مرد حر

دارد اندر سینہ تکبیر اممدر جبین اوست تقدیر امم

English translation

He has in his bosom a clarion call* to nations, their destiny is inscribed on his forehead.
* The word takbir is used here most probably for sur, trumpet of Israfil, summoning people from the graves on the Day of Resurrection. **Forehead, jabin: It is commonly said that the fate of a person is inscribed on his forehead. This physiognomical belief may be right or wrong, but it has given to the literary tradition a lot of phrases and idioms.

Translated by Bashir Ahmad Dar

Urdu translation

اس کے سینے کے اندر امتوں کی تکبیر (عظمت) ہے اور اس کی پیشانی پر ان کی تقدیر (رقم) ہے۔

About this couplet

This is couplet 13 of 31 in “⁨مرد حر⁩” (The Freeman), 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 / ۳۱