The Shelter

نہ کہیں‌ جہاں ‌میں‌ اماں ملی، جو اماں ملی تو کہاں‌ ملی
مرے جرمِ خانہ خراب کو، ترے عفوِ بندہ نواز میں1

1: Allusion to the Holy Quran 39:53

Say: “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”

The response:

تو بچا بچا کے نہ رکھ اسے، ترا آئینہ ہے وہ آئینہ
جو شکستہ ہو تو عزیز تر ہے نگاہِ آئینہ ساز میں

This is another couplet from the same ghazal. It is one of the most mystical of Iqbal’s ghazals and summarizes the relationship between God and man. Iqbal like many other mystics does realize that man is most likely to fall into error again and again in this world full of temptation. The brokenness of the mirror, which is dear to the Maker, is in part due to the fallen status of Man in the moral sense, but more than that it is the humility of the soul that is bestowed by this repeated falling and the prostration before God which is the natural result in case of a believer…the sincere quest for God’s forgiveness….the acceptance of human fallibility and weakness of will, subservience to the Creator……..and the ultimate complete surrender.