Couplets › Love
From Bang-e-Dara, 1924 — 'Tasveer-e-Dard' · originally composed in Urdu
hi se hai ne
Kiya hai apne ko ne
Kiya hai apne ko ne
“It is by love that ailing peoples have found their cure — by love that peoples have woken their sleeping fortune.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
ही से है क़ौमों ने
किया है अपने को क़ौमों ने
किया है अपने को क़ौमों ने
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
محبت ہی سے پائی ہے شفا بیمار قوموں نے
کیا ہے اپنے بخت خفتہ کو بیدار قوموں نے
کیا ہے اپنے بخت خفتہ کو بیدار قوموں نے
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ 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
Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera ho jaye
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala ho jaye
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala ho jaye
May the world's darkness be dispelled by my being; may every place be lit by my shining.
Aspiration · Hope · Youth