I tell thee a significant point known only to the people of ecstasy: For nations, negation expresses power, affirmation expresses beauty. (People of ecstasy, mardan-i-hal: Persons who pass through different states in their spiritual experiences. This phrase stands here for people engaged in dynamic activity in contrast to mardan-i-hal, people who only talk and do nothing. Jalal: Power. Jamal: Beauty.)

Negation and affirmation together signify control of the universe: They are the keys to the doors of the universe.

Both are the destiny of this world of Becoming. Movement is born out of negation, stationary state, out of affirmation.

Unless the secret of negation is grasped, the bonds of the other-than-God cannot be broken.

The beginning of every work in the world is with the word of negation: It is the first stage of the man of God. (In Darb-i-Kalim, Allamah says: In the universe, negation is the beginning; affirmation the end.)

A nation which burns itself in its heat for a moment recreates itself out of its own ashes.

To say No to the other-than-God is Life: The universe is ever renewed by its tumult.

Not every person is affected by its madness; not every haystack is fit to catch its fire.

When this ecstasy affects the heart of a living person, he makes sluggards sitting on the roadside to move on swiftly. (Sluggards, rah-nashin: wayside beggars, sitting and doing nothing. Rah-naward: He who is on the way, going somewhere, indicating movement, progress towards the goal.)

Dost thou wish the servant to fight the master (for his rights)? Then sow the seed of No in his handful of dust. (Iqbal coined the word khwajgi to express the idea behind ‘capitalism’. It was first used in Rumuz-i-Bekhudi. Capitalism has cast many a charming idol: race, nationalism, church, state, civilization, and colour.)

Whoever has this burning ardour in his heart is more awe-inspiring than the Doomsday.

No is a succession of violent blows; it is the rumbling of thunder, not the piping tune of a flute.

Its blow changes every being into non-being, so that thou comest out of the whirlpool of Existence. (The point Iqbal wishes to emphasise here is that one who follows Tawhid in spirit feels everything besides himself and God as of no value and hence insignificant and unreal. One must, however, guard here against a misconception. Iqbal’s normal position is that the world of matter is real and not illusory.)

I relate to thee the history of the Arabs that thou may know its good and bad aspects. (Literally, so that you may know what is ripe and unripe in (the history of) the Arabs.)

Their strokes broke Lat and Manat into pieces; confined within dimensions, they yet lived free of all bonds. (Lat and Manat: Two idols, among many, which the Arabs worshipped. Here they stand for objects and persons other than God, to whom people pay homage.)

Every old garment was torn off by them; Chosroes and Caesars met their doom at their hands. (Chosroe was the title of Persian monarchs and Caesar, of Roman emperors. Qaisar and Kisra are used as symbols of imperialism.)

At times deserts were overrun by their thunder showers; at other times seas were churned by their storms.

The whole world, no more than a straw, was set afire by them: It was all a manifestation of No.

They were constantly astir until out of this old world they brought forth a new one into existence. (Jahan-e-Taza: New World. According to Allamah the New World means a world in accordance with the basic principles of Islam and is most relevant to the contemporary situation.)

The invitation to the truth (the call to prayer) is the result of their early rising; whatever exists is the outcome of their sowing (of seed). (Rising early in the morning: It stands for intense devotion to God. Sowing of seed is to prepare the field for cultivation. The first line signifies that the ideal man is in constant touch with God from Whom be gets inspiration, as a result of which he tries to establish the rule of God’s laws on this earth.)

The lamp of the tulip that has been lit up was brought from the banks of their river. (Iqbal refers to the tremendous creative work done by the Arabs in the fields of science and art. All that is visible in this world, of civilization, of knowledge, art and skill, is the result of their creative activity. It was they who sowed the seed and we in the present age are witnessing and enjoying the fruit of their labours. Modern sciences and arts are a continuation of what the Arabs achieved in their days.)

They erased from the tablet of their heart the impress of the other-than-God; hundreds of new worlds therefore came into being at their hands.

You will similarly see that in the period of Western dominance capital and labour have come to blows. (Daur-i-Farang: Period of European domination, both political and intellectual. Iqbal seems to imply that the class struggle, strife between capital and labour, is the result of this age which is secular in nature, divorced from religious background.)

As the heart of Russia was sorely afflicted, the word No came out of the depths of her being. (Depth of being: The word used by Iqbal, damir, signifies conscience, heart, and hence inner recesses of mind. This is a peculiar use of the word in Iqbal. The Qur’an says (xli. 53): ‘We will show them Our signs in the outer world and in the inner world (of self).’ The actual word used is anfus which the mystics regard as a region where they receive illumination and hence are able to arrive at the truth, mentioned in the above Qur’anic verse. This region of mystic experience may be called qalb (mentioned in the Qur’an, xxxii. 7-9) about which Iqbal says: ‘It is, according to the Qur’an, something which ‘sees’, and its reports, if properly interpreted, are never false’ (Reconstruction). In Javid Namah, Allamah says: ‘If you possess the spirit of a true Muslim, look into your heart and the Qur’an, a hundred new worlds lie in its verses, whole centuries are involved in its moments.)

She has upset the old order and applied a sharp scalpel to the veins of the world.

I have closely observed her position which is: no kings, no church, no deity.

Her thought has remained tied to the wind-storm of negation, and has not marched towards the affirmative ‘but’.

Maybe a day will come when through force of ecstasy she may extricate herself from this whirlwind.

Life does not rest at the station of Negation, the universe moves on towards ‘but’.

Negation and affirmation both are necessary for the nations: Negation without affirmation is their death.

How can Khalil (friend) be ripe in love unless negation guides him towards affirmation? (Reference is to the life of Prophet Abraham (A.S.). See the Qur’an, vi 76-80 where Abraham’s experience of ‘the kingdom of the heavens and the earth’ is described, involving denial of all false gods and attaining certainty by affirming his complete submission to Him ‘Who originated the heavens and the earth’, and he was not of the polytheists.)

O you, who indulge in debate in your closet, raise the cry of negation before a Nimrod. (Here Nimrod stands for any haughty ruler whose authority is not based on consent and who rules autocratically.)

What you see around you is not worth two grains of barley, be acquainted with the might of there is no deity.

He who has the sword of negation in his hands is the ruler of all the universe.