O Muslim youth! Have you ever used your prudence; what was that sky of which you are a fallen star?

That nation has nurtured you its lap of love, whose feet had trampled the crown of Dara’s head.

Civilization’s formulator, creator of rules of world government was that desert of Arabia; that is the cradle of camel drivers.

‘Al Faqru fakhri’s’ state* even in glory of authority existed. ‘Why would the beautiful face need beautifying and cosmetics?’** (This is a famous Hadith of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). It means ‘Faqr is my pride’. It is difficult to translate Faqr correctly into English. Nevertheless its correct comprehension is necessary to understand this Hadith as well as this verse. Literally it means poverty but in Tasawwuf it is a technical term, which also is difficult to understand. **This is the second hemistich of a verse of Hafiz Shirazi which reads: The beauty of the beloved does not need our incomplete love: Why would the beautiful face beautifying and cosmetics need?)

Even in poverty those men of God were so high-minded that the rich could not avoid charity for beggar’s fear.

In short what should I tell you what those wanderers in wilderness were? They were world conquerors, world rulers, world administrators, and world adorners.

If I wish to present their picture in words I can, but that scene is beyond the comprehension of your imagination.

You cannot have any relationship with your ancestors; you are talk, they were action, you are stars, they were planets.

We have wasted the heritage obtained from our ancestors. The sky has thrown us down from the Thurayyah * to the earth. * Thurayyah called the Pleides in English and is a collection of seven stars in the constellation Taurus.

Why should we cry for suzerainty, as it was temporary’ there is no escape from the world’s established principles.

But those pearls of wisdom, those books of our ancestors; by seeing them in Europe the heart is rent asunder.

‘O Ghani*! Witness the dark day of the saint of Kina‘an,** because the light of his eyes brightens Zulaikhah’s eyes. * Mullah Muhammad Tahir Ghani Kashmtri (d. 1668): He is a Persian poet of Kashmir and is considered to be high ranking. He was a Sufi and lived in Kashmir all his life, except for a short period in central India. ** Allusion to Yusuf A.S. for whom see the Holy Qur’an, Surah 12