IQBAL WITH HIS UNIQUE SHAHEEN!

The past week, we witnessed the 83rd death anniversary of Hakim-ul-Ummat, the poet of East, Muhammad Iqbal. Iqbal is an influential personality in the sub-continent with still many analyzing his ideas and his sublime philosophies. He has inspired thousands and changed hundreds. Today we will concentrate on his one couplet and will try to elicit some conclusions from it.

تُو شاہین ہے پرواز ہے کام تیرا

تیرے سامنے آسمان اور بھی ہیں

The first part goes with pointing the youth that you are an Eagle/hawk, the words are simple and so they do not need further elaboration, moving on to the explanation, a person always think and idealize himself with someone else, a person or sometimes a fictional character from a movie, anime, etc. but Iqbal simply refrains him from moving forward and mentions that look! you have the eagle, be like it. But the answer is why? why that eagle who flies alone at such a height, seems so arrogant and considers himself sufficient, why this animal, not another person, Iqbal could have mentioned that be like him!

Why Shaheen? because Shaheen is an epitome of those qualities that man has longed for ages: the ultimate faith, the sense of commitment and, the undying energy. Man always considered these virtues the sacred one and have worshiped people having these.

Faith, shaheen has extreme faith in himself, his flight, he does not stumble, he has the faith that he will do it and he does. Similarly, a person should have faith in himself and should move on with it. This faith helps a lot, remove all the other futile things and focus on yourself, here affirmation comes!

Commitment, is the main thing that is needed everywhere, hard work does not play that role in a person’s success that alone commitment plays. So, Shaheen has an extreme commitment to his task, he knows that he has to fly and this is his sole duty so he does not show slackness in it and flies despite all plights, in short, he does not abandon himself and again the sky is the limit for those who do not abandon themselves.

When you combine these two, you will get the energy factor, surely it is an important thing but it comes with these two things. If you do not have the other two you will not have this.

In the first part’s second part we have flight is your mission, a simple but powerful thing! Simply you are an eagle and flight is your mission, do not wander here and there you are meant to fly and so you should. Here flight means to excel, to make your mark. It simply tells the youth do not get involved in futile things, you people are like an eagle and it is obligatory on you to move ahead and excel.

The next part, there are other skies in front of too, what is this? what does this part convey? It simply indicates that there are other things for you, do not get engrossed here with meaningless things, you are an eagle and flight is your mission you have other fields/discipline do not get distracted here! Or to be more precise move ahead, because you are meant to move ahead, you are not meant to slack.

Cutting long story short, Iqbal here mentions that thing that only a few people understand and then they are seen above us, commitment with self or to be more precise do not abandon yourself. If one does not abandon himself then the world does not abandon himself, he gets what he wants and he makes his mark in this world what exactly Iqbal wanted from the Muslim youth. To not abandon themselves and consider what is right and what is wrong for them and act accordingly.

Do not abandon yourself and do what you are intended to do!

Speaking about my personal experience I have always considered this couplet the extreme of Iqabl’s poetry, this is where he expressed and elaborated his whole theory, here he with some words mentioned that what is an ideal man and what are the things to be done by him, what exactly a person needs to be. This couplet always remained a source of motivation for me and I do not consider that there is anything more perfect than this!