Allama Iqbal's Poetry

The Corpse (To Its Grave)
What is it, this Resurrection Day? Of what present is it the future?
O my ancient sleeping‑chamber, What is Resurrection Day?

The Grave
O corpse of a hundred years, don’t you know
That every death implies a call for resurrection?

The Corpse
A death that implies resurrection
Such a death does not entrap me!
It is true that I have been dead for a hundred years,
But I am not tired of this dark chamber in the earth.
The soul should once again ride the poor body
If this is resurrection, then I am not a taker!

A Voice From The Unseen
Death is not for snakes and scorpions, Or for birds and beasts of prey,
Eternal death is the lot of slave nations alone.
Even Israfil’s trumpet cannot bring back to life those
Whose bodies, when they lived, had no souls.
To spring back to life after death ‑only the free can do that,
Even though all living beings are headed Into the arms of the grave.

The Grave
(To Its Corpse)
You vicious creature! In the world you were a slave!
I had failed to understand why my soil was as hot as fire!
Your corpse makes my darkness even darker.
It rips the earth’s veil of honour.
Beware, beware a hundred times of a slave’s corpse!
O Israfil! O Lord of the universe! O soul that is chaste and pure!

The Voice From The Unseen
Resurrection upsets the order of the universe,
But it is this commotions that reveals the secrets of existence.
An earthquake makes mountains fly like clouds,
But it also starts new springs flowing in the valleys.
Total destruction must come before any re‑creation –
For in this way the problems of existence are resolved.

The Earth
Oh, this eternal death! Oh, this struggle that marks life!
Will this conflict in the world ever end?
Reason cannot free itself from its idols;
The commoners and the elite‑all are slaves to Lat and Manat.
How abject Adam‑ the man with divine attributes ‑has now become!
That such a world should continue to exist is more than heart and eye can bear.
Why does man’s night not turn into dawn?

Translated by: Mustansir Mir

The State Of Barzakh

Also Available

Iqbal Academy Pakistan