کمال ترک نہيں آب و گل سے مہجوري
English title: The way to renounce is, To conquer the earth and heaven
The way to renounce is to conquer the earth and heaven; the way to renounce is not to starve oneself to death.
O cultists! I like not your austere piety; your piety is penury, suffering and grief.
A nation that has lost Taimur’s great heritage, is unfit for piety, and is unfit to rule.
If the sweet cup-bearer listens not to me, it is good; when I say, ‘no more’, that will only bring me more.
The Sufi and his peers are all engrossed in a glimpse; they know not that concealment is itself a vision.
Bondage is freedom with favours from on high, and when favours are withheld, even freedom is bondage.
The West is a treasure-house for the reason’s quest; but for the heart it is a source of decay and death.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bal-e-Jibril — کمال ترک نہيں آب و گل سے مہجوري — 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: Bal-e-Jibril — 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
- Bal-e-Jibril English translation at allama-iqbal.com — — Public digital poem page, retrieved 2026-10-06; pinned to allama-iqbal.com commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056.Translation by Naim Siddiqui; English Translation by: Naim SiddiquiSource