— from the nazm “Ek Naujawan Ke Naam” (To a Young Man), Allama Iqbal (1877–1938)
About this quote
देवनागरी
नहीं तेरा नशेमन क़स्र-ए-सुल्तानी के गुंबद पर
तू शाहीं है बसेरा कर पहाड़ों की चट्टानों में
اردو
نہیں تیرا نشیمن قصرِ سُلطانی کے گُنبد پر
تو شاہیں ہے، بسیرا کر پہاڑوں کی چٹانوں میں
English
Your nest does not belong on the dome of the emperor’s palace. You are a falcon — make your home among the rocks of the mountains.
What it means
From a poem addressed to a young man. The shaheen is Iqbal’s recurring emblem for the self he wanted to produce: solitary, unfed by others, indifferent to comfort. The couplet is an argument against patronage — the palace dome is warm, and that is exactly the objection.
What it teaches you
The sharp thing here is that Iqbal’s objection to the palace dome is not that it is unsafe but that it is comfortable, and it is comfortable because someone else is maintaining it. Apply that as a question to an actual offer in front of you — a post, a grant, a patron, a platform: who keeps this perch warm, and what does the keeper get to decide as a result? Iqbal is not recommending hardship for its own sake; he is pointing out that a falcon on a dome is being housed, and being housed is a relationship with terms. The rocks are recommended because nobody owns them. Note also that the addressee is a young man being told what he already is — tu shaheen hai — not what to become, which is why the line reads as a reminder rather than a demand.
अर्थ और सीख
तेरा घर शाही महल के गुंबद पर नहीं — तू शाहीन है, पहाड़ों की चट्टानों में बसेरा कर। इक़बाल का ‘शाहीन’ आराम और सरपरस्ती दोनों से इनकार की अलामत है।
किसी भी आरामदेह जगह के बारे में यह पूछें कि उसे गर्म कौन रखता है और बदले में उसका फ़ैसला किस चीज़ पर चलेगा। इक़बाल का एतराज़ ख़तरे पर नहीं, उस आराम पर है जो किसी और की शर्तों पर मिलता है।
Where it comes from
Verified against the collected work of Allama Iqbal (1877–1938) on Urdu Wikisource, in the poem beginning نہیں تیرا نشیمن قصرِ سُلطانی کے گُنبد پر (source). Devanagari transliteration and English rendering are our own.
