Arabic · noun · Nation, Faith & Society
Ghulam
ग़ुलाम
said ghu-laam
also written: Ghulaam, Ghulami
Meaning
A slave or bondsman; one in servitude.
Literally: slave; bondsman
How Iqbal uses it
A ghulam is a slave or bondsman, and ghulami the state of slavery. Iqbal makes the ghulam the foil to his free, self-possessed believer, and slavery, of body, mind, or spirit, the chief sickness he sets out to cure. He insists the deepest bondage is inner: the slave who has lost the very desire for freedom.
See it in the verse
Ghulam in Iqbal’s couplets
Ae jaan-e-padar nahin hai mumkin
Shaheen se tadaro ki ghulami
Shaheen se tadaro ki ghulami
O life of your father, it cannot be — the falcon will never serve the partridge.
The Falcon · Freedom · Selfhood
Khirad ko ghulami se azad kar
Jawanon ko peeron ka ustad kar
Jawanon ko peeron ka ustad kar
Free the intellect from slavery; make the young the teachers of the old.
Youth · Freedom · Awakening
Ghulami mein na kaam aati hain shamsheerein na tadbeerein
Jo ho zauq-e-yaqeen paida to kat jaati hain zanjeerein
Jo ho zauq-e-yaqeen paida to kat jaati hain zanjeerein
In bondage, neither swords nor clever schemes are of any use — but once a relish for conviction is born, the chains themselves fall away.
Freedom · Courage · Awakening
Ghulami mein na kaam aati hain shamsheeren na tadbeeren
Jo ho zauq-e-yaqeen paida to kat jaati hain zanjeeren
Jo ho zauq-e-yaqeen paida to kat jaati hain zanjeeren
In bondage neither swords nor clever schemes are of any use; but once a taste for conviction is born, the chains fall away on their own.
Freedom · Self-Knowledge · Courage
Related words