Arabic · noun · Struggle & the Sword
Maut-e-Ikhtiyari
मौत-ए-इख़्तियारी
said MAUT-e-ikh-ti-YAA-ree
also written: maut-e-ikhtiyari
Meaning
'Voluntary death'; the mystic's dying-before-death, the willed extinction of the lower self while still alive.
Literally: voluntary/chosen death
How Iqbal uses it
Iqbal reads this dying-before-death as the disciplining of the lower self, not the killing of selfhood itself.
See it in the verse
Maut-e-Ikhtiyari in Iqbal’s couplets
Ai tair-e-lahooti us rizq se maut achhi
Jis rizq se aati ho parvaaz mein kotahi
Jis rizq se aati ho parvaaz mein kotahi
O celestial bird, better death than the sustenance that brings any shortfall to your flight.
Freedom · The Falcon
Ho agar khudnigar-o-khudgar-o-khudgir khudi
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
If your selfhood becomes self-seeing, self-making and self-possessed, it is even possible that not even death can make you die.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Hai dil ke liye maut machinon ki hukumat
Ehsaas-e-muravvat ko kuchal dete hain aalat
Ehsaas-e-muravvat ko kuchal dete hain aalat
The rule of machines is death for the heart — the instruments crush the very feeling of human kindness.
Justice · Awakening · Love
Be-huzuri hai teri maut ka raaz
Zinda ho tu to be-huzur nahin
Zinda ho tu to be-huzur nahin
Absence from the present is the secret of your death; if you are truly alive, you are never absent.
Awakening · Self-Knowledge
Kise nahin hai tamanna-e-sarwari lekin
Khudi ki maut ho jis mein wo sarwari kya hai
Khudi ki maut ho jis mein wo sarwari kya hai
Who does not long for leadership? But what kind of leadership is it, if reaching it kills the self?
Leadership · Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Hayat kya hai khayal o nazar ki majzubi
Khudi ki maut hai andesha-ha-e-guna-gun
Khudi ki maut hai andesha-ha-e-guna-gun
What is life? The absorbed focus of thought and vision; and scattered, many-coloured doubts are the death of selfhood.
Selfhood · Action · Self-Knowledge