سنيما
English title: CINEMA
وہي بت فروشي ، وہي بت گري ہےسنيما ہے يا صنعت آزري ہے
Cinema—or new fetish‐fashioning, | Idol‐making and mongering still?
وہ صنعت نہ تھي ، شيوئہ کافري تھايہ صنعت نہيں ، شيوئہ ساحري ہے
Art, men called that olden voodoo: Art, they call this mumbo-jumbo.
وہ مذہب تھا اقوام عہد کہن کايہ تہذيب حاضر کي سوداگري ہے
That—antiquityʹs poor religion: | This—modernityʹs pigeon‐plucking;
وہ دنيا کي مٹي ، يہ دوزخ کي مٹيوہ بت خانہ خاکي ، يہ خاکستري ہے
That—earthʹs soil: this—soil of Hades; | Dust, their temple; ashes, ours.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bal-e-Jibril — سنيما — 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 — Cinema — Public digital poem page, retrieved 2026-10-06; pinned to allama-iqbal.com commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056.Translation by Not identified by publisher; This page does not name a translator.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