Couplets › Love
From Bang-e-Dara, 1924 — 'Tasveer-e-Dard' · originally composed in Urdu
Mohabbat hi se payi hai shifa beemar qaumon ne
Kiya hai apne bakht-e-khufta ko bedar qaumon ne
Kiya hai apne bakht-e-khufta ko bedar qaumon ne
“It is by love that ailing peoples have found their cure — by love that peoples have woken their sleeping fortune.”
Romanहिन्दी
मोहब्बत ही से पाई है शिफ़ा बीमार क़ौमों ने
किया है अपने बख़्त-ए-ख़ुफ़्ता को बेदार क़ौमों ने
किया है अपने बख़्त-ए-ख़ुफ़्ता को बेदार क़ौमों ने
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 makes a claim about history itself: the recovery of a struggling community has come, again and again, through love — not through force, not through cleverness. Love is what rouses a sleeping destiny and heals what has gone sick.
For You, Today
When something shared is ailing — a team, a community, a relationship — Iqbal points to the actual medicine. Not strategy alone, not pressure: the binding, healing force is love.
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
Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri
Zindagi shama ki surat ho khudaya meri
Zindagi shama ki surat ho khudaya meri
My longing rises to my lips as a prayer: O God, may my life be like a candle's flame.
Hope · Aspiration
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