Couplets › Love
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 · originally composed in Urdu
ki mein hai
nahin
nahin
“The gaze of love is searching for a living heart — dead quarry is not worthy of the royal falcon.”
Romanहिन्दीاردو
की में है
नहीं
नहीं
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
نگاہ عشق دل زندہ کی تلاش میں ہے
شکار مردہ سزاوار شاہباز نہیں
شکار مردہ سزاوار شاہباز نہیں
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal joins his two great symbols, love and the falcon. Love hunts like a royal falcon, and a true falcon will not stoop to prey that is already dead. What love seeks is a living, awake heart — something with its own spark, not something inert.
For You, Today
Whatever you are trying to win over — a person, a team, an audience — Iqbal's image suggests it must be alive, awake, capable of response. There is no point hunting what has no life in it.
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
Nahin tera nasheman qasr-e-sultani ke gumbad par
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Your nest is not on the dome of a royal palace. You are a falcon — make your dwelling on the rocks of the mountains.
The Falcon · Freedom · Courage
Zindagi ho meri parwane ki surat ya-rab
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab
Ilm ki shama se ho mujh ko mohabbat ya-rab
Let my life be like the moth's, O Lord; let me love the lamp of knowledge.
Love · Aspiration · Youth