عشق طينت ميں فرومايہ نہيں مثل ہوس
English title: Love's bent of mind is not so mean
عشق طينت ميں فرومايہ نہيں مثل ہوسپر شہباز سے ممکن نہيں پرواز مگس
Love's bent of mind is not so mean and low like that of vicious greed: How can the hopping fly compete with regal hawk in flight or speed?
يوں بھي دستور گلستاں کو بدل سکتے ہيںکہ نشيمن ہو عنادل پہ گراں مثل قفس
To bring about a change in laws of park with ease one can engage and for the nightingale can make the nest as irksome as the cage.
سفر آمادہ نہيں منتظر بانگ رحيل!ہے کہاں قافلہ موج کو پروائے جرس
If some one is about to set on journey that is hard and long, he does not wait for herald's sound, like waves that flow without ding dong.
گرچہ مکتب کا جواں زندہ نظر آتا ہےمردہ ہے ، مانگ کے لايا ہے فرنگي سے نفس
Though college youth appears alive, yet he is in the throes of death: He has no thoughts to call his own and lives on borrowed Frankish breath.
پرورش دل کي اگر مد نظر ہے تجھ کو!مرد مومن کي نگاہ غلط انداز ہے بس
If you e'er keep before your sight the nature of your inmost heart a casual glance of Saintly Guide with much ease can perform this part.
Sources and translator credits
- Original text transcription: Zarb-e-Kalim — عشق طينت ميں فرومايہ نہيں مثل ہوس — 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 — — 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