"Song of the Religious Community" (1910, after his European stay)

tarānah-e millī

Published in bāñg-e darā (The Sound of the Bell) (1924)
From: kulliyāt-e iqbāl urdū (Lahore: Shaikh Ghulam 'Ali and Sons Publishers, 1973 (and later reprints), p. 159

a *ghazal*; *meter*: = = - / = - = = / = = - / = - = =

Urdu spellings reflect adjustments made for the sake of the meter.
See the 'script bar' at the bottom of the page for viewing choices.
Here's *the Urdu text*; here's *a serial glossary*.
   
1)
chīn-o-ʿarab hamārā , hindūsitāñ hamārā
muslim haiñ ham , vat̤an hai sārā jahāñ hamārā
 
1) Central Asia and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours
2) we are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland
 
Though 'Chin' nowadays refers to China, it used to be used for Central Asia, and that's probably how it's meant here.
   
2)
tauḥīd kī amānat sīnoñ meñ hai hamāre
āsāñ nahīñ miṭānā nām-o-nishāñ hamārā
 
1) the trust of Oneness is in our breasts
2) it is not easy to erase our identity [=name and sign]
 
The English word 'trust' here refers not to an emotion, but to something bequeathed or left in trust, for safekeeping. The Arabic word tauḥīd is a theological term, and has the sense of 'monotheism'.
   
3)
duniya ke but-kadoñ meñ pahlā vuh ghar ḳhudā kā
ham us ke pāsbāñ haiñ , vuh pāsbāñ hamārā
 
1) among the world's idol-temples the first is that house of the Lord
2) we are its door-guards, it is our door-guard
 
I've always been surprised that Iqbal refers to the Ka'bah as an 'idol-temple'. But he does seem to. One solution would be to interpret 'first' as referring not to rank, but to chronology, since the Ka'bah dates from the ancient (pre-Islamic) past; since an omitted verb is normally in the present, however, this reading requires some forcing.
   
4)
teġhoñ ke sāʾe meñ ham pal kar javāñ huʾe haiñ
ḳhanjar hilāl kā hai qaumī nishāñ hamārā
 
1) we were raised, and have become youths, in the shadow of swords
2) the scimitar of the crescent moon is our 'group-related' sign
 

The word qaum is such a vexation to the careful translator; it can be used to refer to so many different kinds of groups. There's no such English word as 'groupal', alas; and 'communal' now has in South Asian English a specially charged sense ('pertaining to religious chauvinism'). Similarly, the word millī means 'pertaining to the religious community'; the title of the poem could be more literally translated as as 'Religious-community-related Song', which would be suitably parallel to 'Indian Song'; but that's too clunky even for me.

   
5)
maġhrib kī vādiyoñ meñ gūñjī ażāñ hamārī
thamtā nah thā kisī se sail-e ravāñ hamārā
 
1) in the valleys of the west our call to prayer echoed
2) our moving flood did not stop on account of anyone
 
The verb thamnā is intransitive, so kisī se thamnā would mean not 'to be stopped by someone' (as in the sense of blocked or prevented), but rather 'to stop [oneself] because of anyone'.
   
6)
bāt̤il se dabne vāle ay āsmāñ nahīñ ham
sau bār kar chukā hai tū imtiḥāñ hamārā
 
1) we are not, oh sky, ones to be oppressed by falsehood
2) a hundred times you've already tested us
   
   
7)
ay gulsitān-e andlūs ! vuh din haiñ yād tujh ko
thā terī ḍāliyoñ meñ jab āshiyāñ hamārā
 
1) oh garden of Andalusia! you remember those days
2) when our nest was in your branches
 
Here it's pronounced 'gul-si-taan', rather than the usual 'gu-lis-taan', to suit the meter.
   
8)
ay mauj-e dajlah ! tū bhī pahchāntī hai ham ko
ab tak hai terā daryā afsānah-ḳhvāñ hamārā
 
1) oh wave of the Tigris! you too recognize us
2) till now your river is our story-teller
   
   
9)
ay arẓ-e pāk ! terī ḥarmat pah kaṭ mare haiñ
hai ḳhūñ tirī ragoñ meñ ab tak ravāñ hamārā
 
1) oh pure land! for your sacredness we have been cut down and have died
2) till now our blood moves in your veins
 
The word pah is short for par , which here means 'over, about'. The verb kaṭ marnā (short for kaṭ kar marnā ) is entirely intransitive, so that there's no indication at all of an agent who might have done the cutting down and killing.
   
10)
sālār-e kāravāñ hai mīr-e ḥijāz apnā
us nām se hai bāqī ārām-e jāñ hamārā
 
1) our leader of the caravan is the Chief of the Hijaz
2) through that name the peace of our spirit lives on
   
   
11)
iqbāl kā tarānah bāñg-e darā hai goyā
hotā hai jādah-pemā phir kāravāñ hamārā
 
1) Iqbal's song is, {'so to speak' / 'speaking'} , the call of a bell
2) again our caravan is on the road
 
The word goyā literally means, in Persian, 'speaking'; in Urdu it's also conventionally used the way we use 'so to speak' in English. Both senses work well in the context of this line, and in classic ghazal style, both should be kept in mind. The phrase jādah-pemā literally means 'road-measuring'; the English 'on the road' is a good colloquial equivalent.
   

 

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