Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Manqabat: Khwaja Ki Jogania

A manqabat is a Sufi devotional poem, sometimes sung in praise of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (the son-in-law of Muhammad), at others in entreaties made of Sufi saints. The most well known of the qawwali manqabats is of course 'Man Kunto Maula', written by Amir Khusrau in the 14th century in praise of 'Ali.

In Khusrau's work, the Sufi often takes the female gender role as s/he contemplates union with a male Beloved. This female voice rises in supplication to Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer (here addressed as Khwaja or Lord/Master, asked, amongst other things, to make the supplicant fairer), though the musicians are almost always male (in the instance below, Abdul Rahim Fareedi and Abdul Ali Fareedi, at a 1983 diaspora performance in Birmingham.) The lyrics and melody are traditional.



ऐ महाराज मुईनुद्दीन हम आन पड़े तोर द्वार
ये गुल की पत राख निहारे जो तुम साँची सरकार

Ai Maharaj Moinuddin hum aan pare tor dwaar
Ye gul ki pat rakh nihare jo tum saanchi sarkar

O King Moinuddin, arrived am I at Thy door's view
This little flower keep in sight, if Thou be the Lord True.

मैं बे-गुण हूँ, जो तुम गुणवंत अब कैसे युतुन पार
मांगत मागंत समय गुज़रिओ आज न करिओ उदास

Main be-gun hoon, jo tum gunwant, ab kaise yutun paar
Maangat maangat samay guzario aaj na kario udaas

Worthless I, be Thou worthy, how to Thee cross-over I aught?
Beseeching, beseeching, time's passed, today Thou fail me not.

ख़्वाजा जी सुल्तान जी तुम बड़े ग़रीब-नवाज़
ख़्वाजा जी सुल्तान जी तुम बड़े ग़रीब-नवाज़

Khwaja ji, Sultan ji, tum bade ghareeb-nawaz
Khwaja ji, Sultan ji, tum bade ghareeb-nawaz

O Master, O Lord, Thou take'st the most pity on the poor
O Master, O Lord, Thou take'st the most pity on the poor

मैली मैली मैली सब कहे, उजली कहे न कोई
पर जो ख्वाजा तुम उजली कहो तो मैली कहे न कोई

Maili maili maili sab kahe, ujli kahe na koi
Par jo khwaja tum ujli kaho to maili kahe na koi

Dirty, dirty, dirty - say all, none will call me fair
If Master Thou call'st fair tho', then call Dirty none'll dare.

पहन के गले कफ़नी मैं दर पे जाऊँगी (ऐ सखी)
ख़्वाजा की जोगनिआ मैं बन जाऊँगी

Pehen ke gale kafani main dar pe jaoongi
Khwaja ki jogania main ban jaoongi

Draping shroud on neck to the door will I come (O friend)
The Master's Yogin will I become.

मोहे राम क़सम मोरे नैनन में ख़्वाजा की सुरतिआ पूर भइ
कैसो रतिअं गुजारूं चरणन मोर जाती नगरीआ दूर भइ

Mohe Ram qasam more nainan me khwaja ki suratiya pur bhayee
Kaiso ratiyan guzaroon charanan mor jaati nagariya door bhayee

I swear on Ram -  my eyes to Master's face did accede
How pass I night? Feet carried me, town far did recede

पहन के गले कफ़नी मैं दर पे जाऊँगी
ख़्वाजा की जोगनिआ मैं बन जाऊँगी |

Pehen ke gale kafani main dar pe jaoongi
Khwaja ki jogania main ban jaoongi.

Draping shroud on neck to the door will I come
The Master's Yogin will I become.

Fareedi Qawwal was a favorite pupil of the legendary Fateh Ali Khan (Nusrat's father). He preferred the more traditional style of his Ustad over the commercial approach taken by Nusrat; he said 'Main Nusrat nu aakhya si ke apne baap di raah te aaja, par us meri gal nahin mani.' (I had told Nusrat to follow the path of his father but he didn't listen to me.') Fareedi saheb was exclusively a 'darbari qawwal', that is he only performed at Sufi shrines and never thought of releasing music commercially - selling his performances was incomprehensible, he lived all his life on donations made by the audiences at the shrines. All his surviving recordings are bootlegs from his performances at various shrines -- chiefly Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar's shrine at Pakpattan - or at public venues.

Fareedi Qawwal was accompanied by arguably one of the most talented group of 'humnava' (friends, i.e. chorus) any qawwal has possessed. Then there are the phenomenal 'baja' players - note their occasional baul dubki riffs. Fareedi was a meticulous performer, one not averse to physically hitting or loudly swearing at his humnava in the choicest Punjabi in the middle of performances if he felt they weren't being up to scratch.

मोहे राम क़सम मोरे नैनन में ख़्वाजा की सुरतिआ पूर भइ
कैसो रतिअं गुजारूं चरणन मोर जाती नगरीआ दूर भइ |

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Faiz: Dasht-e-Tanhai Mein

Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Urdu: فیض احمد فیض ‎, 1911-1984) was one of the most famous 20th-century poets of Urdu. Nominated several times for the Nobel, he received both the Lenin Prize from the Soviet establishment and an MBE from the British one. Repeatedly accused of atheism in his native Pakistan (he was exiled by General Zia), Faiz's poetry suggests a more nuanced relationship with Sufi Islam.

A nazm by Faiz (a popular one) below, performed by the redoubtable Iqbal Bano. Nazms have looser rhyme than ghazals, typically a/b/c/b, and a structure that explores just one theme.



दश्त-ए-तन्हाई में, ऐ जान-ए-जहां, लरजाँ हैं
तेरी आवाज़ के साए, तेरे होंठों के सराब
दश्त-ए-तन्हाई में, दूरी के ख़स-ओ-ख़ाक तले
खिल रहे हैं तेरे पहलू के समन और गुलाब

In the desert of solitude, love of my life, shimmering
Are the shadows of your voice, the mirage of your lips
In the desert of solitude, distant, past the burnt stems
Bloom on the jasmine and the rose of your aspect.

उठ रही है कहीं कुर्बत से तेरी सांस की आँच
अपनी खुश्बू में सुलगती हुई मद्धम मद्धम
दूर उफक पर चमकती हुई क़तरा क़तरा
गिर रही है तेरी दिलदार नज़र की शबनम

From desolation somewhere rises your breath's warmth
Smoldering in its own fragrance, softly softly
Far, from that brilliant sky, shining, one by one
Fall the dewdrops of your tender loving gaze.

इस क़दर प्यार से ऐ जान-ए-जहां रक्खा है
दिल के रुखसार पे इस वक़्त तेरी याद ने हाथ
यूँ गुमाँ होता है गरचे है अभी सुबह-ए-फ़िराक
ढल गया हिज्र का दिन, आ भी गयी वस्ल की रात |

Why does it feel now, love, that you traced
The contour of my heart with the finger of your memory
That the stretch of the morn of separation now passes
The day of parting wanes, comes the night of union.

A song of union with not only love, but also with the truth that lies beyond this tired life, the eternal night of union.

यूँ गुमाँ होता है गरचे है अभी सुबह-ए-फ़िराक
ढल गया हिज्र का दिन, आ भी गयी वस्ल की रात |


Monday, June 9, 2014

Khusrau: Teri Re Main To

Bahauddin Khan Qawwal (1934-2006), today remembered more narrowly than his talent deserved, had had, in his day, The National Centre for the Performing Arts in India record his classical style of qawwali on golden tape for safe-keeping 'up to 200 years', as reference and guide for scholars of tomorrow.




घट के अंदर बैठ के करें प्रेम से पियार
ऐसे पिया से ख़ुसरो अपने तन मन दीजै वार ।

तेरी रे मैँ तो चरणन लागि
पीर निज़ामुद्दीन ख़्वाजा निज़ामुद्दीन

हर क़ौम रास्त रहे, दिनो क़िबला गाहे
मन क़िबला रास्त करदम बार सिम्त कजकुलाहे |

The first Farsi line was composed by Nizamuddin Aulia himself, who, while observing one day from his chilla or akhara how Hindu worshippers bathed in river Yamuna, remarked contentedly:

Har qaum rast rahe, deen-o [wa] qibla gahe

Every people has its right path, its faith and its focus of worship (the qibla is the direction to Mecca, towards which Muslims turn to pray.)

Khusrau, who was with him, at once completed the couplet with a verse that has come to represent (according to Regula Qureshi in her book) the central poetic statement of the Sufi in the subcontinent:

Man qibla rast kardam, bar samt kajkulahe

I, however, focus my worship on the crooked cap [of my Beloved.]

Khusrau goes on to say (I think Bahauddin Qawwal is singing a Farsi version of this qalam, the lines are a bit indistinct in the recording above):

Sansar har ko poojay, kul ko jagat sarahe,
Makke mein koyi dhoondhay, Kaashi ko koi jaye,
Guyyian main apnay pi kay payyian padun na kahe?
Har qaum rast rahe, deen-e wa qibla gahe.....
Teri re main to, charanan laagi ... etc.

The whole world worships something or the other,
Some look for God in Mecca, while some go to Kashi,
So why can’t I, Oh the Wise, just fall to my Beloved’s feet?
Every sect has a faith, a qibla ... I will here-fore stick to Thy feet.

The family of Bahauddin Qawwal have been granted permanent rooms adjacent to the shrines of Moinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin Aulia and Alauddin Sabir Kaliari, in Ajmer, Delhi and Kaliar, due to their 700 years of service to these Sufi saints.

हर क़ौम रास्त रहे , दिनो क़िबला गाहे
मन क़िबला रास्त करदम बार सिम्त कजकुलाहे |

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Bulleh Shah: Sajna

Bulleh Shah (Punjabi: بلہے شاہ , ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ, 1680–1757), born Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri, was a Punjabi Sufi poet. His writings reveal a thinker alive to contemporary sociological problems of the Punjab; his poems highlight his quest through the four stages of Sufism: Shariat (Path), Tariqat (Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). Bulleh Shah’s work never overtly questioned the Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day, but his metaphors often express frustration towards clerical Islam.

Here is a rendering.

Ghunghat orhley na, luk sajna; main mushtaq deedar de haan.

Wrap not the veil, hidden Beloved, I long to have a glimpse of you.

Terey bajhon deewani hoye, tokaan kardey log sabhoye
Je ker yaar karey diljoi, taan faryaad pukaar de haan.

Without you I go insane, people around poke fun at me.
Friend come heal my heart, that alone remains my plea.

Muft bikaindi jandi bandi, mil mahi jind aweien jandi
Ek dam hijr nahi seh pandi, bulbul main gulzar de haan.

Your slave-girl is being sold free, come, Beloved, rescue me.
Not moment's parting can withstand, I Bulbul of your garden be.

[Bulleh woh kaun tera yaar, ows dey hath Quran owsey janaar?]

[Who's this Bulleh your friend, in one hand Quran, in t'other (Sacred)Thread?]

In contemporary performance, the crispest, most crowd-pleasing verses are often juxtaposed from poems composed at different times; keeping that in mind, note how the point of gender changes during the course of the song, from a man entreating a woman to part her veil, to a slave-girl asking her master deliverance from being sold.


Saturday, June 7, 2014

Kabir: Banjara Re


Kabīr (in vernacular,  Kabīra) (Hindi: कबीर, Punjabi: ਕਬੀਰ, Urdu: کبير‎) (c. 1440–c. 1518) was the greatest of the medieval mystic poets and saints of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement and syncretism in contemporary Hinduism. In Arabic al-Kabīr means "The Great" – the 37th name of Allah.

Kabir composed a pithy style, replete with an inventive rural imagery. His work talks of the true Guru who reveals the divine through direct experience, and denounces ways of attempting God-union such as pilgrimages, austerities, or worship.  Kabir, illiterate, expressed his poems orally in vernacular Hindi, borrowing from various dialects including Avadhi, Brajbhasa, Maghi and Bhojpuri.




चक्की चल रही, कबीरा बैठा रोयी
दोनो पुड़ के बीच में साझा ना निकले कोयी ।
चक्की चल रही, कबीरा बैठा जोयी
खूंटा पकड़ो निज नाम का, तो साझा निकले जो सोयी ॥

Chakki chal rahi, Kabira baitha royee
Dono pud ke beech me saajha na nikle koi
Chakki chal rahi Kabira baitha joye
Khoonta pakdo nij Naam ka, to sajha nikle jo soyee

The millstone [of Time] grinds on, Kabir sits weeping [watching the inevitability]
From between the two stones [of wheeling heaven and turning earth below] no one passes unscathed
The millstone grinds on, Kabir is still there
Grab hold of the hub of the Name that is your's [by right], that is the path to deliverance.

छोड़ के मत जाअो एकली रे, बंजारा रे बंजारा रे ।
दूर देस रहे मामला अब जागो प्यारा रे ॥

Chhod ke mat jao ekli re Banjara re Banjara re
Duur des rahe mamla, ab jago pyara re.

Don't leave on this journey by yourself, O my Nomad, O Nomad
'Tis the matter of That Faraway Land, now come to your senses my dear.

अपना साहेब ने महल बनायी, बंजारा रे, बंजारा रे ।
गहरी गहरी माहे बीन बजायी, बंजारा हो ॥

Apna Saaheb ne mahal banayee, Banjara re
Gehri gehri mahe been bajai, Banjara ho.

Our Master made a palace for you, O my Nomad, O Nomad
Deep deep thence comes the call of His flute, Ah my Nomad.

अपना साहेब ने बाग़ बनायी, बंजारा रे, बंजारा रे ।
फूल भरी लायी छाब रे, बंजारा हो ॥

Apna Saahebne baag banayee, Banjara re
Phool bhari layee chhab re, Banjara ho

Our Master made a grove for you, O my Nomad, O Nomad
Flower'd bowers bring shade there, Ah my Nomad.

कहत कबीरा, कहत कबीरा, धर्मीदास को ।
संत अमरापुर मालना, बंजारा रे ॥

Kahat Kabira, Kahat Kabira Dharmidas ko
Sant amrapur maalna, Banjara re.

Says Kabir to Dharamidas, the saintly ones will surely be
Gardeners of this estate of immortality, O my Nomad.

Prahlad Tippaniya, absurdly pigeonholed as a Dalit singer, sings a variant:


Kabir has been  translated to English by Rabindranath Tagore. His greatest work is the Bijak (The Seedling), discussing the ideas of the fundamental One and an universal view of spirituality. Though his vocabulary is replete with Hindu spiritual concepts - Brahman, karma and reincarnation -  Kabir mocked dogma both in Hinduism and in Islam. Ideological messages in Kabir appealed to the poor and oppressed as a "protest against social discrimination and economic exploitation". At his death, both Hindus and Muslims claimed the remains, one side argued for cremation in Varanasi, the other for burial in Maghahar.

छोड़ के मत जाअो एकली रे, बंजारा रे बंजारा रे ।
दूर देस रहे मामला अब जागो प्यारा रे ॥

Friday, June 6, 2014

Rāmprasād: Man Re Krishi Kaaj Jano Na


The Bhakti tradition of India provides an interesting foil to the Sufi canon of Khorasan.

Rāmprasād Sen (Bengali: রামপ্রসাদ সেন; 1718-1775) was a Shakta poet and saint of eighteenth century Bengal. His Bhakti poems, usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal.

Born to a Tantric family, Rāmprasād became a disciple of Krishnananda Agamavagisha, a scholar and yogi in what is now Nadia in West Bengal. This was a time when forays of English, Danish, French and Portuguese power were consolidating military European bases and 'factories' in agricultural Bengal, displacing farmer and herder from these enclaves. Ramprasad became well known for his devotional songs, eventually becoming court poet for the king Krishna Chandra of Nadia.

Ramprasad created a new musical form that combined baul music with kirtan. The new style took root in Bengali culture with many poet-composers combining folk- and raga-based melodies. It was the fusion music of its time.

Structurally, the composition below is a ghazal, but the sublimation is no longer directed to a divine male or female 'Beloved' of the Sufi, it is a child's yearning for his Mother. Durga the ten-armed evil-slaying Goddess at the obverse, at the reverse Kali whose flames lick at the cremation ghat as she spreads her lap to take her child at the end of this life - that is the currency of sublimation in Ramprasadi.




মন রে কৃষি কাজ জান না, মন রে কৃষি কাজ জান না ।
এমন মানব-জমিন রইলো পতিত, আবাদ করলে ফলতো সোনা ।।

Man re, krishi-kaaj jano na, Man re, krishi-kaaj jano na
Eman manab-jamin railo patit, abad karle phalto sona.

O Mind, you know not to till; Mind, you know not to till
Such human-land stays fallow, tended would gold yield.

কালীনামে দাওরে বেড়া, ফসলে তছরূপ হবে না ।
সে যে মুক্তকেশীর শক্ত বেড়া, তার কাছেতে যম ঘেঁসে না ।।

Kali-name daore bera, fasale tachhrup habena
Se je mukta-keshi'r shakto bera, tar kachhete Yama ghneshena.

Make fence of Kali's name, none the harvest embezzle would
Strong fence - of She of unpinned locks - who Death'd elude.

অদ্য অব্দশতান্তে বা, ফসল বাজাপ্ত হবে জান না ।
আছে একতারে মন এইবেলা, তুই চুটিয়ে ফসল কেটে নে না ।।

Adya abda-shatante ba, fasal bajapta habe jano na
Achhe ek-taare Man eibela, tui chutiye fasal kete ne na.

Today or century-end somewhen, confiscated the harvest will be
Keep Mind on one Tune while you can, bring in the harvest free.

গুরুদত্ত বীজ রোপন ক'রে, ভক্তিবারি তায় সেচ না ।
ওরে একা যদি না পারিস মন, রামপ্রসাদকে সঙ্গে নে না ।।

Guru-datta beej ropan kare, bhati-bari tai secho na
Ore eka jadi na paris Man, Ramprasad-ke sange ne na.

Plant the Guru-given seed, irrigate with devotion all day
If you can't by yourself, Mind, let Ramprasad with you stay.

Nivedita compared Ramprasad to William Blake. The rhapsodic aspect of the Ramprasadi, however, is close to that of the works of Persian Sufis, and at the same time it has an interiority that reminds of the stoicism of Kabir.

এমন মানব-জমিন রইলো পতিত, আবাদ করলে ফলতো সোনা |


Thursday, June 5, 2014

Shams-i-Tabrīzī: Arzoo Daram Ke Mehmanat Kunam


Shams-i-Tabrīzī (Persian: شمس تبریزی‎) or Shams al-Din Mohammad (1185–1248) is credited as the guru of Mewlānā (Maulana) Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, known the world over as Rumi.  Shams of Tabriz is accorded great reverence in Rumi’s poetic collection, in particular Diwan-i Shams-i-Tabrīzī (The Works of Shams of Tabriz). Tradition holds that Shams taught Rumi in seclusion in Konya for a period of forty days, before fleeing for Damascus.

It is said Rumi attributed a fair part of his own divan to Shams, so a school of scholars attribute the ghazal below to Jalauddin Rumi himself.




Arzoo daram ke mehmanat kunam
Jan o dil, aye dost, qurbanat kunam

Friend, I beseech you to be my guest
I would sacrifice my life and heart on you

Inqilab kam kunam khamosh ba ashq kunam
Ay me khoranat kunam ba arzoo kunam

I would still your rebellion into silent love
To me I would turn your prayers and seeking

Gar yaqeen danam ke bar man aasheqi
Az jamal e khwesh hairanat khonam

If I could be sure you loved me
I would try by my beauty to amaze you

Gar tu Aflatoon o Luqmani ba ilm
Man ba yek deedar e nadanat kunam

[Luqman - wise - sometimes refers to Salman the Wise, the first Persian convert to Muhammad.]

Though you are wiser than a Plato or a man of science
With one glance I would turn you into a fool.

Gar sar-e-ganj-e-tu maare khuftayi
Ham cho maare khufta, bejaanat kunam

[Refers to ancient custom of guarding buried treasure with a snake.]

If a sleeping snake lies atop your treasure
Like that sleeping snake, I would take your life.

Gar qamar bandi ba khidmat ham cho moh
Mulk ha ba Shams Sulemanat kunam

If you don the sash of service, like us
I would put you in the same spot as Shams Suleman.

Khosh begufti dilbarii mah-ro sokhan
Namayea asraar e diwanat kunam

You spoke sweetly, "Lovable, fair as the moon," nice words
I would take you into trance of mystical secrets.

Shams-i-Tabrīzī ba Maulana be go
Daftar e asrar diwanat kunam

Shams of Tabriz, tell Maulana
I would turn you into a book of entranced secrets.

Another version rendered by Ghous Mohd. Nasir is below.



If on a winter's night in 1244 a traveler dressed in black from head to toe had come to the famous inn of the Sugar Merchants of Konya, he would have passed into legend. This one claimed to be a traveling salesman, and said he had been instructed by someone important to look in Konya for something he was determined to find.

One day Rumi sat reading a large stack of books. Shams of Tabriz, passing by, asked him, "What are you doing?" Rumi sized up the 'caravans-and-dates' type of stranger and scoffingly replied, "Something you cannot understand." On hearing this, Shams threw the stack into a nearby pool. Rumi hastily rescued his books and to his surprise they were all dry. Rumi asked Shams, "What is this?", to which Shams replied, "Maulana, this is what you cannot understand."

Gar tu Aflatoon o Luqmani ba ilm
Man ba yek deedar e nadanat kunam.


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Küçek Mustafà Dede: Shah Ze Karam

Tradition is divided on who composed Shah Ze Karam. Often used as a bandish for Hindustani classical music, some say it was authored by Amir Khusrau. Others place authorship of this persianate rubāʿī to several hundred years after Khusrau, around 1650, by the Mevlevi dervish Küçek Mustafà Dede, d. 1688/9.




Shah Ze Karam Bar Man-E-Darvesh Nigar
Bar Haal-E-Mann-E-Khast-O-Dil Resh Nigar

Har Chand Neeyam Laayaq-E-Bakhshayesh-E-Tu
Bar Mann Manegar Bar Karam-E-Khesh Nigar

Lord! In Thy Grace, Thine humble supplicant, regard
Then my state of weariness, my wounded heart, regard

Howsoever be I unworthy every moment of Thy given laws
Not my trespass, but Thine own gracious benevolence, regard.

Traditionally, there have been five Mevlevi ceremonies amongst the 'whirling' dervishes. The first three, Penchgah, Dugah and Huseyni were composed in antiquity and their authorship is lost to us. The fourth, Bayati, is above. The last, Segah, was composed by Mustafa Itri (d 1711.)

The term rubāʿī (Persian: رباعی‎ rubāʿī, "quatrain") is used to describe a Persian quatrain (a poem of four lines); rubāʿiyāt (رباعیات) stands for a collection of such quatrains. There are a number of possible rhyme-schemes to the rubaiyat form, e.g. AABA, AAAA, though through the translations of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald the English-speaking world is most familiar with the AABA rhyme-scheme. Note the rubai above is in the 14:8 beat.


Sunday, June 1, 2014

Hāfez: Ba Har Su Jalwa-e-Dildaar Deedam


Hāfez of Shīrāz (1325-1389) was the greatest of 14th-century Persian poets, a contemporary of Timur the Turk. During the life of Hāfez, the control of Persia went from the Ilkhanids to the Timurids (i.e. from Mongol to Turk, though Timur's own Barlas tribe was more Mongol than Turk.) Hāfez is a takhallus or nom-de-plume; it means 'guardian', and as a title is awarded to someone who has memorized the Quran. His actual name was Shamsuddin Muhammad, and in his close Sufi circle he was simply called Khwaja.

Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī's works are to be found in the homes of most people in Iran - children learn his poems by heart and when they grow up they use them as proverbs:

If that Shirazi Turk would take my heart in hand
I would remit Samarqand and Bukhārā for his/her black mole.

When he heard these lines Timur had Hāfez arrested. 

"By the beard of the prophet! With the blows of my lustrous sword," Timur complained, "I have subjugated most of the habitable globe... to embellish Samarqand and Bukhara, the seats of my empire; and you would sell them for the black mole of some dancing-boy (or girl) in Shiraz!" 

Hāfez bowed deeply and replied, "Alas, O Sultan, it is this prodigality which is the cause of the misery in which you find me."

He was spared.

Munshi Raziuddin's sons Farid Ayaz and Abu Muhammad perform Hāfez:





यार अग्यार में नज़र आया
गुल हमें खार में नज़र आया
जिसको वैज़ छुपाये फिरते थे
वो हमें बाज़ार में नज़र आया

I saw Beloved in the Stranger
I saw a Flower in the Ash
Who the Preacher so tried to hide
I saw that Beloved in the square.

Ba har soo jalwa-e-dildaar deedam
Ba har cheez jamal-e-yaar deedam

بہ ہر سو جلوہ دلدار دیدم
بہ ہر چیز جمال یار دیدم

In every way the splendor of Beloved do I see
In every thing the beauty of my Love do I see

कर गौर ज़रा दिल में जलवागरी होगी
ये शीशा नहीं खाली -  देख इसमें परी होगी
साक़ी तेरा मस्ती से क्या हाल हुआ होगा
जब तू ने ये मय शीशे में भरी होगी ...
ब हर सू जलवा-ए-दिलदार दीदम

Na deedam haich shaira khaali az ve
Par az ve kooncha-o-bazaar deedam

I don’t see anything without It
But I see Love in every corner and bazaar

Jo khud ra bingaram deedam hamuna ast
Jamal-e-khud jamal-e-yaar deedum

My own-ness does not belong to me
My beauty is Beloved's beauty do I see

मेरी सूरत से किसी कि नहीं मिलती सूरत
मैं जहाँ में तेरी तस्वीर बना फिरता हूँ

Namaz-e-zahidaan mehrab o minbar
Namaz-e-ashiqaan bar daar e deedum

Namaz of the pious is on mehraab and minbar
Namaz of the Lovers on the stake do I see

ज़ाहिद कि नमाज़ मिनबर ओ मेहराब में होती है
आशिकों कि नमाज़ सूली पर होते देखा हूँ

(Possibly a reference to Timur sparing the Muslim clergy but not the Sufi scholars. 28 towers of 1500 heads apiece were reported by eyewitnesses from the sack of Isphahan.)

Jo yak jura raseed az ghaib Hāfez
Hama aqal-o-khird bekaar deedam

So suddenly your righteousness is gone Hāfez
Now reason and intellect useless do I see.

From Engels' letter to Marx:

It is, by the way, rather pleasing to read dissolute old Hafiz in the original language, which sounds quite passable and, in his grammar, old Sir William Jones likes to cite as examples dubious Persian jokes.

مـن باکـمر تو در میان کردم دسـت
پنداشتمش که در میان چیزی هست
پیداسـت از آن میان چو بربست کمر
تا من ز کمر چه طرف خواهم بربسـت

I put my arms around your waist,
A lover’s embrace to taste.
From your resolve it’s obvious
All my efforts will go to waste.