KHirad-mandon se kya puchhun ki meri ibtida kya hai
Allama Iqbal
KHirad-mandon se kya puchhun ki meri ibtida kya hai
ki main is fikr mein rahta hun meri intiha kya hai
KHudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdir se pahle
KHuda bande se KHud puchhe bata teri raza kya hai
maqam-e-guftugu kya hai agar main kimiya-gar hun
yahi soz-e-nafas hai aur meri kimiya kya hai
nazar aain mujhe taqdir ki gahraiyan is mein
na puchh ai ham-nashin mujh se wo chashm-e-surma-sa kya hai
agar hota wo majzub-e-farangi is zamane mein
to ‘iqbaal’ us ko samjhata maqam-e-kibriya kya hai
nawa-e-subh-gahi ne jigar KHun kar diya mera
KHudaya jis KHata ki ye saza hai wo KHata kya hai
English Translation
Why should I ask the wise what my beginning is?
For I remain absorbed in wondering what my end is.Raise the self so high that before every decree of fate,
God Himself asks His servant: tell Me, what is your desire?What is the station of speech, if I am an alchemist?
This burning breath itself is my art, and what else is my alchemy?In it I saw the depths of destiny revealed;
Ask me not, my companion, what that antimony-dark eye is.If that European mystic had lived in this age,
Iqbal would have explained to him what the station of divine grandeur is.The melody of dawn has torn my liver with grief;
O God, what is the sin for which this punishment is given?