"Song of the Religious Community" (1910)

taraanah-e millii

Published in baa;Ng-e daraa (The Sound of the Bell) (1924)
From: kulliyaat-e iqbaal urduu (Lahore: Shaikh Ghulam 'Ali and Sons Publishers, 1973 (and later reprints), p. 159

a *ghazal*; *meter*: = = - / = - = = / = = - / = - = =

Urdu spellings reflect adjustments made for the sake of the meter.
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Here's *the Urdu text*; here's *a serial glossary*.

   
1)
chiin-o-((arab hamaaraa , hinduusitaa;N hamaaraa
muslim hai;N ham , va:tan hai saaraa jahaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) Central Asia and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours
2) we are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland
 
Though 'Chin' nowadays refers to China, it used to be used for Central Asia, and that's probably how it's meant here.
   
2)
tau;hiid kii amaanat siino;N me;N hai hamaare
aasaa;N nahii;N mi;Taanaa naam-o-nishaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) the trust of Oneness is in our breasts
2) it is not easy to erase our identity [=name and sign]
 
The English word 'trust' here refers not to an emotion, but to something bequeathed or left in trust, for safekeeping. The Arabic word tau;hiid is a theological term, and has the sense of 'monotheism'.
   
3)
duniya ke but-kado;N me;N pahlaa vuh ghar ;xudaa kaa
ham us ke paasbaa;N hai;N , vuh paasbaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) among the world's idol-temples the first is that house of the Lord
2) we are its door-guards, it is our door-guard
 
I've always been surprised that Iqbal refers to the Ka'bah as an 'idol-temple'. But he does seem to. One solution would be to interpret 'first' as referring not to rank, but to chronology, since the Ka'bah dates from the ancient (pre-Islamic) past; since an omitted verb is normally in the present, however, this reading requires some forcing.
   
4)
te;Go;N ke saa))e me;N ham pal kar javaa;N hu))e hai;N
;xanjar hilaal kaa hai qaumii nishaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) we were raised, and have become youths, in the shadow of swords
2) the scimitar of the crescent moon is our 'group-related' sign
 

The word qaum is such a vexation to the careful translator; it can be used to refer to so many different kinds of groups. There's no such English word as 'groupal', alas; and 'communal' now has in South Asian English a specially charged sense ('pertaining to religious chauvinism'). Similarly, the word millii means 'pertaining to the religious community'; the title of the poem could be more literally translated as as 'Religious-community-related Song', which would be suitably parallel to 'Indian Song'; but that's too clunky even for me.

   
5)
ma;Grib kii vaadiyo;N me;N guu;Njii a;zaa;N hamaarii
thamtaa nah thaa kisii se sail-e ravaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) in the valleys of the west our call to prayer echoed
2) our moving flood did not stop on account of anyone
 
The verb thamnaa is intransitive, so kisii se thamnaa would mean not 'to be stopped by someone' (as in the sense of blocked or prevented), but rather 'to stop [oneself] because of anyone'.
   
6)
baa:til se dabne vaale ay aasmaa;N nahii;N ham
sau baar kar chukaa hai tuu imti;haa;N hamaaraa
 
1) we are not, oh sky, ones to be oppressed by falsehood
2) a hundred times you've already tested us
   
   
7)
ay gulsitaan-e andluus ! vuh din hai;N yaad tujh ko
thaa terii ;Daaliyo;N me;N jab aashiyaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) oh garden of Andalusia! you remember those days
2) when our nest was in your branches
 
Here it's pronounced 'gul-si-taan', rather than the usual 'gu-lis-taan', to suit the meter.
   
8)
ay mauj-e dajlah ! tuu bhii pahchaantii hai ham ko
ab tak hai teraa daryaa afsaanah-;xvaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) oh wave of the Tigris! you too recognize us
2) till now your river is our story-teller
   
   
9)
ay ar.z-e paak ! terii ;harmat pah ka;T mare hai;N
hai ;xuu;N tirii rago;N me;N ab tak ravaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) oh pure land! for your sacredness we have been cut down and have died
2) till now our blood moves in your veins
 
The word pah is short for par , which here means 'over, about'. The verb ka;T marnaa (short for ka;T kar marnaa ) is entirely intransitive, so that there's no indication at all of an agent who might have done the cutting down and killing.
   
10)
saalar-e kaaravaa;N hai miir-e ;hijaaz apnaa
us naam se hai baaqii aaraam-e jaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) our leader of the caravan is the Chief of the Hijaz
2) through that name the peace of our spirit lives on
   
   
11)
iqbaal kaa taraanah baa;Ng-e daraa hai goyaa
hotaa hai jaadah-pemaa phir kaaravaa;N hamaaraa
 
1) Iqbal's song is, {'so to speak' / 'speaking'} , the call of a bell
2) again our caravan is on the road
 
The word goyaa literally means, in Persian, 'speaking'; in Urdu it's also conventionally used the way we use 'so to speak' in English. Both senses work well in the context of this line, and in classic ghazal style, both should be kept in mind. The phrase jaadah-pemaa literally means 'road-measuring'; the English 'on the road' is a good colloquial equivalent.
   

 

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