التجائے مسافر
وہ میرا یوسف ثانی وہ شمع محفل عشقہوئی ہے جس کی اخوت قرار جاں مجھ کو
English translation
That second Yusuf* to me, that candle of Love’s assembly; whose brotherly love has given soul’s tranquillity to me.
* A person who is regarded to possess extraordinary beauty or who is loved immensely is called the ‘Second Yësuf’. This rather enigmatic expression refers in all probability to Iqbal’s elder brother.)
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
About this couplet
This is couplet 18 of 21 in “التجائے مسافر” (The Traveler's Request) in the section Part 1 -- Before 1905, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (بانگِ درا), published in 1924.
Read it in the poem۱۸ / ۲۱