Urdu Studies, Vol 5 Issue 1, 2025

این میری شمل بحیثیت غالب شناس چند معروضات Annemarie Schimmel Baḥasiyat Ghalibshinas: Chand M’arūzāt

Tahseen Firaqi
DOI:10.5281/zenodo.16536888

Abstract. Annemarie Schimmel’s engagement with the poetry of Mirza Ghalib stands as part of her larger scholarly commitment to bridging Eastern and Western literary and spiritual traditions. A master of multiple languages and an authority on Islamic mysticism, Schimmel brought to her translation of Ghalib an exceptional command of Persian and Urdu literature. Yet, her work has not remained without criticism, particularly from native scholars such as Dr. Tahseen Firaqi, who pointed out several cultural and linguistic inadequacies in her interpretations. Schimmel approached Ghalib’s poetry not merely as a linguistic task but as a spiritual dialogue. Her background in Sufism allowed her to appreciate the metaphysical and philosophical currents in Ghalib’s verse. She often linked his imagery to the broader tradition of Islamic mysticism, emphasizing the symbolic depth of concepts like ‘ishq’, ‘fana’, and ‘hijr’. One of the central critiques made by Tahseen Firaqi and others is that Schimmel’s translations fail to fully capture the idiomatic richness and ambiguity that define Ghalib’s poetic voice. Ghalib’s verse thrives on linguistic play, cultural idioms, and untranslatable wit, much of which is either softened or lost in Schimmel’s English renderings. This critique is a necessary reminder that translation is never neutral—it is always shaped by the translator’s positionality, assumptions, and interpretive frame. In the case of Ghalib, perhaps only a dialogue between native insight and global scholarship can approximate justice to his genius.
Keywords. Ghalib, Annemarie Schimmel.

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Works cited:
Schimmel, Annemarie, and Burzine K Waghmar. The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. London, Reaktion Books, 2004.
___ . A Dance of Sparks: Imagery of Fire in Ghalib’s Poetry. New Delhi, Ghalib Academy, 2007.
___. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Univ of North Carolina Press, 8 Aug. 2011.
Schimmel, Annemarie, and Emerita Indo-Muslim. I Am Wind, You Are Fire. Shambhala Publications, 31 Oct. 1996.
Welch, Alford T, et al. Islam, Past Influence and Present Challenge. Albany, State University Of New York Press, 1979.
فراقی، تحسین۔ ”این میری شمل بحیثیت غالب شناس۔چند معروضات“۔مباحث، لاہور، جنوری تا جون 2012۔

Prof. Tahseen Firaqi is a distinguished Pakistani scholar and critic specializing in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic literatures. He serves as Professor and Head of the Urdu Department at Oriental College, Punjab University, Lahore, and directs the Majalis-e-Taraqi-Adab forum for literary advancement. An exceptionally prolific writer, Firaqi has authored and edited numerous critical studies and translations. His book Nikaat was presented with the prestigious Baba-e-Urdu Moulvi Abdul Haq Award by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in July 2020, recognizing his outstanding contributions to Urdu scholarship and literary criticism.

این میری شمل بحیثیت غالب شناس چند معروضات Annemarie Schimmel Baḥasiyat Ghalibshinas: Chand M’arūzāt © 2025 by Tahseen Firaqi is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0