Couplets › Selfhood
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 · originally composed in Urdu
Ho agar
Ye bhi hai ki tu se bhi na sake
Ye bhi hai ki tu se bhi na sake
“If your selfhood becomes self-seeing, self-making and self-possessed, it is even possible that not even death can make you die.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
हो अगर
ये भी है कि तू से भी न सके
ये भी है कि तू से भी न सके
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
ہو اگر خودنگر و خودگر و خودگیر خودی
یہ بھی ممکن ہے کہ تو موت سے بھی مر نہ سکے
یہ بھی ممکن ہے کہ تو موت سے بھی مر نہ سکے
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal pushes Khudi to its furthest edge. A self that truly sees itself, makes itself and belongs to itself has gathered a kind of permanence. Such a self is not erased by death — it has become too real to simply vanish.
For You, Today
What survives you is not what you owned but what you became. Iqbal's wager is that a fully-built self outlasts the body that carried it.
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
Apne mann mein doob kar pa ja suragh-e-zindagi
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Dive into your own self and find the trace of life. If you will not be mine, then do not — but at least become your own.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Mere Allah burai se bachana mujh ko
Nek jo raah ho us rah pe chalana mujh ko
Nek jo raah ho us rah pe chalana mujh ko
My God, save me from evil; set me on the path that is good.
Humility · Self-Knowledge