Couplets › Humility
From Bal-e-Jibril · originally composed in Urdu
Kya dabdaba-e-nadir kya shaukat-e-taimuri
Ho jaate hain sab gharq-e-mai-e-naab
Ho jaate hain sab gharq-e-mai-e-naab
“What of Nadir's dread power, what of Timur's splendour? In the end every such record is drowned in the pure wine of time.”
Romanहिन्दी
क्या दबदबा-ए-नादिर क्या शौकत-ए-तैमूरी
हो जाते हैं सब ग़रक़-ए-मय-ए-नाब
हो जाते हैं सब ग़रक़-ए-मय-ए-नाब
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
The mightiest conquerors and their empires are eventually dissolved by time itself. Iqbal is not mocking greatness so much as warning against mistaking power and pomp for permanence. What outlasts an empire is rarely its army; it is its ideas, its character, its inner worth.
For You, Today
Titles, status and the trappings of power all fade. Build the part of your work that survives the loss of position, because the position itself is on loan.
In the same spirit
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
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
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