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Saturday, December 03, 2005

Lab pay atee hay dua--

I learnt this Allama Iqbal poem in kindergarten. The words have always stayed in my head but as I have grown up these words have gained a new meaning in my life. Listen to the poem here **open link in real player**( sung by Najam Shiraz who is coming to this year's RIS ) . Below is some "Urdu Latin" script of the poem followed by an english translation of the poem. It is beautiful.....

URDU
Lab pe aati hai dua banke tamanna meri
Zindagi shamma ki surat hau khuda ya meri

Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera hojai
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala hojai

Hau mere dum se yoon hi mere watan ki zeenat
Jis tarah phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat

Zindagi hau meri parwaane ki surat ya rabb
Ilm ki shamma se hau mujhkau mohabbat ya rabb

Hau mera kaam ghareebon ki himaayat karna
Dard mando se zaeefon se mohabbat karna

Mere Allah buraayee se bachaana mujhkau
Nek jau raah hau uss raah pe chalaana mujhkau
ENGLISH TRANSLATION

My longing comes to my lips as supplication of mine O God!
May like the candle be the life of mine!

May the world's darkness disappear through the life of mine!

May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine!

May my homeland through me attain elegance

As the garden through flowers attains elegance

May my life like that of the moth be, O Lord!

May I love the lamp of knowledge, O Lord!

May supportive of the poor my life's way be

May loving the old, the suffering my way be

O God! Protect me from the evil ways

Show me the path leading to the good ways



Ameen!!!!

6 comments:

Ali said...

I remember when I was 4 or 5, I was part of my Montessori class's enactment of this poem at some public event. My part came at the line

Ho mera kaam ghareebon ki himaayat karna
Dardmandon sey zaeefon sey mohabbat karna


I had to help a kid dressed up as an old person walk (or something like that). Of course I didn't know all the words of this poem or even who wrote it at that time I don't think.

I should see if we have any pictures of this.

Din said...

thats very interesting :-)....we used to sing it in our school as well....it funny how I memorized a lot of parables, stories and poems when I was young...sometimes you dont reap or realize the benifits of what you've learnt till many years have passed.....

yeah do share the pictures if you get hold of em'. I dont think I have seen a Pre-Waterloo picture of you. The funniest from the Waterloo pics is you with your short hair ( from Bilal's blog...:-P)

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

I dont know how to thank you. I was thinking of this because I am going to have a baby boy soon. And here living in Canada far away from Lahore and my childhood it felt wierd reading this. I sang it just like we used to sing it in school as kid. InshAllah I`ll teach my kid this all the values I am so so far away from here. Once again thank you.

Osman Izaz

Anonymous said...

you are missing two lines in the urdu lyrics..

3rd and 4th lines:
Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera hojai
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala hojai

Din said...

Thanks. I made the correction!

Unknown said...

Hey...
i haven't read this either since I was a little kid...its great to read it again and this time understand what it means...Must pick up a book of Iqbal's poetry next time I go to Pakistan, InshAllah.