Rise Of Islam
(Iqbal’s Tulu-e-Islam penned in 1922)
Stars’ flickering is the clear proof of the bright morning,
The ‘sun’ rose from the horizon, gone is the time of undesirable
sleep,
The life infusing blood ran into the veins of the dead East,
Ibn Sina and Farabi cannot understand this secret,
The ‘hurricane of the west’ turned a Muslim into real
Muslim,
The dashing waves of the river do rearing of the pearls,
The Momin is about to be given from the court of the Lord,
Grandeur of the Turkoman, intelligence of the Hindus,
fluency of the Arabs,
O nightingale, if some influence of dream is left in the
buds!
Make thy tune sharper if thou findeth taste of song is not
responsive,
Be hectic in the lawns, in the nest, in the groves of the
garden-land,
Thou can’t change thy nature of being mercurial,
Why should one look for image of armour in his pious eye?
To whom is visible the very impressive person of the Ghazi,
Lord! Make the heart
of the Muslim crave for the past glory,
Lord!Make every Muslim
conscious of his religious duty.
[‘sun’ means Mustafa Kemal,] [‘hurricane of the west’ means
world war,]
Part- 2
Tears
of repentance from Muslim’s eyes has the effect of Spring cloud,
The
stream of Ibrahim Khalilullah will again
generate pearls,
Muslim
Ummah is again consolidating on the basis of the Book,
This branch of Hashim is about to bear
leaves and fruits,
News
of lightening strike of that Turk of
Shiraz, hero of Islam spreads,
As
the breeze picks and spreads fragrance of flower from garden,
If
the Ottoman had to face the catastrophe, so what?
The
slaughter of hundreds of thousands of stars is followed by dawn,
Knowing
the secrets of the world is more difficult than ruling the world,
After
tremendous pondering, sense of visualisation develops,
Thousands
of years are spent in weeping,
Then
too, birth of a visionary is rare in the world,
O
nightingale! Sing so that by dint of thy song,
In the delicate body of pegeon the courage of falcon takes birth,
In
thy chest is hidden the secret of life, disclose it,
Muslim’s
fate is to burn to serve the cause of Allah, disclose it.
{‘Spring
cloud’ means cloud formed during Spring in Iran}
{‘Turk
of Shiraz, hero of Islam’ and
‘visionary’ refer to Mustafa Kemal}
{‘pegeon’ means subdued person i.e.
Muslims, ‘falcon’ means free Part- 3
Thy hands are the potent hands,
thy words are the words of immortal God,
Develop
faith O unmindful! Thou art dominated by delusions,
Destination of the Muslim is on the other side
of the blue sky,
Stars are the dust of the pathway of thy
caravan,
Space
is transitory, man is momentary, beginning is thine, end is thine,
Thou manifests the last message of
God, thou art eternal,
Thy
existence is a decorative addition to the process of evolution,
Thou
art Abrahamical and architect of the world as well,
By
character thou art the custodian of the possibilities of life,
As if,
thou art at the test to exploit the hidden qualities of the world,
From
the world of matter for the world of eternity,
The
gift which the prophet (sal.) carried was
the person of thee,
This point is clear from the history of the nation,
That
thou art the guardian of the nations of Asia,
Revise
the lesson of the truthfulness, the justice and the valour,
Thou
wilt be called upon to lead the nations of the world.
Part- 4
This is the intention of
nature, this is the secret of Muslim’s mission,
World
conquering brotherhood, prevalence of abundance of love,
Breaking the idols of colour and blood, merge yourselves in the nation,
So
that, there be no Tourani, no Iranian and no Afghan,
On the
branches in grove how long the company of the fowls?
Thy wings have the power of highlander
eagle’s flight,
In the
world of delusion based existence, faith of a Muslim,
In the
dark night of wilderness lamp of monastery,
That
which wiped out the tyranny of the Caesar and the Chosroes,
That was the strength of Ali, piety of Bu
Zer, sincerity of Salman,
The
liberals of Islam moved with such a pomp and show,
The centuries’ captives watched
through slit of the door,
Strong
Eeman ensures life of stability in the world,
The Turk
has proved to be more durable than the German,
When in
this fire ball of dust faith takes birth,
Then it
develops the wings of Gabriel the holy ghost.
Part- 5
Nothing works
in slavery, neither weapons nor planning,
If the taste of Eeman is developed, then the shackles shatter, *
Can anybody guess the might of his arms?
The company of a Momin
is good enough to change the fate,
Love of God, sovereignty and world conquering knowledge,
What are these? Only manifestations of an aspect
of Eeman,
But Abrahamical approach is difficult to generate,
Lasciviousness secretly creates images in the heart,
Distinction of the slave and the master
is degrading the human dignity,
Avoid being high-handed as
nature’s retaliation will be harsh,
Ultimate truth is same for
everything whether earthly or heavenly,
If a particle is cut and analised, it will
reveal the secrets of the sun,
Consolidated Eeman, constant work, world
conquering love,
In the Jehad of life, these are
the weapons of the nation,
What a man needs? The exalted disposition, the unadulterated life style,
The eager heart, the chaste eye and the restless soul.
(Eeman
means belief in the unicity of God)
(This couplet refers to the
Mekkan life before hijrah)
(Jehad
means struggle)
Part- 6
Those who swooped with
falconic spendour ended in helplessness,*
The
stars emerged out of the blood of the evening twilight,
Those
who moved under water got interred in water,**
Those
who were slapped by the waves came out as pearls,
They
are the dust of the pathway who had pride on the Chemistry,
Those
who prayed to God in humility proved to be the chemist,
Our
slowly moving messenger, the breeze,brought the heartening news,
Those
equipped with electronic system of communication proved ill-informed,
The
sacred Harem became disgraced due to indiscretion of the Sheriff,
The
young Turks proved to be mystic and intelligent guardians,
Angels
and virtuous souls soaring in the sky said to the earth,
“This creation of dust proved to be more
lively, more stable, more luminous”,***
In the
world, men of Eeman live like the sun,
They set
here and rise there, set there and rise here,
Eeman
is the people’s capital for building the nation,
This
is the force which makes the fate of the nation.
(*
This couplet refers to the failed British backed Greek attack of Turkey)
(** This
couplet refers to the British naval support to the Greek named Chemistry)
(***
This hemistitch refers to the Turks)
Part- 7
Thou art the
secret of the universe, discipline thyself accordingly,
Know thyself, be the spokesperson of God almighty,
Greed has cut the mankind into pieces,
Propagate brotherhood, stand for love,
This is Hindi, that is
Khorasani, this is Afghan, that is Tourani,
Thou art constrained between two banks,
spill over and be limitless,
Thy wings are contaminated by the dust of colour and creed,
Thou! O falcon of the Harem! Shed the dust before the take off,
Be absorbed in thy self, this is mystry of successful life,
Get out of the cycle of dusk and dawn, be eternal,
In the struggle of life develop the character of steel,
In the nightly dwelling place of
love be soft like silk,
Be a severe flood, pass over the mountains and the wilderness,
If an oasis comes in the way be a singing stream,
There is no limit to thy knowledge and devotion,
There is no better maker than thee in the industry of nature.
Part-8
Still man is the prey of imperialistic disgrace,
Still man is the prey of imperialistic disgrace,
What a
calamity! Man is preyed by man,
The look is
dazzled by the shine of present day civilization,
But, this
craftsmanship is the work of fake jewellery,
That wisdom on
which the western intellectuals had pride,
Is the sword
of battlefield in the bloody claws of lust,
By the magic
of statesmanship consolidation cannot take place,
In the culture which is based on capitalism in
the world,
It is action
which makes the life, heaven as well as hell,
This person of
dust is by nature neither heavenly nor cursed,
Be a tumultuous nigtingale
which makes the buds blossom,
Thou art like breeze of spring
for this garden-land, open the hearts
Again, the
spark has risen from the heart of Asia,
The earth is
watching the Turks in their quilted coats,
Rise! The
oppressed mankind is anxious to hear thy message,
After a long time thy stars are in
the ascendant, reveal the message.
Part- 9
Companions!Rise, nightingale
is prompting for action,
Avail the opportune moment, the spring has come,
In the
valley and the wilderness, cloud overcast the sky,
And
sound of falls is coming, heralding the new era has come,
Companions! Follow the footprints of thy
ancestors, introduce Islam,
Army
of singing birds in rows after rows has come,
Keep off the pious and drink without
fear the wine of eeman,
After
a long time from this old branch, call of nightingale has come,
Narrate the stories of the lord of Badr
and Hunain to the ardent, *
So that whatever is hidden from eye may be revealed,
Again this branch of
Abraham is destined to grow,
In the bazaar of faith, the touchstone,
our Qur’an, is with us,
I will shower the tulips on the grave of the martyr,
As his sacrifice will nourish the sapling of our nation,
Come! Let us strew flowers to mark the entering of eeman into hearts,
Enjoy the life of extreme freedom as ensured by Omar to the Copts. **
*Refers to the prophet Muhammed (Sal.)
** Refers to the 2nd Caliph
of Islam (Razi)
(Suggestions
invited for berrerment)
