The Other Side of “Sare Jahan Se Accha”
Shrikant G. Talageri
Muhammad Iqbal is still known in India mainly as the composer of the patriotic song “Sare Jahan Se Accha Hindustan Hamara” which has also featured in at least two Hindi film versions (strangely both times with music by N.Dutta):
Asha Bhosle (film Bhai
Behen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-mhkRXwo8
Asha Bhosle, Mohd.Rafi
(film Dharmaputra)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoaYhrpwdag
Also, see the song sung live in the Rajya Sabha in 1997 by Lata Mangeshkar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU8kzITRTY4
The full words and English translation of the song:
|
Original
“Sare Jahan Se Accha”:
English Translation of “Sare Jahan Se Accha”: Better than the entire
world, is our Hindustan We are its nightingales,
and it (is) our garden abode.
If we are in an
alien place, the heart remains in the homeland,
That tallest
mountain, that shade-sharer of the sky, It (is) our sentry, it
(is) our watchman
In its lap where
frolic thousands of the rivers, Whose vitality makes our
garden the envy of Paradise.
O the flowing
waters of the Ganga, do you remember that day
Religion does
not teach us to bear animosity among ourselves
In a world in
which ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome have all vanished
There is
something about our existence for it doesn't get wiped
Iqbal! We have no
confidant in this world What does anyone know of
our hidden pain? |
Can anyone
deny the power and beauty of the way in which this song expresses its love for
India (note especially the underlined words)?
But few people know the other side of this story (i.e. of Iqbal): the above song “Sare Jahan Se Achha" was written in 1904 and first published in the weekly journal “Ittehad” on August 16, 1904. Clearly Iqbal was a passionate and heartfelt patriot at that time.
However, within a few years, he turned into a fanatical Jihadi and Islamist, and in 1908/1910 he penned a completely new poem expressing his new ideology. This song was “Chin-o-Arab Hamara”. In 1910, he wrote "Tarana-e-Milli", declaring that the global Muslim community (Ummah) transcended geography. The opening lines changed from loving one’s country to claiming the entire world for Islam:
Original “Chin-o-Arab
Hamara”:
chīn-o-arab hamārā hindostāñ hamārā
muslim haiñ ham vatan hai sārā jahāñ hamārā
tauhīd kī amānat sīnoñ meñ hai hamāre
āsāñ nahīñ miṭānā
nām-o-nishāñ hamārā
duniyā ke
but-kadoñ meñ pahlā vo ghar ḳhudā kā
ham is ke pāsbāñ
haiñ vo pāsbāñ hamārā
teġhoñ ke sāye
meñ ham pal kar javāñ hue haiñ
ḳhanjar hilāl kā
hai qaumī nishāñ hamārā
maġhrib kī
vādiyoñ meñ gūñjī azāñ hamārī
thamtā na thā
kisī se sail-e-ravāñ hamārā
bātil se dabne vāle
ai āsmāñ nahīñ ham
sau bār kar chukā
hai tū imtihāñ hamārā
ai
gulistān-e-undulus vo din haiñ yād tujh ko
thā terī Dāliyoñ
meñ jab āshiyāñ hamārā
ai mauj-e-dajla
tū bhī pahchāntī hai ham ko
ab tak hai terā
dariyā afsāna-ḳhvāñ hamārā
ai arz-e-pāk terī
hurmat pe kaT mare ham
hai ḳhuuñ tirī
ragoñ meñ ab tak ravāñ hamārā
sālār-e-kārvāñ
hai mīr-e-hijāz apnā
is nām se hai bāqī
ārām-e-jāñ hamārā
'iqbāl' kā tarāna
bāñg-e-darā hai goyā
hotā hai
jāda-paimā phir kārvāñ hamārā
English Translation of “Chin-o-Arab Hamara”:
China is ours,
Arabia is ours, India is ours
We are
Muslims, the whole world is our homeland
The trust of monotheism is in our hearts
It is not easy
to erase our name and mark
Among the
idol-houses of the world, that first house of God
We are its
guardians, it is our guardian
In the shadow
of swords we grew up and came of age
The crescent's
dagger is our national emblem
In the valleys
of the West our call to prayer echoed
Our flowing
flood could not be stopped by anyone
We are not those
who are crushed by falsehood, O sky
A hundred times
you have already tested us
O garden of
Andalusia, do
you remember those days
When our nest was
in your branches
O wave of the
Tigris, you too recognize us
Even now your
river tells our story
O sacred land**,
may we be cut down and die for your honor
Our blood still
flows in your veins
The leader of
the caravan is the chief of Hijaz*
By this name the
peace of our soul endures
[*Prophet Mohammad]
[**All Islamic
territory, including for example Andalusia and the Tigris in Iraq]
Iqbal’s incredible and total transformation is expressed succinctly in the following Google AI Overview reply to the question: “Iqbal as a proponent of Pakistan”:
“Allama Muhammad Iqbal provided the core philosophical and ideological foundation for the creation of Pakistan by articulating the Two-Nation Theory advocating for a consolidated Muslim-majority region in northwestern India.
The 1930 Allahabad Address: In his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League, Iqbal formally proposed the creation of a unified North-West Indian Muslim state—incorporating the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan—stating that the destiny of Muslims was best served in an autonomous home within or outside the British Empire.
Philosophical Separation: Rejecting western secular nationalism, he argued that Islam was not just a private faith but a social and political order capable of unifying the community (Ummah) and safeguarding Muslim identity from domination in a Hindu-majority India.
Mentorship of Jinnah: During the 1930s, Iqbal wrote critical letters to Muhammad Ali Jinnah urging him to return from London to lead the All-India Muslim League and mobilize the Muslim masses toward the realization of this separate homeland.”
Iqbal (who died in 1938 in Lahore) was honored posthumously as Mufakkir-e-Pakistan ("The Thinker of Pakistan") and the National Poet of Pakistan.
[Incidentally, the poet Sahir Ludhianvi, in a composition parodying India’s economic priorities at the time as he saw them, composed the following song in the 1958 film “Phir Subah Hogi”, sung by Mukesh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYFpioyOsOM
This song had lines like:
“Chin-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan hamara
Rehne ko ghar nahi hai, sara jahaan hamara
(China and Arabia are ours, India is ours / We don't
even have a roof over our heads, yet the entire world is ours!)
[1,
2]
Kholi bhi chhin gayi hai, benchein bhi chhin gayi hain
Sadkon pe ghoomta hai, ab karvaan hamara
(Our tiny rooms
have been snatched away, the park benches too / Now our caravan wanders the
open streets)”.]
In short: No-one can deny that “Sare
Jahan Se Accha” is an extremely beautiful song and must become
well-known to every Indian as one of the great patriotic songs of India.
But it also has another and perhaps more important and useful purpose. The full history of this song, and its aftermath, should be known to every Indian as a reminder of how the religious fanaticism and hatred-of-other-religions preached by Abrahamic religions can transform the writer of a song like “Sare Jahan Se Accha” into a hater of India who mentored a Jinnah, also originally a secularist until he also got transformed into a (at least Political) Islamist and declared: “We will either have a divided India or a destroyed India”.
Iqbal and his two poems are the most classical examples of the powerful transformative abilities of hate-ideologies like Islam and Evangelist Christianity.
No comments:
Post a Comment