در اسرار شریعت

نکتہ ہا از پیر روم آموختمخویش را در حرف او واسوختم

The essence of the Shari’ah I have learnt many things from the Master of Rum, especially have I burnt myself in (the fire of) these words of his:

مال را گر بھر دین باشی حمول"نعم مال صالح گوید رسول

‘If you carry money for the sake of the Faith, that money is a blessing, says the Prophet.’

گر نداری اندر این حکمت نظرتو غلام و خواجۂ تو سیم و زر

If you don’t keep this point in mind, you are a slave and money is your lord.

از تہی دستان گشاد امتاناز چنین منعم فساد امتان

The welfare of the nations is in the hands of the poor, while the rich man causes disruption to the nations.

جدت اندر چشم او خوار است و بسکہنگی را او خریدار است و بس

In his eyes, novelty is something mean; he buys only old things;

در نگاہش ناصواب آمد صوابترسد از ہنگامہ ہای انقلاب

What is wrong he regards as right and is afraid of the upheavals of revolution.
(This verse refers to the capitalist’s aversion to change and his striving to maintain the status quo at al cost.

خواجہ نان بندۂ مزدور خوردآبروی دختر مزدور برد

The capitalist usurps the portion of the labourer, and robs the honour of his daughter.

در حضورش بندہ می نالد چو نےبر لب او نالہ ہای پی بہ پی

The labourer bewails before him like a reed, with constant cries issuing from his lips.

نے بجامش بادہ و نے در سبوستکاخہا تعمیر کرد و خود بکوست

His cup lacks wine; he builds palaces but is himself a homeless wanderer.
(These verses refer to the capitalist’s blatant violation of moral values which, as Iqbal seems to imply, is the natural consequence of amassing of wealth when divorced, motivationally, from spiritual orientation.)

اے خوش آن منعم کہ چون درویش زیستدر چنین عصری خدا اندیش زیست

Praise be to the rich person who lives like a dervish and is God-oriented in an age like ours.
(Iqbal characterizes the present age as lacking in spiritual orientation. If amidst such an environment, a person, having wealth, lives a simple life of piety and abstinence; surely it is a matter of great significance.)

تا ندانی نکتۂ اکل حلالبر جماعت زیستن گردد وبال

Unless people understand the significance of a lawfully earned food, life of society becomes miserable.

آہ یورپ زین مقام آگاہ نیستچشم او "ینظر بنور اﷲ" نیست

Alas! Europe is not aware of this principle, her eyes do not see through God’s light;
(Reference is to the famous tradition of the Prophet (PBUH): Fear the sagacity of the believer, for he sees through the light of God.)

او نداند از حلال و از حرامحکمتش خام است و کارش ناتمام

She does not know lawful from unlawful, her wisdom is immature and all her activities defective.
(Iqbal quotes in Bal-i Jibril Rumi’s verse: True knowledge is born of lawful food, love and compassion are born of lawful food.)

امتی بر امتے دیگر چرددانہ این می کارد آن حاصل برد

One nation preys on another, one sows the seed, another takes away the harvest.

از ضعیفان نان ربودن حکمتستاز تن شان جان ربودن حکمتست

It is ‘wisdom’ to snatch food from the weak and to rob their body of the soul.

شیوۂ تہذیب نو آدم دری استپردۂ آدم دری سوداگری است

The way of the new culture is to murder people; and this killing is done under the garb of commerce.
(Iqbal says: Believe me, Europe to-day is the greatest hindrance in the way of man’s ethical advancement (Reconstruction, p. 179). The reason for this, according to him, is that European culture is divorced from the spiritual basis of life, what he callsnur-i haqq here. A few lines earlier, he says in the same lecture: Humanity needs three things to-day-a spiritual interpretation of the universe, spiritual emancipation of the individual and basic principles of a universal import directing the evolution of human society on a spiritual basis.)

این بنوک این فکر چالاک یہودنور حق از سینۂ آدم ربود

These banks, the result of clever Jews’ thinking, have taken away God’s light from the heart of man.

تا تہ و بالا نگردد این نظامدانش و تہذیب و دین، سودای خام

Unless this system is destroyed completely, knowledge, religion and culture are mere empty names.
(Iqbal thinks that Western culture which is through and through secular in complexion cannot be expected to face the challenge of the new age. No change, superficial or far-reaching, can stave off its doom. What is needed is: total destruction of this culture. It is the same remedy that was suggested by Waliullah: total and complete revolution.)

آدمی اندر جھان خیر و شرکم شناسد نفع خود را از ضرر

In this world of good and evil, man seldom knows what is profitable to him and what is harmful;
(Iqbal thinks that human reason is not capable of arriving at the universal moral truth for which man has to fall back upon revelation. Conclusions in the field of morality arrived at by human intellect are more often marred by the natural prejudices to which man is subject.)

کس نداند زشت و خوب کار چیستجادۂ ہموار و ناہموار چیست

Nobody knows the right and wrong of an act, which path is straight and which crooked.

شرع بر خیزد ز اعماق حیاتروشن از نورش ظلام کائنات

The Shari‘ah grows out of life’s bosom; its light illumines the darkness of the universe.

گر جہان داند حرامش را حرامتا قیامت پختہ ماند این نظام

If the world were to accept its judgment regarding what is forbidden, this system would endure for ever.

نیست این کار فقیہان اے پسربا نگاہے دیگری او را نگر

It is not for the jurists to evaluate it, O son, look at it in another way;
(Looking in another way in contrast to the legal and formalistic attitude of the jurist, it is the penetrative insight born of spiritual regeneration which, though based on reason, goes beyond reason and is the essence of what Rumi and Iqbal call Faqr.)

حکمش از عدلست و تسلیم و رضاستبیخ او اندر ضمیر مصطفی است

Its legal formulations are based on justice and submission to Divine Will, its roots lie in the bosom of Mustafa (PBUH).
(‘Bosom of Mustafa’; innermost heart of the Prophet, i.e. the revelation received by him from God on his heart, as stated in the Qur’an, xxvi 194)

از فراق است آرزوہا سینہ تابتو نمانی چون شود او بی حجاب

It is through ‘separation’ (from God) that desires warm the hearts. When ‘He’ manifests Himself, you will cease to exist.

از جدائی گرچہ جان آید بلبوصل او کم جو رضای او طلب

This separation is no doubt hard to bear, try not to seek union with Him, rather submit to His will.
(The ideal for Iqbal is not to seek unitive experience, experience of oneness with God, but to follow God’s Will which is given in concrete shape in the Shari’ah.)

مصطفی داد از رضای او خبرنیست در احکام دین چیزی دگر

Mustafa (PBUH) communicated His will to us; the injunctions of religion consist of nothing else.

تخت جم پوشیدہ زیر بوریاستفقر و شاہی از مقامات رضاست

The throne of Jamshid is hid under the mat (of a faqir), Faqr and political authority are both stations of (submission to God’s) Will;

حکم سلطان گیر و از حکمش منالروز میدان نیست روز قیل و قال

Accept the injunctions of the Shari’ah and do not complain the field of battle is not the place to argue why.

تا توانی گردن از حکمش پیچتا نپیچد گردن از حکم تو ہیچ

So far as you can help, do not disobey its law, so that nobody may disobey your orders.
(This verse reminds one of Sa’di’s well-known verse: You too should not disobey God’s commands, that others shouldn’t disobey your orders.)

از شریعت احسن التقویم شووارث ایمان ابراھیم شو

Be of the best make through the Shari’ah, and inheritor of Abraham’s faith.
(Reference is to the Qur’anic verse: ‘Certainly We created man in the best make’ (xcv 4). But if he fails to follow the true path, he is brought to ‘the lowest of the low’. Islam has a particularly intimate relation with the personality of Abraham. The Qur’an states that Islam is the ‘faith of your father Abraham’ who ‘named you – Muslim…)

پس طریقت چیست اے والاصفاتشرع را دیدن بہ اعماق حیات

O man of lofty attributes, what is Tariqah: To see the Shari‘ah in the recesses of life’s heart.
(Tariqah, path: This is another term in mysticism that is sometimes opposed to Shari’ah. Iqbal tries to explain that Tariqah is Shari’ah when its laws are followed in their real spirit.)

فاش میخواہی اگر اسرار دینجز بہ اعماق ضمیر خود مبین

If you wish to see the essence of religion clearly, look but into the depth of your heart;

گر نبینی، دین تو مجبوری استاینچنین دین از خدا مہجوری است

If you do not enjoy vision, your faith is only compulsion; such a religion is a veil between you and God.

بندہ تا حق را نبیند آشکاربر نمی آید ز جبر و اختیار

If man does not see God fully manifest, he cannot rise higher than (the polarity of) free-will and determinism.

تو یکی در فطرت خود غوطہ زنمرد حق شو بر ظن و تخمین متن

Dive into your inner nature for a moment, become a man of truth, don’t rely on mere conjecture:

تا ببینی زشت و خوب کار چیستاندر این نہ پردۂ اسرار چیست

That you may see the right and wrong of things, and know what secrets lie behind these nine veils.

ہر کہ از سر نبی گیرد نصیبہم بہ جبریل امین گردد قریب

He who shares in the experiences of the Prophet (S.A.W.) gets close to the faithful Gabriel.
(The angel Gabriel is described in the Qur’an as ‘the faithful spirit (ruh u1-amin) that has brought revelation on thy heart…’ xxvi. 193. ‘Close to Gabriel’ may signify that the person now enjoys the privilege of receiving direct revelation from God.)

اے کہ مے نازی بہ قرآن عظیمتا کجا در حجرہ مے باشی مقیم

O you who are proud of having the great Quran, how long will you sit (inactive) in cell?

در جہان اسرار دین را فاش کننکتہ شرع مبین را فاش کن

Reveal to the world the essence of religion, and the significance of the clear Shari’ah;

کس نگردد در جھان محتاج کسنکتہ شرع مبین این است و بس

None need be dependent on another (for one’sprimary needs); this is the sum and substance of the clear Shari’ah.

مکتب و ملا سخنہا ساختندمومنان این نکتہ را نشناختند

The jurists and the theologians have spun long tales; the faithful have failed to grasp this point.

زندہ قومے بود از تأویل مردآتش او در ضمیر او فسرد

A living nation met its death due to misinterpretations, her heart lost fire (of life).

صوفیان با صفا را دیدہ امشیخ مکتب را نکو سنجیدہ ام

I have seen Sufis of pure heart and taken good stock of the teacher in school.

عصر من پیغمبری ھم آفریدآنکہ در قرآن بغیر از خود ندید

My age produced a prophet too, who could see in the Quran nothing but himself;

ہر یکی دانای قرآن و خبردر شریعت کم سواد و کم نظر

Every one of them is fully conversant with the Quran and the traditions; but they are totally unaware of the true significance of the Shari’ah.
(Their knowledge is theoretical only; they lack fire of conviction and zeal for activity, for they have missed the true spirit of the message.)

عقل و نقل افتادہ در بند ہوسمنبرشان منبر کاک است و بس

Reason and tradition both have fallen prey to lust; their pulpit is a counter for the display of their wares.
(‘Reason’ and ‘tradition’ stand for two kinds of knowledge into which pursuit of learning was divided in classical Islamic period, corresponding to what is called ‘aql and naql.The latter stands for all those aspects of learning that deal exclusively with religious problems, while the former refers to all those branches of learning that today come under the title of science and humanities.)

زین کلیمان نیست امید گشودآستین ہا بی ید بیضا چہ سود

There is no hope of salvation from these reformers. What is the use of the sleeve when it lacks the White Hand?
(Kaliman, plural of Kalim, the title of Moses. Kalim in Iqbal stands for an ideal reformer, prophet, teacher. ‘White Hand’ is a miracle of Moses.)

کار اقوام و ملل ناید درستاز عمل بنما کہ حق در دست تست

The problems of the nations cannot be set right by you, unless you prove by action that you are the bearer of truth.