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May God Save Us From Their Intoxicating Glances ! Part 1

February 17, 2016 by hjz5060   

Another marvel produced by the legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the Qawwali ” God please save me from their intoxicating glances”. In this song he is referring to the person he loves, how her glances cast a magic spell and dazzle every person who looks at them.

This Qawwali just like the others start with a myriad amount of profound verses in which the lead singer is specifying the issue by the use of poetry.

When ye lift your gaze, it symbolizes prayer
When ye lower your gaze, it symbolizes your modesty
When ye narrow your gaze, it symbolizes your charm
When ye turn your gaze away, it symbolizes my death

The poet is using word play to his benefit here in which he describes how much can a mere gaze change the meaning of what you are intending to do. When you look up to the sky it symbolizes that you are in need of something and you are turning to God for that, thus epitomizing prayer. When you lower them in front of someone, it symbolizes humility. The next 2 lines are about the person you love. How if she narrows her eyes, she is showing off her charm, her grace, her elegance. And if she turns away from you, it symbolizes nothing but death for the lover.

Entire life spent in splendor, it need not be
Every night of sorrow has a dawn, it need not be
Slumber can arise in a bed of pain, in  the arms of my love, it need not be
Fire is considered by the moths as child’s play, every moth is afraid of its fate, it need not be
A pious man who bows down to god, his prostration is effective, It need not be

Now the poet is delving deep inside the meaning of life. He first says that it is not necessary that your entire life is going to be sunshine and rainbows. It is going to be a cruel world out there so be ready. Continuing the cruelty of life, he further adds that not every every night of darkness has a dawn. Not every problem has a solution, so you should keep that in mind and continue your life without waiting for the solution. Furthermore, he adds that when you are aware of this cruelty, you should be content with what you have, whether the arms of your lover or a bed of pain. The next verse might take you off track if you let it. It is analogizing the moth to a person. How a moth dances around fire without the fear of death. Same can be the situation with a person. He can be aware that a situation might cause him to lose but he is still doing it. When a lover knows that his journey is going to be difficult and might lead to his death, he still wont stop his journey because in his perspective love has significant importance over life.

In the end the poet is saying that when you see a man bowing down to god, it seems apparently that he is the best of believers but that might not be true. He may be bowing down just to get his need fulfilled or just remembering god when he is in trouble. The poet says that it need not be that the man’s prostration has effect because god knows the intentions of a person.


2 Comments »

  1. aft5105 says:

    This is a very fascinating poem and I think you did a good job analyzing it! This is a genre that I would never have explored and I think you are doing a good job of giving us an insight into your thoughts and these types of poems. It would be nice to know a bit more about the writer behind this poem and what inspired him to write this.

  2. npr5083 says:

    I like this analysis. It seems that you discovered a pretty profound poem. Being that this is the first post of yours that I read, I want to know if reading and analyzing poetry is a passion of yours, something that you are fascinated by? If so, that is really cool. If not, it is still a great idea for a blog. I like the poem’s meaning in the end. Only God knows people’s true intentions, so what’s the point of judging somebody? That’s an extension that I would like to add to the final meaning.

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