shikvah
stanzas 6 through 10

     
    *Urdu: stanzas 4-7*

6)
We were alone in arranging Your battles!
Sometimes we fought in drynesses, sometimes in seas/rivers.

   ==Literally, ma((rikah-aaraa would be the "adorning" or arranging, of a "battle" or battle-field or arena. So it suggests planning and intent, as well as fighting.
== ;xushkiyaa;N are dry wastelands.
==Officially daryaa means "sea," but in Urdu usage it often means "river."
Sometimes we gave the call to prayer in the churches of Europe,
Sometimes in the burning deserts of Africa.		   ==Iqbal was keenly aware of the history of Islamic rule in Andalusia.
     
The glory of the world-holders was not pleasing in our eyes,
We recited the Kalimah in the shadow of swords.		   ==The kalimah is the official profession of faith: recited with a sincere heart, it makes you a Muslim on the spot.
=="In the shadow of swords" leaves it unclear whether the swords were ours (as we fought for the faith) or those of the infidels (as we refused to give up our faith even under threat of death).
     
     
7)
If we lived, it was for difficulty in jungles
And we died for the grandeur of Your name.
   ==In Urdu a jangal is more like a wasteland or wilderness; it may be dry rather than tropical.
No sword-wielding was for our own sovereignty
Did we wander in the world, ready to sacrifice our lives, for wealth?		   ==Literally sar bakaf means "head in hand," as though the head were carried in the hand, presented as an offering.
==The second line could also be read "Did we wander, ready to sacrifice our lives, for wealth in the world?"
     
If our community had longed/died for the gold and property of the world,
Why would we have done idol-breaking, instead of idol-selling!		   ==Just as in English "to die for" can here be literal or metaphorical.
==The exclamation point is Iqbal's, though a question mark would seem to be implied.
     
     
    *Urdu: stanzas 8-11*
8)
We couldn't be dislodged, if in battle we took a stand,
The feet even of tigers were uprooted from the field.
  ==That is, we were braver and more steadfast even than tigers.
If/when someone became high-headed toward You, then we became angry,
What's in a sword? We fought even against/with cannons.		   ==In Urdu, the structure "clause A + to + clause B" always means that there's an implied agar or jab before clause A.
== That is, a sword is nothing! A sword is hardly worth mentioning, compared to the cannons used in our battles.
==Since se is versatile, we fought either "against" the cannons (when our enemies had them) or possibly, though less appropriately to the context, "with" them (by using them ourselves).
     
We imprinted the shape of oneness on every heart,
Under the scimitar too we recited this message.		   ==Literally, we "caused it to be seated on every heart."
=="Under the scimitar" is somewhat ambiguous, like "in the shadow of swords" in stanza 6; but perhaps it here sounds a bit more as if we were threatened, rather than threatening.
==The bhii can mean either "also, too" (one more example in a series), or "even" (a special case, in a class by itself)
     
     
9)
You yourself say-- who uprooted the gate of Khaibar?
That city of Caesar's-- who subdued it?
   ==The battle of Khaibar took place in 628.
=="Caesar's city" is Constantinople, which fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
== The colloquial jo thaa recollects the thing being mentioned and marks it for future attention.
Who broke the [human-]created deities?
Who cut to pieces the armies of the infidels?		    
     
Who made cold the fire-temple of Iran?
Who made the memory of God then become alive?		   =="Making cold the fire-temple," besides its wordplay, evokes the virtual extirpation of Zoroastrianism from Iran.
==The grammar of phir zindah kiyaa could also be read as "made alive again," but Iqbal doesn't seem to have established that it was previously alive and then somehow became dead.
==The Persian word yazdaa;N for God is very appropriate here.
     
    ....
10)
 Which community became a searcher for You alone?
And for you, undertook the hardship of battle/war?
   ==Here's one more of the many examples when the versatile qaum means something other than "nation." It's a very flexible word, like "community," so beward of tendentious translations.
Whose sword became world-seizing, world-holding?
From whose "God is great!" did Your world become awake?		   ==How excellent and rhythmic are the sound effects of shamshiir jahaa;N-giir jahaa;N-daar !
==If we read an i.zaafat after shamshiir , then the line becomes "Whose world-seizing sword became world-holding?"
==The takbiir is the cry of all;aahu akbar , which is used on many occasions, but often as a battle-cry.
     
Through dread of whom did the idols remain trembling?
Having fallen on their faces, they used to say "Allah is One."		   ==Technically, it's a past participle: the idols remained "in a state of having trembled."
==The idols' having fallen on their faces elegantly suggests both their having been overthrown, and their prostrating themselves before the true God.
     
     

*On to stanzas 11-15* -- *"Shikvah" index page*

 
 
 

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