مرد حر
قبلۂ ما گہ کلیسا، گاہ دیراو نخواہد رزق خویش از دست غیر
English translation
We turn in worship sometimes to the Church and sometimes to the temple*; he does not seek his sustenance from others’ hands;
* Qiblah, direction of the Ka’bah; the place to which Muslims turn for prayers, hence the object of adoration to which we turn for prayers and supplication, for the fulfilment of our wishes and desires.
Translated by Bashir Ahmad Dar
Urdu translation
ہمارا قبلہ کبھی کلیسا ہے کبھی بتخانہ ، لیکن وہ غیر اللہ سے رزق کا طالب نہیں ہوتا۔
About this couplet
This is couplet 14 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 poem۱۴ / ۳۱