THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  GRIEF
(ADDRESSED TO MIAN FA¿L-I-£USSAIN BARRISTER AT LAW, LAHORE)

Introduction
Mian Sir Faîl-i-£ussain (1877-1936) was a prominent political leader of Punjab. He was among the close and trusted friends of ‘All«mah Iqb«l. This poem was written for Sir  Faîl-i-£ussain at the time of some very great personal loss of his. However, the achievements of Sir Faîl-i-£ussain as well as the incident prompting the poem are irrelevant to its contents. As has been explained earlier providing  hope and succor to the individual as well as the Muslim Ummah was a very strong component of ‘All«mah Iqb«l’s  works. This poem is similar. The poem is an exegesis of The Holy  Qur’«n    94:5-6 and excellently provides the necessary succor not only temporarily to Mian Sir  Faîl-i-£ussain but for all times to every one  of ‘All«mah’s  readers in the hour of his trial.

Translation
Though the wine of life is the embodiment of pleasure
The cloud of life carries tears also in its  skirt

The bubble of life dances on the wave of grief
“Alam’s” Sërah ¹ is also part of the Book of  Life

                By losing even a single petal the rose ceases to be rose
                If the nightingale is unaware of autumn it ceases to be nightingale

The heart’s story is colored with Longing’s blood
The human music is incomplete without lament’s cry

For the discerning eye the grief’s scar is insight
For the soul sigh’s  mirror is beauty’s accompaniment

Incidents of grief give perfection to human nature
The dust of anguish is rouge for the heart’s  mirror

Youth is awakened from  sleep’s pleasure by grief
This orchestra wakes up with this plectrum alone

For the heart’s bird grief is the strongest feather
The human heart is a secret whose disclosure is grief

                Grief is not distress, but is the soul’s silent song
                Which is locked in the embrace of existence’ harp

Whose night is not acquainted with “Y« Rab”’s² plaint!
Whose night does not manifest the stars of tears

Whose  heart’s  cup does not know  breaking with grief
Who always remained ecstatic with pleasure and exhilaration

The gardener whose hand is safe from thorn’s tip
Whose love is unaware of the pathos of separation

Though grief’s affliction is far from his life
The secret of life is concealed from his eyes

                O the one with comprehension of life’s affairs
                Why should not grief and sorrow be easy for you?

Love is the introduction to the Eternity’s old treatise
Human intellect is mortal but Love is eternally alive

The evening of death is no match to the sun of Love
Love is the warmth of life and lasts till eternity

If annihilation had been  intended for the departed beloved
Love’s zeal would have also departed from the Lover’s heart

Love does not die by the beloved’s death
It stays in the soul as grief but does  not die

                Lover’s immortality is the beloved’s immortality
                The beloved’s life is unacquainted with mortality

The spring comes singing from the mountain top
Teaching the art of singing to the birds of the sky

Its mirror is bright like  the Houri’s cheek
But falling on valley’s rocks it is shattered

The river’s pearls ever more beautiful became
That  is by this  fall they water’s stars became

The river of flowing mercury spread and became scattered
A whole entire world of restless drops became manifest

But separation is the training for reunion to those drops
After a while the same river is running like a silver string

The flowing river of life is of the same origin
Falling from  high it became the concourse of humanity

                In the depths of this world we part to reunite
                But we cry considering temporary parting as permanent

Though the dead  do die they  do not perish
Really they do not get separated from us

When Intellect be surrounded  in worldly calamities
Or when  it be besieged in the dreary night of youth

When  the heart’s skirt be the battle field of good  and evil
When  journey to the goal be difficult in road’s darkness

When  the Khiîar ³  of courage may be resigned from longing
When  Intellect be helpless and conscience  a silent  voice

When not a single fellow-traveler be in the vale of life
When  not even fire-fly’s spark to show the way there be

                The foreheads of the dead brighten up in this darkness
                As stars are shining in the darkness of the night

Explanatory Notes
1. Allusion to the Holy Qur’«n : 94: 5-6.

2. This expression is used by true believers in the hour of their distress and trial.

3. Khiîar- See Appendix I ,  No.52.