Couplets › Justice
From Bang-e-Dara, 1924 — 'Tulu-e-Islam' · originally composed in Urdu
Abhi tak hai
hai ki ka hai
hai ki ka hai
“Even now, the human being is the wretched prey of the rule of kings — it is a catastrophe that one human still hunts another.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
अभी तक है
है कि इंसाँ का है
है कि इंसाँ का है
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
ابھی تک آدمی صید زبون شہریاری ہے
قیامت ہے کہ انساں نوع انساں کا شکاری ہے
قیامت ہے کہ انساں نوع انساں کا شکاری ہے
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal names a wound that has not healed. People are still caught, still hunted — and worst of all, the hunter is another human being. He calls this not a sad fact but a 'qayamat', a catastrophe, refusing to let it pass as normal.
For You, Today
Wherever one group of people preys on another — for power, for profit — Iqbal denies it the cover of normality. He insists it stay shocking: a human hunting a human is a catastrophe, not a custom.
In the same spirit
Ho mera kaam ghareebon ki himayat karna
Dard-mandon se zaeefon se mohabbat karna
Dard-mandon se zaeefon se mohabbat karna
Let my work be to defend the poor — to love the suffering and the weak.
Justice · Humility · Love
Jis khet se dehqan ko muyassar nahin rozi
Us khet ke har khosha-e-gandum ko jala do
Us khet ke har khosha-e-gandum ko jala do
The field that does not yield its farmer even his daily bread — burn every ear of wheat in that field.
Justice · Courage
Na samjhoge to mit jaoge ai Hindostan walon
Tumhari dastan tak bhi na hogi dastanon mein
Tumhari dastan tak bhi na hogi dastanon mein
If you will not understand, you will be erased, O people of Hindustan — not even your story will remain among the stories.
Awakening · Courage