موت ہے اک سخت تر جس کا غلامي ہے نام
English title: Harder than death is what thou call’st slavery
موت ہے اک سخت تر جس کا غلامي ہے نام!مکر و فن خواجگي کاش سمجھتا غلام
Harder than death is what thou call’st slavery, | would that slaves understand master’s tricks;
شرع ملوکانہ ميں جدت احکام ديکھ!صور کا غوغا حلال، حشر کي لذت حرام
strange are the ways of imperialists: | they allow the sounding of trumpet; but forbid resurrection.
اے کہ غلامي سے ہے روح تري مضمحل!سينہء بے سوز ميں ڈھونڈ خودي کا مقام
Thy soul is weary under the stress of slavery, | build niche for khudi in thy impassive breast.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Armaghan-e-Hijaz (Urdu) — موت ہے اک سخت تر جس کا غلامي ہے نام — Digital transcription file at commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; the source dataset does not identify the underlying print edition.Verified against this pinned digital transcription file; not checked against a print edition.Source
- Iqbal Demystified source list: Armaghan-e-Hijaz (Urdu) — Pinned digital dataset commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; the underlying print edition is not identified by the dataset.Community dataset list; not reconciled against a print edition.Source
- English translations in the Armaghan-e-Hijaz digital anthology excerpt — Recovered Urdu and Persian poetry anthology PDF excerpt; publication title and year are not established by the preserved source packet (armaghan-english.pdf, 39 PDF pages).Translation by V.G. Kiernan; Passages are individually credited in the recovered PDF as “Translated by V.G. Kiernan”; exact source and credit PDF page locators are stored with each imported passage.Source
- English translations in the Armaghan-e-Hijaz digital anthology excerpt — Recovered Urdu and Persian poetry anthology PDF excerpt; publication title and year are not established by the preserved source packet (armaghan-english.pdf, 39 PDF pages).Translation by K. Nizam‐ud‐Din; Passages are individually credited in the recovered PDF as “Translated by K. Nizam‐ud‐Din”; exact source and credit PDF page locators are stored with each imported passage.Source