Mīrzā Ghālib in both his Persian and Urdu poetry has used the imagery of the musk deer and the Ka’bah in honor of ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib.
In Persian verse:
از مکرمتش ناف زمین ناف غزالست
مشکین ز چہ شد ورنہ لباس حرم آیا؟
From ‘Alī’s glory the navel of the earth [intoxicates like the] navel of the gazelle
Otherwise how else did the black cloth become musk-fragrant?
In Urdu verse:
مشکیں لباسِ کعبہ علی کے قدم سے جان
نافِ زمین ہے نہ کہ نافِ غزال ہے
Comprehend the musk-fragrance of the black cloth from ‘Alī’s arrival
[His birth perfumed] the navel of the earth not the navel of the gazelle
The musk deer, as its name signifies, is the source of musk which is used to make perfumes all throughout Asia and the Middle East. Male musk deer are unique in that they possess a gland that gives off fragrance, typically to attract female musk deer for mating.
This gland is called the nāf-i ghazāl, or the ‘navel of the gazelle.’ Sometimes the fragrance emanating from this gland is so strong that the male deer becomes intoxicated, it runs around wild in circles desperately searching for the source, not knowing that the origin of the intoxicating scent is itself. A phenomenon that other Indian thinkers, such as Rabindranath Tagore, have also artistically described.
Similar to the musk deer’s intoxication, Muslims during their pilgrimage to Makkah, go in circles (like the musk deer) around the Ka’bah whilst being engulfed in the sweet fragrance emanating from the kiswah; the black cloth covering the Ka’bah.
Extending the metaphor, just like the nāf-i ghazāl of the musk deer, the Ka’bah in Persian literature is known as the nāf-i zamīn or the nāf-i arḍ, meaning the ‘navel of the earth.’ Hence, as the nāf-i ghazāl attracts with its scent, the nāf-i zamīn, with its spiritual gravitas, attracts devotees from all across the world. What is this attracting spiritual gravitas?
While the fragrance applied to the black cloth of the Ka’bah may in fact be derived from musk deer perfume, the intoxication of devotees therein instead derives from the metaphysical traces of of ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib’s presence. ‘Alī being born in the Ka’bah and having worshiped there is the spiritual source of the Ka’bah’s sweet smell. As the vicegerent of the Prophet, as the spiritual axis of the universe, it is through ‘Alī that God is to be found.
As explained in another Urdu verse:
غالب ندیمِ دوست سے آتی ہے بوئے دوست
مشغولِ حق ہوں ، بندگیِ بوتراب میں
Ghālib, the fragrance of the Lover (God) emanates from the ‘companion of the lover’ (‘Alī),
I am thus busy in the worship of the Divine through my servitude of ‘Alī
‘Alī being the walī of God is closest in proximity to God after the Prophet, and the term dūst, while meaning ‘friend’ in modern-Urdu, is used to mean ‘lover’ and ‘beloved’ in classical poetry, and such a meaning still exists in modern-Persian today. The Prophet is the ‘ḥabīb’ of God, and ‘Alī being his nadīm (boon-companion), the fragrance of God diffuses from the Prophet to ‘Alī. (Alternatively, walī too means friend and lover, and thus God, the Prophet, and ‘Ali share a bazm (company) like no other.)
It is through such skillful devotional poetics in honor of ‘Ali b. Abī Ṭālib that Mīrzā Ghālib finds himself separate and distinct from all other poets.