Reply to a Mockery — Page 44
44 as Hadrat Imam Husain ra, who are willing to sacrifice themselves thousands upon thousands of times. Metaphors and allegories are to be found in the literature and poetry of all languages. For example, an Urdu poet says: ی ہ نسح وک اچدن وجاین وک ونکل ےتہک � Beauty is known as the moon and youth as the lotus. Hadrat Mirza Sahib has used the words gareb a n, Karbala and H usain as metaphors and similes. Allama Mull a Naui does the same in the following verse: رکالبےئ مقشع و بل ہنشت رسات اپےئ نم ؓ ہتشک در رہ وگہش رحصاےئ نم � ی� حس� دص I am the Karbala of love. From head to toe I am thirsty for the water of love And in the desert of my heart thousands of H usains are being slaughtered. Here too the similes of Karbala and Husain are used to indicate the great suffering, sacrifices, and steadfastness. These are meta- phorical expressions, not to show that he is superior to Hadrat Imam Husain ra. For heart, he uses the word ‘desert’. Now, to inter- pret these expressions literally or to criticizes the poet for using such expressions can only be the work of someone who has no appreciation of the language of poetry; or else he is so benighted that he would describe broad daylight as the pitch of dark. As for the excerpt from D a fi‘ul-Bal a ’ on which Maulaw i Sahib bases his criticism, Maulaw i Sahib is dishonest as he presents only half of what is written in the original. He not only fails to explain