I’ve always felt that the majority of great Urdu poets of old spun out their work in the midst of a major depression. They are wonderful to read when you’re lonely or going through a rough patch. Sadness sometimes has to go through that wallowing, immersive phase and Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Daagh Dehlavi to name a few, validate your grief.
Years ago, I approached Allama Iqbal’s poetry with the same mindset, only to find that he is motivational, logical and upbeat. The only barrier in reading him is his profound philosophy, and dense language, which require close study and interpretation.
Fortunately for us we have an Allama Iqbal class every Sunday at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, and it is essentially a spiritual and emotional rejuvenation that we go through afterwards. One of his poems Zindagi, is my mainstay. And I translated it and read it and remind myself of it, both when things are great and especially when life turns tough. It is quite the tonic, you will agree.
Zindagi
Life
Bar tar az andesha-e-sood-o-ziyaan hai zindagi
Hai kabhi jaan aur kabhi taslim-e-jaan hai zindagi
Life is beyond the concern for gain and loss
At times it is living at others it is sacrifice
Tu isey paimanaey imroz o farda say na naap
Javidaan paiham dawaan har dam jawaan hai zindagi
Don’t measure it with the mundane passage of day and morrow
Life is eternal; it is in perpetual motion and forever youthful
Apni dunya aap paida kar agar zindoan main hai
Sirr-e-adam hai zameer-e-kun fakan hain zindagi
Create your own unique world if you are among the truly alive
The secret of being human is to reflect the Divine essence: “be and it is”
Zindagani ki haqeeqat kohkan key dil sey pooch
Joo-e-sheer or teeshaey sang-o-giraan hai zindagi
Ask Farhad, the mountain digger, what the reality of life really is
Life is creating the river of milk by digging and pulverizing granite
Bandagi mein ghut ke reh jati hai ik joo-e-kam aab
Aur azadi mein behrey bai karaan hai zindagi
Enslavement strangles you like a static stream which grows toxic
And a life of true freedom acquires the quality of a limitless ocean
Aashkara hai yeh apni quwatey taskheer sey
Garchey ik mitti kay paikar mein nihaan hai zindagi
Humans manifest themselves with their power to conquer
Even though life remains latent within the structure of clay
Qulzamey hasti sey tu ubhra hai manind-e-hubab
Is ziyan-khaney mein tera imtihaan hain zindagi
You have surfaced from the ocean of life like a bubble
The mortal universe is a test for life to move beyond it
Khaam hai jab tak to hai mitti ka ik ambar tu
Pukhta ho jaey to hai shamsheer-e-bey zinhaar tu
Undeveloped, you are but a mound of clay
Self-developed you become a fearless blade
Ho sadaqat key liye jis dil mein marney ki tarap
Pehley apney paikar-e-khaki mein jaan paida karey
If one’s heart is burning to sacrifice for the sake of integrity
Then one must first create life in one’s own embodiment of clay
Phoonk daley ye zameen-o-asmaaney musta’ar
Aur khakistar sey aap apna jahan paida karey
Discard borrowed existence and throw away false glory
And then create your own unique world from the ground up
Zindagi ki quwat-e-pinhaan ko kar dey aashkar
Taa ye chingari farogh-e-jawidaan paida karey
Make the power of inner life rise and manifest
Till this spark creates an everlasting momentum
Khaak-e-mashriq par chamak jaaye misaal-e-aftab
Taa Badakhsaan phir koi laal-e-giraan paida karey
Like the sun, brighten the horizon of the East
Till Badakhsaan produces those rare rubies (Muslims) again
Soo-e-gardoon nala-e-shabgeer ka bhejey safeer
Raat key taaroan mein apney raazdaan paida karey
Send your emissaries of lamentation to the heavens in the late night
And make the stars your confidantes
Yeh ghari mehshar ki hai tu arsa-e-mehshar mein hai
Paish kar ghafil amal koi agar daftar mein hai
This is a moment of reckoning and you are in an apocalypse
Present deeds if you have any in the record of your lifetime
