Chapter Guide
In brief
Chapter IV turns self-reliance into a spiritual discipline: the Self is weakened whenever it accepts dependence as a way of life.
After the chapters on desire and love, Iqbal now warns against a posture that dissolves the Self from within. Asking is not treated here as ordinary need, but as an inward habit of dependence. It lowers high thought, darkens imagination, and turns a human being away from the dignity that khudi requires.
The chapter's images move from public humiliation to spiritual consequence. Favours bend the neck, beggary makes poverty poorer, and even borrowed light leaves a mark of shame. Iqbal is pressing the reader to distinguish poverty from dependence: material want may remain, but the self must not learn to live by another's bounty.
The closing movement makes honour practical. The reader is told to wrestle with fortune, earn by his own hand, and keep his cup inverted even in the sea. Refusal becomes a form of strength: the empty hand may belong to the one who is most master of himself.
Figures in this chapter
- Caliph Omar
- Nicholson identifies Omar as the caliph remembered here for simple habits and self-reliance. The camel image turns authority itself into a lesson in disciplined independence. Britannica
- Khizr
- Here Khizr returns not as guide but as one whose life-giving cup the honourable person refuses. The point is self-reliance even when relief is available. Encyclopaedia Iranica
Original chapter heading
Showing that the Self is weakened by asking.
ای فراهم کرده از شیران خراجگشته ئی روبه مزاج از احتیاج
خستگی های تو از ناداری استاصل درد تو همین بیماری است
می رباید رفعت از فکر بلندمی کشد شمع خیال ارجمند
از خم هستی می گلفام گیرنقد خود از کیسه ی ایام گیر
خود فرود آ از شتر مثل عمرالحذر از منت غیر الحذر
تابکی دریوزهٔ منصب کنیصورت طفلان ز نی مرکب کنی
فطرتی کو بر فلک بندد نظرپست می گردد ز احسان دگر
از سؤال ، افلاس گردد خوار تراز گدائی گدیه گر نادار تر
از سؤال آشفته اجزای خودیبی تجلی نخل سینای خودی
مشت خاک خویش را از هم مپاشمثل مه رزق خود از پهلو تراش
گرچه باشی تنگ روز و تنگ بختدر ره سیل بلا افکنده رخت
رزق خویش از نعمت دیگر مجوموج آب از چشمه ی خاور مجو
تا نباشی پیش پیغمبر خجلروز فردائی که باشد جان گسل
ماه را روزی رسد از خوان مهرداغ بر دل دارد از احسان مهر
همت از حق خواه و با گردون ستیزآبروی ملت بیضا مریز
آنکه خاشاک بتان از کعبه رفتمرد کاسب را «حبیب الله» گفت
وای بر منت پذیر خوان غیرگردنش خم گشته ی احسان غیر
خویش را از برق لطف غیر سوختبا پشیزی مایه ی غیرت فروخت
ای خنک آن تشنه کاندر آفتابمی نخواهد از خضر یک جام آب
تر جبین از خجلت سائل نشدشکل آدم ماند و مشت گل نشد
زیر گردون آن جوان ارجمندمی رود مثل صنوبر سر بلند
در تهی دستی شود خود دار تربخت او خوابیده ، او بیدار تر
قلزم زنبیل سیل آتش استگر ز دست خود رسد شبنم ، خوشست
چون حباب از غیرت مردانه باشهم به بحر اندر نگون پیمانه باش
Persian text from Ganjoor · 24 bayts
Thy need hath caused thee to become a fox in disposition.
Thy maladies are the result of indigence:
This disease is the source of thy pain.
It is robbing thine high thoughts of their dignity
And putting out the light of thy noble imagination.
Quaff rosy wine from the jar of existence!
Snatch thy money from the purse of Time!
Like Omar, come down from thy camel![49]
Beware of incurring obligations, beware!
How long wilt thou sue for office
And ride like children on a woman’s back?
A nature that fixes its gaze on the sky
Becomes debased by receiving benefits.
By asking, poverty is made more abject;
By begging, the beggar is made poorer.
Asking disintegrates the Self
And deprives of illumination the Sinai-bush of the Self.
Do not scatter thy handful of dust;
Like the moon, scrape food from thine own side!
Albeit thou art poor and wretched
And overwhelmed by affliction,
Seek not thy daily bread from the bounty of another,
Seek not waves of water from the fountain of the sun,
Lest thou be put to shame before the Prophet PBUH
On the Day when every soul shall be stricken with fear.
The moon gets sustenance from the table of the sun
And bears the brand of his bounty on her heart.
Pray God for courage! Wrestle with Fortune!
Do not sully the honour of the pure religion!
He who swept the rubbish of idols out of the Ka’ba
Said that God loves a man that earns his living.
Woe to him that accepts bounty from another’s table
And lets his neck be bent with benefits!
He hath consumed himself with the lightning of the favours bestowed on him,
He hath sold his honour for a paltry coin.
Happy the man who thirsting in the sun
Does not crave of Khizr a cup of water![50]
His brow is not moist with the shame of beggary;
He is a man still, not a piece of clay.
That noble youth walks under heaven
With his head erect like the pine.
Are his hands empty? The more is he master of himself.
Do his fortunes languish? The more alert is he.
The beggar’s wallet is like a boat tossing in waves of fire;
Sweet is a little dew gathered by one’s own hand.
Be a man of honour, and like the bubble
Keep thy cup inverted even in the midst of the sea![51]
ای فراهم کرده از شیران خراجگشته ئی روبه مزاج از احتیاج
خستگی های تو از ناداری استاصل درد تو همین بیماری است
Thy maladies are the result of indigence:
This disease is the source of thy pain.
می رباید رفعت از فکر بلندمی کشد شمع خیال ارجمند
It is robbing thine high thoughts of their dignity
And putting out the light of thy noble imagination.
از خم هستی می گلفام گیرنقد خود از کیسه ی ایام گیر
Quaff rosy wine from the jar of existence!
Snatch thy money from the purse of Time!
خود فرود آ از شتر مثل عمرالحذر از منت غیر الحذر
Like Omar, come down from thy camel![49]
Beware of incurring obligations, beware!
تابکی دریوزهٔ منصب کنیصورت طفلان ز نی مرکب کنی
How long wilt thou sue for office
And ride like children on a woman’s back?
فطرتی کو بر فلک بندد نظرپست می گردد ز احسان دگر
A nature that fixes its gaze on the sky
Becomes debased by receiving benefits.
از سؤال ، افلاس گردد خوار تراز گدائی گدیه گر نادار تر
By asking, poverty is made more abject;
By begging, the beggar is made poorer.
از سؤال آشفته اجزای خودیبی تجلی نخل سینای خودی
Asking disintegrates the Self
And deprives of illumination the Sinai-bush of the Self.
مشت خاک خویش را از هم مپاشمثل مه رزق خود از پهلو تراش
Do not scatter thy handful of dust;
Like the moon, scrape food from thine own side!
گرچه باشی تنگ روز و تنگ بختدر ره سیل بلا افکنده رخت
Albeit thou art poor and wretched
And overwhelmed by affliction,
رزق خویش از نعمت دیگر مجوموج آب از چشمه ی خاور مجو
Seek not thy daily bread from the bounty of another,
Seek not waves of water from the fountain of the sun,
تا نباشی پیش پیغمبر خجلروز فردائی که باشد جان گسل
Lest thou be put to shame before the Prophet PBUH
On the Day when every soul shall be stricken with fear.
ماه را روزی رسد از خوان مهرداغ بر دل دارد از احسان مهر
The moon gets sustenance from the table of the sun
And bears the brand of his bounty on her heart.
همت از حق خواه و با گردون ستیزآبروی ملت بیضا مریز
Pray God for courage! Wrestle with Fortune!
Do not sully the honour of the pure religion!
آنکه خاشاک بتان از کعبه رفتمرد کاسب را «حبیب الله» گفت
He who swept the rubbish of idols out of the Ka’ba
Said that God loves a man that earns his living.
وای بر منت پذیر خوان غیرگردنش خم گشته ی احسان غیر
Woe to him that accepts bounty from another’s table
And lets his neck be bent with benefits!
خویش را از برق لطف غیر سوختبا پشیزی مایه ی غیرت فروخت
He hath consumed himself with the lightning of the favours bestowed on him,
He hath sold his honour for a paltry coin.
ای خنک آن تشنه کاندر آفتابمی نخواهد از خضر یک جام آب
Happy the man who thirsting in the sun
Does not crave of Khizr a cup of water![50]
تر جبین از خجلت سائل نشدشکل آدم ماند و مشت گل نشد
His brow is not moist with the shame of beggary;
He is a man still, not a piece of clay.
زیر گردون آن جوان ارجمندمی رود مثل صنوبر سر بلند
That noble youth walks under heaven
With his head erect like the pine.
در تهی دستی شود خود دار تربخت او خوابیده ، او بیدار تر
Are his hands empty? The more is he master of himself.
Do his fortunes languish? The more alert is he.
قلزم زنبیل سیل آتش استگر ز دست خود رسد شبنم ، خوشست
The beggar’s wallet is like a boat tossing in waves of fire;
Sweet is a little dew gathered by one’s own hand.
چون حباب از غیرت مردانه باشهم به بحر اندر نگون پیمانه باش
Be a man of honour, and like the bubble
Keep thy cup inverted even in the midst of the sea![51]
Persian text from Ganjoor · 24 bayts