کريں گے اہل نظر تازہ بستياں آباد
English title: By men whose eyes see far and wide new cities shall be founded
By men whose eyes see far and wide new cities shall be founded: | Not by old Kufa or Baghdad is my thought’s vision bounded.
Rash youth, new‐fangled learning, giddy pleasure, gaudy plume,— | With these, while these still swarm, the Frankish wine‐shop is surrounded.
Not with philosopher, nor with priest, my business; one lays waste | The heart, and one sows discord to keep mind and soul confounded;
And for the Pharisee—far from this poor worm be disrespect! | But how to enfranchise Man, is all the problem I have sounded.
The fleshpots of the wealthy are for sale about the world; | Who bears love’s toils and pangs earns wealth that God’s hand has compounded.
I have laid bare such mysteries as the hermit learns, that thought, | In cloister or in college, in true freedom may be grounded.
No fastings of Mahatmas will destroy the Brahmins’ sway; | Vainly, when Moses holds no rod, have all his words resounded!
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bal-e-Jibril — کريں گے اہل نظر تازہ بستياں آباد — 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
- Poems from Iqbal — First edition, 1955Translation by V. G. Kiernan; Published English translations attributed to V. G. Kiernan; the 231 previously imported exact passages remain, with one additional independently reviewed final standalone line at PDF page 100. Each new locator names its exact passage scope.Source