رہا نہ حلقہ صوفي ميں سوز مشتاقي
English title: Sufis lack the fire, the passion that consumes
To Lover’s glowing fire and flame the mystic order has no claim: They don’t discourse or talk of aught save wonders by their elders wrought.
Alas! The throne as well as the mat, alike are full of guile and craft: Both royal hall and Holy Shrine have lost their essence fine.
The scrolls of Sufis and mullah may put them to shame on Judgment Day before the Throne of Judge Supreme for being empty in extreme.
How can this world or next contain the man not bound to one domain? The East or West is not his home, not tied to Syrian Land or Rome.
Intoxication due to nightly wine, no doubt, by now, is one decline, but saki’s glance still pricks the heart, like a swift and piercing dart.
My bitter notes with patience hark, that I utter in this park: Bear it in mind that passion too oft can work like elixir true.
More dear and precious song replete with lightning’s dazzling flash and heat than coffers full of yellow gold that mighty kings and chiefs do hold.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bal-e-Jibril — رہا نہ حلقہ صوفي ميں سوز مشتاقي — 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
