# ليس في الدار غيره ديار



## eskandar

This line of Arabic appears at the end of a Persian poem. I think I understand the literal meaning ("there is not in the home but [other] homes"?) but it doesn't make sense, and I was hoping to get a better translation to help me understand the poem.

For context, here is the full poem (lines 1-3 are in Persian, with my very literal English translation, and the fourth line is the Arabic one).

 Open your eyes, for the splendor of the Beloved چشم بگشا که جلوه دلدار 
 is manifest, from the door to the wall به تجلی است از در و دیوار 
  when you behold this spectacle, you will say این تماشا چو بنگری گویی
*ليس في الدار غيره ديار* ???


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## radosch

there is no other home but religion
al-dar is feminine , dar al-islam is masculine?????in this context maybe the dar-al muslimin is meant as a unique unity and the plural for the homes under that devine unity


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## rayloom

This "grammatical" construction is commoner in dialectal Arabic, it's basically the same as:
ليس في الدار ديار غيره
غير here is an exceptive particle.

What that refers to, it depends on the poem. But I don't think it refers to religion.
الدار could very well refer to the heart (not unheard of in Arabic poetry).


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## cherine

Hi,
The last word is not diyaar (the plural of daar) but dayyaar دَيَّار which means "dweller".
In other words, the verse says: there's no one at home but him.


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## radosch

Yes, according to some famous grammarians that is the exact meaning.....seems to me that dayyaar is used only in this expression ...it is dang interesting how them expressions took their meaning !!??


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## eskandar

cherine said:


> Hi,
> The last word is not diyaar (the plural of daar) but dayyaar دَيَّار which means "dweller".
> In other words, the verse says: there's no one at home but him.


This seems to make the most sense. Thanks very much for your explanation!


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## Tracer

I'd like to add that particularly since this is a Persian poem, it's highly likely that we are here dealing with an allegory, that is, the representation of one thing by means of another.

Most likely by DAR, the author means the UNIVERSE in all its manifestations.....and what he is trying to get across is the omnipresence of God throughout all of creation, look where you may.


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## إسكندراني

It feels a lot more like a love poem to me.


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## Tracer

I agree, this is a love poem.  But the object of this love is God, not another human.  Obviously a poem with mystical aspirations.


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## إسكندراني

Tracer said:


> I agree, this is a love poem.  But the object of this love is God, not another human.  Obviously a poem with mystical aspirations.


This is what I am saying it isn't. It doesn't feel like that to me, because as mentioned دار is occasionally used for romantic love. A sentence wouldn't be phrased like that if it was referring to God - though Persian could be different. We can ask the first poster in any case.


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## cherine

We don't need to get into literature here, guys. This is beyond the scope of the forum.

Just a side note: Sufi poetry talks about/to God as a "beloved person" الحبيب، المحبوب , so this is very normal and common in this kind of poetry.


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## mehrwraz

I was listening to an old radio performance and wanted to know the rest of the poem, so I googled "چشم بگشای لیس غیره فی الدار". Very interesting debate about this beautiful poem here. I just registered to say this:
It is very common in Persian poem to have a twofold beloved one. It is up to the reader to interpret the beloved one as god or as human. I personally sometimes find myself swinging between the two from one distich to another, the reason for that being so many earthly/heavenly  attributes for the beloved one in a single poem.


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## إسكندراني

So it is a Persian peculiarity - you guys can cause so much trouble for language learners


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## cherine

It's not a Persian peculiarity, Iskandarany. As I said in my previous post, it's a common thing in Sufi poetry. If you read many Sufi verses out of their context, you wouldn't know that the beloved described/addressed is God and not a human person. You can google العشق الإلهي or قصائد العشق الإلهي to find some examples.


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## Stpain

Hi every one...there is 2 PoV
1:In this poem... "دار" means heart... The position of love...& "دَيّار" means..owner of heart.. Who you love... Maybe god
 So these 4 lines mean... " if you watch around whit your love full heart(eyes) ,you wont see enything but face of your beloved one
2: in other hand we can take "دار" as universe and "ديار" as God.. The creator of world...so the meaning is: open your eyes... So you can see the god's face in every thing.... Then you Will admit that there is no thing in the world but the Lord.


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## fdb

cherine is right: the last word is dayyār (the metre requires two long syllables). I do not know the author of this du-bayt, but it is very typical of Persian sufi poetry.


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## إسكندراني

Interesting!
Thank you for sharing, Stpain & fdb.
And a belated thank you for clarifying, cherine.


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