مرد حر
پادشاہان در قباہای حریرزرد رو از سھم آن عریان فقیر
English translation
Kings in their silken robes are pallid from fear of that naked faqir*.
* In Asrar-o Rumuz Iqbal relates the story of a king who got unnerved at the wrath of a dervish. By nakedness of Faqir, Iqbal seems to denote complete and full manifestation of Faqr, the qualities of an ideal man: ‘When Faqr becomes naked under the Sun, the Sun and the Moon tremble through its fear.’
Translated by Bashir Ahmad Dar
Urdu translation
ایسے عریاں فقیر کی ہیبت سے ریشمی قباؤں میں ملبوس پادشاہوں کے چہرے زرد پڑ جاتی ہیں۔
About this couplet
This is couplet 8 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 poem۸ / ۳۱