The Mosque of Cordoba

Allama Muhammad Iqbal · Bal-e-Jibril

Background

Iqbal visited Spain in 1933 and saw the historic mosque of Cordoba. He wrote this poem on that journey. According to Rekhta, it was written “in the land of Spain, especially in Cordoba”¹. The poem is part of Bal-e-Jibril, published in 1935, which many critics regard as the peak of Iqbal’s Urdu poetry³⁴. In eight stanzas of sixteen lines each, the poet makes the transience of time, the permanence of love and the art of the mosque into a picture of the “man of faith”. In the last stanza, “Aab-e-Rawan-e-Kabir” refers to the Wadi al-Kabir, the river of Cordoba².

Kalam

The chain of day and night is the sculptor of eventsThe chain of day and night is the root of life and death

The chain of day and night is a two-coloured thread of silkWith which the Self weaves its robe of attributes

The chain of day and night is the wail of the instrument of eternityWith which the Self shows the rise and fall of all that may be

It tests you, and it tests meThe chain of day and night is the assayer of the universe

If you are of base metal, and if I am of base metalDeath is your wedding procession, death is mine

What else is the truth of your days and nights?A current of time in which there is neither day nor night

All the miracles of art come and goThe work of the world is transient, the work of the world is transient

First and last are doomed, hidden and visible are doomedWhether the design is old or new, its final destination is doom

٭

Yet in this design there is a colour of lasting permanenceWhen a man of God has brought it to completion

The deed of the man of God is made radiant by loveLove is the root of life, and death is forbidden to it

Though the current of time is swift and fast-movingLove is itself a flood, and it holds back the flood

In the calendar of love, besides the present ageThere are other ages too, which have no name

Love is the breath of Gabriel, love is the heart of MustafaLove is the Messenger of God, love is the word of God

By the intoxication of love, the body of clay shinesLove is raw wine, love is the cup of the generous

Love is the jurist of the Haram, love is the commander of armiesLove is the wayfarer, and it has thousands of stations

By the plectrum of love, the strings of life singFrom love comes the light of life, from love the fire of life

٭

O mosque of Cordoba, your existence is from loveLove is permanence itself, in which there is no past and being

Be it colour or brick and stone, harp or word and soundThe miracle of art arises from the blood of the heart

A drop of heart’s blood turns stone into a heartFrom heart’s blood come the voice, the passion, the joy and the song

Your space delights the heart, my song burns the breastFrom you hearts gain presence, from me hearts are opened

The breast of Adam is no less than the Highest ThroneThough a handful of dust is bounded by the blue sky

What if the being of light is granted prostration?It does not have the burning and melting of prostration

I am an infidel of Hind; see my taste and longingPrayer and blessings in my heart, prayer and blessings on my lips

Longing is in my melody, longing is in my fluteThe song of “Allah Hu” is in my every vein and sinew

٭

Your majesty and beauty are the proof of the man of GodHe too is majestic and beautiful, you too are majestic and beautiful

Your foundation is firm, your pillars are countlessLike a crowd of date palms in the desert of Syria

On your doors and roof lies the light of the Valley of AimanYour tall minaret is the place where Gabriel appears

The Muslim can never be erased, forHis calls to prayer reveal the secret of Kalim and Khalil

His land has no limits, his horizon has no frontiersThe waves of his sea are the Tigris, the Danube and the Nile

His ages are strange, his tales are wondrousHe gave the old age the message to depart

He is the cupbearer of men of taste, a horseman of the field of longingHis wine is pure nectar, his sword is of noble steel

He is a soldier, his armour is “There is no god”In the shade of the sword, his refuge is “There is no god”

٭

Through you the secret of the believing servant was revealedThe heat of his days, the melting of his nights

His station is high, his thought is greatHis joy, his longing, his humility, his pride

The hand of the believing servant is the hand of GodDominant, creative, resolving difficulties, a maker of means

Of earth and light in nature, a servant with the attributes of his LordRich beyond both worlds, his heart is free of need

His hopes are few, his aims are loftyHis manner wins hearts, his glance comforts them

Gentle in speech, ardent in pursuitIn battle or in company, pure of heart and sincere

The centre of the compass of truth is the faith of the man of GodAnd all this world is illusion, enchantment and metaphor

He is the destination of reason, he is the fruit of loveHe is the warmth of the gathering in the circle of the horizons

٭

Kaaba of the masters of art, might of the clear faithThrough you, the land of the Andalusians has the rank of a sanctuary

If there is a match for your beauty under the skyIt is in the Muslim heart, and nowhere else

Ah, those men of truth, those Arab horsemenBearers of noble character, possessors of truth and certainty

Whose rule reveals this strange secretThe kingdom of the people of the heart is poverty, not royalty

Whose glances trained East and WestWhose wisdom was a guide in the darkness of Europe

By whose blood the Andalusians are stillCheerful, warm in company, simple, with bright brows

Even today the gazelle’s eye is common in this landAnd the arrows of glances still pierce the heart

The scent of Yemen is still in its breezesThe colour of Hejaz is still in its songs

٭

In the eye of the stars, your earth is a heavenAh, for centuries your space has been without the call to prayer

In which valley, at which station, isThe hardy caravan of calamitous love?

Germany has seen the tumult of religious reformWhich left no trace of the old design anywhere

The purity of the church elder became a false wordAnd the fragile boat of thought set sail

The eye of France too has seen a revolutionBy which the world of the Westerners was overturned

The nation of Roman descent, grown old through clinging to the pastBecame young again through the pleasure of renewal

The same restlessness is in the Muslim soul todayIt is a divine secret, and the tongue cannot speak it

Let us see what leaps from the depths of this seaLet us see what colour the blue-lotus dome will take

٭

In the mountain valley the cloud is drowned in the sunset glowThe sun has left heaps of Badakhshan rubies

Simple and full of ache is the song of the farmer’s daughterFor the boat of the heart, the age of youth is a flood

On your bank, O flowing water of the KabirSomeone is dreaming the dream of another age

The new world is still behind the veil of destinyIts unveiled dawn is before my eyes

If I lift the veil from the face of thoughtThe West will not bear the force of my songs

A life without revolution is deathThe life of the spirit of nations is the struggle of revolution

That nation is like a sword in the hand of fateWhich at every moment takes account of its deeds

All designs are incomplete without the blood of the heartA song is raw madness without the blood of the heart

Difficult words

• Silsila-e-roz-o-shab: the succession of days and nights; time
• Naqsh-gar-e-hadsaat: the one who shapes events
• Asl-e-hayat-o-mamat: the basis of life and death
• Do rang: two-coloured (day and night)
• Harir: silk
• Qaba-e-sifat: the robe of attributes
• Saz-e-azal: the instrument of eternity; destiny
• Zer-o-bam: the rise and fall of a note
• Sairafi: one who tests the genuine from the false
• Ayyar-e-kainat: the touchstone of the universe
• Kar-e-jahan be-sabat: the work of the world is transient
• Rang-e-sabat-e-dawam: the colour of lasting permanence
• Mard-e-khuda: a servant of God, a man of faith
• Sail-e-zaman: the flood of time
• Amir-e-junood: commander of armies
• Ibn al-sabil: traveller
• Mizrab: the plectrum used to play an instrument
• Haram-e-Qurtuba: the mosque of Cordoba
• Arsh-e-mu’alla: the Highest Throne of God
• Sujood: prostrations
• Kafir-e-Hindi: an infidel of India (the poet’s name for himself)
• Salat-o-durood: prayer, and blessings on the Holy Prophet ﷺ
• Jalal-o-jamal: majesty and beauty
• Sutoon: pillars
• Hujoom-e-nakheel: a grove of date palms
• Raheeq: pure wine; here, passion
• Aseel: pure, of the finest quality
• Zirah: iron armour worn in battle
• Panah: refuge
• Kar-afreen: creator of work
• Kar-kusha: one who resolves difficulties
• Karsaz: one who arranges affairs
• Nuqta-e-parkar: the centre point of a compass
• Halqa-e-afaq: the circle of the world
• Satwat: might, awe
• Haram martabat: having the dignity of a sanctuary
• Shahsawar: horseman
• Rah-bin: one who shows the way
• Chashm-e-ghazal: a gazelle-like eye
• Deeda-e-anjum: the eye of the stars
• Almani: Germany (here, a reference to the religious reform movement of the sixteenth century)
• Peer-e-kunisht: the church elder
• Digargoon: turned upside down
• Roomi-nizhad: of Roman descent, that is, the Italian nation
• Gumbad-e-neelofari: the blue sky
• Sahab: cloud
• Lal-e-Badakhshan: the red precious stones of Badakhshan
• Dukhtar-e-dehqan: the farmer’s daughter
• Aab-e-rawan-e-Kabir: the flowing water of the Wadi al-Kabir, the river of Cordoba
• Chehra-e-afkar: the face of thought
• Kashmakash: tug-of-war, struggle
• Sauda-e-khaam: raw madness