One of the best renditions of this Qawaali is by Abi Sampa. Unforgettable tune. You can listen to it on Youtube here.

The original poem was written my Amir Khusrau eulogizing Ali (Mohammed’s cousin and friend). Zulfiqr refers to the double pointed sword that – as the legend goes – God had given Mohammed which he then gave to Ali to replace his old sword. Ali had used this sword to protect Mohammed in many a battle between the-then Meccans versus Muslims.

Shaah-e-mardaan
Sher-e-yazdaan
Quvvat-e-parvardigaar
Laa fatah illaa Ali
Laa saif illaa Zulfiqr

Roughly translated…

(Ali is) the King of the braves
(He is) the Lion of God
(He has) the strength of God
There is no victory without Ali
There is no sword like Zulfiqr

This is followed by the original hadith attributed to Mohammed:

Man Kunto Maula
Khwajaa Ali-Un Maula

Whoever I am the master of
Venerable Ali is his master too

Again, wonderful rendition.

It was a few years back – 2014 to be precise – my father in law and I were sitting by the pool in our house in Atlanta listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing qaawalis and I was explaining the meaning of the Urdu words. Four years later in 2018 he transitioned.

A few weeks back, in Dec 2021, I was visiting my mother in law in Durgapur when I had to explain to her that I needed to leave early the next day to make it in time to buy some vinyl records from Free School Street in Kolkata.

That is when I learnt for the first time that my father in law was a big fan of vinyl records. Apparently, she had those old records saved somewhere. As you can imagine, I searched the whole house up and down. After looking at every corner she asked me to look at – and getting doused by more than my fair share of dust – eventually, I found a plastic bag sitting innocuously near one of the bathrooms. Sure enough! It had had some old classic Bengali rare-to-find records.

Tonight, I got a chance to open up the first one from that collection – this one is by Manna Dey. My favorite number? “Lalita Go Oke Aaj Chole Jete Bal Na“!!