بلال
English title: BILAL
As the star of your destiny ascended to shine; it lifted and brought you from Abyssinia to Hijaz.
This alone made inhabited your desolate house better than a thousand freedoms is your slavery.
That threshold not even for a moment you could leave; in some one's Love all torments you bore cheerfully.
The oppression befalling in Love is not oppression; if there is no torment, there is no pleasure in Love.
Full of Intellection like Salman was your insight; the wine of sight used to increase your thirst.
Like Kalim you were in search of the Sight. Uwais was tantalized for the power of Sight.
Madinah was the light for your eyes so to say; for you this wilderness was the ñër so to say.
Your longing for Sight continued even after witnessing the Sight. The cold heart warmed up but its breath did not rest even for a moment.
Such a lightning struck your impatient soul that your darkness was scoffing at the Musa's palm.
‘They captured warmth from the flame and struck it on your heart. What a lightning of Effulgence they struck on motes of your efforts!’
The charm of your longing for the Sight was the embodiment of supplication. The continuous sighting of someone was your prayer.
Since eternity the Adhan was the anthem of your Love | Prayer was the subtle pretext for the Sight
Happy was the age when Yathrib was his abode! | How happy was the time when common was his Sight
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Bang-e-Dara — بلال — 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: Bang-e-Dara — 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
- Pinned digital source list 001 (Bang-e-Dara section headings) — Pinned repository commit 39d44fc0c2b8ca25769c4b36e6eac4d90cb42b35; digital transcription, not a selected print edition.Verified against this pinned digital transcription file; not checked against a print edition.Source
- Bang-e-Dara English translation at allama-iqbal.com — Bilal — Public digital poem page, retrieved 2026-10-05; pinned to allama-iqbal.com commit 82547635bb6b758c45082084b2f152fc453a8056.Translation by Dr M.A.K. Khalil; English Translation by: Dr M.A.K. KhalilSource
- English translations in the Bang-e-Dara digital anthology excerpt — Recovered Urdu poetry anthology PDF excerpt; publication title and year are not established by the preserved source packet (bang-english.pdf, 105 PDF pages).Translation by M.A.K. Khalil; Passages are individually credited in the recovered PDF as “Translated by M.A.K. Khalil”; exact source and credit PDF page locators are stored with each imported passage.Source
- English translations in the Bang-e-Dara digital anthology excerpt — Recovered Urdu poetry anthology PDF excerpt; publication title and year are not established by the preserved source packet (bang-english.pdf, 105 PDF pages).Translation by Mustansir Mir; Passages are individually credited in the recovered PDF as “Translated by Mustansir Mir”; exact source and credit PDF page locators are stored with each imported passage.Source