ADDRESSED  TO  THE  YOUTH  OF  ISLAM

Introduction
As has been stated at several places earlier the material as well as spiritual deterioration of the Muslim world was a deep wound to �All�mah Iqb�l. This is one of the poems expressing its pain. As the youth are the future hope of a nation the poem is addressed to them in the hope that it would rouse them from deep slumber. However, only one aspect of the problem has been stated in this poem, i.e. the Ummah�s distancing itself from Islamic literature and the heritage of their ancestors.

Translation
O Muslim youth ! Have you ever used your prudence
What was that sky of which you are a fallen star?

That nation has nurtured you its lap of love
Whose feet had trampled the crown of D�r��s ¹ head

Civilization�s formulator, creator of rules of world government
Was that desert of Arabia, that is the cradle of camel drivers

�Al Faqru fakhr�s �  ²  state even in glory of authority existed
�Why would the beautiful face need beautifying and cosmetics�³

Even in poverty those men of God were so high-minded
That the rich could not avoid charity for beggar�s fear

In short what should I tell you what those wanderers in wilderness were
They were world conquerors, world rulers, world administrators, and world adorners

If I wish to present their  picture in words I can
But that scene is beyond the comprehension of your imagination

You cannot have any relationship with your ancestors
You are talk, they were action, you are stars, they were planets

We have wasted the heritage obtained from our ancestors
The sky has thrown us down from the Thurayyah ⁴ to the earth

Why should we cry for suzerainty, as it was temporary
There is no escape from the world�s established principles

But those pearls of wisdom, those books of our  ancestors
By seeing them in Europe the heart is rent asunder

                �O Ghani ⁵ ! witness the dark day of the saint of Kina��n⁶
                Because the light of his eyes brightens Zulaikhah�s⁷ eyes

Explanatory Notes
1.D�r� or Darius- See Appendix I, No.22.

2. This is a famous �ad�th  of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). It means �Faqr is my pride�. It is difficult to translate Faqr correctly into English. Nevertheless its correct comprehension is necessary to understand this �ad�th as well as this verse. Literally it means poverty but in Tasawwuf it is a technical term, which also is difficult to understand. See chapter 3, paragraph �Faqr�.

3. This is the second hemistich of a verse of ��fi� Sh�r�z� ( Khw�jah Shams  al-D�n of Sh�r�z ) which is given bellow:

 (189)      The beauty of the beloved does not need our incomplete love
                 Why would the beautiful face beautifying and cosmetics need?

4. Thurayyah called the Pleides in English and is a collection of seven stars in the constellation Taurus.

5. Mullah Mu�ammad �hir Ghan�- See appendix 1, No. 32

6. The Saint of Kina��n- Allusion to S. Y�suf A.S. for whom see the Holy Qur��n, S�rah 12 and Appendix III, No, 80.

7. Zalaykhah- See Appendix III,  No. 81.