Couplets › Action
From Armaghan-e-Hijaz, 1938 — 'Budhe Baloch Ki Nasihat Baite Ko' · originally composed in Urdu
Afrad ke hathon mein hai aqwam ki taqdeer
Har fard hai millat ke muqaddar ka sitara
Har fard hai millat ke muqaddar ka sitara
“The destiny of nations rests in the hands of individuals — every single person is a star in the fortune of the whole.”
Romanहिन्दी
अफ़राद के हाथों में है अक़्वाम की तक़दीर
हर फ़र्द है मिल्लत के मुक़द्दर का सितारा
हर फ़र्द है मिल्लत के मुक़द्दर का सितारा
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal refuses to let anyone hide inside the crowd. A nation's fate is not decided by abstract forces; it is carried, person by person, in individual hands. Each one is a star — small alone, but indispensable to the constellation.
For You, Today
It is tempting to think the outcome is too big for one person to move. Iqbal disagrees: the collective fortune is built from individual ones. Your single contribution is not a rounding error — it is a star.
In the same spirit
Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdeer se pehle
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Raise your selfhood so high that, before issuing every decree of destiny, God Himself asks you: tell me, what is your wish?
Selfhood · Courage
Apne mann mein doob kar pa ja suragh-e-zindagi
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Dive into your own self and find the trace of life. If you will not be mine, then do not — but at least become your own.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Amal se zindagi banti hai jannat bhi jahannum bhi
Ye khaki apni fitrat mein na noori hai na naari hai
Ye khaki apni fitrat mein na noori hai na naari hai
By our deeds we make life a heaven or a hell. This creature of dust is, by nature, neither angel of light nor demon of fire.
Action · Courage