Couplets › Justice
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 — 'Lenin' · originally composed in Urdu
Hai ke liye ki
ko dete hain
ko dete hain
“The rule of machines is death for the heart — the instruments crush the very feeling of human kindness.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
है के लिए मशीनों की
को कुचल देते हैं
को कुचल देते हैं
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
ہے دل کے لیے موت مشینوں کی حکومت
احساس مروت کو کچل دیتے ہیں آلات
احساس مروت کو کچل دیتے ہیں آلات
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal watches industrial machinery take command of life and names the cost precisely. It is not the machines themselves he indicts but their 'rule' — a world organised around tools and output, in which the soft human faculty of kindness gets quietly flattened.
For You, Today
When systems, tools and metrics start to run the show, the first thing to erode is ordinary kindness. Iqbal's warning is to keep the machinery in service of the heart, not the other way round.
In the same spirit
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
Zindagi ho meri parwane ki surat ya-rab
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab
Let my life be like the moth's, O Lord; let me love the lamp of knowledge.
Love · Aspiration · Youth
Ho mera kaam ghareebon ki himayat karna
Dard-mandon se zaeefon se mohabbat karna
Dard-mandon se zaeefon se mohabbat karna
Let my work be to defend the poor — to love the suffering and the weak.
Justice · Humility · Love