I found this in my late grandfather’s journal. I couldn’t confirm it from any of Iqbal’s biography that I have but it is reasonable to believe that this clipping is from an issue of the well reputed Civil and Military Gazette (Rudyard Kipling’s first ‘mistress’), just days after the demise of Iqbal. It reads as follows:
Apropos, the quatrain in Irani of which we gave a free translation the other day and which was said to have been composed by Sir Mahomed Iqbal a few minutes before he died, we are told that it was a quatrain which Sir Mahomed Iqbal had composed some time back. After reciting the four lines in Irani, he then recited a new quatrain also in Irani, which freely translated, reads:
Paradise, it is the river of our own friends,
Paradise, it is the river of the pure in heart,
Tell the Muslim of India ‘Be happy’,
Paradise, lies in the Way of God.
A day to reflect upon his message without the usual lip-service.
Filed under: Iqbaliat
Delightful discovery from your family treasure! thanks for visiting my blog and linking it here.
I am intrigued by your posts on traditions and hopefully we shall have a web-dialogue on this important issue soon.
Thank you Brother Raza for dropping by.