Persian Psalms

Zabur-i-Ajam (زبور عجم, Persian Psalms) is a philosophical poetry book, written in Persian, of Allama Iqbal, the great poet-philosopher of Pakistan. It was published in 1927.

Introduction

Zabur-i Ajam زبور عجم includes the Mathnavi Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid مثنوی گلشنِ رازِ جدید and Bandagi Nama بندگی نامہ. There are four sections. The first two are sequences of ghazals in the classical form and the other two are single long poems. Iqbal forcefully expresses his inner convictions and urges the reader to advance himself to achieve progress and prosperity by discovering and strengthening the self.

The first of the two longer poems is the Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid (گلشن راز جدید, "New Garden of Mysteries"). It alludes to the Gulshan-i Raz, the treatise on Sufism written in Persian verse by Sa'd ad-Din Mahmud Shabistari. Here Iqbal poses and answers nine questions on philosophical problems such as the nature of discursive thought, of the self, and of the relation between the eternal and the temporal.

The subject of the second poem, the Bandagi Nama (بندگی‌نامہ, "Book of Servitude") is the loss of freedom, particularly spiritual freedom, of an individual or society, and its consequent evils. It is divided into several sections and touches on the music and other arts of enslaved people, their religious tenets and the art of reconstructing free men.

In Zabur-i Ajam, Iqbal's Persian ghazal is at its best as his Urdu ghazal is in Bal-e-Jibril بالِ جبریل. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future. His lesson is that one should be dynamic, full of zest for action and full of love and life. Implicitly, he proves that there is no form of poetry which can equal the ghazal in vigour and liveliness.

Contents

Preface PART I INVOCATION Tumultuous Love where’er it rove Whence sprang the flaming fire O bring me back the singing Thou who didst make more ardent Out of our dust thou stirrest Though dust, and dark as dust, am I With a song of agony On faith and infidelity A flame is in my minstrelsy All the dear delight to see Though the falcon of the brain What is the world? The temple of my thought It is the season of the spring From life and being’s twisted skein Rise! and upon the thirsty land Thinkest thou that to the threshold With a glance at us who sit by the way Better is the robbers’ train Or no more command the Muslim Intellect is passion too All that in life I love the best The night grows late, the route is up Saqi, on my heart bestow The juice that maketh tulips spring Of every image that the heart Against the light, an infidel Why in the concourse dost thou seek Faith and infidelity Thine is the hawk upon the wing One step on friendship’s road In my heart’s empire, see Upon the road of high desire The days are ended At home to loiter never did me please By the Saqi’s eye Thou didst turn my night to dawning None other in this tavern is Tell me this: what is thy share If vision self-effacement bring Thy light defineth all things one by one Give me the heart whose rapture fine A hand of dust is all I own Let this heart thou gayest me To passion’s slaves let no man e’er Ah, the wine, the lute, the piping Stars on my bosom shine The East, that holds the heavens fast Leave no quarter to resist My soul, embattled In thy hands I now deliver A single word sufficeth well How long the veil of eve and dawn One by one we count our breath No lament, no sigh I uttered Tremulous as the moon-light Lord, who didst bring the stars to birth Part II In the flask that here I hold Rise up! The hour is here On the roadway of desire Thou canst pass, like morning’s breeze If it be thy will to gain Time is the winged messenger Of the Friend’s ingenuous wit Mind, that is ever questing I am the slave of each living heart The tulip of this meadow land Faith depends on arguments Drunk with self hood like a wave Out of Hejaz and the lonely plain Of the Sultan I would take Like the dervish drunken be Greed is acting still his play Although the Angel dwells beyond Where is the Arab, to revive

Rise like the morning air Little flower fast asleep Our world is dusty clay Sleeper, rise thou up, and fast! My mind awhile was gone A melody swept me through and through No Jamshid’s memory, the wine I am a blossom of the plain I uttered a new word Never lover true is he In the heart of the birds, that range We are gone astray from God Of the hirelings’s blood out poured Although the soul, I know Whether the world be foul or fair What is this life? A pearl Beyond heaven’s shuttered dome A sinner proud am I; no need The world had lost its sight No friend in the world entire thou wilt find The fine science thou dost learn Vision can be won Too oft was thy light Love want searching thro’ the earth Come! The Asiatic man I boast a love that is not grieved The Saqi, pouring his pure wine Brighter shall shine men’s clay I have never discovered well Far, far from every other go The world, but not selfhood, thou canst see In the accidents of night What man art thou, and where thy home? In the abode of passion, where The young beloved, the ancient wine Qalanders, who to their sway A double-handled sword am I Each atom’s body like a spark Ever to be about with men Like a tulip’s flame I burn Soft my breath doth pass Leave him who never won to sight It chanced within the desert nigh Fool! Is there then such hope in thee Eschew the West, and do not be A secret ‘tis, ‘tis evident This brand of grief, His love apart When the tulip’s heart I viewed This is a world, that like to it Spring is come; bright glances dart The Artist, Whose vast mind This ancient universe In the mead a tulip blows Whence hath this commotion swirled Tulip in the mountains blowing I am a slave set free Silent rosebud in her heart To my self alone I bow GULSHAN-i-RAZ-i-JADID Dedication Introduction by the Translator Prologue Introduction Question 1 and Answer Question 2 and Answer Question 3 and Answer Question 4 and Answer Question 5 and Answer Question 6 and Answer Question 7 and Answer Question 8 and Answer Question 9 and Answer Epilogue BANDAGI NAMAH Introduction On the Fine Arts of the Slaves Religion of the Slaves On the Architecture of Free Men

See also

• Payam-i-Mashriq
• Javid Nama
• Pas Chih Bayad Kard ay Aqwam-i-Sharq
• Bang-e-Dara
• Bal-e-Jibril
• Asrar-i-Khudi
• Rumuz-e-Bekhudi
• Zarb-i-Kalim
• Armaghan-i-Hijaz
• Zabur
• Ajam

External links

Read online

• "Zabur-i-Ajam". Iqbal Academy Pakistan.
• "Zabur-i-Ajam". Iqbal Cyber Library.
• "Persian Psalms, English translation of Zabur-i-Ajam by AJ Arberry & Bashir Ahmad Dar". Iqbal Academy Pakistan.
• "Persian Psalms, English translation of Zabur-i-Ajam by AJ Arberry". Iqbal Cyber Library.

Related Websites

• Official Website of Allama Iqbal
• Iqbal Cyber Library, Online Library
• The collection of Urdu poems: Columbia University
• Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Allama Iqbal Urdu Poetry Collection
• Allama Iqbal Searchable Books (iqbal.wiki)
• Works by Persian Psalms at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Allama Iqbal at Internet Archive
• E-Books of Allama Iqbal on Rekhta

Social Media Pages

• Facebook Page of Allama Iqbal
• Twitter Account of Allama Iqbal

YouTube Channel

• YouTube Channel of Allama Iqbal