ki jo ho wo kya hai
“In the eyes of a free spirit, what is the splendour of an Alexander? An empire that begs for tribute is no empire at all.”
की जो हो वो क़ैसरी क्या है
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
خراج کی جو گدا ہو وہ قیصری کیا ہے
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal sets the inner wealth of the faqr, the person rich in spirit and free of dependence, against the outward glory of conquerors. A throne propped up by extracted tribute is not real power; it is a kind of begging dressed in a crown. Greatness, for Iqbal, is measured by self-possession, not by the size of what one rules.
Do not be impressed by status that depends on what it can extract from others. The person who needs nothing holds more real power than the one who commands much but owns nothing within.
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban