شکست
English title: DEFEATISM
مجاہدانہ حرارت رہي نہ صوفي ميںبہانہ بے عملي کا بني شراب الست
The mystics of the present age are devoid of warrior's rage: The claim that they are rapt with wine of 'Last and turn from Code Divine.
فقيہ شہر بھي رہبانيت پہ ہے مجبورکہ معرکے ہيں شريعت کے جنگ دست بدست
The jurist has such bent of mind that makes to monkish mode inclined, in Holy Wars take rock-like stand, they are just combats hand to hand.
گريز کشمکش زندگي سے، مردوں کي!اگر شکست نہيں ہے تو اور کيا ہے شکست
Man's flight from conflicts of life, or escape from its heat and strife if these not be abject defeat, what else is then a mean retreat?
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Zarb-e-Kalim — شکست — 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: Zarb-e-Kalim — 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
- Zarb-e-Kalim English translation at allama-iqbal.com — Defeatism — 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