God Answers
(Iqbal’s Jawab-e-Shikwa penned in 1913)

Part - 3

How unbearable it is to rise in the morning!
You don’t love Me, you love to sleep!
How cumbersome is the restraint of Rmadhan!
Say! It is the way of following the belief;
Ummah is based on faith, if faith vanishes you too vanish,
If the mutual attraction vanishes, the order of the stars will vanish.

The men who do not know any skill, it is you!
The men who do not care for their well-being, it is you!
The men who do not do any creation, it is you!
The men who sell their ancestors’ relics, it is you!
If you earn reputation by idolizing graves of your dead,
Will you not sell idols of gods, if you get them instead?

Who wiped out infidelity from the world?
Who banished slavery from the earth?
Who restored the sanctity of My Ka’abah?
Who embraced My Quraan to their heart?
They were surely your forefathers but what you are!
Sitting idle, you are waiting for your glorious future!

What you said! “For Muslims only empty promise of reward?”
If someone makes an unjust plaint, then too courtesy is required,
Justice is the rule of the Creator of the universe since ever,
If an infidel professes rule, he is destined to the dreamt reward,
None amongst you is the seeker of My blessed reward,
I am ready to favour, but you are not worthy of My reward.