The Ideal Woman

Fret not thyself

To calculate the profit and the loss,

Being content to tread the well-worn path

Our fathers went before. Be wary of

Time's depredations, and to thy broad breast

Gather thy children close; these meadow-chicks,

Unfledged as yet to fly, have fallen far

From their warm nest. High, high the carvings are

That wrestle with thy soul; be conscious still

And ever of thy model, Fatimah,

So that thy branch may bear a new Hussein,

Our garden blossom with the Golden Age.'


Note: Allama Iqbal is warning the Muslim Women to guard themselves from the conspiracies of Modern Civilization. He exhorts them to remain firm on the footsteps of Lady Fatimah (ra) and to bring up her children with the qualities of Hussein (ra). [Jaihoon]

* source : jaihoon.com/iqbal

English translation by AJ Arberry, The Mysteries of Selflessness, translation of Iqbal's Asrar-o-Ramuz.

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'Thee woh ik shakhs kay tasawar saay - abb woh ranayee khayal kahaan'