جنھیں میں ڈھونڈتا تھا آسمانوں میں زمینوں میں

کبھی اپنا بھی نظارہ کیا ہے تو نے اے مجنوںکہ لیلی کی طرح تو خود بھی ہے محمل نشینوں میں

English translation

O Majnun! Have you ever glanced at yourself that like Lailah* you are also sitting in the litter.
(If the Lover realizes his own self, i.e. develops his own Khudi or self, the difference between the Lover and the Beloved would disappear. This amounts to the concept of Fana Fi Allah of Wahdat al-Wujood. This verse is one of the verses which indicate ‘Allamah Iqbal’s inclination towards Wahdat al-Wujood in early life.)

Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil

About this couplet

This is couplet 4 of 18 in “⁨جنھیں میں ڈھونڈتا تھا آسمانوں میں زمینوں میں⁩” (Jinhain main dhoondhta tha aasmaanon mein zameenon mein) in the section The Ghazals 1, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (⁨بانگِ درا⁩), published in 1924.

Read it in the poem

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