THE NATIONAL ANTHEM FOR THE INDIAN CHILDREN

Introduction
 ‘All«mah Iqb«l did not write this poem only as a tribute to the Indian sub‑continent, which was his homeland, but was also to inculcate the love of the country in young minds. It does not in any way contradict his political philosophy of State on ideological basis. See Chapter 3, paragraph "Political Views of `All«mah Iqb«l, particularly the Concept of Nation".

Translation
The land in which Chishtâ 1 delivered the message of God
The garden in which N«nak 2 sang the song of Tawhâd of God
The land which the Tatars3 adopted as their homeland
For which people of Hijaz abandoned the Arabian wilderness4
                That same is my homeland, that same is my homeland

Whose wisdom had left the Greeks bewildered
Which gave knowledge and skill to the entire world
Whose soil had been endowed by God with the elixir's effect 5
Which had filled the pocket of the Turks with diamonds 6
                That same is my homeland, that same is my homeland

Which illuminated and established in the milky way again
The stars which had fallen from the sky of Persia
The House from which the world had heard Tawhâd's tune
From where the Holy Prophet had felt cool breeze 7
                That same is my homeland, that same is my homeland

Whose denizens are Kalâms8, whose mountains the Sinais 9 are
Where the Prophet Nuh's boat and its occupants had landed 10
The land whose elegance is the stairway to the sky
Living in whose environment is like living in Paradise
                That same is my homeland, that same is my homeland

Explanatory Notes
 1 Khwajah Mu‘ân- al-Dân Chishtâ Ajmeri R.A.--See Appendix I, No. 56.

2. Gurë N«nak - See Appendix I, No. 60.

3. T«t«rs- This is a generic name of the people of the mixed Mongoloid and Caucasoid races of Central Asia. All the invasions on India had been made from this area, except those of the Greeks under Alexander, Arabs and the British. All invaders, except the British settled permanently in India and benefited from its fabulous wealth, to which this verse alludes. This term is also applied to a group of the people of Turkish origin, chiefly Muslims, who arrived in the Indian sub‑continent under various names between the tenth and the fifteenth centuries.

4. Allusion to the Arabs or "people of the Hij«z" who settled in India and made it their homeland. They mostly inhabited the M«lab«r Coast in the western part of the Indian Peninsula and are still an important component of the region's population.

5. Allusion to the wealth of the Indian sub-continent in the middle ages and up to the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

6. Allusion to the Muslim rule in India, which was by the Turks and later by the people of the Turko‑Mongoloid origin, known as the Mughals in Indian history.

7. This alludes to a tradition of the Holy Prophet S.A.W. in which he said that he was feeling the breeze of Divine blessing from Yaman's direction, which is east of Madâna-Munawwarah. ­As the Indian sub‑continent is in the same direction it also means that the Holy Prophet S.A.W. expected the spread of Islam and Islamic values there. This prophecy was fulfilled because India was not only under the Muslim rule for about a thousand years but was also the home and seat of the efforts of innumerable sëfâs and ‘Ulam« who spread and served Islam there. The people of both these classes produced a large body if Islamic literature which propagated Islamic thought and preserved it to last till eternity. Another meaning could be that this tradition referred to S. Uwais Qaranâ R.A. (Appendix I, No. 78). According to this view this hemistich would mean that the Muslim's abode is not only in the Indian sub‑continent but also in Najd and Yaman, i.e. Muslim Ummah is super-national. Cf.

(177)      No boundary to the Mu’min's world is !
The Mumin's homeland everywhere is !
 (Appendix III, No. 29)

(178)      The neighbor of Jibrâl is this earthly man
Neither Bukh«r«h nor Badakhsh«n is his homeland!
(Appendix III, No. 32)

8,9. This is an allusion to the inspiring beauty and tranquillity of the India's mountains, specially the Himalayas, which inspired the sages to write the holy books of the Hindus, such as the Vedas. All their existing religious books, except some parts of the Vedas, which were written in Central Asia, were inscribed in the peace and tranquillity of India to which this hemistich refers. Muslims also produced voluminous literature in India on different aspects of Islam, mainly in Persian, but to some extent in Arabic and Urdu as well as in some of the regional languages.

10. It is difficult but important to understand this hemistich. According to the Old Testament the Ark of S.Nëé A.S. landed in the "mountains of the Ararat Range" (Genesis 8:4. According to the Holy Qur’«n it rested on the Mount Jëdi (Holy Qur’«n 11:44), which is a peak of the Ararat Range. ( See Appendix III, Reference 8, pp. 521‑522, and Note 1539; and Appendix III No 42. pp. 339‑341 and map). According to the oldest Sumerian records a people, called Kutu, inhabited the middle Tigris region not later than 2000 B.C. That region comprises the part of modern Turkey called Bohtan, in which Mount Jëdi is situated. The Ararat Range dominates this area, of which Jëdâ is one peak. Hence, notwithstanding other differences, there is ample concordance between the description of the Holy Qur'«n and that of the Old Testament on this point, which has to be accepted. All this evidence not only categorically and unequivocally denies that the Ark of S. Nëé A.S. landed in any part of the Indian mountain ranges, and shows that it landed in the Ararat Range.
Further probing into this subject has shown the reason for this hemistich. Both Mawl«n« Mawdëdâ (reference cited above) and Encyclopedia Britannic say that the tradition of the Deluge exists in many peoples practically all over the world. This can be interpreted as referring to one world‑wide Deluge whose tradition has persisted even among people living in different periods of history. It can also be perceived as different local Deluges occurring at different times. Mawl«n« Mawdëdâ holds the former view and looks upon the present human race to have evolved and spread world‑wide from the remnants of the Ark of S.Nëé A.S.
As regards the Deluge in India there are three stories, which differ in form. The earliest tradition is related in "Satapatha Brahmana", a Hindu epic. It is related that Manu was the first Man and was the son of the sun god "Vivasat" who found a small fish, while bathing. The fish requested him for help which was given by Manu. When the fish grew it was carried to the sea, where it revealed to Manu the time of the Deluge and advised him to construct a ship for deliverance from it. When the Deluge occurred Manu embarked the ship alone which was towed by the fish through the water to the "summit beyond the northern mountains", where Manu tied his ship to a tree on the advice of the fish. Manu descended from the mountain after the Deluge had subsided, offered a sacrifice and prayer. In an year's time his prayer was granted. A woman appeared who called herself "Ida" (the goddess of fertility). The Deluge is not stated to be a retribution for sins as is stated in the Old Testament and the Holy Qur'«n. The second story is mentioned in another Hindu epic Mahabharata, where the additional information is given that Manu disembarked from the ship with seven rishis, or saints. The fish announced itself to be God (Brahama), and empowered Manu to create the whole world, gods as well as human beings after his marriage with "Ida". Thus, Manu combines the attributes of S. ÿdam A.S. and S. Nëé A.S. The third story occurs in another Hindu epic, Bhagvata Purana. It gives the details of the announcement of the Deluge seven days before hand and of advice to Manu to take pairs of all animals as well as seeds of all plants. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Thirteenth Edition, Vol. 7: pp. 976‑78).
Critical examination shows that these stories of the Deluge in India lack credibility in designating Manu as the equivalent of S. Nëé A.S., as shown below:
1. All these stories are mythology by their own nature and admission. Manu was clearly a myth, like many others in Hindu mythology, like Rama and Krishna, who did not exist in flesh and blood and were supposed to be incarnations of God - a belief which Muslims cannot accept. Nor would ‘All«mah Iqb«l have accepted this concept.
2. The period of S.Nëé A.S. and the Deluge is stated to be about 2000 B.C. by ‘Abd Allah Yësuf ‘Ali (Appendix III, Reference 8, P. 522). Aryans came from Central Asia to India over the period 1500‑800 B.C. and Manu could have lived only later than 1500 B.C. So he cannot be identified as S. Nëh A.S. apart from the tradition of his being an incarnation of God. The ship is stated to have been towed to the "mountain north of the northern mountains", which places its landing place to be somewhere in Central Asia, if not in the Babylonian region, to which S. Nëh A.S. really belonged.
The “Puranas”, meaning "old material" in Sanskrit, date from the time of the two great Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, whose dates are after 500 B.C. about which time the Vedas were written. The Puranas are based on the Vedas and are not older than 500 B.C. They are a group of 18 sacred Sanskrit poems comprising chiefly mythical and historical legends. Bhagvata Purana or Bhagvata Gita is the most important of the Puranas and describes the story of Krishna in the 10th. book. The earliest commentator of Bhagvata Purana was Shankar who died in the eighth century C.E. By that time Muslims and the knowledge of Islam had spread over a great part of the world, including the Indian Sub-Continent.
 3. It is not surprising to conclude from the above evidence that the story of the Deluge became current in the Indian subcontinent under the influence of the Qur'«nic and Biblical literature, which the Indian scholars must have read.
So, there is justification for interpreting this hemistich to indicate the same super‑national nature of Islam as has been explained in Note 7 above.