> A ghazal is a poetic form originating in and strongly associated with the Islamic cultural sphere. This just feels wrong to me because ghazals have nothing t

> A ghazal is a poetic form originating in and strongly associated with the Islamic cultural sphere. This just feels wrong to me because ghazals have nothing to do with Islamic cultural sphere. In fact, very many poets who’re prolific at ghazals are decidedly unIslamic. Apart from this nit, I think “translation” is incorrect way to describe converting a ghazal to English. At best, it can be an “accurate interpretation”, but it’ll always be an interpretation. Linguistic differences apart, when you read the same ghazal side by side in Urdu and English, you’ll notice the cultural differences, sometimes subtle and sometimes very pronounced. And that’s just the nature of languages which have a vast cultural context. This context makes the feel of a piece very different regardless of how accurate it is to the original.