The poet in question is the greatest Urdu ever born - Mirza Ghalib - who lived in Delhi at the court of the last Mughal emperor - Bahadur Shah Zafar II at a time when the British were consolidating their power in the country. Ghalib was a very liberal Sufi who believed that the search for god within liberated the seeker from the narrowly Orthodox Islam, encouraging the devotee to look beyond the letter of the law to it's narrow essence. His Sufi views and mysticism is greatly relected in his poems and ghazals. As he once stated: " The object of my worship lies beyond perception's reach;For men who see, the Ka'aba is a compass, nothing more." Like many other Urdu poets, Ghalib was capable of writing profoundly religious poetry, yet was skeptical about the literalist interpretation of the Islamic scriptures. On the Islamic view and claims of paradise, he once wrote in a letter to a friend: "In paradise it is true that i shall drink at dawn the pure wine mentioned in the Qu'ran, but where in paradise are the long walks with intoxicated friends in the night, or the drunken crowds shouting merrily? Where shall i find there the intoxication of Monsoon clouds? Where there is no autumn, how can spring exist? If the beautiful houris (virgins) are always there, where will be the sadness of separation and the joy of union? Where shall we find there a girl who flees away when we would kiss her?". Interesting view for someone living in the 1850s isn't it?
Quite bold - I like it. I don't have any strong personal opinions on it - but still a good share. Thanks
You're welcome Alexis Great poets have usually gone against popular tides. And this guy was as witty as they ever make...Once after the British captured the throne of Delhi after a popular soldier rebellion, they were calling out the leftover people of the city (thousands were killed) to check their loyalties. When Mirza Ghalib was called, the British commanding officer asked him: "Are you Muslim?" "Half" ...came the answer. "What do you mean half?" "You see sire, I drink wine but I don't eat pork" That had the officer in splits and he let him go peacefully.