Couplets › Awakening
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 · originally composed in Urdu
Tera imam be-huzoor teri namaz be-suroor
Aisi namaz se guzar aise imam se guzar
Aisi namaz se guzar aise imam se guzar
“Your prayer-leader is without presence, your prayer without rapture — move past such a prayer, move past such a leader.”
Romanहिन्दी
तेरा इमाम बे-हुज़ूर तेरी नमाज़ बे-सुरूर
ऐसी नमाज़ से गुज़र ऐसे इमाम से गुज़र
ऐसी नमाज़ से गुज़र ऐसे इमाम से गुज़र
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 scorns hollow ritual and the uninspired authority who presides over it. A prayer with no inner ecstasy, led by someone spiritually absent, is worth leaving behind. He demands living experience over dead form, even in religion.
For You, Today
Iqbal would have you walk out on the going-through-the-motions version of anything sacred to you — including its joyless gatekeepers. If the practice has lost its fire and the leader his presence, that is reason to move past, not to stay.
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
Nahin tera nasheman qasr-e-sultani ke gumbad par
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Your nest is not on the dome of a royal palace. You are a falcon — make your dwelling on the rocks of the mountains.
The Falcon · Freedom · Courage
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