TALK
WITH
THE
KING
OF
ISLAM,
ZAHIR
SHAH
MAY
GOD
BLESS
HIM
WITH
HELP
O
you on whom the robe of kingship fits well,
your shadow is like alchemy for our dust.
Your self a standard for rulership;
your majesty a fortress for the realm and state.
Through you, O the wherewithal of Victory.
Ahmad Shah�s throne has acquired new glory.
Let the breasts without your love be barren;
bereft of heart and aspiration.
The bright sword you wear round your waist.
even midnight turns into morning with its sheen.
I know well this rare sword is that of Nadir,
what shall I say, its nature is evident.
I have brought a word of love, accept it from me.
learn from a faqir the secret of kingship.
O you whose sight is sharper than that of a falcon,
look at the God-given land.
What we see is by whose dispensation?
What is it that ought to be but is not?
Days and nights are a reflection of our endeavours.
these are the mirror of our destiny.
I tell you, O stubborn young man,
what is the future but a child of today
the sky fold upon fold revolves around him?
He is the glory of the world of hue and scent,
the day gone by, today and morrow, all are his.
A votary of God is the soul and substance of day and night
because he is the star governing his destiny.
A discerning person, chief of the nation,
no sword is sharper than his sight;
we are all quarries but he is not.
By the thought of this seasoned one
events quake in the womb of time.
Accomplished men be friend like you father,
and these who have a deep insight.
Like that departed one be wide awake,
striving hard, spirited and intrepid.
Do you know what is meant by Karrar (knight veteran)?
It is one of the high stations of Ali.
For nations in this ephemeral world, life is not possible
without this indispensable sterling quality.
Look at the annals of the Ottomans
who leped at the bled hands of the Europeans.
Since they possessed material spirit,
they flew their banner in the world once more.
Why did the Musulmans of India lose ground?
Their mettle lacked the stimulus of fighting spirit.
Their pinch of dust waxed so cold that my fiery muse bore no effect on them.
The spirit and though of Nadir are in your blood.
Sternness with geniality pervades you.
O you the lustre of the eyes of young and old,
learn the knack of handling things from Hashim and Mahmud,
as also from that man with whom the voice of truth
rang aloud in hills and plains � Wali.
We can be restless day and night and create a new age.
There are a hundred worlds still in the Qur�an,
burn yourself a little in the flames of its verses.
Give again the Afghans a new fiery spirit,
give their time a New Year�s day.
A nation lost in hills and cliffs.
I have observed a new thing in its forehead.
Since there was an intense feeling in me,
God has made me aware of its destiny.
I have carefully scanned its affairs
and perceived clearly what is hidden.
A man out in the field remains alive with Allah-hu,
under his feet lies the world of four directions.
A person who does not bind himself to other-than-God,
can break a stone with his glass. He cannot he contained
in this limited world of what and how much.
Brand not this river by calling it a bank.
When this masterly person removes the veil from his face,
he is himself the reckoning, the reward, the chastisement.
Our whole and sole is the Book and its wisdom;
both these powers form the glory of the millat.
The Book spells the victories of the world of ardent inspiration,
this, the Wisdom, determines the success of this world of above and below.
Both are the bounties of the eternal God;
for believers one is all grace and the other majesty.
The knowledge of things is not European in origin,
its root is the zest for invention.
If you see well, it owes its existence to the Muslims,
this pearl has fallen from our hands.
When the Arabs spread their wings in the West,
they laid a new foundation for learning and knowledge.
The seed was sown by these dwellers of the desert,
but the harvest was reaped by the Europeans.
This fairy sprang from the glass of our ancestors;
win her again because she hailed from our Caucasia.
But get away from a faithless civilisation
because it is at war with men of God.
This mischief-monger brings forth mischiefs,
bringing back the idols Lat and Uzza to the Kaaba.
By its sorcery the eye of the heart is made blind;
the spirit dies of thirst for lack of water.
It takes away the joy of restlessness of the heart,
nay, the heart itself from the body!
An old thief, it loots with open hands, the tulip wails where is my dot?
Let God grant you the zest for �
I tell you again what I said in the Zubur.
�Living and dying, O discerning one, are but arbitrary categories;
A deaf person is dead in respect of sound, knowing not what it means.
He is senseless to sound.
A blind man goes into ecstacy on hearing a harp,
but he is as good as dead before colour.
The spirit is alive and endures with God.
otherwise it is dead for this and living for that.
He who is Living without death is God;
to live with God is life absolute.
He who lives without God is nothing but a corpse,
although no one laments him.
Benefit from the Qur�an if you want to endure,
I have seen the Water of Life therein.
It gives the message of Fear Not,
and takes us to this very end-point.
The power of the kings and chiefs arises from La Ilha;
the awe of Faqir arises from it.
So long as we had the sword of La and Ilah,
we left no trace of other-than-God.
The East is bright with my flame;
happy he who lives in my age.
Have your share from my flaming self,
for no faqir like me will come forth after me!
I have strung the pearls of the Qur�an
and explained the meaning of divine Colour.
I have imparted a feeling into the Muslims,
providing moisture to an old branch.
My passion has the mark of life,
the intellect acquires lustre from my wine.
Who has said moving words to the Muslims?
I cried like a flute in hills and plains
until my position became clear to me.
I learnt the word of passion and became afire,
I lighted again the extinguished fire.
I have been given a sigh of the morning.
granting the might of a mountain to a straw.
I bear the light of La Ilah in my breast,
my wine ows its bracing effect to it.
My thought is sky-traversing by conferment,
My stream is averse to the bank thereby.
Therefore take one or two cups from my brew.
so that you should shine like an unsheathed sword.
your shadow is like alchemy for our dust.
Your self a standard for rulership;
your majesty a fortress for the realm and state.
Through you, O the wherewithal of Victory.
Ahmad Shah�s throne has acquired new glory.
Let the breasts without your love be barren;
bereft of heart and aspiration.
The bright sword you wear round your waist.
even midnight turns into morning with its sheen.
I know well this rare sword is that of Nadir,
what shall I say, its nature is evident.
I have brought a word of love, accept it from me.
learn from a faqir the secret of kingship.
O you whose sight is sharper than that of a falcon,
look at the God-given land.
What we see is by whose dispensation?
What is it that ought to be but is not?
Days and nights are a reflection of our endeavours.
these are the mirror of our destiny.
I tell you, O stubborn young man,
what is the future but a child of today
the sky fold upon fold revolves around him?
He is the glory of the world of hue and scent,
the day gone by, today and morrow, all are his.
A votary of God is the soul and substance of day and night
because he is the star governing his destiny.
A discerning person, chief of the nation,
no sword is sharper than his sight;
we are all quarries but he is not.
By the thought of this seasoned one
events quake in the womb of time.
Accomplished men be friend like you father,
and these who have a deep insight.
Like that departed one be wide awake,
striving hard, spirited and intrepid.
Do you know what is meant by Karrar (knight veteran)?
It is one of the high stations of Ali.
For nations in this ephemeral world, life is not possible
without this indispensable sterling quality.
Look at the annals of the Ottomans
who leped at the bled hands of the Europeans.
Since they possessed material spirit,
they flew their banner in the world once more.
Why did the Musulmans of India lose ground?
Their mettle lacked the stimulus of fighting spirit.
Their pinch of dust waxed so cold that my fiery muse bore no effect on them.
The spirit and though of Nadir are in your blood.
Sternness with geniality pervades you.
O you the lustre of the eyes of young and old,
learn the knack of handling things from Hashim and Mahmud,
as also from that man with whom the voice of truth
rang aloud in hills and plains � Wali.
We can be restless day and night and create a new age.
There are a hundred worlds still in the Qur�an,
burn yourself a little in the flames of its verses.
Give again the Afghans a new fiery spirit,
give their time a New Year�s day.
A nation lost in hills and cliffs.
I have observed a new thing in its forehead.
Since there was an intense feeling in me,
God has made me aware of its destiny.
I have carefully scanned its affairs
and perceived clearly what is hidden.
A man out in the field remains alive with Allah-hu,
under his feet lies the world of four directions.
A person who does not bind himself to other-than-God,
can break a stone with his glass. He cannot he contained
in this limited world of what and how much.
Brand not this river by calling it a bank.
When this masterly person removes the veil from his face,
he is himself the reckoning, the reward, the chastisement.
Our whole and sole is the Book and its wisdom;
both these powers form the glory of the millat.
The Book spells the victories of the world of ardent inspiration,
this, the Wisdom, determines the success of this world of above and below.
Both are the bounties of the eternal God;
for believers one is all grace and the other majesty.
The knowledge of things is not European in origin,
its root is the zest for invention.
If you see well, it owes its existence to the Muslims,
this pearl has fallen from our hands.
When the Arabs spread their wings in the West,
they laid a new foundation for learning and knowledge.
The seed was sown by these dwellers of the desert,
but the harvest was reaped by the Europeans.
This fairy sprang from the glass of our ancestors;
win her again because she hailed from our Caucasia.
But get away from a faithless civilisation
because it is at war with men of God.
This mischief-monger brings forth mischiefs,
bringing back the idols Lat and Uzza to the Kaaba.
By its sorcery the eye of the heart is made blind;
the spirit dies of thirst for lack of water.
It takes away the joy of restlessness of the heart,
nay, the heart itself from the body!
An old thief, it loots with open hands, the tulip wails where is my dot?
Let God grant you the zest for �
I tell you again what I said in the Zubur.
�Living and dying, O discerning one, are but arbitrary categories;
A deaf person is dead in respect of sound, knowing not what it means.
He is senseless to sound.
A blind man goes into ecstacy on hearing a harp,
but he is as good as dead before colour.
The spirit is alive and endures with God.
otherwise it is dead for this and living for that.
He who is Living without death is God;
to live with God is life absolute.
He who lives without God is nothing but a corpse,
although no one laments him.
Benefit from the Qur�an if you want to endure,
I have seen the Water of Life therein.
It gives the message of Fear Not,
and takes us to this very end-point.
The power of the kings and chiefs arises from La Ilha;
the awe of Faqir arises from it.
So long as we had the sword of La and Ilah,
we left no trace of other-than-God.
The East is bright with my flame;
happy he who lives in my age.
Have your share from my flaming self,
for no faqir like me will come forth after me!
I have strung the pearls of the Qur�an
and explained the meaning of divine Colour.
I have imparted a feeling into the Muslims,
providing moisture to an old branch.
My passion has the mark of life,
the intellect acquires lustre from my wine.
Who has said moving words to the Muslims?
I cried like a flute in hills and plains
until my position became clear to me.
I learnt the word of passion and became afire,
I lighted again the extinguished fire.
I have been given a sigh of the morning.
granting the might of a mountain to a straw.
I bear the light of La Ilah in my breast,
my wine ows its bracing effect to it.
My thought is sky-traversing by conferment,
My stream is averse to the bank thereby.
Therefore take one or two cups from my brew.
so that you should shine like an unsheathed sword.
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