S. R. Faruqi:

In the Qur'an [2:115] God Most High commands, 'In whichever direction you turn your face, you will see the face of the Provider'. [A brief discussion of how to understand and translate this verse.] Having taken this theme, Mir has created several meanings. One is that same Sufistic and mystical theme that was expressed in the Qur'an-- taking advantage of it, and of the fact that God is invisible, he has created the utterance 'oh God, You are in every direction, but no matter where we might look, You are not seen'.

Shah Asi Sikandarpuri has in a sense has also created a commentary on that Qur'anic verse-- he has well said,

be-;hijaabii yih kih har shai me;N hai jalvah aashkaar
is pah ghuu;Ngha;T yih kih .suurat aaj tak naa-diidah hai

[the unveiledness is such that in everything glory/appearance is revealed
on this the veil is such that the face, to this day, is unseen]

Now please look again at Mir's verse. From par kuchh nahii;N hai paidaa the interpretation emerges not only that God is hidden from sight, but also that nothing is apparent/visible at all. That is, the longing to see God is so intense that when God is not seen, then nothing is seen. And kiidhar hai ai ;xudaa tuu can also be read as 'oh God, in which direction are you?'-- that is, 'I have looked in all directions, and you were not visible anywhere-- now where would/might I look?'. Another reading is 'oh God, do you even exist, or not?'.

Now if we take this verse in the direction of ((ishq-e majaazii (or, love of a human beloved), then the reading emerges that my beloved is human and ideal; because of her idealness, she ought to be in every place and every direction. But in whichever direction I look, I see nothing-- oh Lord!-- where are you? That is, the address is to the beloved, and 'oh Lord' is an exclamation of surprise.

A reading of the second line can also be that nothing at all appears (is manifest, is revealed)-- such that, oh Lord, in which direction are you? This is the way to do 'making one thing into another' [baat se baat banaanaa].

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == [BELOVED IS GOD]
NAMES
TERMS

That second line is a real delight. Just consider all the possible meanings of paidaa (see the definition above); right there can be seen a gigantic set of possibilities. No matter in which direction we look, nothing is-- born? invented? manifested? gained? And then, SRF points out the idiomatic possibilities of the 'nothing' in that context-- does it mean literally nothing (a blank or empty space), or nothing of what we're looking for (many other things, but not 'you')?

And finally, of course, the 'oh Lord' can be either vocative (plaintively addressing the Lord about his own invisibility), or merely exclamatory ('oh Lord!', to emphasize the urgency of the address). Although both possibilities are open, the verse becomes sharper and more piquant if addressed directly to God, the omnipresent (or omni-absent?).

Note for meter fans: The form karye is a variant of kiijiye . It would normally be pronounced ka-ri-ye ( - - x ), but here it must occupy the space of two long syllables, so it becomes kar-ye ( = = ). It's more versatile in this respect than kii-ji-ye ( = - x ), which can't be made into two long syllables. (And don't confuse this with kiije , which is technically a form of the passive and thus short for kiyaa jaa))e .)