Couplets › Courage
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 · originally composed in Urdu
Be-khatar kud pada aatish-e-Nimrood mein ishq
Aql hai mahv-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam abhi
Aql hai mahv-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam abhi
“Love leapt fearlessly into the fire — while reason still stood on the rooftop's edge, lost in watching the spectacle.”
Romanहिन्दी
बे-ख़तर कूद पड़ा आतिश-ए-नमरूद में इश्क़
अक़्ल है महव-ए-तमाशा-ए-लब-ए-बाम अभी
अक़्ल है महव-ए-तमाशा-ए-लब-ए-बाम अभी
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 stages his great contrast as a single decisive image. Love does not deliberate; it leaps. Reason, meanwhile, stays safely on the parapet, an absorbed spectator. Love acts and risks; reason observes and calculates.
For You, Today
There is a moment when watching, weighing and commentating must give way to the leap. Iqbal honours the one who jumps. Some thresholds in life are crossed by committing, not by analysing them from the roof.
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
Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
Beyond the stars there are worlds yet — there are still more trials of love to come.
Aspiration · Love · Restlessness
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