Jawab-e-Shikwa

Allama Muhammad Iqbal · Bang-e-Dara, Part Three

Background

After “Shikwa”, Iqbal wrote this poem, in which God replies. The cause of the decline is the Muslims’ own inaction, and for anyone who takes the path of love and action the same promises hold today. It has 36 stanzas of six lines each and appears in the third part of Bang-e-Dara¹². According to one account, Iqbal recited it in 1913 at a rally outside Mochi Gate in Lahore³. The International Iqbal Society’s timeline gives the year as 1912⁴.

Kalam

A word that comes from the heart has an effectIt has no power of flight, yet it has wings

It is of holy origin and looks to the heightsIt rises from dust and passes through the heavens

My love was mischievous, rebellious and cunningMy fearless lament tore through the sky

٭

The old sky heard it and asked if anyone was thereThe planets said someone was at the highest throne

The moon said it was not anyone from the earthThe Milky Way said someone was hidden right here

Only Ridwan understood something of my complaintHe took me for a man driven out of Paradise

٭

Even the angels wondered what this voice wasEven the dwellers of the throne could not grasp the secret

Does man’s striving reach even to the throne?Has a pinch of dust learned to fly?

How heedless of manners are the dwellers of the earthHow bold and insolent are these inhabitants of the depths

٭

So bold that he is angry even with GodThis is the same Adam whom the angels bowed to

He is lost in ecstasy and knows few secretsYes, but he is a stranger to the mysteries of humility

Men are proud of their power of speechThe ignorant do not know how to speak

٭

A voice came: your tale is full of sorrowYour cup is brimming with restless tears

Your ecstatic cry has filled the skyHow bold a tongue your mad heart has

You turned a complaint into thanks with your fine mannerYou made God’s servants talk with God

٭

We are inclined to give, but there is no one to askWhom should we guide, when there is no traveller to the goal?

Training is common, but there is no worthy substanceThis is not the clay from which Adam can be built

If anyone is worthy, we give him many honoursTo those who seek, we give even a new world

٭

Your hands are weak and your hearts are used to unbeliefThe followers bring disgrace to the Prophet

The idol-breakers are gone; those who remain make idolsThe father was Ibrahim; the sons are Azar

New drinkers, new wine, new jars tooA new Kaaba, new idols, and you are new too

٭

There was a time when this was the source of beautyThe pride of the spring, the wild tulip of the desert

Every Muslim was mad with love of GodOnce this fickle one was your beloved

Now pledge yourselves in slavery to any one placeMake the community of Ahmad, the Messenger, merely local

٭

How heavy waking at dawn is for youYou do not love Us; yes, you love sleep

The confinement of Ramadan weighs on your free natureYou yourselves say this is the code of loyalty

A nation exists through religion; without it, you are nothingWithout mutual attraction, there is no gathering of stars

٭

You are those who have no skill in the worldYou are the nation that does not care for its nest

You are the harvest in which lightning rests at easeYou are the ones who sell the graves of their ancestors

You win a good name by trading in gravesWhat would you not sell if you found idols of stone?

٭

Who wiped falsehood from the page of the world?Who freed mankind from slavery?

Who filled My Kaaba with foreheads in prostration?Who held My Quran to their breasts?

They were your forefathers, but what are you?You sit with hand on hand, waiting for tomorrow

٭

You said that for Muslims there is only the promise of hourisEven one who complains without cause needs some sense

Justice is the Creator’s law from eternityHouris and palaces are for him who becomes a Muslim, not an unbeliever

Among you there is no one who desires the hourisThe light of Tur is still there, but there is no Moses

٭

This nation has one gain and one lossAll have one Prophet, one faith, one belief

The holy sanctuary is one, God is one, the Quran is oneIt would have been something great if Muslims were one too

There are sects in one place and castes in anotherIs this how one thrives in the world?

٭

Who is it that abandons the law of the chosen Messenger?Whose conduct is measured by the convenience of the moment?

In whose eyes have the ways of strangers taken root?Whose gaze has grown weary of the ways of the forefathers?

There is no burning in the heart, no feeling in the soulYou keep nothing at all of Muhammad’s message

٭

Only the poor go and stand in rows in the mosquesOnly the poor bear the hardship of fasting

If anyone takes Our name, it is the poorIf anyone keeps your honour, it is the poor

The rich, drunk on wealth, are heedless of UsThe shining community lives by the breath of the poor

٭

Preacher, the firmness of thought of the nation is goneThe lightning in the nature is gone; the fire in the speech is gone

The ritual of the call to prayer remains, but the spirit of Bilal is gonePhilosophy remains, but Ghazali’s teaching is gone

The mosques mourn that the worshippers are goneThat is, those men of Hijaz with their fine qualities are gone

٭

There is an outcry that Muslims have vanished from the worldWe say: were there ever Muslims anywhere?

In appearance you are Christians, in culture HindusThese are Muslims, at the sight of whom even Jews would feel shame

You may be a Syed, a Mirza, an AfghanYou are everything; but tell me, are you also Muslims?

٭

When he spoke, the Muslim’s truthfulness was fearlessHis justice was strong, free from the stain of favour

The tree of the Muslim’s nature was moist with modestyIn courage he was a being beyond understanding

Self-melting was the moisture of his wineEmptying himself of self was the form of his cup

٭

Every Muslim was a lancet to the vein of falsehoodIn the mirror of his being, action was the gem

His trust was in the strength of his armYou fear death; he feared God

If the son does not know the father’s learning by heartHow can the son be worthy of the father’s inheritance?

٭

Everyone is drunk on the wine of love of easeAre you Muslims? Is this the Muslim way?

There is not the poverty of Haidar, nor the wealth of UsmanWhat spiritual kinship do you have with your forefathers?

They were honoured in the world as MuslimsAnd you have been disgraced by abandoning the Quran

٭

You are angry with one another; they were merciful to one anotherYou are sinful and fault-finding; they were forgiving and generous

Everyone wants to dwell on the heights of the PleiadesFirst let someone create a sound heart like theirs

The throne of the Chinese emperor was theirs, and the seat of KaiIt is mere talk that you have that sense of honour

٭

Self-destruction is your way; they were proud and self-respectingYou shun brotherhood; they gave their lives for it

You are all talk; they were all deedsYou long for a bud; they had gardens in their arms

Nations remember their story to this dayTheir truthfulness is engraved on the page of existence

٭

Like stars, they rose bright on the horizon of the nationSome even became Brahmins, in love with the idols of India

In their eagerness to fly, they left their nestsThe youth were idle, and also grew suspicious of religion

Civilisation freed them from every bondIt brought them from the Kaaba and settled them in the house of idols

٭

Qais need no longer suffer the loneliness of the desertLet the wanderer take the air of the city

He is mad, whether he lives in the town or notWhat matters is that the veil on Laila’s face is gone

Let there be no complaint of cruelty, no protest of injusticeLove is free; why should beauty not be free too?

٭

The new age is lightning, setting every harvest on fireNeither desert nor garden is safe from it

The old nations are the fuel of this new fireThe community of the last of the Messengers has flames on its garment

Even today, if the faith of Ibrahim is bornThe fire can turn into a garden

٭

Gardener, do not be troubled to see the colour of the gardenThe branches are about to shine with the stars of buds

The garden is emptied of straw and rubbishThe redness of the martyrs’ blood is scattering flowers

Just look, the colour of the sky is crimsonIt is the brightness of the horizon at sunrise

٭

In the garden of existence, some nations have gathered fruitOthers are without fruit and have seen autumn

There are hundreds of trees, some withered, some flourishingHundreds of wombs in the garden are still hidden

The tree of Islam is a model of fruitfulnessIt is the fruit of the gardening of hundreds of centuries

٭

The hem of your robe is clean of the dust of the homelandYou are that Yusuf for whom every Egypt is Canaan

Your caravan will never be desertedYour only possession is the sound of one bell

You are a candle-tree, and the smoke runs in the flame, your rootIn the end, the shade of your thought burns

٭

You will not vanish if Iran vanishesThe intoxication of wine has no tie to the cup

It is clear from the tale of the Tatar invasionThe Kaaba found its guardians from the house of idols

The ship of truth still has support in the worldThe new age is night, but there is a dim star

٭

The uproar raised by the Bulgarian invasionIs a message of awakening for the heedless

You think this is a means of hurting your heartIt is a test of your sacrifice and self-respect

Why are you afraid of the neighing of the enemy’s horse?The light of truth cannot be put out by the enemy’s breath

٭

Your reality is hidden from the eyes of the nationsThe assembly of existence still needs you

Your warmth keeps the world aliveYour caliphate is the star of the fortune of possibility

Where is the time for rest? Work still remainsThe completion of the light of oneness still remains

٭

Like fragrance, you are shut in the bud; scatterTake up your pack and ride the breeze of the garden

If you are of little means, grow from a speck into a wildernessGrow from the song of a wave into the tumult of a storm

With the power of love, raise every lowly oneLight up the world with the name of Muhammad

٭

If this flower were not there, the nightingale would not singIn the garden of the world, the buds would not smile

If this cupbearer were not there, there would be no wine, no jarThere would be no gathering of oneness in the world, and no you

The tent of the heavens stands by this nameThe pulse of existence is restless by this name

٭

It is in the desert, at the foot of the mountains, in the plainIn the sea, in the embrace of the wave, in the storm

In the cities of China, in the deserts of MoroccoAnd hidden in the faith of the Muslim

Let the eyes of the nations see this sight for everLet them see the height of the glory of “We have raised high your remembrance”

٭

The pupil of the earth’s eye, that dark worldThat world which raised your martyrs

The crescent world, nurtured by the warmth of the sunThe world that lovers call the world of Bilal

It burns with this name like mercuryIt is plunged in light like the pupil of the eye

٭

Reason is your shield, love is your swordMy dervish, your caliphate conquers the world

Your cry of “God is great” is fire to all but GodIf you are a Muslim, destiny is your plan

If you are faithful to Muhammad, then We are yoursWhat is this world? The Tablet and the Pen are yours

Difficult words

• Asar rakhti hai: has an effect on the heart
• Par nahin taqat-e-parwaz: having no power to fly
• Rifat: height
• Gardoon: the sky
• Peer-e-gardoon: the old sky
• Ridwan: the keeper of Paradise
• Kehkashan: the long band of stars in the sky
• Qudsi: angels
• Shokh: insolent, bold
• Harjai: unfaithful, one who gives his heart everywhere
• Yakjai: staying in one place
• Maqami: limited to one place
• Manfaat: gain
• Haram: the Kaaba
• Aba: forefathers, elders
• Sareer: throne
• Ghayoor: self-respecting
• Ukhuwwat: brotherhood
• Dood: smoke (in the Persian line, “dawad”: runs)
• Aqibat soz: that which burns the outcome
• Tunak maya: of little means, weak
• Hangama-e-toofan: the tumult of a storm
• Rafa’na laka zikrak: “We have raised high your remembrance” (a verse of Surah Al-Inshirah)
• Mardum-e-chashm: the pupil of the eye
• Aql hai teri sipar: reason is your shield
• Darvesh: a mendicant
• Masiwa: everything other than God
• Lauh-o-qalam: the Tablet of destiny and the Pen

Sources

1. Rekhta, “Jawab-e-Shikwa”, Allama Iqbal: text. https://www.rekhta.org/nazms/javaab-e-shikva-dil-se-jo-baat-nikaltii-hai-asar-rakhtii-hai-allama-iqbal-nazms?lang=ur
2. International Iqbal Society, Kulliyat-e-Iqbal (Urdu), Bang-e-Dara Part 3, “Jawab-e-Shikwa”: text used for comparison. https://iqbal.com.pk/poetical-works/7-poetical-works/kuliyat-e-iqbal-urdu/bang-e-dra/baang-e-dara-part3/229-jawab-e-shikwa.html
3. "Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa", Wikipedia (pointer only): recited in 1913 at a political rally outside Mochi Gate, Lahore; 36 stanzas of six lines; published in Bang-e-Dara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikwa_and_Jawab-e-Shikwa
4. International Iqbal Society, "Time Line": "1912: Wrote the epoch-making 'Jawab-e-Shikwa'". https://iqbal.com.pk/iqbal/time-line.html