===
0482,
2
===

 

{482,2}

sarāpā meñ us ke naz̤ar kar ke tum
jahāñ dekho allâh allâh hai

1) having looked [closely] into that one's 'head-to-foot' [view]
2) wherever you look-- it's 'God, God'!

 

Notes:

sarāpā : 'From head to foot, throughout, totally; ... —s.m. The whole from head to foot; the whole body; —a complete description in verse (of graces or charms, &c.)'. (Platts p.648)

S. R. Faruqi:

The construction naz̤ar kar ke dekhnā , meaning 'to look with attention and concentration', Mir has written in one other place as well, in the first divan [{516,6}]:

gar dekhoge tum t̤arz-e kalām us kī naz̤ar kar
ai ahl-e suḳhan mīr ko ustād karoge

[if you will look closely at his style of discourse
oh people of speech/poetry, you will make Mir your ustad]

This idiom is not found in dictionaries. Farid Ahmad Barkati has entered the meaning [in his dictionary] by guesswork, and has written it correctly. The freshness of this idiom was enough in itself to cause this verse to be included in the selection, but the verse also has aspects of meaning.

On this theme, that every limb of the sarāpā of the beloved is heart-attracting, Mir has composed several verses. For example,

{1836,6};

and then, this extremely fresh verse from the third divan [{1132,4}]:

jis jā-e sarāpā meñ naz̤ar jātī hai us ke
ātā hai mire jī meñ yihīñ ʿumr basar kar

[to whatever part of her whole body the gaze goes
there comes into my inner-self, 'stay right here for a lifetime']

But the present verse is in a different class. We have already mentioned the freshness of naz̤ar kar ke dekhnā . In the second line too, allâh allâh hai is the same kind of expression/idiom that is not found in dictionaries-- so much so that even Barkati has ignored it.

The expression allâh hī allâh hai is well-known, and it has various meanings. For example, in the same 'ground' and meter there is a ghazal of Dard's in which it has been used to mean 'extreme joy and happiness':

agar be-ḥijābānah vuh but mile
ġharaẓ phir to allâh hī allâh hai

[if unveiledly that idol would be available
in short, then-- it's 'God and only God'!

In Mir Hasan's masnavi it has been used hyperbolically for the summer season:

bas ūpar jo kuchh jalvah-e māh hai
nah pūchho kih allâh hī allâh hai

[enough-- above there's such glory of the moon
don't ask-- it's 'God and only God'!

In this same ground and meter, Ghalib's verse is widely known. Here the expression means 'the Lord is everywhere, there's no hope in anything else' [G{382x,1}]:

dam-e vāpasīñ bar sar-e rāh hai
ʿazīzo ab allâh hī allâh hai

[the last breath is on its way
dear ones, now it's 'God and only God']

By way of commentary I would also say that the [dictionary] nūr ul-luġhāt is wrong to say that 'Al-lah' [=long-long] is the popular pronunciation. Dard, Mir, Hasan, and Ghalib all three could also choose to scan it as 'Al-laa-h' [=long-long-short]; Mir too was able to have the same range of choice. In this verse he could have written, instead of allâh allâh hai , the longer form allâh hī allâh hai . His usage in this verse is proof that he considered allâh allâh hai to be an established idiom, and probably in terms of meaning too considered it to be different from allâh hī allâh hai .

Thus the question is, what does allâh allâh hai mean? From the context it seems that it has been used for amazement, surprise, and uniqueness. The first two meanings are comprised in allâh allâh . For example, in the first divan [{424,2}]:

mar jāʾo koʾī parvā nahīñ hai
kitnā hai maġhrūr allâh allâh

[if you would die, she has no care
how arrogant she is-- 'God, God'!

Mus'hafi:

vuh lat̤āfat vuh ṣafāʾī hai kih allâh allâh
ṣāf billaur kā goyā kih shajar hai vuh badan

[there's such delicacy, such clarity, that-- 'God, God'!
it is, so to speak a tree of clear crystal, that body]

For the third meaning, 'uniqueness', I have found no 'warrant', but this meaning seems to be suited to the circumstances-- that the way God is entirely one and without a partner, in the same way every limb of the beloved's sarāpā is peerless and single in its place. Or again, that with regard to the quality of singularity, there's no one superior to the beloved's sarāpā except God Most High.

If instead of naz̤ar kar ke dekhnā we suppose that we should read simply naz̤ar karnā (meaning 'to look at, to pay attention to'), then the prose would be: tum us ke sarāpā meñ naz̤ar kar ke ( phir ) jahāñ dekho allâh allâh hai . Now even more interesting meanings are obtained. One is that after seeing the beloved's sarāpā , in every place God's glory can be seen. A second meaning is that after seeing the beloved's sarāpā , nothing can be seen (in the [dictionary] farhang-e āṣifiyah the idiom is given allâh naz̤ar ātā hai , with the meaning 'nothing can be seen'). A third meaning is that after seeing the beloved's sarāpā , one's temperament so greatly changes, and attachment to God becomes so overpowering, that wherever one looks people will be seen saying 'God, God!'.

It's an extraordinarily interesting and multi-layered verse-- 'God, God!'.

FWP:

SETS == EXCLAMATION; FILL-IN
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == METER; THEME

This verse is a sort of limit case of the insha'iyah power of exclamatory speech. Like 'oh God!' in English, yā allâh can be used to show and emphasize almost any strong emotion. It need not have any direct relationship to God-- but of course, it can have one if the speaker so intends. In both cases it can be a form of the 'inexpressibility trope', by conveying the idea that the speaker's descriptive powers have broken down and no information can be conveyed; the place where information would be is now occupied by pure, intense emotion.

Ghalib makes a similar point about how we can conflate visions of the earthly and the overwhelmingly divine, in

G{96,1}.

Note for meter fans: I have slightly simplified and compressed SRF's metrical comments. The basic issue is that allâh can be scanned either = = - (as it officially should be) or = = . The reason SRF says that Mir's usage in the second line shows that he considers the two idioms (one without, and one with, the ) to be separate is that in the metrical space available MIr could have fitted in allâh hī allâh if he had so wished, knowing that we would then simply have read the first allâh as = = , thus leaving room for (here a short syllable), and then we would have read the second allâh fully, as = = - .

 

 
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