Persian · noun · Nation, Faith & Society
Mazdoor
मज़दूर
said maz-DOOR
also written: Mehnatkash
Meaning
A labourer or workman paid by the day.
Literally: labourer; worker; wage-earner
How Iqbal uses it
Mazdoor is the labourer or wage-earner, the mehnatkash who lives by toil. Iqbal exalts the worker and his sweat, siding with labour against the capital that exploits it and foreseeing the worker's rise against an unjust economic order. He grounds the dignity of work in the dignity of the human person, not in mere economics.
See it in the verse
Mazdoor in Iqbal’s couplets
Tu qadir-o-aadil hai magar tere jahan mein
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqat
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqat
You are all-powerful and just — and yet, in Your world, the hours of the labouring man are very bitter.
Justice · Adversity · Awakening
Tu qadir o adil hai magar tere jahan mein
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqaat
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqaat
You are all-powerful and just, yet in this world of yours the hours of the labouring worker are very bitter.
Justice