مولا میرے مولا Maula Mere Maula — My Master, My Master

Sayeed Quadri

Qawwali

Somebody is praying, and the prayer is about a pair of eyes. Maula mere, maula mere: my master, my master, the song begins, and the master turns out to be both the divine and the one who owns those eyes. The song never separates them, which is the qawwali tradition's whole method: the human beloved and the divine beloved are the same address.

Sayeed Quadri wrote it for the film Anwar in 2007, and Roop Kumar Rathod sang it over Mithoon's music, for a film about a man whose love of God takes the shape of a woman. Five passages ahead, and each one gives the beloved a new gift of the tradition's vocabulary: beauty, speech, hair, shade.

01 — maula mere, maula mere, maula mere, maula mere

مولا میرے، مولا میرے، مولا میرے، مولا میرے
آنکھیں تیری، آنکھیں تیری کتنی حسین
کہ انکا عاشق میں بن گیا ہوں
مجھکو بسا لے، ان میں تو
کہ انکا عاشق میں بن گیا ہوں
مجھکو بسا لے، ان میں تو

मौला मेरे, मौला मेरे, मौला मेरे, मौला मेरे
आँखें तेरी, आँखें तेरी कितनी हसीन
कि इनका आशिक़ मैं बन गया हूँ
मुझको बसा ले, इनमें तू
कि इनका आशिक़ मैं बन गया हूँ
मुझको बसा ले, इनमें तू

maula mere, maula mere, maula mere, maula mere
aankhen teri, aankhen teri kitni haseen
ki inka aashiq main ban gaya hoon
mujhko basaa le, in mein tu
ki inka aashiq main ban gaya hoon
mujhko basaa le, in mein tu

My master, my master, my master, my master. Your eyes, your eyes, how beautiful, that I have become their lover. Give me residence in them, you. I have become their lover. Give me residence in them.

The passage is the song's conversion, and it is stated twice. The fourfold maula mere is the prayer's knock, and the eyes are the door. Basaa le, give me residence, is the verb of settling and of founding a home, and the request is addressed to the master with the eyes as the house: the lover asks to live inside the beloved's gaze, which is the oldest address of the devotional love. The repetition of the two lines is the qawwali's way of making the request the meditation.

مولا maula: master, lord; also a name for God
عاشق aashiq: a lover, one who is in love
بسانا basana: to settle somebody somewhere, to give them a home

02 — mujh se ye har ghadi, mera dil kahe

مجھ سے یہ ہر گھڑی، میرا دل کہے
تم ہی ہو اسکی آرزو
مجھ سے یہ ہر گھڑی، میرے لب کہے
تیری ہی ہو سب گفتگو

मुझसे ये हर घड़ी, मेरा दिल कहे
तुम ही हो उसकी आरज़ू
मुझसे ये हर घड़ी, मेरे लब कहे
तेरी ही हो सब गुफ़्तगू

mujh se ye har ghadi, mera dil kahe
tum hi ho uski aarzoo
mujh se ye har ghadi, mere lab kahe
teri hi ho sab guftagoo

Every moment my heart says to me: you alone are its longing. Every moment my lips say to me: may all the conversation be only yours.

The passage splits the lover between the heart and the lips, and both organs report the same beloved. Dil and lab, heart and lips, are the two instruments of the love, the one that wants and the one that speaks, and the passage gives the beloved the two words of the tradition's vocabulary: aarzoo, the longing, and guftagoo, the conversation. The prayer's grammar, ho and kahe, the subjunctive and the report, keeps the beloved at the exact distance the devotion needs.

آرزو aarzoo: a longing
گفتگو guftagoo: conversation, talk
لب lab: the lips

03 — baatein teri itni haseen, main yaad unko jab karta hoon

باتیں تیری اِتنی حسین، میں یاد انکو جب کرتا ہوں
پھولوں سی آئے خوشبو
رکھ لوں چھپا کے میں کہیں تجھکو
سایہ بھی تیرا نہ میں دوں
رکھ لوں بنا کے کہیں گھر، میں تجھے
ساتھ تیرے، میں ہی رہوں

बातें तेरी इतनी हसीन, मैं याद उनको जब करता हूँ
फूलों सी आए ख़ुशबू
रख लूँ छुपा के मैं कहीं तुझको
साया भी तेरा ना मैं दूँ
रख लूँ बना के कहीं घर, मैं तुझे
साथ तेरे, मैं ही रहूँ

baatein teri itni haseen, main yaad unko jab karta hoon
phoolon si aaye khushbu
rakh loon chhupa ke main kahin tujhko
saaya bhi tera na main doon
rakh loon bana ke kahin ghar, main tujhe
saath tere, main hi rahoon

Your words are so beautiful that when I remember them, a fragrance of flowers comes. Let me hide you away somewhere, so that I do not give even your shadow to anyone. Let me make a home somewhere for you, so that I alone live beside you.

The passage moves from the beloved's speech to the beloved's body, and the movement is a deepening of the prayer. The remembered words arrive as a scent of flowers, khushbu, and the request that follows is the song's strangest and most devoted: to hide the beloved so completely that even her shadow cannot be given away. The verb rakh loon, let me keep, is the verb of guarding treasure, and the last line completes the hiding with the tradition's oldest wish, saath tere main hi rahoon, may I alone live beside you.

سایہ saaya: a shadow

04 — zulfein teri, itni ghani

زلفیں تیری، اِتنی گھنی
دیکھ کے انکو، یہ سوچتا ہوں
سائے میں، انکے میں جیوں

ज़ुल्फ़ें तेरी, इतनी घनी
देख के उनको, ये सोचता हूँ
साए में, इनके में जीऊँ

zulfein teri, itni ghani
dekh ke unko, ye sochta hoon
saaye mein, inke main jiyoon

Your locks are so thick that seeing them, I think: let me live in their shade.

The passage is the prayer's last station, and it is the hair. Zulfein, the long locks, are ghani, dense and thick, and the shade they throw is the song's final image, saaye mein inake main jiyoon, let me live in their shade. The image is the qawwali's oldest, the shade of the beloved's hair as the shelter of the soul, and the song ends on it, which is the prayer's way of saying the whole of the devotion is this: to live where the beloved's shadow falls.

زلفیں zulfein: long locks of hair, worn loose
گھنی ghani: thick, growing close together

Reading it whole

The song is a prayer with a pair of eyes inside it. Maula, the master, is the Sufi word for God, and the song addresses the master and the beloved in the same breath, which is what a qawwali does by design: the love of the creature and the love of the creator are the same motion, and the eyes are the place where the two meet.

The first passage is the conversion. The eyes are so beautiful that the singer has become their aashiq, their lover, and the request is the prayer's first act: basaa le, give me residence inside them. The line is the whole song's position in two words, and it is a line the Sufi tradition has used for the divine since its beginning: the soul asks the beloved to make it a resident.

The middle passages are the beloved's inventory, and every item is given the tradition's largest vocabulary. The heart says the beloved is its wish, aarzoo. The lips say the conversation with her is all speech worth having. Her words are so beautiful that remembering them brings a fragrance of flowers. The passage then asks the strangest of the song's gifts: let me hide you away so completely that even your shadow cannot be given to anyone else. The hiding is love's oldest jealousy, and the song gives it the dignity of a prayer.

The last passage is the hair, and it is the passage the song is remembered for. Zulfein, the long locks, are so thick that the singer wants to live in their shade, saaye mein inake main jiyoon. The shade of the beloved's hair is the final address of the qawwali, the place where the wandering soul asks to settle. Roop Kumar Rathod's voice made the song the year's most played prayer, and it remains the standard of the film's double love, the human and the divine, sung as one.

Recordings

Roop Kumar Rathod

From Anwar (2007), composed by Mithoon.

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

The song is from the film Anwar (2007), composed by Mithoon, lyrics Sayeed Quadri. The refrain returns between passages in the recording more often than it is printed here.

The song is recent work and remains in copyright. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each passage and the essay around them are original work written for this page. If you hold the rights and would like something changed, tell us on Instagram.