payaam-e subah – mohammed iqbal
The Message of Dawn – Iqbal’s Rendition of Longfellow’s Daybreak

Click on any passage for meanings and discussion.

ujala jab hua ruKhsat¹ jabin-e-shab² ki afshaN³ ka
naseem-e-zindagi⁴ paiGham⁵ laaii subah KhandaN⁶ ka
jagaya bulbul e rangiN-nava⁷ ko aashiyane⁸ meN
kinaare khet ke shaana⁹ hilaya is ne dahqaaN¹⁰ ka
tilasm¹¹ e zulmat-e-shab¹² sura-e-vannur¹³ se toRa
andhere meN uRaya taj-e-zar¹⁴ sham’a-e-shabistaN¹⁵ ka1.depart 2.night’s brow, arched moon 3.glitter (usually applied to the brow of a bride) 4.breeze of life 5.message 6.smiling 7.colourful (sweet) voice 8.nest 9.shoulder 10.farmer 11.illusion 12.darkness of night 13.Quranic verse about light 14.golden crown 15.lamp of the bedroom, night lamp
It is unusual to refer to the brilliance (ujaala) of the night. But here night is personified as a bride with “afshaN” on her brow. The imagery for the brow recalls a quarter moon. As the night ends this “afshaN” fades. “afshaN” of course, is glittering stars. As the glitter of the stars on the brow of Night faded the morning breeze brought the message of a smiling dawn. She aroused the sweet voiced bulbul in her nest and tapped the shoulder of the farmer slumbering by his field. She broke the enchantment of the dark night with sura of noor and dispersed the golden crown of night’s lamp into the darkness. In the above and all the following asha’ar the protagonist is the “morning breeze”, sometimes “it” and at other times “she”. I have adopted “she” in the translation throughout.

paRha Khwabidagan¹ e dair² par afsoon³ e bedaari⁴
barhman⁵ ko diya paiGham⁶ Khurshid⁷ e daraKhshaN⁸ ka
hui baam-e-haram⁹ par aa ke yuN goya¹⁰ muezzin¹¹ se
nahiN khaTka¹² tere dil meN numood¹³ e mahr¹⁴ e taabaN¹⁵ ka?
pukari is tarah divar-e-gulshan¹⁶ par khaRe ho kar
chiTak¹⁷ O Ghuncha-e-gul¹⁸! tu moezzin¹¹ hai gulistaaN¹⁹ ka1.sleeping people 2.world 3.enchantment 4.wakefulness 5.Brahmin, priest 6.message 7.sun 8.brilliant 9.roof of the mosque 10.speaking 11.one who calls to prayer, aza’an giver 12.fear 13.emergence 14.sun 15.glorious 16.garden wall 17.bloom, open 18.rose bud 19.garden
She sang mystical chants of wakefulness to the sleeping world and brought tidings of the rising sun to the brahman. On the roof of the mosque, she spoke thus to the muezzin, “are you not aware that the bright sun is about to emerge?”. And at the wall of the garden she called awake o flower bud, you are the herald of the garden.

diya ye hukm¹ sehra² meN, chalo aye qaafile³ vaalo
chamakne ko hai jugnu ban ke har zarra⁴ biyabaaN⁵ ka
su⁶ e gor-e-GharibaN⁷ jab gayii zindoN ki basti se
to yuN boli nazara dekh kar shahr-e-KhamoshaN⁸ ka
abhi aaram se leTe raho, maiN phir bhi aaungi
sula duuN gi jahaaN ko, Khwaab se tum ko jagauungi1.command 2.desert 3.caravan 4.particle (of sand) 5.wilderness, desert 6.towards 7.graveyard 8.settlement of the quiet, graveyard
She came to the caravan and ordered them on their way, every particle of dust, shining like a jugnu to guide them along. As she turned from the community of the living to the graveyard, she saw the scene of the city of the dead and said thus, “Lie in peace, I will return after I get the world to sleep, I will wake you up from your dream”. I struggle with the last she’r. I do not like it and do not like the way I have been able to interpret it. Yet, I don’t know what else to do. I much like Longfellow’s ending … the breeze merely sighed (as if in sorrow) and said, “Not yet! In quiet lie.” There is no promise of coming back to wake them up. Why Iqbal goes beyond that, I don’t know. Does he mean that when the world goes to sleep, the dead wake up (ghosts are about at night)? A rather pedestrian idea, I think or is their awakening on the day of judgement?

Daybreak –  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A wind came up out of the sea
And said, “O mists, make room for me!”
It hailed the ships, and cried, “Sail on,
Ye mariners, the night is gone.”
And hurried landward faraway,
Crying, “Awake, it is the day.”
It said unto the forest, “Shout!
Hang all your leafy banners out!”
It touched the wood-bird’s folded wing,
And said, “O bird, awake and sing!”
And o’er the farms, “O chanticleer,
Your clarion blow ; the day is near!”
It whispered to the fields of corn,
“Bow down, and hail the coming morn!”
It shouted through the belfry-tower,
“Awake, O bell! proclaim the hour.”
It crossed the churchyard with a sigh,
And said, “Not yet! In quiet lie.”