مدرسہ
English title: THE SCHOOLS
عصر حاضر ملک الموت ہے تيرا ، جس نےقبض کي روح تري دے کے تجھے فکر معاش
Tile present age, your constant foe, like Ezrail has snatched your soul you have imbibed much care and grief pursuit of wealth your only goal.
دل لرزتا ہے حريفانہ کشاکش سے ترازندگي موت ہے، کھو ديتي ہے جب ذوق خراش
Your heart recoils from shock of combat; life | Is death, that deadens in men the joy of strife.
اس جنوں سے تجھے تعليم نے بيگانہ کياجو يہ کہتا تھا خرد سے کہ بہانے نہ تراش
Learning estranged you from such exaltation | As would not let man’s mind desert its station;
فيض فطرت نے تجھے ديدہ شاہيں بخشاجس ميں رکھ دي ہے غلامي نے نگاہ خفاش
A falcon’s eyes were yours by Nature’s right, | Slavishness left them only a poor wren’s sight,
مدرسے نے تري آنکھوں سے چھپايا جن کوخلوت کوہ و بياباں ميں وہ اسرار ہيں فاش
And the schools hid from them those mysteries | That yield to hill’s and deserts still assize.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Zarb-e-Kalim — مدرسہ — 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 — The School — 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
- 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
