Firāq (by Iqbāl): An English Translation from the Urdu Original

فراق (Separation)

Written at a time when Iqbal was living in Europe, the poem firāq (Arabic for “separation”) is often read as the expression of the poet’s nostalgia for his homeland. While the physical separation from his country and ensued homesickness might have inspired the composition, the poem reveals a more general sense of longing trascending physical or temporal contingency and which stems from the unbridgeable gap between various elements: the self and the other, man and nature, past and present, words and emotion. It is the impossibility of reaching a complete unity which generates an aspiration towards what is separated from ourselves. While cause for yearning, this distance is the space in which emotional lyricism can freely unfold.

Listen to a recitation of the original Urdu Text here

تلاش گوشۂ عزلت ميں پھر رہا ہوں ميںيہاں پہاڑ کے دامن ميں آ چھپا ہوں ميںشکستہ گيت ميں چشموں کے دلبری ہے کمالدعائے طفلک گفتار آزما کی مثال

I am roaming around in search of a secluded corner.

Here, at the feet of the mountain, I have hidden

With their broken melody, the water-springs possess wonderful charm, just like the prayers of a little child speaking tentatively

ہے تخت لعل شفق پر جلوس اختر شامبہشت ديدۂ بينا ہے حسن منظر شامسکوت شام جدائی ہوا بہانہ مجھےکسی کی ياد نے سکھلا ديا ترانہ مجھے

Now that the evening stars have ascended the ruby-coloured throne of twilight,

the beauty of the evening’s spectacle is one of heaven to the beholder’s eye.

The peaceful silent of this evening of isolation has become my excuse,

someone’s memory taught me this song...

يہ کيفيت ہے مری جان ناشکيبا کیمری مثال ہے طفل صغير تنہا کیاندھيری رات ميں کرتا ہے وہ سرود آغازصدا کو اپنی سمجھتا ہے غير کی آواز

Such is the nature of my restless life: I am but a lonely little child

who, in the darkness of the night, strikes up a melody

confusing his own tone with someone else’s voice

يونہی ميں دل کو پيام شکيب ديتا ہوںشب فراق کو گويا فريب ديتا ہوں

I give to my heart the message of endurance

deceiving, as it were, this night of separation.