Cities Of Islam
(Iqbal’s Balad-e-Islamiya)
Part- 1
Land of Delhi is highly blessed for
Muslims,
In every speck of its dust ancestors’ blood
is asleep,*
Why should the land of this deserted garden
be not sacred?
This land is the shrine of grandeur of Islam,
Kings of Muslim nation are asleep in this
soil,
On whose
governance lay administration of the world,
Memory of activities of the
bygone society makes us uneasy,
The gains
made is lost, but the memory of it lasts.
*This hemistitch refers to the failed rebellion of 1857 in which
about 15000 men were killed in the Koocha-e-Chelan and Khanum ka Bazaar areas alone
by the British.
Part- 2
Though
Delhi too is pilgrim centre for Muslims,
But, Baghdad too is claimant of this
miraculous state,
This is the garden that had all the
reasons to be proud,
That Arabs called
it the heritage of Hijaz,
Why the soil of this
city be not called earthly paradise,
Which has seen the
foot-prints of the inheritors of the prophet,*
Whose buds were garden
in themselves, that is this garden-land,
Who made the Rome
tremble, their burial-place is this very land.
*This hemistitch refers to the Abbasid
rulers, descendants of Abbas Razi, uncle of Mohammed (Sal).
Part- 3
The land of
Cordoba too is the light of Muslim eye,
Which remained lighted like torch of Sinai in darkness
of the west,
Which on
being put off shattered the Muslim nation,
And
lighted the lamp of present day civilization,
This
sacred land is the grave of that civilization,
Which
makes the veins of grape-creepers of Europe moist.*
*This hemistitch refers to the contribution made by Muslim
scholars, intellectuals, scientists
and technocrats which led to the present day
educational and research institutions of Europe.
Part- 4
Region of
Constantinople, that is, home of the Kaiser,
The Mehdi
of the Muslim nation’s durable majestic remains,*
Like the
dust of the Harem, this land too is sacred,
This is the abode of the
successors of the prophet,**
Like the
fragrance of the flower its air is clean,
From the
grave of Abu Ayub Ansari comes this voice:***
“O Muslim!
This town is the heart of Muslim nation,
Hundreds
of centuries’ blood-shed’s gain is this town.”****
*This himistitch refers to the Sultan
Mohmmed who captured Constantinople in 1453.
**This hemistitch refers to the Ottoman
Turks who made Constantinople their
capital,
present name Istambul.
***Abu Ayub Ansari (Razi) was the first host
of the prophet (sal) when he visited Yathrib (Medina),
was the member of the second sxpedition to Constantinople in 671 under
Caliphate of Emir
Muavia (Razi.) and died and was buried in Constantinople.
****This hemistitch refers to a span of
nearly 800 years of struggle by Muslims to capture
Constantinople,
first in 670, second in 671and lastly in 1453.
Part- 5
Thou art that piece
of land, but O the resting-place of Mustafa, Sal.
Seeing thee
is more than the Hajj-e-Akbar for the Ka'abah,
In the
universe of existence thou glitters like the gem,
The birth-place
of our grandeur was thy land,
That
exalted emperor selected thee as the resting-place,
In whose magnanimous
person the nations of world got peace,
Whose
followers included the emperors of the world,
Successors
of the thrones of the Kaiser and the Chosroes,*
If the Islamic nationality be restrained by
locality,
It is
neither India, nor Persia, nor Syria based,
Alas! Yathrib is home,
shelter and asylum of Muslims,**
Thou art the
converging point of the attraction of Muslims,
As long as
thou lasteth in the world we too last,
If morning is, then
the pearls of dew too are in garden.
*Throne of the Kaiser was succeeded by Sutan
Mohammed. Throne of Persia was
succeeded by Caiph Omar. Razi.
**Yathrib was the ancient name of Medinah until 623.
(Suggestions invited to make the above more exact)
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