عبدالقادر کے نام

اٹھ کہ ظلمت ہوئی پیدا افق خاور پربزم میں شعلہ نوائی سے اجالا کر دیں

Rise, as darkness has appeared on the eastern horizon! We should light up the assemblage with blazing songs.

ایک فریاد ہے مانند سپند اپنی بساطاسی ہنگامے سے محفل تہ و بالا کر دیں

Our capacity is only a cry of lament like the wild rue.* We should overturn the assemblage with this same uproar.
(Sipand or Wild Rue: The property of the rue seed of cracking and jumping when put in fire is referred to here as an expression of distress and lament as well as the restlessness produced by them.)

اہل محفل کو دکھا دیں اثر صیقل عشقسنگ امروز کو آئینہ فردا کر دیں

We should show the assemblage the effect of Love’s polish. We should convert the stone of today into the mirror* of tomorrow.
* This refers to the technology of glass making, ultimately making mirrors, whose starting material is a base material like silicates in stones and soil. This hemistich means that we should convert the youth of today, who are inert and useless like stones, into the mirrors of tomorrow.)

جلوہ یوسف گم گشتہ دکھا کر ان کوتپش آمادہ تر از خون زلیخا کر دیں

By showing them the effulgence of the lost Yusuf; we should make them more agitation-prone than Zalaykha’s blood.

اس چمن کو سبق آئین نمو کا دے کرقطرہ شبنم بے مایہ کو دریا کر دیں

By giving the lesson of the law of growth to this garden; we should turn the insignificant drop of dew into the ocean.

رخت جاں بت کدہء چیں سے اٹھا لیں اپناسب کو محو رخ سعدی و سلیمی کر دیں

We should lift our dearest chattel from the China's temple.* We should fascinate all with the face of Sa'di and Sulaima.**
* This is a part of the often repeated message of Allamah Iqbal that Muslims should return to Islam for guidance in knowledge and for inspiration for noble deeds. The mention of China is a delicate reference to the Hadith that one should acquire knowledge even if it is in China. **It was a tradition in pre Islamic Arabic poetry to write poems about their beloveds. However, the identity of the beloved was not revealed and she was represented by one of the several legendary beauties of the Arab folk lore, such as Salmah, Sulaima, Lubnah, Lailah etc.)

دیکھ! یثرب میں ہوا ناقہ لیلی بیکارقیس کو آرزوئے نو سے شناسا کر دیں

Look! The Lailah's she camel became useless in Yathrib; we should make Qais acquainted with the new Longing.
(With the advent of Islam old values in literature, including poetry, changed… Instead of Lailah and her she camel, God and Holy Prophet S.A.W. became the objects of Love and they were referred to metaphorically as Lailah. Allamah Iqbal has used this metaphor often.).

بادہ دیرینہ ہو اور گرم ہو ایسا کہ گدازجگر شیشہ و پیمانہ و مینا کر دیں

The wine should be mature and so hot that with it we should soften the heart of the glass, the goblet, and the decanter.

گرم رکھتا تھا ہمیں سردی مغرب میں جو داغچیر کر سینہ اسے وقف تماشا کر دیں

The grief which kept us warm in the cold of the West; opening up the breast we should make it public.

شمع کی طرح جییں بزم گہ عالم میںخود جلیں، دیدہ اغیار کو بینا کر دیں

In the world's congregation we should live like the candle; we should burn ourselves and open up the rivals' eyes.

ہر چہ در دل گذرد وقف زباں دارد شمعسوختن نیست خیالے کہ نہاں دارد شمع

‘The candle reveals whatever passes through the heart; burning is not the thought which the candle conceals’.