Islamic Culture April 1946

Besides ' if we attend only to the time the place the object the intention and the imagery of each Ghazal the ideas for the most part appear to flow naturally and without any absurd or harsh transition : and surely in these lighter rhapsodies the coruscations of wit the effusions of tenderness and the luxuriant sallies of an unrestrained and impassioned imagination may be fairly presumed [...] Under these circustances therefore the translator will only have to allow our author what he finds in the Grecian and Roman lyric poets and what we should be willing to allow any poet of our own the liberty of glancing with the frenzied eye of inspiration from earth to heaven from heaven to earth in search of objects adopted to the subject of his composition ; and after attending to the [...] The Great Shaikh gave up the idea of his midday rest turned to the gate-room (Dihliz) and sent one of the servants of the Khanqah to summon the new disciple. [...] The object of my devotions is to pray for the long life of the Shaikh to attend to the shoes of the Durwëshes and to serve them with my head and eye-balls." The Great Shaikh's mind inevitably went back to those far-off days when though the most distinguished of Delhi students and one whom every one expected to have ' a fine career ' he had almost without an effort cast all worldly temptation [...] Still I said to myself Death is preferable to a life of sex-desire'." He lived up to the highest standards prescribed by the Great Shaikh poverty and resignation being the chief of them for "the mystics at the stage of resignation (Rada Tawakkul) is like the corpse in the hands of the undertaker." Like the Great Shaikh and all his Chishti predecessors he would have nothing to do with the great