"Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua" (Urdu: لب پہ آتی ہے دعا; also known as "Bachche Ki Dua"), is a duʿā or prayer, in Urdu verse authored by Muhammad Iqbal in 1902.[1] The dua is recited in morning school assembly almost universally in Pakistan,[2][3] and in Urdu-medium schools in India.[4][5]

The song has long been sung in the private The Doon School in Dehradun, India, in a secular morning assembly ritual.[6] The Imam of the Jama Masjid, Delhi, Muhibullah Nadwi, recited it as a boy in an English-medium primary school in India in the 1940s.[7] Even earlier, the prayer was broadcast by All India Radio, Lucknow, a few months after Iqbal's death in 1938.[8] The prayer has also been interpreted by an all-women's American bluegrass music band, Della Mae, which toured Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan in 2012.[9]

In October 2019, a headmaster of a government-run primary school in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, India, was suspended by the district education authorities following complaints by two Hindu nationalist organizations (Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal) that the song, which was being recited in the school's morning assembly, was [sic] a "madrasa prayer."[10] Ali was later reinstated but transferred to another school.[11]

Lyrics edit

Urdu Roman Urdu English Translation

لَب پِہ آتی ہَے دُعا بَن کے تَمَنّا مِری
زِنْدَگی شَمْع کی صُورَت ہو خُدايا مِری

lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna miri
zindagi shamma ki suurat ho Xudaaya miri
My longing comes to my lips as a supplication of mine
Oh God! May like a shining candle be the life of mine

دُور دُنِيا کا مِرے دَم سے اَنْدھيرا ہو جائے
ہَر جَگَہ مِرے چَمَکنے سے اُجالا ہو جائے

duur dunya ka mere dam se andhera ho jaye
har jagah mire chamakne se ujaala ho jaye
May the darkness of this world disappear through this life of mine
May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine

ہو مِرے دَم سے يُوں ہی مِرے وَطَن کی زِينَت
جِس طَرَح پُھول سے ہُوتی ہَے چَمَن کی زِينَت

ho mire dam se yunhi mire vatan ki zeenat
jis tarha phuul se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
May my homeland, through me, attain elegance
Just as the garden, through flowers, attains elegance

زِنْدَگی ہو مِری پَرْوانے کی صُورَت، يا رَب
عِلْم کی شَمْع سے ہو مُجھ کو مُحَبَّت، يا رب

zindagi ho miri parwane ki suurat, ya Rabb
ilm ki shamma se ho mujh ko muhabbat, ya Rabb
May my life be like that of the moth, Oh Lord
May my love be for the beacon of knowledge, Oh Lord

ہو مِرا کام غَرِيبوں کی حِمايَت کَرنا
دَرْدْ مَنْدوں سے ضَعِيفوں سے مُحَبَّت کَرنا

ho mira kaam ghareebon ki himaayat karna
dardmandon se za'eefon se muhabbat karna
May my life's way be to support the needy
And to love the old and the grief-stricken

مِرے اللہ! بُرائی سے بَچانا مُجھ کو
نيک جو راہ ہو، اُس رَہ پِہ چَلانا مُجھ کو

mire Allah! buraai se bachaana mujhko
nek jo raah ho, us reh pe chalaana mujhko
My God! Protect me from the evil ways
Walk me through the path that leads to virtue

References edit

  1. ^ Muḥammad Ikrām Cug̲h̲tāʾī (2003). Iqbal, new dimensions: a collection of unpublished and rare Iqbalian studies. Sang-e-Meel Publications. p. 172. ISBN 978-969-35-1433-9.
  2. ^ Wankwani, Ramesh Kumar (21 January 2021), Iqbal's Dream, Pak Poetry 24, retrieved 25 January 2021
  3. ^ Agencies (3 November 2016), Joint event to be held on Shakespeare and Iqbal in UK, retrieved 8 July 2020
  4. ^ M. Athar Tahir (1992). Punjab portraits. Sang-e-Meel Publications. p. 252. ISBN 978-969-35-0189-6.
  5. ^ Rashid, Waseem (8 June 2015), Naib Hain Hum: Interview with Waleed Iqbal (Urdu), Chauthi Dunya
  6. ^ Srivastava, Sanjay (27 September 2005). Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-134-68358-1.
  7. ^ Salam, Ziya Us; Parvaiz, Mohammad Aslam (12 February 2020). Madrasas in the Age of Islamophobia. SAGE Publications. pp. 23–. ISBN 978-93-5328-930-0.
  8. ^ All India Radio (7 October 1938). THE INDIAN LISTENER: Vol. III. No. 20. Lucknow, 8:15 PM (7th OCTOBER 1938). All India Radio. pp. 1464–. GGKEY:G20PN7BERB5.
  9. ^ Lab pay aati hai dua… strikes a chord, Dawn, Nov 14, 2012, retrieved 8 July 2020
  10. ^ Kumar, Sanjay (22 October 2019), How an Iqbal poem got a Muslim headmaster suspended in India, The Express Tribune, retrieved 8 July 2020
  11. ^ IANS (20 October 2019), Suspended UP headmaster reinstated with a warning, Outlook India, retrieved 8 July 2020