مثال پرتو مے، طوف جام کرتے ہیں
مثال پرتو مے، طوف جام کرتے ہیںیہی نماز ادا صبح و شام کرتے ہیں
English translation
We circumambulate the wine cup like the wine's reflection; we are offering this prayer from morning till evening.
(Our daily prayers are only ritual in nature. They resemble circumambulation of the wine cup rather that of the wine. Similarly our circumambulation of the Holy Ka'bah does not make us close to God which the Holy Ka'bah represents.)
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
Word meanings
رتو مے: شراب کے جلوے کی طرح۔ مثال
About this couplet
This is couplet 1 of 10 in “مثال پرتو مے، طوف جام کرتے ہیں” (Misaal-e-partav-e-may, toof-e-jaam karte hain) in the section The Ghazals 2, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (بانگِ درا), published in 1924.
Read it in the poem۱ / ۱۰