Couplets › Unity
From Bang-e-Dra, 1924 · originally composed in Urdu
Firqa-bandi hai kahin aur kahin zaaten hain
Kya zamane mein panapne ki yahi baaten hain
Kya zamane mein panapne ki yahi baaten hain
“Somewhere it is sectarianism, somewhere it is caste — are these the things by which a people are supposed to flourish in the world?”
Romanहिन्दी
फ़िर्क़ा-बंदी है कहीं और कहीं ज़ातें हैं
क्या ज़माने में पनपने की यही बातें हैं
क्या ज़माने में पनपने की यही बातें हैं
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 names two engines of division — sect and caste — and asks a plain question of them. A community that spends its energy splitting itself into ever-smaller camps cannot rise. He treats unity not as sentiment but as the precondition for survival.
For You, Today
Any group — a nation, a company, a movement — that turns its sharpest energy inward against its own factions has none left for the world. Iqbal's question still lands: is this how we expect to grow?
In the same spirit
Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna
Hindi hain hum, watan hai Hindostan hamara
Hindi hain hum, watan hai Hindostan hamara
Religion does not teach us to hold enmity among ourselves. We are of Hind, and Hindustan is our homeland.
Unity · Love
Jis khet se dehqan ko muyassar nahin rozi
Us khet ke har khosha-e-gandum ko jala do
Us khet ke har khosha-e-gandum ko jala do
The field that does not yield its farmer even his daily bread — burn every ear of wheat in that field.
Justice · Courage
Na samjhoge to mit jaoge ai Hindostan walon
Tumhari dastan tak bhi na hogi dastanon mein
Tumhari dastan tak bhi na hogi dastanon mein
If you will not understand, you will be erased, O people of Hindustan — not even your story will remain among the stories.
Awakening · Courage