it's either this house, or the one next door; these are the prominent ones on this street. The point is above all to meet her; where and when and how to meet her all feel like minor technicalities. Invoking the Lord as the ultimate authority is also piquant: he is being asked to preside over a state of affairs in which ultimately the lover can't fail to meet the beloved-- which, after all, from a Sufistic perspective, is no more than appropriate.