خرد کے پاس خبر کے سوا کچھ اور نہيں
English title: The mind can give you naught
The mind can give you naught, but what with doubt is fraught: One look of Saintly Guide can needful cure provide.
The goal that you presume is far and out of view: What else can be this life but zeal for endless strife?
Much worth the pearl begets, for guard on self it sets: What else in pearl is found except its sheen profound?
Though blood in veins may race, to Life it lends no grace: Only the glow of heart to Life can zeal impart.
Wherefore, O Tulip Bride, from me your charms you hide? I am the breath of morn, your face I would adorn.
What Frankish dealers take for counterfeit and fake, is true and real art – not valued in their Mart.
Though indigent I be, I am of hand yet free: What can the Flame bestow except its spark and glow?
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bal-e-Jibril — خرد کے پاس خبر کے سوا کچھ اور نہيں — 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 Syed Akbar Ali Shah; English Translation by: Syed Akbar Ali ShahSource