===
0007,
8
===

 

{7,8}

shai;x jo hai masjid me;N nangaa raat ko thaa mai-;xaane me;N
jubbah ;xirqah kurtaa ;Topii mastii me;N in((aam kiyaa

1) the Shaikh who is naked in the mosque, last night was in the wine-house
2) cloak, patched robe, kurta, hat, he bestowed in intoxication

 

Notes:

nangaa : 'Naked, nude; bare; --shameless; --s.m. A naked person; a shameless person; --a disgraced person'. (Platts p.1156)

 

;xirqah : 'A ragged, patched garment; dress of a devotee or religious mendicant'. (Platts p.489)

 

in((aam : 'Benefaction, donative, gratuity, largess, favour, gift, present; reward, prize'. (Platts p.93)

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == ISLAMIC; WINE-HOUSE
NAMES == SHAIKH
TERMS

No doubt we're meant to imagine the Shaikh in his underwear, surely wearing at least a modest loincloth, rather than stark naked. It's shameful enough, disgraceful enough (as the overtones of the word nangaa remind us) that he's devoid of all his appropriately modest outer garments. People are naturally pointing at him, and gossiping. 'Oooh, did you hear what he did last night'--- and so on.

But isn't there an undertone of admiration? 'He did that? Why, that old so-and-so! Who would have thought he had it in him?!' Because he hasn't done anything unromantic like sell his clothes, or vomit on them, or get so drunk that he loses them somewhere. Rather, he's given them away, he's given them as a 'reward' or a 'gift'. Since he was in the wine-house, and was intoxicated, probably he's bestowed them on the beautiful Cupbearer, in recognition of his beauty. There's a degree of grandiloquence here, no doubt, but also a hint of real grandeur-- a self-sacrificing, damn-the-cost gesture carried off with a fine flourish. Aren't we now in the world of Hatim Ta'i, who slaughtered his one magnificent favorite racing-camel because he needed to provide a meal to unexpected guests? And of course, the 'wine' can always evoke the Sufistic 'intoxication' of the presence of the Divine beloved, so the Shaikh can look like a kind of mad, mystically transported, darvesh.

Or, of course, he could simply have made an awful fool of himself, and might be feeling thoroughly chastened and embarrassed. (But then, aren't mystics and mad lovers fools by definition?) And isn't it to the Shaikh's credit if he joins (even briefly) their ranks?