Allama Iqbal's Poetry

The Indian Disciple:
Master of love; of God!
I do remember thy noble words:
‘Wherefrom comes this Friendly voice—
Thin, feeble, and dry as a reed?’
The world today has an eternal sadness,
With neither joy, nor love, nor certitude,
What doth it know about this mystery—
Who is the friend, and what is the friend’s voice?
The sound of music is a dirge
In the West’s crumbling pageant.

Rumi
Every ear is not attuned to the word of truth,
As a fig suits not the palate of every bird.

The Indian Disciple
I have mastered knowledge of both the East and the West,
My soul suffers still in agony.

Rumi
Quacks sicken you more;
Come to us for a cure.

The Indian Disciple
Thy glance of wisdom brightens my heart;
Explain to me the order for jihad.

Rumi
Break the image of God by the command of God,
Break the friend’s glass, with the friend’s stone.

The Indian Disciple
Oriental eyes are dazzled by the West;
Western nymphs are fairer than those in Paradise.

Rumi
Silver glisters white and new,
But blackens the hands and clothes.

The Indian Disciple
The warm‑blooded youths in schools,
Alas, are victims of Western magic!

Rumi
When an unfledged bird begins its flight,
It becomes a ready feline morsel.

The Indian Disciple
How long this clash between church and state?
Is the body superior to the soul?

Rumi
Coins may jingle at night,
But gold waits for the morrow.

The Indian Disciple
Tell me about the secret of man,
Tell how dust is a peer of the stars.

Rumi
His outside dies of an insect’s bite,
His inside roams the seven heavens.

The Indian Disciple
Dust with thy help has a luminous eye,
Is man’s purpose knowledge or vision?

Rumi
Man is perception; the rest is skin;
Perception is the perception of God.

The Indian Disciple
The East lives on through your words!
Of what disease nations die?

Rumi
Every nation that perished in the past,
Perished for mistaking stone for incense.

The Indian Disciple
Muslims have now lost their vigour and force;
Wherefore are they so timid and tame?

Rumi
No nation meets its doom,
Until it angers a man of God.

The Indian Disciple
Though life is a mart without any lustre,
What kind of bargain doth offer some gain?

Rumi
Sell cleverness and purchase wonder;
Cleverness is doubt; wonder is perception.

The Indian Disciple
My peers consort with kings in court,
While I am a beggar, uncovered, bare‑headed.

Rumi
To be the slave of a man with an illumined heart,
Is better than to rule the ruler’s of’ the land.

The Indian Disciple
I am at a loss to know the puzzle
Of free will and determination.

Rumi
Wings bring a hawk to Kings;
Wings bring a crow to the grave.

The Indian Disciple
What is the aim of the Prophet’s path—
The rule of the earth, or a monastery?

Rumi
Prudence in our faith decrees war and power,
In the faith of Jesus—a cave and mount.

The Indian Disciple
How to discipline the body?
And how to awaken the heart?

Rumi
Be obedient, ride on the earth like a horse,
Not like a corpse borne on shoulders.

The Indian Disciple
The secret of faith I do not know;
How to believe in the Day of Judgement?

Rumi
Be the Judgement Day, and see the Judgement Day;
This is the condition for seeing everything.

The Indian Disciple
The selfhood soars up to the skies—
It preys upon the sun and the moon—
Deprived of the Presence, relying on existence, wearied:
Impoverished by its own preys.

Rumi
Love alone is fit to be hunted,
But who can ever ensnare it!

The Indian Disciple
Thou knowest the heart of the universe;
Tell how a nation can be strong?

Rumi
If thou art a grain, it will be picked by birds,
And if a blossom, it will be picked by urchins.
Hide thy grain, and be the trap;
Hide thy blossom, and be the grass.

The Indian Disciple
Thou callest me to seek the heart;
To be a seeker of the heart, and to be in a conflict;
My heart is in my breast,
Like a mirror, it shows my powers.

Rumi
Thou sayest thou hast a heart
The heart is not below, but in the empyrean,
Thou thinkest thy heart is a heart,
Forsaking the search for illumined hearts.

The Indian Disciple
My mind soars in ethereal flights,
But I grovel in the dust;
I have failed in the affairs of the world;
Kicks and buffets are my lot;
Why is material world beyond my reach?
Why are the wise in faith, fools in the world?

Rumi
One who can scale the heights of heaven,
Can tread the path of earth with ease.

The Indian Disciple
What is the secret of knowledge and wisdom?
And how to be blessed with passion and pain?

Rumi
Knowledge and wisdom are born of honest living;
Love and ecstasy are born of honest living.

The Indian Disciple
The world demands me to meet and mingle,
But the song is born in solitude.

Rumi
Keep away from strangers, not from Him,
Wrap thyself for winter, not for spring.

The Indian Disciple
India now has no light of vision or yearning;
Men of illumined hearts have fallen on evil days.

Rumi
Imparting heat and light is the task of the brave;
Cunning and shamelessness are the refuge of the mean.

Translated by: V.G. Kiernan

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