Iqbal for All

Meaning

'The Book of the Cupbearer', a major poem in Bal-e-Jibril where Iqbal, in the old wine-song form, calls for a new spirit of life, action and revolution to renew a dying world.

See it in the verse

Saqi Nama in Iqbal’s couplets

Nahin hai naumeed Iqbal apni kisht-e-veeran se
Zara nam ho to ye mitti badi 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

Bahut dekhe hain maine mashriq-o-maghrib ke maikhane
Yahan saaqi nahin paida, wahan be-zauq hai sahba

I have seen many a tavern of the East and the West — here no cup-bearer is born, and there the wine itself is without relish.

Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Nasha pila ke girana to sab ko aata hai
Maza to jab hai ki girton ko thaam le saqi

Anyone can pour the wine and let people fall — the real worth is when the cup-bearer catches those who are falling.

Leadership · Humility · Action

Digar-gun hai jahan taron ki gardish tez hai saqi
Dil-e-har-zarra mein ghaugha-e-rusta-khez hai saqi

The world is changing, the wheeling of the stars is swift; in the heart of every atom there is the tumult of a rising.

Awakening · Hope · Restlessness

Faqir-e-rah ko bakhshe gae asrar-e-sultani
Baha meri nava ki daulat-e-parvez hai saqi

To the wayfaring beggar were granted the secrets of kingship; the price of my song is the whole treasure of Parvez.

Self-Knowledge · Humility · Selfhood

Ishq ki tegh-e-jigar-dar uda li kis ne
Ilm ke haath mein khali hai niyam ai saqi

Who has carried off love's brave, heart-piercing sword? Knowledge holds only an empty scabbard now.

Love · Action · Courage

Related words

PERSIAN

Bal-e-Jibril

'Gabriel's Wing', Iqbal's celebrated 1935 Urdu collection containing 'Masjid-e-Qurtuba', 'Saqi Nama' and 'Lenin' — among the summits of his engagement with faith, power and the modern world.

ARABIC

Inquilab

Revolution, upheaval, radical change. A charged word in Iqbal and in the politics around him; he summoned the worker and the believer alike to overturn an unjust, decaying order.

PERSIAN

Khudi

Selfhood; the self, the ego — in the philosophical, not the vain, sense.

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