javaab-e shikvah
stanzas 6 through 10 (*text with stanza numbers*; *serial glossary*)

     

6)
"We are inclined toward generosity; there's no asker [for it].
To whom would we show the road? There's no traveler toward the goal.

   ==Between maa))il and saa))il there's a nice internal rhyme.
"Instruction/training is widespread; there's no worthy skill/excellence [to receive it].
The one through which an Adam might be constructed-- this is not at all that clay.		    
     
"If someone would be worthy, then we give royal splendor,
To seekers, we give even a new world.		    
     
     
7)
"The hands are strengthless, the hearts are habituated to impiety,
The [community of] believers are a cause of disgrace to the Prophet.
    
"The idol-breakers have arisen [and departed]; the rest who remain are idol-makers.
The father was Abraham-- and the sons are Azars.		   ==Azar, Hazrat Abraham's father, was an idol-worshiper.
     
"The wine-drinkers are new, the wine new, the casks new too,
The sanctuary of the Ka'bah is new, the idols new too, you new too.		    
     
     
8)
"There were those days too, when this was a cause of attractiveness!
There was the coquetry of the spring season, of the desert tulip!
    
"Whoever was a Muslim, had a madness for Allah,
At one time your beloved was this very "go-rounder."		   ==See Shikvah, stanza 22.
     
"Through some kind of 'fixedness', now make a vow of servitude,
Make the community of Ahmad the Prophet settled!		   ==Here, yakjaa))ii appears as the opposite of the harjaa))ii just above.
     
     
9)
"How heavily it weighs on you, waking at dawn [for prayers]!
When do you love us? Indeed, it's sleep that you love."
  ==The kab isn't asking for a time, but is an all-purpose sarcastic rhetorical question implying that you don't at all love Us.
"On a free spirit, the restriction of Ramzan is heavy,
You yourself say, is this the rule of faithfulness? 		   ==The daylong fasts during Ramzan  are felt as an imposition.
     
"The community exists through religion; if religion doesn't exist, you too don't exist.
If there's no mutual attraction, then there's no gathering of the stars.		   ==Here jazb refers to an actual physical force, like magnetism; it holds the stars together in constellations.
     
    ....
10)
 "The ones in the world who have no skill-- that's you.
The community that has no care for its nest-- that's you.
    

"The harvest that would be carefree amidst lightning bolts-- that's you.
Those who eat by selling their ancestors' tombs-- that's you.

   ==When a crop stands tall and dry in the field, ready for harvesting, it is in the greatest danger of catching fire from lightning strikes.
     
"You who are notorious for trading in graves--
How would you not sell, if you would get hold of them, idols of stone?		   ==Probably the idea is that people exploit their ancestors' reputation, rank, and honor for their own profit.
     
     

*On to stanzas 11-15* -- *"Shikvah" index page*

 
 
 

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