===
1457,
5
===

 

{1457,5}

ham faqiiro;N ko kuchh aazaar tumhii;N dete ho
yuu;N to is firqe se sab log du))aa lete hai;N

1) to us faqirs, only/emphatically you give some trouble/injury!
2) casually/'like this', from this group/sect, people all take blessings

 

Notes:

faqiir : 'A poor man; a beggar; a religious mendicant; a derwish; an ascetic, a devotee'. (Platts p.783)

 

aazaar : 'Sickness, disorder, disease, infirmity; trouble, affliction; injury, outrage'. (Platts p.45)

 

yuu;N : 'Thus, in this wise, in this manner; —just so, for no particular reason; without just ground, vainly, idly, causelessly, gratuitously; to please oneself'. (Platts p.1253)

 

firqah : 'A distinct body or class (of men), a party, body, troop, company, society, class, sect, tribe, kind'. (Platts p.779)

S. R. Faruqi:

The theme of the verse, and its structure, are both interesting. The speaker and the addressee have both been established only by means of implication. That is, by 'we faqirs' is meant lovers (and perhaps true lovers); and by 'you' is meant the beloved. But by establishing the lover's identity through the word 'faqirs', he has also created the implication that these are not worldly people or commonplace lovers. These people are followers of God, because people keep seeking blessings from them. Another suggestion is that people do good to them, and in return for this they give people blessings. That is, to take blessings from faqirs has the interpretation that people do good to them.

Look at another aspect of this meaning. Usually it's the lover who is the seeker. The lover's task is to obtain something (a kiss, a smile, favor, faithfulness, etc.) from the beloved; and the beloved's task is to not fulfill the lover's longing (that is, to give him nothing). But in the verse it's being said that people take blessings from the lovers, and the beloved gives them trouble. That is, to the extent of the theme of the verse, this equality is established: that the lover's task is to give blessings, and the beloved's task is not to give something, but rather to obtain blessings.

But the beloved gives (trouble), she doesn't act according to her station. And the lover is established as so unassuming or unselfish that he doesn't ask for anything, but rather gives people blessings. The lover doesn't spread out his own garment-hem [to receive], but rather puts blessinings in other people's garment-hems. And the beloved, who has no need to give anything, is seen to give trouble for no reason. Thus on the one hand there's the behavior of the whole world (taking blessings from faqirs), and on the other hand there's the behavior of the beloved (giving trouble to faqirs).

Phrases like yuu;N to and sab log endow the meaning of the verse, and the situation expressed in it, with an idiomatic trimness and informality. In the character of the lovers there's a strange, pleasing, home-like familialness, and a darvesh-like simplicity and dignity. And the beloved is not merely playful and coquettish, but rather is a person with a habit of deliberately giving trouble.

The tone of the utterance is also fine; it also has the implication that somewhere the speaker and the beloved have come face to face, and the beloved even has so much leisure that she might listen to the speaker's words. Perhaps they've met somewhere by the roadside, but the beloved is willing to listen to him speak.

FWP:

SETS == A,B
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == IMPLICATION

This 'A,B' verse is indeed a study in implication [kinaayah]. All we get is two flat statements: you alone do X; everybody else does Y. Various uses of such a simply and neutrally comparative structure could generate entirely different conclusions-- as for example 'You alone are honest; everybody else takes bribes'; or 'You alone travel in first class; everybody else goes in economy'; or 'You alone prefer milk chocolate; everybody else likes dark chocolate'. So it's left for us to decide whether the beloved is morally wrong (she should piously honor the faqirs), or imprudent (she shouldn't risk being cursed by them), or even morally right (she alone 'gives' the faqirs/lovers what they need, and doesn't just 'take' from them).

For the beloved might well feel that she is doing her duty when she gives the faqirs trouble and suffering-- she might say to herself, as SRF imagines the beloved perhaps saying to herself in {1457,1}, 'I have fulfilled the office of beloved-ship [man.sab-e ma((shuuqii nibhaa liyaa] toward this person'.

And of course the speaker's tone too is left for us to decide-- as he speaks, is he rueful? Amused? Admiring? Melancholy? Matter-of-fact?

Compare Ghalib's playful invocation of religious mendicants, which relies on the call they use to invite the giving of alms:

G{162,9}.