S. R. Faruqi:

libaasii = artificial, feigned

In Shakespeare's drama 'Twelfth Night' [Act I, Scene 5] the jester (who according to his profession wears colorful patchwork clothing) at one point says: 'I wear not motley in my brain'. His meaning is that although with regard to clothing he's a jester (a jester is also called a 'fool'), in reality he's not a jester (that is, a fool). Look at how Mir has taken the same theme off in a different direction. The lover's madness (of which the sign is his clothing's being ripped into shreds) is not artificial, because inwardly too he has been torn to bits. His liver too is in pieces.

With regard to clothing, it hardly needs to be said how excellent is libaasii . If we take libaasii in its dictionary meaning ('pertaining to clothing'), then it's fine; and if we take it in its idiomatic meaning ('artificial'), then too it's fine. This is an excellent example of an iham, because the idiom is supporting it.

FWP:

SETS == DOUBLE ACTIVATION; WORDPLAY
MOTIFS == CLOTHING; LIVER; MADNESS
NAMES
TERMS == IHAM; METAPHOR

Here's another example of the flexibility and complexity of the idea of 'iham'. An iham, according to Mir's own strict definition, should be a verbal device in which the poet uses a word that has two meanings, one common and one rare; he first makes the reader think he's using the common one, then shows that he's using the rare one instead (thus 'misdirecting' the reader). But in this verse, it seems to me that both meanings are fully intended. It's more a case of what we might call 'metaphor revitalization': first he uses the word in the usual metaphorical way ('feigned'), then in the second line he shows you that he also (not 'instead') intends the more specific, literal meaning as well.

For the second line provides evidence both that the madness is not feigned, and that the madness is not (merely) clothing-related (the literal meaning of libaasii ). The reader hasn't been misdirected exactly, but rather has been shown a doubly relevant pleasure to be derived from the same word. For further discussion of iham, see {178,1}. Consider also the similar way in which Mir habitually uses idioms, invoking both their colloquial and their literal possibilities. Such complex evocations are related to what I call 'double activation'.

It's a terrific example of wordplay, in any case. The single word libaasii forms such a delightful pivot that it easily energizes the whole verse.