Kabhi kabhi
“The nights of my life passed in this very struggle: now the fire and harmony of Rumi, now the restless reasoning of Razi.”
कभी कभी
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
کبھی سوز و ساز رومیؔ کبھی پیچ و تاب رازیؔ
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal names his lifelong inner contest between the heart's passion, embodied by the mystic poet Rumi, and the mind's cold analysis, embodied by the philosopher Razi. He does not pretend the struggle was resolved easily; he lived inside it. For Iqbal, passion finally leads, but the wrestling is honest and real.
The pull between feeling and reason is not a flaw to fix; it is the texture of a thinking life. Do not be ashamed of the struggle. Let the heart's fire lead, let the mind keep it honest, and keep wrestling.
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab