TRAVELER THROUGH THE TREE TUNNEL

Self induced daydream[s] ::

As the caravan advanced, the seeker of solitude, with the same old attitude, felt that same usual solitude while being among the crowd of beings, like independent islands they existed in the ocean or like distant starlight, he ever like the river kept pace with the flow and as he observed, a whisper was heard as if from nowhere ::

Look, look above!
Into the skies beyond the sky,
Beyond the sky decorated with stars,
Let that vision operative in dreams be awakened while awake,
And let your sight pierce through the veils within and let it pass o sight seeking traveler,
Through these transient star systems,
Right there; where the Sun never sets,
And shines for ever; the Ever Glowing Sun.

TRAVELER THROUGH THE TREE TUNNEL
It was the season, so the leaves fell
To the ground, changing colors,
Soon the whole tree trunk
Was bare, another season
And another period of death, deep sleep
Was upon my companions, among the trees.
They all said they were waiting for him but something happens
Whenever he passes these barren lands, they forget about
Him when they witness Face to face, as if like strangers
Veiled from each other; ah alas the Soul and the self,
As if invisible was the one being sought, unseen!
Traveler through the tree tunnel.

CONCERNING MUSLIM FREEDOM, AND THE SECRET OF THE TRAGEDY OF KERBELA

رموزِ بیخودی

THE MYSTERIES OF SELFLESSNESS

English at bottom after original Farsi text

(اقبال)

در معنی حریت اسلامیہ و سر حادثۂ کربلا

در معنی حریت اسلامیہ و سر حادثۂ کربلا

ہر کہ پیمان با ہوالموجود بست
گردنش از بند ہر معبود رست
مؤمن از عشق است و عشق از مؤمنست
عشق را ناممکن ما ممکن است
عقل سفاک است و او سفاک تر
پاک تر چالاک تر بیباک تر
عقل در پیچاک اسباب و علل
عشق چوگان باز میدان عمل
عشق صید از زور بازو افکند
عقل مکار است و دامی میزند
عقل را سرمایہ از بیم و شک است
عشق را عزم و یقین لاینفک است
آن کند تعمیر تا ویران کند
این کند ویران کہ آبادان کند
عقل چون باد است ارزان در جہان
عشق کمیاب و بہای او گران
عقل محکم از اساس چون و چند
عشق عریان از لباس چون و چند
عقل می گوید کہ خود را پیش کن
عشق گوید امتحان خویش کن
عقل با غیر آشنا از اکتساب
عشق از فضل است و با خود در حساب
عقل گوید شاد شو آباد شو
عشق گوید بندہ شو آزاد شو
عشق را آرام جان حریت است
ناقہ اش را ساربان حریت است
آن شنیدستی کہ ہنگام نبرد
عشق با عقل ہوس پرور چہ کرد
آن امام عاشقان پور بتول
سرو آزادی ز بستان رسول
اللہ اللہ بای بسم اللہ پدر
معنی ذبح عظیم آمد پسر
بہر آن شہزادہ ی خیر الملل
دوش ختم المرسلین نعم الجمل
سرخ رو عشق غیور از خون او
شوخی این مصرع از مضمون او
در میان امت ان کیوان جناب
ہمچو حرف قل ہو اللہ در کتاب
موسی و فرعون و شبیر و یزید
این دو قوت از حیات آید پدید
زندہ حق از قوت شبیری است
باطل آخر داغ حسرت میری است
چون خلافت رشتہ از قرآن گسیخت
حریت را زہر اندر کام ریخت
خاست آن سر جلوہ ی خیرالامم
چون سحاب قبلہ باران در قدم
بر زمین کربلا بارید و رفت
لالہ در ویرانہ ہا کارید و رفت
تا قیامت قطع استبداد کرد
موج خون او چمن ایجاد کرد
بہر حق در خاک و خون غلتیدہ است
پس بنای لاالہ گردیدہ است
مدعایش سلطنت بودی اگر
خود نکردی با چنین سامان سفر
دشمنان چون ریگ صحرا لاتعد
دوستان او بہ یزدان ہم عدد
سر ابراہیم و اسمعیل بود
یعنی آن اجمال را تفصیل بود
عزم او چون کوہساران استوار
پایدار و تند سیر و کامگار
تیغ بہر عزت دین است و بس
مقصد او حفظ آئین است و بس
ماسوی اللہ را مسلمان بندہ نیست
پیش فرعونی سرش افکندہ نیست
خون او تفسیر این اسرار کرد
ملت خوابیدہ را بیدار کرد
تیغ لا چون از میان بیرون کشید
از رگ ارباب باطل خون کشید
نقش الا اللہ بر صحرا نوشت
سطر عنوان نجات ما نوشت
رمز قرآن از حسین آموختیم
ز آتش او شعلہ ہا اندوختیم
شوکت شام و فر بغداد رفت
سطوت غرناطہ ہم از یاد رفت
تار ما از زخمہ اش لرزان ہنوز
تازہ از تکبیر او ایمان ہنوز
ای صبا ای پیک دور افتادگان
اشک ما بر خاک پاک او رسان

THE MYSTERIES OF SELFLESSNESS

A Philosophical Poem

By the late
SIR MUHAMMAD IQBAL

Translated, with Introduction and Notes
By
ARTHUR J. ARBERRY

CONCERNING MUSLIM FREEDOM, AND THE SECRET OF THE TRAGEDY OF KERBELA

CONCERNING MUSLIM FREEDOM, AND THE SECRET OF THE TRAGEDY OF KERBELA

Whoever maketh compact with the One
That is, hath been delivered from the yoke
Of every idol Unto love belongs
The true believer, and Love unto him
Love maketh all things possible to us
Reason is ruthless; Love is even more,
Purer, and nimbler, and more unafraid
Lost in the maze of cause and of effect
Is Reason; Love strikes boldly in the field
Of Action. Crafty Reason sets a snare;
Love overthrows the prey with strong right arm.
Reason is rich in fear and doubt; but Love
Has firm resolve, faith indissoluble.
Reason constructs, to make a wilderness;
Love lays wide waste, to build all up anew.
Reason is cheap, and plentiful as air;
Love is most scarce to find, and of great price.
Reason stands firm upon phenomena,
But Love is naked of material robes.
Reason says, Thrust thyself into the fore�
Love answers Try thy heart, and prove thyself
Reason by acquisition is informed
Of other; Love is born of inward grace
And makes account with Self. Reason declares
Be happy and be prosperous; Love replies
Become a servant, that thou mayest be free
Freedom brings full contentment to Love�s soul
Freedom, the driver of Love�s riding-beast
Hast thou not heard what things in time to war
Love wrought with lustful Reason? I would speak
Of that great leader of all men who love
Tuly the Lord, that upright cypress-tree
Of the Apostle�s garden, Ali�s son,⁵¹
Whose father led the sacrificial feast
That he might prove a mighty offering;⁵²
And for that prince of the best race of men
The Last of the Apostles gave his back
To ride upon, a camel passing fair,⁵³
Crimsoned his blood the cheek of jealous Love
(Which theme adorns my verse in beauty bold)
Who is sublime in our Community
As Say, the Lord is God exalts the Book.⁵⁴
Moses and Pharaoh, Shabbir and Yazid-⁵⁵
From Life spring these conflicting potencies
Truth lives in Shabbir�s strength; Untruth is that
Fierce, final anguish of regretful death.
And when the Caliphate first snapped its thread
Fron the Koran, in Freedom�s throat was poured
A fatal poison, like a rain-charged cloud
The effulgence of the best of peoples rose
Out of the West, to spill on Kerbela,
And in that soil, that desert was before,
Sowed, as he died, a field of tulip-blood.
There, till the Resurrection, tyranny
Was evermore cut off; a garden fair
Immortalizes where his lifeblood surged.
For Truth alone his blood dripped to the dust,
Wherefore he has become the edifice⁵⁶
Of faith in God�s pure Unity. Indeed
Had his ambition been for earthly rule,
Not so provisioned would he have set forth
On his last journey, having enemies
Innumerable as the desert sands,
Equal his friends in number to God�s Name.
The mystery that was epitomized
In Abraham and Ishmael through his life
And death stood forth at last in full revealed.
Firm as a mountain-chain was his resolve,
Impetuous, unwavering to its goal
The Sword is for the glory of the Faith
And is unsheathed but to defend the Law.
The Muslim, servant unto God alone
Before no Pharaoh casteth down his head.
His blood interpreted these mysteries,
And waked our slumbering community.
He drew the sword There is none other God
And shed the blood of them that served the lie;
Inscribing in the wilderness save God
He wrote for all to read the exordium
Of our salvation. From Husain we learned
The riddle of the Book, and at his flame
Kindled our torches. Vanished now from ken
Damascus Might, the splendour of Baghdad,
Granada�s majesty, all lost to mind;
Yet still the srings he smote within our soul
Vibrate, still ever new our faith abides
In his Allahu Akbar, Gentle breeze,
Thou messenger of them that are afar,
Bear these my tears to lave his holy dust.

NOTES

51.               Ali�s son Husain was slain at Kerbela in 680; his head was sent to the caliph Yazid against whom he had revolted.

52.               The reference is to Koran, xxxvii, 107.

53.               The reference is to a saying recorded of the Prophet.

54.               The reference is to Koran, cxii, I.

55.               Shabbir was the pet name given by the Prophet to his grandson Husain.

56.               Iqbal quotes from the mystic Mu�in al-Din Chishti (d. 1236) as the source of this and te following line.