aur kya jurm hai pata hi nahin
itne hisson mein bat gaya hun main
mere hisse mein kuchh bacha hi nahin
“There is no punishment greater than life — and what the crime is, I do not even know. I have been divided into so many parts that nothing is left in my own share.”
और क्या जुर्म है पता ही नहीं
इतने हिस्सों में बट गया हूँ मैं
मेरे हिस्से में कुछ बचा ही नहीं
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
Life itself is named the punishment, with the cruel twist that the crime is unknown — sentencing without charge. The second couplet deepens the despair into arithmetic: parcelled out among so many roles and claims, the self finds nothing left in its own portion.
When every part of you is spent on others' demands, treat the empty space in your own share as a real loss, not a virtue.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →