Couplets › Action
From Armaghan-e-Hijaz, 1938 — 'Budhe Baloch Ki Nasihat Baite Ko' · originally composed in Urdu
ke mein hai ki
Har hai ke ka
Har hai ke ka
“The destiny of nations rests in the hands of individuals — every single person is a star in the fortune of the whole.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
के हाथों में है की
हर है के मुक़द्दर का
हर है के मुक़द्दर का
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
افراد کے ہاتھوں میں ہے اقوام کی تقدیر
ہر فرد ہے ملت کے مقدر کا ستارا
ہر فرد ہے ملت کے مقدر کا ستارا
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ 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
Ho mere dam se yunhi mere watan ki zeenat
Jis tarah phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
Jis tarah phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
Let my country be adorned by me, as a garden is adorned by its flowers.
Aspiration · Youth · Action