پس چہ باید کرد اے اقوام شرق

آدمیت زار نالید از فرنگزندگی ہنگامہ بر چید از فرنگ

The West has put mankind in grievous pain, and, through it, life has lost all charm.

پس چہ باید کرد اے اقوام شرقباز روشن می شود ایام شرق

What should then be done, O people of the East? That the life of the East may once again brighten up.

در ضمیرش انقلاب آمد پدیدشب گذشت و آفتاب آمد پدید

A revolution has occurred in the East’s heart; night has passed away, and the sun has risen.

یورپ از شمشیر خود بسمل فتادزیر گردون رسم لادینی نہاد

Europe has fallen prey to its own sword; it has laid the foundation of secularism in the world.

گرگے اندر پوستین برہ ئیہر زمان اندر کمین برہ ئی

It is a wolf in the garb of a lamb, every moment in ambush for a prey.

مشکلات حضرت انسان ازوستآدمیت را غم پنہان ازوست

The difficulties of mankind are due to it, it is the source of all the hidden anguish of man. (Iqbal has discussed this aspect of Western culture in almost all his books.)

در نگاہش آدمی آب و گل استکاروان زندگی بی منزل است

In its eyes man is nothing but water and clay, and the caravan of life has no goal.
(Here Iqbal is referring to the purely materialistic attitude of the West which, denying the spiritual basis of life, is plunged into deep despair about the future of mankind.) Discussing the implications of the theory of evolution in the West, Iqbal says: ...the formulation of the same view of evolution...in Europe has led to the belief that ‘there now appears to be no scientific basis for the idea that the present rich complexity of human endowment will ever be materially exceeded.’ That is how the modern man’s secret despair hides itself behind the screen of scientific terminology. (Reconstruction)

ہر چہ می بینی ز انوار حق استحکمت اشیا ز اسرار حق است

Whatever you see is the manifestation of God’s light; the knowledge of things is a part of God’s secrets.
(‘Knowledge of things’, hikmat-i-ashya, refers to the Qur’anic verse (ii. 31): ‘And He taught Adam all the names’. Iqbal regards knowledge of things as the basis of modern science. He says ‘…man is endowed with the faculty of naming things, that is to say, forming concepts of them. and forming concepts of them is capturing them. Thus the character of man’s knowledge is conceptual, and it is with the weapon of this conceptual knowledge that man approaches the observable aspects of Reality’ (Reconstruction).

ہر کہ آیات خدا بیند، حر استاصل این حکمت ز حکم "انظر" است

He who sees God’s signs is a free man; the basis of this wisdom is God’s order: ‘Look’.
(‘Signs of God’, ayat-i Khuda here and ‘light of God’, anwar-i Haqq in a subsequent verse, signifying the world of phenomena, imply Iqbal’s belief in Pan-psychism. ‘The world, in all its details, from the mechanical movement of what we call the atom of matter to the free movement of thought in the human ego, is the self-revelation of the ‘Great I am’. Every atom of Divine energy, however low in the scale of existence, is an ego’ (Reconstruction)
(‘Look’, unzur, refers to the Qur’anic verse (17-20): ‘See they not the clouds how they are created? And the heaven, how it is raised high. And the mountains, how they are fixed! And the earth, how it is spread out’… The point Iqbal wishes to emphasize here is that in science when we are dealing with concrete objects of the material world, we are, as a matter of fact, dealing with an aspect of God’s behaviour and, therefore, Iqbal says: ‘The scientific observer of nature is a kind of mystic seeker in the act of prayer’ (Reconstruction).

بندۂ مومن ازو بھروز ترھم بحال دیگران دلسوز تر

Through it the believer is more successful in life than the non-believer and more sympathetic towards others.

علم چون روشن کند آب و گلشاز خدا ترسندہ تر گردد دلش

When knowledge illumines his mind, his heart grows more and more God-oriented.
(The Qur’anic verse, 35-28: ‘Those of His servants who are possessed of knowledge fear Allah’.)

علم اشیا خاک ما را کیمیاستآہ در افرنگ تأثیرش جداست

Knowledge of things is like elixir to our dust. Alas! Its effect in the West is different.

عقل و فکرش بی عیار خوب و زشتچشم او بی نم، دل او سنگ و خشت

Its (the West’s) reason and thought have no standards of right and wrong, its eyes know no tear, its heart is hard as stone.
(‘Eyes know no tear’: A person who is not spiritually oriented is not moved by compassion towards others or feels remorse over his own sins. The modern materialistic culture tends to deaden the heart. Javid Namah: ‘I have wandered in the world so long; I have seldom seen tears in the eyes of the rich’. Bal-i Jibril: ‘The eye, lighted by the collyrium of the West, is clever and deceitful, but knows no tear’.

علم ازو رسواست اندر شہر و دشتجبرئیل از صحبتش ابلیس گشت

Knowledge, through it, has become a disgrace for all, Gabriel, in its society, has become Iblis.

دانش افرنگیان تیغی بدوشدر ہلاک نوع انسان سخت کوش

The wisdom of the Franks is an unsheathed sword, ever ready to destroy the human species.

با خسان اندر جھان خیر و شردر نسازد مستی علم و ہنر

In this world of good and evil, intoxication of knowledge does not suit mean natures.

آہ از افرنگ و از آئین اوآہ از اندیشۂ لا دین او

May God protect us from the West and its ways, and from its secular thinking;

علم حق را ساحری آموختندساحری نے کافری آموختند

The Westerners have changed true knowledge into magic, nay, rather into unbelief.

ہر طرف صد فتنہ می آرد نفیرتیغ را از پنجۂ رھزن بگیر

A hundred mischiefs have raised their head on all sides; snatch away the sword from the hands of this highwayman.

اے کہ جان را باز میدانی ز تنسحر این تہذیب لا دینے شکن

O you, who know the distinction between body and soul, break the spell of this godless civilization.

روح شرق اندر تنش باید دمیدتا بگردد قفل معنی را کلید

Breathe the soul of the East into the West’s body, that it may afford the key to the door of Reality.

عقل اندر حکم دل یزدانی استچون ز دل آزاد شد شیطانی است

Reason under heart’s guidance is godlike; when it frees itself from the heart, it becomes Satanic

زندگانی ھر زمان در کشمکشعبرت آموز است احوال حبش

At every moment life is a struggle; the situation in Abyssinia affords a warning.

شرع یورپ بی نزاع قیل و قالبرہ را کرد است بر گرگان حلال

The law of Europe, without any doubt, allows wolves to kill sheep.

نقش نو اندر جھان باید نھاداز کفن دزدان چہ امید گشاد

We should set up a new order in the world; there is no hope of relief from these plunderers of the dead.
(‘Plunderers of the dead’: those who steal away the shrouds from the graves of the dead. Writing in 1923 (Payam-i M’ashriq), Iqbal characterized the League of Nations as ‘Plunderers of the dead’.)

در جنیوا چیست غیر از مکر و فن؟صید تو این میش و آن نخچیر من

There is nothing in Geneva except deceit and fraud, this sheep is my share; that is yours. (On League of Nations and Geneva, its headquarters)

نکتہ ہا کو می نگنجد در سخنیک جہان آشوب و یک گیتی فتن

There are many subtle ideas of the West which cannot be expressed in words, a world of mischiefs and disorders lies hidden in them.

اے اسیر رنگ، پاک از رنگ شومومن خود، کافر افرنگ شو

O you who are enamoured of colour, rise above colour; have faith in yourself, deny the Franks.

رشتۂ سود و زیان در دست تستآبروی خاوران در دست تست

The strings of gain and loss are in your hands, the honour of the East depends on you.

این کہن اقوام را شیرازہ بندرایت صدق و صفا را کن بلند

Bring all the ancient nations together; raise the flag of sincerity and rectitude.

اہل حق را زندگی از قوت استقوت ہر ملت از جمعیت است

The life of the votaries of truth depends upon their possessing power, and the power of every nation depends upon unity.

رای بی قوت ہمہ مکر و فسونقوت بی رای جہل است و جنون

Wisdom without power is deceit and enchantment, power without wisdom is ignorance and madness.

سوز و ساز و درد و داغ از آسیاستہم شراب و ہم ایاغ از آسیاست

Ardour, harmony, sympathy and compassion-all come from Asia, both the wine and the cup are Asia’s.

عشق را ما دلبری آموختیمشیوۂ آدم گری آموختیم

We taught love the way of ravishing hearts and the art of creating man.

ہم ہنر، ہم دین ز خاک خاور استرشک گردون خاک پاک خاور است

Art as well as religion came from the land of the East whose sacred dust is the envy of the heavens.

وانمودیم آنچہ بود اندر حجابآفتاب از ما و ما از آفتاب

We revealed to the world all that lay hidden, the sun is from us and we are of the sun.

ہر صدف را گوہر از نیسان ماستشوکت ہر بحر از طوفان ماست

Every oyster has its pearl through our spring rains, the majesty of every ocean is due to our storms.

روح خود در سوز بلبل دیدہ ایمخون آدم در رگ گل دیدہ ایم

We have discerned our souls in the songs of the nightingale and the blood of Adam in the veins of flowers.

فکر ما جویای اسرار وجودزد نخستین زخمہ بر تار وجود

Our thought, seeker of the secrets of Existence, was the first to strike the note of life

داشتیم اندر میان سینہ داغبر سر راہی نھادیم این چراغ

We had in our breast a wound of passion, made by us into a lamp to illumine the pathway of life. (These lines refer to the various creative and fruitful contributions made in the past by the people of Asia to world culture.)

اے امین دولت تہذیب و دینآن ید بیضا برآر از آستین

You are the trustee of religion and culture; bring out the White Hand from under your sleeve.

خیز و از کار امم بگشا گرہنشۂ افرنگ را از سر بنہ

Rise and solve the problems of the nations, put out of your head the intoxication of the West.

نقشی از جمعیت خاور فکنواستان خود را ز دست اہرمن

Set the pattern for the unity of Asia, snatch yourself away from the hand of Ahriman.

دانی از افرنگ و از کار فرنگتا کجا در قید زنار فرنگ

You know the West and its deeds, how long will you remain tied to its strings?

زخم ازو، نشتر ازو، سوزن ازوما و جوی خون و امید رفو

The wound, the lancet and the needle are all West’s, ours is the pool of blood and the expectation that incision will be stitched up.

خود بدانی پادشاہی، قاہری استقاہری در عصر ما سوداگری است

You know that kingship is power to rule, but power, in our times, is mere commerce.

تختۂ دکان شریک تخت و تاجاز تجارت نفع و از شاہی خراج

The shopkeeper is a partner in political power, trade brings in profit and political power brings in tribute. (Napoleon characterized the British as a nation of shopkeepers.)

آن جہانبانی کہ ہم سوداگر استبر زبانش خیر و اندر دل شر است

If a ruler is also a shopkeeper, you will find good on his tongue, but evil in his heart.

گر تو میدانی حسابش را درستاز حریرش نرم تر کرپاس تست

If you can assess him properly, you will find your coarse cloth finer than his silk

بی نیاز از کارگاہ او گذردر زمستان پوستین او مخر

Pass off his workshop unmindful of everything; do not buy his fur in winter.

کشتن بی حرب و ضرب آئین اوستمرگہا در گردش ماشین اوست

His principle is: to kill without striking; death lurks in the movement of his machines.

بوریاے خود بہ قالینش مدہبیذق خود را بہ فرزینش مدہ

Do not exchange your mat for his rugs and your pawn for his queen;\

گوہرش تف دار و در لعلش رگ استمشک این سوداگر از ناف سگ است

His pearl is blemished; his ruby impure, the musk of this merchant is from the navel of a dog.

رہزن چشم تو خواب مخملشرہزن تو رنگ و آب مخملش

Sleeping on his velvet will rob you of your eyes, and its beauty will rob you of yourself.

صد گرہ افکندہ ئی در کار خویشاز قماش او مکن دستار خویش

You have made a muddle of your affairs; do not build up your prestige on his basis;

ہوشمندے از خم او می نخوردہر کہ خورد اندر ہمین میخانہ مرد

A wise person would not drink wine from his pitcher, and anyone who did would drop dead in the tavern;

وقت سودا خندخند و کم خروشما چو طفلانیم و او شکر فروش

While negotiating a business deal, he is all smiles and sweet word, we are like children and he is a sweetmeat seller.

محرم از قلب و نگاہ مشتری استیارب این سحر است یا سوداگری است

He fully knows the heart and look of the buyer, O God! is this commerce or magic?

تاجران رنگ و بو بردند سودما خریداران ھمہ کور و کبود

Those dealers in merchandise take away all the profit, we buyers are all blind.

آنچہ از خاک تو رست اے مرد حرآن فروش و آن بپوش و آن بخور

O free man! Sell, wear and eat only that which grows out of your own soil.

آن نکوبینان کہ خود را دیدہ اندخود گلیم خویش را بافیدہ اند

Those pure of heart, who are aware of themselves, have themselves sewn their simple garments.

اے ز کار عصر حاضر بے خبرچرب دستیہای یورپ را نگر

O you unaware of the deeds of the present age, see the skillfulness of the people of Europe.

قالی از ابریشم تو ساختندباز او را پیش تو انداختند

They weave out of your wool and silk, and then offer them to you for sale.

چشم تو از ظاہرش افسون خوردرنگ و آب او ترا از جا برد

Your eyes are taken in by their appearances; their colour and glamour turn your head.

واے آن دریا کہ موجش کم تپیدگوھر خود را ز غواصان خرید

Alas for the river whose waves did not fret, and which bought its own pearls from the divers!