"WHEN A NATION DIES, It Rarely Rises From The Grave" -- Iqbal.

 

Remembering Allama Iqbal 

"When A Nation Dies,

It Rarely Rises From

The Grave!"

– Iqbal

(M. Javed Naseem)

21^st of April commemorates the death anniversary of one of the greatest thinkers of the East, the poet-philosopher of Asia, Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal, affectionately known in the Sub-continent as Allama Iqbal. Pakistan was the brain-child of that visionary. He was born on 9^th November, 1877, in Sialkot (Pakistan), and died on April 21, 1938, in Lahore (Pakistan). His original works are written in Persian, Urdu and English but have been translated in many languages.

It was Iqbal who first came up with the idea of 2-nation theory – meaning a separate homeland for Millions of Muslims of India who were suffering from discrimination, racism and apartheid at the hands of racist and extremist Hindus. Those were the nationalist Hindus who didn't follow their own 'Father of Nation' – Gandhi – and eventually assassinated him. Today, in the year 2021, the Indian Muslims are suffering again.

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“Nations are born in the hearts

of poets; they prosper and die

in the hands of politicians”

– Allama Iqbal

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Iqbal – the thinker, philosopher, barrister, law-maker, reformer, Sufi, interpreter of the Quran, scholar and a visionary politician, is also called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan" for his contributions to the nation. Iqbal's poems, political contributions, and academic and scholarly research were distinguished and highly respected in international forums. He inspired the Pakistan Movement in the biggest British colony – India. Personalities like him are born in centuries.

Allama Iqbal's poetry delivered a universal message of self-esteem, justice, peace and struggle for righteousness. It brought awareness among Indian Muslims and guided them on the right path to achieve a closer relationship with their Creator – Allah, and at the same time waking them up to take the responsibility of leading the nation to freedom and salvation. To the seekers of Divine, he suggested to look inside because the Creation could not be separated from its Creator.

Here's the English translation of excerpts from Iqbal’s Persian masterpiece, the “Javid-Nama”:

The Divine Presence

Though Paradise is a manifestation of Him

the soul reposes not, save in the vision of Him.

We are veiled from our Origin;

we are as birds who have lost our nest.

 

If knowledge is perverse and evil of substance

it is the greatest curtain before our eyes;

but if the object of knowledge is contemplation

it becomes at once the highway and the guide,

laying bare before you the shell of being

that you may ask, 'What is the secret of this display?'

Thus it is that knowledge smooths the road,

thus it is that it awakens desire;

it gives you pain and anguish, fire and fever,

it gives you midnight lamentations.

From the science of the interpretation of the world of color and scent

your eyes and your heart derive nourishment;

it brings to the stage of ecstasy and yearning

and then suffers you like Gabriel to stand.

Zinda-Rud

What law governs the world of color and scent,

but that water once flowed returns not to the stream?

Life has no desire for repetition,

its nature is not habituated to repetition;

beneath the sky, reversion is unlawful to life.

Once a people has fallen, it rises not again.

When a nation dies, it rarely rises from the grave;

what recourse has it, but the tomb and resignation?

(Allama Iqbal's tomb adjacent to Shahi Masjid, Lahore in Pakistan).

The Voice of Beauty

Life is not a mere repetition of the breath,

its origin is from the Living, Eternal God.

The soul near to Him who said, 'Lo, I am nigh' –

that is to take one's share of everlasting life.

 

The individual through the Unity becomes Divine,

the nation through the Unity becomes Omnipotent.

Life is both transient and everlasting;

all this is creativity and vehement desire.

 

Are you alive? Be vehement, be creative;

like Us, embrace all horizons;

break whatsoever is uncongenial;

out of your heart's heart produce a new world –

it is irksome to the free servitor

to live in a world belonging to others.

(Courtesy: http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/persian/javidnama/translation/index.htm)

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