Shikwa – Allama Muhammad Iqbal Pt 3

In the midst of raging battle if the time came to pray,
Hejazis turned to Mecca, kissed the earth and ceased from fray.
Sultan and slave in single file stood side by side,
Then no servant was nor master, nothing did them divide.
Between serf and lord, needy and rich, difference there was none.
When they appeared in Your court, they came as equals and one.

In this banquet hall of time and space, from dawn to dusk we spent,
Filled with the wine of faith, like goblets round we went.
Over hills and plains we took Your messagel this was our task.
Do you know of an occasion we failed You? is all we ask.
OVer wastes and wildernesses of land and sea,
Into the Atlantic Ocean we galloped on our steed.

We blotted out the smear of falsehood from the pages of history,
We feeed mankind from the chains of slavery.
The floors of your Kaaba with our foreheads we swept,
The Quran you sent us we clasped to our breast.
Even so you accuse us of lack of faith on our part:
If we lacked faith, you did little to win our heart.

There are people of other faiths, some of them transgressors.
Some are humble; drunk with the spirit of ignorance are others.
Some are indolent, some ignorant, some endowed with brain,
Hundreds of others there are who even despair of Your Name.
Your lessings are showered on homes of unbeleivers, strangers all.
Only on the poor Muslim, Your wrath like lightning falls.

In the temples of idolatry, the idols say 'The Muslims are gone!'
They rejoice that the guardians of the Kaaba have withdrawn.
From the world's caravanserais singing camel drivers have vanished;
The Quran tucked under their arms they have departed.
These infidels smirk and snigger at us, are You aware?
For the message of Your oneness, do You anymore care?