Ghazal 348x, Verse 5

{348x,5}

gaah bah ;xuld umiid-vaar gah bah ja;hiim biim-naak
garchih ;xudaa kii yaad hai kulfat-e maa-sivaa samajh

1) whether hopeful of Paradise, whether terrified of hellfire
2) although/indeed it is remembering the Lord-- consider it additional trouble/vexation

Notes:

ja;hiim : 'A violently flaming or blazing fire; hell-fire, hell'. (Platts p.378)

 

garchih : 'Although, though, notwithstanding; certainly, indeed'. (Steingass p.1078)

 

kulfat : 'Trouble, vexation, distress, inconvenience'. (Platts p.843)

 

maa-sivaa : 'That which is over; what is besides; — besides, moreover'. (Platts p.977)

Asi:

Sometimes there is hope of Paradise, and sometimes there is fear of hell. Thus it has been proved that even/also in remembering the Lord, additional trouble remains mingled with it. And it's obvious that the belief of a believer is always between fear and hope.

== Asi, p. 211

Zamin:

That is, just as in the hope of Paradise and the dread of hell, in just the same way there is fear and hope (additional trouble) in the world. The remembering of the Lord ought to be only an approach to the divine. Thus every worship is conditional upon a prescription for the approach.

== Zamin, p. 314

Gyan Chand:

In worship, sometimes there is the hope of Paradise, sometimes one is caused to fear hell. Although worship is, in name, 'remembering of the Lord', in truth it is the trouble given by things (paradise and hell) additional to God.

== Gyan Chand, p. 326

FWP:

SETS

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.

This verse belongs to the 'snide remarks about Paradise' group; for others, see {35,9}.

The first line is carefully (and uninterpretably) verb-free, so that we're alert for signs in the second line about what to make of it. There are two main possibilities. Reading (1) is: A is troublesome, B is troublesome; although they are (part of) C, they are still to be considered unnecessary trouble. Reading (2) is: whether there is A, or whether there is B, or although indeed there is C-- they are all to be considered unnecessary trouble. The real ambiguity is thus whether 'remembering the Lord' is in a class by itself (as in Reading 1); or whether it's parallel to the two items named in the first line, and thus forms a third and culminating item in the list of troublesome and unnecessary things (as in Reading 2).

The Sufistic but still pious (1) echoes the attitude expressed in {118,2}-- that a desire for Paradise is an unworthy motivation that creates only a false show of religiousity. The more radical (2) suggests that 'remembering the Lord' should itself be considered only as an 'additional trouble/vexation'. Compare {230,11}, or {169,13}, which offer similar ranges of meaning from the pious to the (seemingly) sacrilegious. Most versatile of all, of course, is the protean {32,1}.