Couplets › Adversity
From Bang-e-Dara, 1924 — 'Tarana-e-Hindi' · originally composed in Urdu
o o Roma sab gaye se
Ab tak magar hai hamara
Ab tak magar hai hamara
“Greece, Egypt and Rome have all vanished from the world — yet to this day our name and trace remain.”
ओ ओ सब गए से
अब तक मगर है हमारा
अब तक मगर है हमारा
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
یونان و مصر و روما سب مٹ گئے جہاں سے
اب تک مگر ہے باقی نام و نشاں ہمارا
اب تک مگر ہے باقی نام و نشاں ہمارا
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal sets a living people against the great empires that rose, dazzled, and disappeared. Power and grandeur did not save Greece, Egypt or Rome; something subtler has kept his own on the map. Permanence, he implies, comes from spirit, not might.
For You, Today
The biggest and most powerful are rarely the ones who last — history is a graveyard of giants. What endures is harder to see and harder to kill. Ask what gives your work staying power beyond its current size.
In the same spirit
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
Nahin hai naumeed Iqbal apni kisht-e-veeran se
Zara nam ho to ye mitti bahut zarkhez hai saqi
Zara nam ho to ye mitti bahut zarkhez hai saqi
Iqbal is not without hope, even from his barren field — let there be a little moisture, cupbearer, and this soil is wonderfully fertile.
Hope · Aspiration