From: anajam@athena.mit.edu (ADIL NAJAM)
Subject: ...To have "iishq"ed and lost.....(Was: Dating)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 14:53:15 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.042830.9047@seas.gwu.edu>, ahmad@seas.gwu.edu 
(The Alien) writes about Dating.

While I will leave this learned discussion to folks more qualified,
more experienced and more informed than myself, I did find Aftab 
(The Alien)'s signature of some interest:
|> 
|> Aftab
|> 
|>                                THOSE WHO NEVER LOVED NEVER LIVED

It reminds of of one of my favourite line:

	It is better to have loved and lost,
	than never to have loved at all.

However, I seem to use the word "love" in a contextualization
slightly different from that adopted by Aftab.  Some might have
noticed that even in my earlier postings I prefer to use the 
urdu/sindhi/saraiki/purbi/pahari/purbi/...etc. word "IISHQ"
instead of the bland english usage of "love". The reason is that 
I have yet to find an english word that describes the power and
force of meaning that emanates from "iishq"

The "iishq" and the "love" that I would refer to is the "iishq" 
of "iishq" of Punjabi poet Mohammad Bakhsh (of Saif-ul-Malook fame):

	jinaa'N iishq khareed na kitta kanou'N aan bhagottay
	iishq-o-baanjh Mohammad Bakhsha, ki aadam ki kottay
	
	[those who do not appreciate the value of iishq,
		O, why have they come to this world at all.
	 for devoid of iishq there is no difference 
		between Man and beast (the dog) ]

It is the preet of the purbi sheyr:

	jo saajan mei'N jaanti kay preet keeaye dukh hooaye
	nagar dhandora peett-tee kay preet na kareeyo kooaye

	[if I had known that to love was to live in sorrow
	 I would have shouted around that world : Never love, never love]

It is the all-capsulating power of love that made Heer say:

	Maahi, Maahi, kookdee nee, mei'N aapay-ee Ranjaan hooee
	Ranjaan, Ranjaan, aakhay-oo mei'Noo Heer na aakhan kooee

	[search through the deserts I have shouted my beloved's
		name so much that I myself have become Ranja,
	 O, ye all, now call me Ranja.........Let no one call me Heer]

It is also the iishq of Faiz (I believe this sheyr is from him, though
Jamal may correct me if I am wrong):

	garr baazi iishq ki baazi hai, har maal laga dou, keya rona
	garr jeet gaye tou kiya kehna, haaray bhi tou baazi maat nahi'N 

	[if the game is the game of love, then put on stake all you have
	 	if you win it will be great....
		but even if you lose, you will be the winner!]

Most importantly it is the iishq of Ghulam Farid when he chants, in refering to
that eternal source of all love:

	mainDa iishq vee touN, mainDa yaar vee touN

	[You are my love, You are my beloved]

Iqbal's iishq was also of the same kilt:

	be-khatar kood paRRa aatish-e-namrood mei'N iishq
	uqll hai mehv-e-tamasha-e-laab-o-baam abhi

	[and fearlessly his iishq (heart) jumped into Nimrod's fire
	 but the brian is still a spectator on the periphery]

So, tell me, friends.....if that is iishq, what is dating?
Maybe bowing before your Creator.....your Eternal Belove..........Indeed
they were right when they said that "iishq ibaadat hai"........

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ADIL [iishq nachaway galli, galli.....] NAJAM
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan