"Song of the Religious Community" (1910, after his European stay)
taraanah-e millii
Published in baa;Ng-e daraa (The Sound of the Bell) (1924)
From: kulliyaat-e iqbaal urduu (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*.
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1)
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chiin-o-((arab hamaaraa ,
hinduusitaa;N hamaaraa
muslim hai;N ham , va:tan hai saaraa jahaa;N hamaaraa |
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1)
Central
Asia and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours
2) we are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland |
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Though
'Chin'
nowadays refers to China, it used to be used for Central
Asia, and
that's probably how it's meant here.
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2)
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tau;hiid kii amaanat siino;N
me;N hai hamaare
aasaa;N nahii;N mi;Taanaa naam-o-nishaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) the
trust
of Oneness is in our breasts
2) it is not easy to erase our identity [=name and sign] |
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The
English
word 'trust' here refers not to an emotion, but to
something bequeathed
or left in trust, for safekeeping. The Arabic word tau;hiid
is a theological term, and has the sense of
'monotheism'.
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3)
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duniya ke but-kado;N me;N
pahlaa vuh ghar ;xudaa kaa
ham us ke paasbaa;N hai;N , vuh paasbaa;N hamaaraa |
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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 |
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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.
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4)
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te;Go;N ke saa))e me;N ham
pal kar javaa;N hu))e hai;N
;xanjar hilaal kaa hai qaumii nishaa;N hamaaraa |
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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 |
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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 millii 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. |
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5)
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ma;Grib kii vaadiyo;N me;N
guu;Njii a;zaa;N hamaarii
thamtaa nah thaa kisii se sail-e ravaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) in the
valleys of the west our call to prayer echoed
2) our moving flood did not stop on account of anyone |
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The verb
thamnaa is intransitive, so kisii
se thamnaa would mean not 'to be stopped by
someone' (as in the
sense of blocked or prevented), but rather 'to stop
[oneself] because
of anyone'.
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6)
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baa:til se dabne vaale ay
aasmaa;N nahii;N ham
sau baar kar chukaa hai tuu imti;haa;N hamaaraa |
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1) we are
not,
oh sky, ones to be oppressed by falsehood
2) a hundred times you've already tested us |
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7)
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ay gulsitaan-e andluus ! vuh
din hai;N yaad tujh ko
thaa terii ;Daaliyo;N me;N jab aashiyaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) oh
garden
of Andalusia! you remember those days
2) when our nest was in your branches |
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Here it's
pronounced 'gul-si-taan', rather than the usual
'gu-lis-taan', to suit
the meter.
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8)
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ay mauj-e dajlah ! tuu bhii
pahchaantii hai ham ko
ab tak hai teraa daryaa afsaanah-;xvaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) oh
wave of
the Tigris! you too recognize us
2) till now your river is our story-teller |
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9)
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ay ar.z-e paak ! terii
;harmat pah ka;T mare hai;N
hai ;xuu;N tirii rago;N me;N ab tak ravaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) oh
pure
land! for your sacredness we have been cut down and have
died
2) till now our blood moves in your veins |
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The word
pah is short for par
, which
here means 'over, about'. The verb ka;T
marnaa
(short for ka;T kar marnaa ) is
entirely
intransitive, so that there's no indication at all of an
agent who
might have done the cutting down and killing.
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10)
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saalaar-e kaaravaa;N hai
miir-e ;hijaaz apnaa
us naam se hai baaqii aaraam-e jaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) our
leader
of the caravan is the Chief of the Hijaz
2) through that name the peace of our spirit lives on |
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11)
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iqbaal kaa taraanah baa;Ng-e
daraa hai goyaa
hotaa hai jaadah-pemaa phir kaaravaa;N hamaaraa |
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1)
Iqbal's
song is, {'so to speak' / 'speaking'} , the call of a
bell
2) again our caravan is on the road |
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The word
goyaa 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 jaadah-pemaa literally
means 'road-measuring'; the
English 'on the road' is a good colloquial equivalent.
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