khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdir se pahle
khudā bande se khud puchhe bata teri raza kya hai
The Poet-Philosopher
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Sir Iqbal was undoubtedly one of the greatest poets, philosophers and seers of humanity of all times. He took a prominent part in the politics of the country and in the intellectual and cultural reconstruction of the Islamic world. His contribution to the literature and thought of the world will live for ever.
Biography
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Sir Muhammad Iqbal, fondly remembered as Allama Iqbal, was born in Sialkot on November 9, 1877. He was educated at Sialkot and Lahore, and later at Cambridge. After receiving a doctorate from the Ludwig-Maximillian University at Munich in 1907 for his thesis The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, and bar at law from Lincoln's Inn in 1908, he practiced law for many years in Lahore, the city he had adopted as his home.
Iqbal's fame as a poet grew with his annual performances at the sessions of a philanthropic association from 1900 in Lahore and the publication of his poems in Makhzan, a leading literary magazine from 1901. With Asrar-i-Khudi (The Secrets of the Self), he shifted to Persian, especially the form of mathnavi, as the prime medium of expression for his philosophical ideas. His greatest masterpiece was Javidnama (1932), a spiritual odyssey across the universe under the guidance of Rumi and culminating in an interview with God. Among his Urdu anthologies, Bang-i-Dara (The Caravan Bell), which came out in 1924, remains the most popular and includes such well-known poems as 'The Complaint,' 'The Candle and the Poet' and 'Khizr of the Way' while Baal-i-Gabriel (The Flight of Gabriel) in 1936 took the literary forms of Urdu poetry to unprecedented heights through poems such as 'The Mosque of Cordoba,' which is often estimated to be the greatest poem in that language.
Iqbal's stature as a philosopher rests mainly on his superb poetry but is thoroughly supplemented by his prose writings, especially The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. He also supported the idea of a separate Muslim state in the North-West of South Asia in his Presidential Address to the annual session of the All India Muslim League at Allahabad in December 1930. In the subsequent years he gave active support to the cause of this state although he did not live to see its making as Pakistan in 1947, when he was officially acclaimed as its ideological founding father. He died in Lahore on April 21, 1938.
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majnun ne shahr chhoDa to sahra bhi chhoD de
nazzare ki hawas ho to laila bhi chhoD de
waiz kamal-e-tark se milti hai yan murad
duniya jo chhoD di hai to uqba bhi chhoD de
taqlid ki rawish se to behtar hai KHud-kushi
rasta bhi DhunD KHizr ka sauda bhi chhoD de
manind-e-KHama teri zaban par hai harf-e-ghair
begana shai pe nazish-e-beja bhi chhoD de
lutf-e-kalam kya jo na ho dil mein dard-e-ishq
bismil nahin hai tu to taDapna bhi chhoD de
shabnam ki tarah phulon pe ro aur chaman se chal
is bagh mein qayam ka sauda bhi chhoD de
hai aashiqi mein rasm alag sab se baiThna
but-KHana bhi haram bhi kalisa bhi chhoD de
sauda-gari nahin ye ibaadat KHuda ki hai
ai be-KHabar jaza ki tamanna bhi chhoD de
achchha hai dil ke sath rahe pasban-e-aql
lekin kabhi kabhi ise tanha bhi chhoD de
jina wo kya jo ho nafas-e-ghair par madar
shohrat ki zindagi ka bharosa bhi chhoD de
shoKHi si hai sawal-e-mukarrar mein ai kalim
shart-e-raza ye hai ki taqaza bhi chhoD de
waiz subut lae jo mai ke jawaz mein
‘iqbaal’ ko ye zid hai ki pina bhi chhoD de
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Nigah-e-faqr main shaan-e-sikandari kya hai?
Khiraaj ki jo gada ho, wo qaiseri kya hai?
Falaq nay ki hai ata un ko khaajgi kay jinhain
Khabar nahin rawish-e-banda parwari kya hai?
Kissey nahin hai tamanna-e-sarwari lekin
Khudi ki mout ho jis main, wo sarwari kya hai?
Buton say tujh ko umeedain, Khuda say no meedi
Mujhey bata tou sahi aur kaafri kya hai?
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ḳhird-mandon se kya puchhun ki meri ibtida kya hai
ki main is fikr men rahta huun meri intiha kya hai
ḳhudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdīr se pahle
ḳhuda bande se ḳhud puchhe bata teri raza kya hai
maqam-e-guftugu kya hai agar main kimiya-gar huun
yahi soz-e-nafas hai aur meri kimiya kya hai
nazar aa.iin mujhe taqdir ki gahra.iyan is men
na puchh ai ham-nashin mujh se vo chashm-e-surma-sa kya hai
agar hota vo majzub-e-farangi is zamāne men
to ‘iqbal’ us ko samjhata maqam-e-kibriya kya hai
nava-e-sub.h-gahi ne jigar ḳhuun kar diya mera
ḳhudaya jis ḳhata ki ye saza hai vo ḳhata kya hai
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kabhi ai haqiqat-e-muntazar nazar aa libas-e-majaz men
ki hazaron sajde taḌap rahe hain miri jabin-e-niyaz men
tarab-ashna-e-ḳharosh ho to nava hai mahram-e-gosh ho
vo sarod kya ki chhupa hua ho sukut-e-parda-e-saz men
tu bacha bacha ke na rakh ise tira aa.ina hai vo aa.ina
ki shikasta ho to aziz-tar hai nigah-e-a.ina-saz men
dam-e-tauf kirmak-e-sham.a ne ye kaha ki vo asar-e-kuhan
na tiri hikayat-e-soz men na miri hadis-e-gudaz men
na kahin jahan men amaan mili jo amaan mili to kahan mili
mire jurm-e-ḳhana-ḳharab ko tire afv-e-banda-navaz men
na vo ishq men rahin garmiyan na vo husn men rahin shoḳhiyan
na vo ghaznavi men taḌap rahi na vo ḳham hai zulf-e-ayaz main
main jo sar-ba-sajda hua kabhi to zamin se aane lagi sada
tera dil to hai sanam-ashna tujhe kya milega namaz men
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jinhen main dhundhta tha asmanon mein zamiinon mein
vo nikale mere zulmat-e-Khana-e-dil ke makiinon mein
mahiine vasl ke ghadiyon kii suurat udte jaate hain
magar ghadiyaan judaaii kii guzartii hai mahinon mein
mujhe rokega tu aye na-khuda kya garq hone se
ki jin ko dubna hai duub jaate hain safiinon mein
jalaa saktii hai sham-e-kushta ko mauj-e-nafas un kii
ilaahii kya chupa hota hai ahal-e-dil ke siinon mein
tamannaa dard-e-dil kii ho to kar Khidamat faqiiron kii
nahiin milta ye gauhar badashahon ke Khaziinon mein
muhabbat ke liye dil dhuundh koii tuutanevaala
ye vo maye hai jise rakhte hain naazuk aab_giinon mein
buraa samjhun unhein mujh se to aisaa ho nahiin sakta
ki main Khud bhii to hun "Iqbal" apne nukta-chiinon mein
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[naKhuda = boatsman; garq = drowning; safiinaa = boat]
[sham-e-kushtaa = extinguished candle/flame]
[mauj-e-nafas = waves of (one's) breath]
[aab_giinaa = delicate decanter (wine container) made of glass]
[sham-e-kushtaa = extinguished candle/flame]
[mauj-e-nafas = waves of (one's) breath]
[aab_giinaa = delicate decanter (wine container) made of glass]
