فقر

قلب او را قوت از جذب و سلوکپیش سلطان نعرہ او "لاملوک"

English translation

His heart’s power flows from ecstasy and sobriety.* His slogan before the king is no kings.
* Jadhb-o suluk: Jadhb, ecstasy, and suluk is traveling on the way and salik is traveler. Jadhb-o suluk are two different vocations of a Sufi, corresponding to the states of sukr (intoxication) and sahw (sobriety) (Reference: Hujwiri’s Kashf al-Mahjub and Shahabuddin Suhrawardi’s Awarif aI-Ma’arif).

Translated by Bashir Ahmad Dar

Urdu translation

فقر کا دل جذب و سلوک سے قوت پاتا ہے؛ وہ پادشاہ کے سامنے کوئی پادشاہ کا نعرہ لگاتا ہے۔

About this couplet

This is couplet 13 of 72 in “⁨فقر⁩” (Asceticism), from Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Persian book Pas Chih Bayad Kard (⁨پس چہ بائد کرد اے اقوامِ شرق⁩), published in 1936.

Read it in the poem

۱۳ / ۷۲