Chehel Asrar 15 - Fifteenth Ghazal

Ghazal 15

9 couplets  |  Riaz 1991, printed p. 457–458

عَارِفان سِرِّ خِطاب اَز کُه وُ صَحْرا شِنَوَنْد

ʿārefān serr-e khetāb az koh o sahrā shenavand

1a  Those who know hear the mystery of the address from mountain and desert;

رَمْزِ پُرشور وُ شِتاب اَز کَفِ دَرْیا شِنَوَنْد

ramz-e porshūr o shetāb az kaf-e daryā shenavand

1b  from the sea's foam they hear a secret full of turmoil and haste.

Commentary on couplet 1

The opening describes the ʿārefān, people whose knowledge has become spiritual recognition: mountain, desert, and sea disclose an address to them. The first half gives that address the breadth and apparent stillness of a landscape; the second finds an urgent secret in foam, something fleeting and restless. Serr and ramz suggest inward significance and an intimation requiring discernment. The repeated shenavand, ‘they hear,’ makes receptivity the poem’s governing action. Qur’an 17:44 supplies a pertinent context: everything praises God, although human beings do not comprehend that praise. [11] The poem imagines a hearing responsive to this ordinarily unrecognized significance, while leaving its precise relation to physical sound open.

شَمِّهٔ سُوزِ غَمَش دَر دِلِ آتَش بِینَنْد

shamme-ye sūz-e gham-ash dar del-e ātash bīnand

2a  In the heart of fire they see a trace of the burning grief for him;

بُویِ لُطْفَش زِ دَمِ ارنب وُ بکنا شِنَوَنْد

bū-ye lotf-ash ze dam-e arnab [uncertain] o baknā [uncertain] shenavand

2b  they sense the fragrance of his kindness in a breath [the following words are uncertain]. [1]

Commentary on couplet 2

The knowers recognize love’s burning grief within fire itself, then encounter the beloved’s kindness through fragrance and breath. The two halves bring painful intensity and gentleness into relation; shamme suggests that even fire reveals only a slight trace of the grief. The language moves among seeing, smelling, and hearing, although Persian bū shenīdan can ordinarily mean perceiving a scent. The final verb therefore sustains the refrain without necessarily describing a miraculous confusion of the senses. Because the words following dam remain unresolved, the source of the breath or fragrance cannot be identified securely. The surviving wording supports the contrast between burning sorrow and kindness; its particular vehicle remains uncertain.

هَر سَحَر آهِ جَهان‌سُوز بَرآرَنْد زِ جان

har sahar āh-e jahānsūz barārand ze jān

3a  At every dawn they raise a world-consuming sigh from the soul;

«رَبِّ سَلِّمْ» هَمِه اَز گُنْبَدِ خَضْرا شِنَوَنْد

“rabbi sallim” hame az gonbad-e khazrā shenavand

3b  all hear “Lord, keep us safe!” from the green dome of heaven. [2]

Commentary on couplet 3

At dawn, the knowers’ inward grief becomes an outward sigh so powerful that the heavens seem to answer with a plea for safety. The scale is deliberately immense: a breath from the soul threatens to consume the world, while the sky becomes a resonating dome. Rabbi sallim also occurs within the repeated petition in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 195, where Muhammad asks for safety as people cross the bridge in the hereafter. [12] That verified parallel adds urgency, but the couplet itself places the cry at dawn and names no bridge. Its emotional force lies in the meeting of ardent love and supplication: spiritual intensity remains accompanied by dependence on divine protection.

حَرْفِ خِذْلانِ قَضا اَز رُخِ یَاسِین خوانَنْد

harf-e khezlān-e qazā az rokh-e Yāsīn khānand

4a  In the face of Yā Sīn they read fate's word of abandonment; [3]

رازِ اَسْرارِ اَزَل اَز دِلِ طٰهٰ شِنَوَنْد

rāz-e asrār-e azal az del-e Ṭā Hā shenavand

4b  from the heart of Ṭā Hā they hear the hidden mysteries of eternity. [4]

Commentary on couplet 4

The knowers read a troubling inscription upon the face of Yā Sīn and hear primordial secrets from the heart of Ṭā Hā. Face and heart, reading and hearing, give the two halves a contrast between an outwardly legible sign and inward disclosure. Both expressions open Qur’anic surahs; their application to Muhammad belongs to an attested devotional and exegetical tradition, without settling the letters’ meaning. [13] Khezlān denotes abandonment or deprivation of support, but the relation of that deprivation to the face of Yā Sīn remains unclear. A contrast between the severity of decree and inward access to its mystery is possible. The wording does not securely establish who undergoes abandonment or explain its cause.

مِصْرِ دِل را چُو زِ فِرْعَوْنِ هَوا پاک کُنَنْد

mesr-e del rā cho ze Ferʿown-e havā pāk konand

5a  When they cleanse the heart's Egypt of desire's Pharaoh,

صِدْقِ مُوسایِ هُدی اَز یَدِ بَیْضا شِنَوَنْد

sedq-e Mūsā-ye hodā az yad-e bayzā shenavand

5b  they hear the truth of Moses the guide from his radiant hand. [5]

Commentary on couplet 5

The heart becomes an Egypt occupied by a Pharaoh of wayward desire. Once that tyranny is cleared away, Moses’ radiant hand communicates the truth of guidance. Here the inward reading is explicit in the poem’s own pairings: del with Egypt, havā with Pharaoh. The hand recalls the visible sign in Qur’an 7:108 and 20:22; hearing its testimony turns recognition into the poem’s recurring act of listening. [14] A pertinent parallel appears in the Darwīshiyya printed under Hamadani’s name, which calls for cleansing the heart of moral defilements so that faith’s light can appear. [15] The connection concerns ethical preparation for perception, while the scriptural story retains its significance beyond this inward application.

قُدْسِیان کُوسِ «أَطِیعُوا اللَّهَ» بَر جان کُوبَنْد

qodsiyān kūs-e “aṭīʿū llāha” bar jān kūband

6a  The holy ones beat the drum of “Obey God” upon the soul; [6]

اَز دِل وُ نَفْس «سَمِعْنا وَ أَطَعْنا» شِنَوَنْد

az del o nafs “samiʿnā wa aṭaʿnā” shenavand

6b  from heart and self they hear “We have heard and obeyed.” [7]

Commentary on couplet 6

The holy ones strike the soul like a drum with the command to obey; heart and self answer together. Qodsiyān suggests heavenly beings, while kūs gives their summons a public, commanding resonance. The Arabic expressions are direct Qur’anic phrases: the imperative occurs at 4:59, and the response at 2:285 and 24:51. [16] Hearing now acquires a practical consequence: recognition issues in consent and action. The nafs, or self, appears here as capable of answering obediently, so it should not be reduced throughout the poem to an invariably corrupt faculty. Following the defeat of desire’s Pharaoh, this shared response pictures an inward agreement in which the person’s impulses and understanding can serve the same commitment.

بَر نِدایِ کَرَمَش کَرْدِه رَوان‌ها مَسْرور

bar nedā-ye karam-ash karde ravānhā masrūr

7a  They have gladdened their souls at the call of his generosity,

چُون زِ آثارِ وَفا شُکْرِ مُوَفّا شِنَوَنْد

chūn ze āsār-e vafā shokr-e movaffā shenavand

7b  as they hear unstinting gratitude in the signs of faithfulness. [8]

Commentary on couplet 7

The call of generosity gladdens the souls, and faithfulness becomes audible as gratitude offered in full. The couplet softens the commanding drum of the preceding verse into an exchange of gift, joy, and acknowledgment. Movaffā conveys completeness or fulfillment; paired with vafā, faithfulness, it also creates a close verbal echo. Khaqani uses shokr-e movaffā in a passage promising gratitude for a camel-driver’s faithful service, confirming the phrase’s literary use. [17] In this ghazal, the pronouns and compressed syntax leave the precise distribution of giving, fidelity, and thanking less explicit. What emerges clearly is a responsive relationship: generosity awakens delight, and faithfulness calls forth a gratitude that seeks to answer fully.

دَر مَلامَت‌گَهِ عُشّاق کِه دِیوانِ قَضاست

dar malāmatgah-e ʿoshshāq ke dīvān-e qazāst

8a  In the lovers' place of blame, which is fate's court,

پاکِیِ یُوسُفِ جان را زِ زُلَیْخا شِنَوَنْد

pākī-ye Yūsof-e jān rā ze Zolaykhā shenavand

8b  they hear Zolaykhā attest the purity of the soul's Joseph. [9]

Commentary on couplet 8

The lovers’ place of accusation becomes a court in which the soul’s Joseph is declared innocent by Zolaykhā herself. The unexpected witness matters: the person associated with temptation now speaks the truth that clears him. Qur’an 12:51 recounts the minister’s wife acknowledging that she sought to seduce Joseph and affirming his truthfulness; it does not give her the name Zolaykhā. [18] The poem applies this reversal to the soul and places it under the judgment of decree. Malāmat, blame or reproach, marks the distance between public suspicion and inward integrity. The image invites trust in truth’s eventual disclosure; it does not make every accused lover innocent merely because others condemn them.

سَدِّ اِین راه عَلایی اَسْت، اَگَر بَرْخیزَد

sadd-e īn rāh ʿAlāʾī ast, agar barkhīzad

9a  ʿAlāʾī himself is the barrier on this path; if he steps aside,

صَوْتِ تَسْبیحِ وَی اَز صَخْرِهٔ صَمّا شِنَوَنْد

sowt-e tasbīh-e vay az sakhre-ye sammā shenavand

9b  they will hear his song of praise from solid, silent rock. [10]

Commentary on couplet 9

The closing couplet names ʿAlāʾī as the obstacle and makes his withdrawal the condition for hearing praise from apparently unresponsive stone. The pen name thus becomes an accusation directed at the speaker himself. Sammā joins solidity with deafness, sharpening the surprise that such rock should carry a voice. The nearest named antecedent of vay is ʿAlāʾī, allowing ‘his praise’; a devotional reading as praise of God is also possible. The supplied ‘his’ preserves this ambiguity. Read alongside Qur’an 17:44, the barrier can lie in the listener’s self-preoccupation, while praise already belongs to creation. [11] In a Sufi reading, stepping aside suggests relinquishing possessiveness about spiritual perception: the closing discovery depends on a less obstructive self.

Reading notes

[1] 2b: The printed ارنب و بکنا remains unresolved. These words are left unpointed; arnab o baknā is only a provisional letter-based reading, not an established interpretation.

[2] 3b: Arabic prayer: “Lord, grant safety.” The green dome is the sky.

[3] 4a: Yā Sīn is the opening of Qur'an 36 and also a devotional name for Muhammad. The precise force of “fate's abandonment” is uncertain.

[4] 4b: Ṭā Hā opens Qur'an 20 and is also used as a devotional name for Muhammad; the written طه is retained.

[5] 5b: Moses' radiant hand alludes to Qur'an 7:108 and 20:22; Pharaoh represents the tyranny of desire.

[6] 6a: Arabic Qur'anic command, found for example at 4:59.

[7] 6b: Arabic Qur'anic phrase, 2:285 and 24:51.

[8] 7b: Movaffā means complete or fulfilled; the phrase shokr-e movaffā also occurs in Khaqani's verse.

[9] 8b: Alludes to the confession of Joseph's innocence in Qur'an 12:51; the name Zolaykhā comes from later tradition.

[10] 9b: Sammā means solid and also deaf: even unresponsive stone becomes a voice of praise.

Understanding this ghazal

This ghazal asks what makes the world intelligible as an address. Its subjects are usually plural: the knowers hear, see, read, purify, and respond. Only at the close does the poet name himself, and then as someone who may obstruct the very perception he has described. The refrain shenavand, ‘they hear,’ gives a common ending to changing forms of encounter. Landscape, fire, breath, scripture, prophetic signs, heavenly command, and human testimony all enter its range. These couplets resonate without requiring a continuous narrative: their unity lies in a repeatedly renewed act of reception.

That reception involves an emotional and ethical education. Burning grief coexists with kindness; a world-consuming sigh meets a prayer for safety; command receives obedience, and generosity receives gratitude. Egypt and Joseph’s story give inward life a recognizable dramatic shape. Desire can rule like Pharaoh, while an accusation can conceal a Joseph’s integrity. The Darwīshiyya printed under Hamadani’s name offers a relevant, qualified comparison through its insistence on cleansing the heart and examining one’s own faults. [15] The ghazal likewise connects heightened perception with a changed disposition, especially where heart and self answer the summons together.

Its hearing also has a discernible literary context. Khaqani’s qaṣīda known as Kanz al-rikāz shares the shenavand refrain and several images, including the speaking rock, heavenly summons and obedient answer, and fully offered gratitude. These parallels establish a close poetic affinity without proving a particular history of borrowing. [17] An Akbarian comparison can clarify a further distinction: Ibn ʿArabi describes release from one’s own desire as an ascent through which an already present divine companionship is recognized. [19] That comparison concerns the removal of an impediment to awareness; it does not identify created objects with God’s unrestricted being.

The final stone gathers the opening landscape into a more concentrated paradox: apparent deafness carries praise when the poet ceases to stand in the way. Neither the unresolved wording in couplet 2 nor the obscure abandonment in couplet 4 should be made into evidence for a complete metaphysical system. The poem’s firmer pattern is reciprocal: the world addresses, the listener responds, and the response changes the listener. Its closing insight is that one may miss creation’s praise by giving one’s own voice and claims too much space.

Sources and textual notes

Reading notes [1]–[10] reproduce the supplied notes. The unresolved words and provisional transliteration in couplet 2, the uncertainty in couplet 4, and the closing name ʿAlāʾī remain unchanged. The supplied edition reference is retained; the reading text has not been newly collated against manuscript witnesses. References [11]–[19] support the added commentary and distinguish scriptural wording, literary parallels, and comparative interpretation.

11. Qur’an 17:44, al-Isrāʾ: the heavens, earth, and everything in them praise God, although human beings do not comprehend that praise. This provides scriptural context for the opening landscape and closing rock; the poem’s particular images are its own poetic development.
12. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 195, Kitāb al-Īmān, in-book reference Book 1, Hadith 388: Muhammad’s repeated petition rabbi sallim sallim accompanies people’s crossing of the bridge in the hereafter. The shorter expression in couplet 3 is a recognizable prayer; the shared wording does not establish that the poem’s dawn scene represents that crossing.
13. Qur’an 36:1, Yā Sīn, and 20:1, Ṭā Hā, verify the surah openings. Al-Qurṭubī’s commentary on 20:1 records, among several explanations, their interpretation as names of Muhammad. It is used here as evidence for a historical exegetical interpretation, without authenticating the reports it mentions or treating that interpretation as unanimous.
14. Qur’an 7:108, al-Aʿrāf, and 20:22, Ṭā Hā: Moses’ hand appears white as a sign, with 20:22 specifying that it is free of harm. The heart’s Egypt and desire’s Pharaoh are inward correspondences stated in the ghazal, rather than wording from these verses.
15. Darwīshiyya, printed under Hamadani’s name in Muhammad Riaz, Aḥvāl o āsār o ashʿār-e Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī Hamadānī, second edition, Islamabad, 1991. Printed p. 494 compares the morally cleansed heart to a mirror receiving faith’s light; p. 499 urges fair scrutiny of one’s own faults and remembrance of the beloved. These passages were checked against the scans. Riaz’s introduction, printed p. 486, defends Hamadani’s authorship against a competing attribution to Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh; that reservation is retained. Digitized Riaz edition.
16. The command aṭīʿū llāha occurs in Qur’an 4:59, al-Nisāʾ. The response samiʿnā wa aṭaʿnā occurs in 2:285, al-Baqarah, and 24:51, al-Nūr. The latter verse places the response in the context of accepting judgment by God and the Messenger. These are direct verbal correspondences with couplet 6.
17. Khaqani, Qaṣīda 82, identified on Ganjoor as Kanz al-rikāz. The poetic text verifies shokr-e movaffā in the passage addressing the camel-driver, as well as the shared shenavand refrain, a voice from solid rock, and a heavenly summons answered with samiʿnā wa aṭaʿnā. The comparison uses the Persian poem itself. It establishes literary parallels without claiming a verified account of direct borrowing.
18. Qur’an 12:51, Yūsuf: the minister’s wife acknowledges her attempt to seduce Joseph and affirms his truthfulness. She is unnamed in this verse; Zolaykhā belongs to the later literary tradition preserved in the supplied reading note. The soul’s Joseph and the lovers’ court of blame are the ghazal’s interpretive setting.
19. William C. Chittick, Presence with God, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, 20 (1996). The closing translated passage from al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, chapter 559, linked to the article’s note 27, describes ascent as emergence from one’s own desire and recognition of an already given divine companionship. Used as a comparative illumination of the obstructing self, without claiming that Ibn ʿArabi commented on this ghazal.

One thing worth verifying against the original: the line sequence in the lower crop does not seem to follow Riaz's printed order. The یاسین/طه couplet stands at the top, above the dawn couplet, and the ملامتگه/زلیخا couplet appears third rather than eighth. If that holds, our reading text and the manuscript diverge in arrangement, which matters for the collation note.