کنویں میں تو نے یوسف کو جو دیکھا بھی تو کیا دیکھاارے غافل! جو مطلق تھا مقید کر دیا تو نے

English translation

What did you see even if you saw Yusuf in the well? O imprudent one! You have made the Absolute confined.
(This is an allusion to the Holy Qur'an 12:19. The traveler in the caravan who saw Yusuf A.S. saw him as a man, perhaps as a source of profit by sale on account of being extraordinarily handsome. However, he failed to recognize his greatness as a prophet of God, which is the highest stage to which a human being can rise. By extending the analogy ‘Allamah Iqbal means that we see only the ritual part in religion and do not comprehend religion's higher values, and by doing so we have reduced the absolute Truth of the Holy Qur’an to mere rituals.)

Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil

Word meanings

مقيد: قید کیا ہوا۔مطلق: پوری طرح آزاد۔