taajdaar-e-haram
About this song
- Singer
- Atif Aslam
- Lyrics
- Purnam Allahabadi
- Show
- Coke Studio (2015)
taajdaar-e-haram (Hindi: ताजदार-ए-हरम, Urdu: تاجدارِ~حرم) "King of the Sanctuary" is a famous song written by the Indo-Pakistani poet Purnam Allahabadi (his real name was Mohammed Musa). It was performed by the Pakistani Singer Atif Aslam in 2015 during season 8 of the TV musical series "Coke Studio Pakistan"
The Coke Studio version was abridged and arranged, to make it appealing to a wider audience.
The title of this song is the phrase taajdaar-e-haram which is in fact 2 words, taajdaar and haram, joined by the nexus -e- in a characteristically Urdu way of joining words known as "izafat", in this case, it indicates possession or relation.
taajdaar means "king", or, more precisely "crowned one", and haram means a sacred or forbidden place (that is where the word "harem" comes from); but in this case, it means "sanctuary".
Therefore, the phrase taajdaar-e-haram can be translated as "King of the (Holy) Sanctuary" or "Crowned one of the Sacred/Forbidden Place".
The king in question is the Prophet Muhammad, and the sanctuary is most likely the Kaaba, the structure within the Great Mosque of Mecca that is considered the holiest place in Islam.
Muslims are required to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. This song, however, doesn't refer to a pilgrimage to Mecca but to Medina, the second holiest city in Islam.
The song's lyrics represent the plea of a Muslim pilgrim towards the Prophet Muhammad, to achieve divine grace when travelling to Medina.
The style of the song is a typical South Asian musical composition form called "qawwali". And more specifically, it is a "naat", a type of qawwali that mainly consists of praises to the Prophet Muhammad.
The Prophet Muhammad is called with the following epithets:
taajdaar-e-haram: already explained, King or the Sanctuary kaatib-e-taqdiir: Writer of Destinies haamii-e-beksaaN: Patron of the Poor arab ke kuNvar: Prince of Arabia ummii-laqab: He Who is Called the Unlettered One. This is because Muhammad is believed to have been illiterate before the Quran was revealed to him, and then he is believed to have acquired the ability to read suddenly and miraculously aaqaa: master, Lord dast-e-saaqii-e-kausar: The Cup-Bearer of Kausar. Kausar is a fountain, or body of liquid, believed to be located in the Muslim paradise. The liquid is most likely wine (although, strictly speaking, drinking alcohol is forbidden to observant Muslims) mustafaa: The Chosen One (it is also a common given name) mujtabaa: The Selected One mushk-bed: Musk Willow, an aromatic shrub believed to have healing properties paik-e-nasiim-e-subah dam: Messenger of the Early Morning Breeze chaarahgar iisaa nafas: Healer with the Breath of Jesus muunas-e-biimaar-e-Gam: Companion (or Consoler) of the Afflicted with Grief qaasid-e-pharxandaa paa: Messenger of the Auspicious Feet annabii almuhatram: The Revered Prophet
Many of these epithets are not exactly Hindustani, but words with strong Persian, Arabic, or dialectal Urdu influence.
This song was originally popularized by a Pakistani Sufi qawwali band called "The Sabri Brothers". The band was formed in 1956 around its two original and most prominent members, the brothers Ghulam Farid Sabri and Maqbool Ahmed Sabri, and it has remained enormously famous and active until the present day.