جواب شکوہ
ہم تو مائل بہ کرم ہیں' کوئی سائل ہی نہیںراہ دکھلائیں کسے' رہر و منزل ہی نہیںتربیت عام تو ہے' جوہر قابل ہی نہیںجس سے تعمیر ہو آدم کی' یہ وہ گل ہی نہیںکوئی قابل ہو تو ہم شان کئی دیتے ہیںڈھونڈنے والوں کو دنیا بھی نئی دیتے ہیں
English translation
We are inclined to Mercy, but there is no one to implore: whom can we show the way? There is no wayfarer to the destination.
Jewel polishing is common, but there is no proper jewel; there is no clay capable of being molded into Adam.
We confer the glory of Kai on the deserving; we confer even a whole new world on those who search!
(Kai: This is the generic name of one of the ancient pre-Islamic dynasties of pre-Christian Iran (then Persia). As Persia was a world power for several pre-Christian centuries this dynasty is often used as a metaphor for grandeur and power. The ‘New World’ alludes to the discovery and occupation of the continents of America and Australia by Europeans.)
Translated by Dr M.A.K. Khalil
Word meanings
گل: مٹی۔شان کئي: ایران کے قدیم بادشاہوں کے ایک خاندان کی سی شان۔
About this couplet
This is couplet 6 of 36 in “جواب شکوہ” (The Response To The Complaint) in the section Poems of Period - 1908-30, from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dara (بانگِ درا), published in 1924.
Read it in the poem۶ / ۳۶