پیام عشق

نہیں ہے وابستہ زیر گردوں کمال شان سکندری سےتمام ساماں ہے تیرے سینے میں، تو بھی آئینہ ساز ہو جا

English translation

Greatness in the world is not associated with the Alexander’s splendor; your breast has everything, you should also become the maker of mirrors.
Alexander is believed to have made a mirror of very highly polished copper plate, which is alluded to here. This verse means that being a conqueror like Alexander does not make a person 'great'. However making a mirror with the help of one's knowledge and effort does confer greatness. As a Mu’min has the potential for making the mirror he has also the potential for attaining greatness.)

Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil

About this couplet

This is couplet 2 of 7 in “⁨پیام عشق⁩” (Message of Love) in the section Poems of Period 1905-08, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (⁨بانگِ درا⁩), published in 1924.

Read it in the poem

۲ / ۷