Iqbal’s “Talib-e-Ilm” (The Student) from Zarb-e-Kalim

Allama Muhammad Iqbal · Zarb-e-Kalim

Background

This two-couplet verse from the “Taleem-o-Tarbiat” (Education and Training) section of “Zarb-e-Kalim” (April 1936) is both a prayer and advice for the student¹²³. The poet wants knowledge to go beyond reading books. He wants it to stir the heart, until the reader himself becomes the bearer of a message.

The verse

خدا تجھے کسی طوفاں سے آشنا کر دےکہ تیرے بحر کی موجوں میں اضطراب نہیں

تجھے کتاب سے ممکن نہیں فراغ کہ توکتاب خواں ہے مگر صاحب کتاب نہیں

Difficult words

• آشنا: acquainted
• بحر: sea
• اضطراب: restlessness, turbulence
• فراغ: leisure, release
• کتاب خواں: one who reads books
• صاحبِ کتاب: one who has his own message and his own book