Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal

"Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal"
Song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
LanguagePunjabi
Released1992 (1992)
GenreQawwali
ComposerNusrat Fateh Ali Khan
LyricistShah Hussain

"Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal" (Punjabi: من اٹکیا بے پرواہ دے نال; lit "My soul is entangled with the indifferent one”) is a Punjabi qawwali that was originally composed and performed by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[1][2][3][4][5] The lyrics were written by the 16th-century Punjabi Sufi poet and mystic Shah Hussain (1538–1599), who lived during the early Mughal era.[6][7] Although Nusrat had performed live renditions of Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal from the late 1980s onward, the official recording was released in 1992 on the album Prem Deewani, Vol. 52.[2] Over the years, numerous artists have covered the song, including Javed Bashir and Akbar Ali for Coke Studio Pakistan Season 10, Wahdat Rameez, and Zeeshan Ali.[8][9][10] In 2026, composer Shashwat Sachdev reimagined Nusrat's version for Aditya Dhar's Hindi film Dhurandhar: The Revenge, incorporating it into the soundtrack under the title "Destiny – Mann Atkeya", performed by Vaibhav Gupta, Shahzad Ali and Token.[4][5][11]

Description

The lyrics of Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal express the poet's complete surrender and entanglement with the Divine Beloved, portrayed as beparwah (indifferent or carefree), a classic Islamic Sufi motif for Allah (God), who remains transcendent and self-sufficient yet irresistibly draws the lover's soul.[6][12][13][14][15] This state of ecstatic devotion is captured in lines such as “Wasdi Hardam Mann Mere Vich, Soorat Yaar Pyare Di” (“The image of the precious beloved lives constantly within my soul”), illustrating how the divine presence permeates the lover's being, transcending worldly concerns and rendering other attachments meaningless.[6][12] The Beloved is further understood, within the broader Sufi framework of the poem, as the sovereign of both worlds, this life and the hereafter, reinforcing the totalizing nature of divine love and devotion.[6][12][13][16]

Shah Hussain embraces the role of a humble fakir (Muslim ascetic), expressing the desire for annihilation in the beloved "Kahe Hussain Fakir Numanha, Theewan Khaak Daware Di" ("Says Hussain the worthless fakir: May I become the dust at Your threshold").[6][12][14][15] This expression resonates with the Sufi concept of fana, the annihilation of the ego in the Divine.[17] The lyrics also acknowledge the limits of formal guidance in the lines “Qazi Mullah Matti Dende, Kharay Sayane Rah Dasende, Ishq Kee Lagay Rah De Naal” (“Judges and clerics give advice; the righteous and wise elders show the way, but love has no fixed path”), emphasizing that while religious scholarship and worldly wisdom have their place, the path of all-consuming spiritual love for the divine transcends formal structures and unfolds through inner experience and grace.[6][12][17][18] This resonates with the Qurʾānic emphasis on purity of intention and the well-known Prophetic saying that actions are judged by intentions, highlighting the primacy of inner sincerity over outward form.[17][18] Al-Ghazali likewise argues that external acts of worship are meaningful only when animated by inner awareness and intention.[17] The pain of separation from the Divine is poignantly expressed in “Sajan Bin Raatan Hoian Waddiyan” (“Without my beloved, the nights have become endlessly long”), evoking the restless longing that defines the lover's life.[6][12] This sense of absence is central to Sufi spirituality, where separation (firaq) fuels the desire for union (wisal).[16][17] Longing (shawq) is presented in classical Sufi thought as a defining feature of the mystical path, in which the pain of separation intensifies awareness of the Divine, a theme elaborated extensively by Ibn Arabi, who describes yearning as both the result of divine attraction and the means by which the lover is drawn toward union.[16] In Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s rendition of Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal, the intertwined themes of longing (shawq), annihilation (fana), and divine attraction are not merely articulated but experientially enacted, transforming the poetic text into a deeply moving prayer of mystical absorption and selfless love.[2][6][16]

References

  1. ↑ Vilas Bohlman, Philip, ed. (2013). The Cambridge History of World Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521868488.
  2. 1 2 3 "Prem Deewani, Vol. 52, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan". Qobuz. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  3. ↑ Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Apple Music, 1 January 1995, retrieved 1 April 2026
  4. 1 2 Seta, Fenil (18 April 2026). "As Dhurandhar revives Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's magic, here's how his ICONIC creation featured in Sunny Deol and Shah Rukh Khan-starrers just 9 months apart". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 Observer Voice (18 April 2026). "Dhurandhar Brings Back Nostalgia with Music Revival". Observer Voice. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ahmed, Saeed (2007). Shah Hussain - Great Sufi Wisdom. Rawalpindi: Adnan Books.
  7. ↑ Jacoviello, Stefano. "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The Strange Destiny of a Singing Mystic. When Music Travels". Semiotica. 2011 (183). doi:10.1515/semi.2011.016. ISSN 0037-1998.
  8. ↑ Coke Studio Pakistan (1 September 2017). Coke Studio Season 10| Naina Moray| Javed Bashir & Akbar Ali feat. Aamir Zaki. Retrieved 1 April 2026 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Darbar Festival (25 November 2025). Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal | Kalaam | Shah Hussain | Zeeshan Ali. Retrieved 1 April 2026 – via YouTube.
  10. ↑ Yousaf Salli (26 October 2024). Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal | Wahdat Rameez | Live in Concert | Haveli Barood Khana Lahore. Retrieved 1 April 2026 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Genius Romanizations, Shashwat Sachdev, Token, Vaibhav Gupta & Shahzad Ali - Destiny - Mann Atkeya (Romanized), retrieved 1 April 2026
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Man atkeya beparwah de naal lyrics | Musixmatch". www.musixmatch.com. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  13. 1 2 Baldick, Julian (2012). Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Sufism. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857735904.
  14. 1 2 Chittick, William Clark (2013). Divine Love: Islamic Literature and the Path to God. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300185959.
  15. 1 2 Al-Hujwiri, Abu Al-Hasan Ali Ibn Uthman Al-Jullabi (2014). The Kashf Al-Mahjub (The Revelation of the Veiled). An Early Persian Treatise on Sufism. Gibb Memorial Trust Series. Translated by Nicholson, Reynold A. (1st ed.). Havertown: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0906094372.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Al-Arabi, Shaykh Al-Akbar Muhyiddin Ibn (2019). The Openings Revealed in Makkah (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah), (Books 1 & 2). Translated by Winkel, Shuayb Eric. New York: Pir Press Inc. ISBN 978-1945083426.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Al-Ghazali, Abu-Ḥamid Muḥammad Ibn-Muḥammad (2010). The Marvels of the Heart (Kitāb Sharḥ ‘Ajā’ib al-Qalb): Book XXI of The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din). Translated by Skellie, Walter James. Louisville: Fons Vitae. ISBN 978-1887752312.
  18. 1 2 Al-Qushayri, Abd Al-Karīm Ibn Hawazin Abu Al-Qasim (2007). Eissa, Muhammad S. (ed.). Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism - Al-Risala Al Qushayriyya Fi 'ilm Al-Tasawwuf. Translated by Knysh, Alexander D. Reading: Garnet Publishing. ISBN 978-1859641859.
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