Couplets › Justice
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 — 'Lenin' · originally composed in Urdu
Hai dil ke liye maut machinon ki hukumat
Ehsaas-e-muravvat ko kuchal dete hain aalat
Ehsaas-e-muravvat ko kuchal dete hain aalat
“The rule of machines is death for the heart — the instruments crush the very feeling of human kindness.”
Romanहिन्दी
है दिल के लिए मौत मशीनों की हुकूमत
एहसास-ए-मुरव्वत को कुचल देते हैं आलात
एहसास-ए-मुरव्वत को कुचल देते हैं आलात
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 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
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