Persian · noun · Time, Fate & the Cosmos
Roz-o-shab
रोज़-ओ-शब
said roz-o-SHAB
also written: shaam-o-sahar, shab-o-roz
Meaning
Day and night; the turning chain of time.
How Iqbal uses it
Both the record of events and the very stuff of life and death — “the chain of day and night, the maker of all that happens... the source of life and death.” He urges the self to dive into Khudi and slip free of dawn and dusk into the everlasting.
See it in the verse
Roz-o-shab in Iqbal’s couplets
Silsila-e-roz-o-shab, naqsh-gar-e-haadsat
Silsila-e-roz-o-shab, asl-e-hayat-o-mamat
Silsila-e-roz-o-shab, asl-e-hayat-o-mamat
The chain of day and night is the sculptor of all events; the chain of day and night is the root of life and of death.
Action · Self-Knowledge
Isi roz-o-shab mein ulajh kar na rah ja
Ki tere zaman-o-makan aur bhi hain
Ki tere zaman-o-makan aur bhi hain
Do not stay tangled in only these days and nights — there are other times and other places that are yours.
Aspiration · Hope · Restlessness
Khudi mein doob ja ghafil, ye sirr-e-zindagani hai
Nikal kar halqa-e-shaam-o-sahar se javedan ho ja
Nikal kar halqa-e-shaam-o-sahar se javedan ho ja
Dive into your selfhood, O heedless one — this is the secret of life. Step out of the ring of evening and morning, and become everlasting.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge · Awakening