o o
“In the states of love there is no real difference — the same burning and restless glow at the start, the same burning and restless glow at the end.”
ओ तब-ओ- ओ तब-ओ-
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
سوز و تب و تاب اول سوز و تب و تاب آخر
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal describes love as a constant, not a curve. It does not cool with time or fade into routine; the soz — the ardour — and the tab-o-taab — the restless brightness — are the same on the last day as on the first. True love, in his reading, does not have a honeymoon and an afterward.
A real devotion — to a person, a craft, a cause — should not need the novelty of beginnings to keep its heat. If your commitment has gone cold, the question is whether it was love at all, or only excitement.
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab