— from the nazm “Tarana-e-Hindi” (1904), Allama Iqbal (1877–1938)
About this quote
देवनागरी
मज़हब नहीं सिखाता आपस में बैर रखना
हिन्दी हैं हम वतन है हिन्दोस्ताँ हमारा
اردو
مذہب نہیں سکھاتا آپس میں بیر رکھنا
ہندی ہیں ہم، وطن ہے ہندوستاں ہمارا
English
Religion does not teach us to hold enmity among ourselves. We are of Hind; Hindustan is our homeland.
What it means
From the same 1904 poem, and the couplet most often quoted on its own. Hindi here means an inhabitant of Hind, not a speaker of the Hindi language — a distinction that gets lost in most reproductions of the line.
What it teaches you
Two things worth carrying when you quote this. First, gloss the word: say that Hindi here means a person of Hind, because a reader who hears it as a language claim gets a narrower line than Iqbal wrote, and the narrowing happens silently. Second, notice where the couplet puts the blame — not on religion, but on what people do with it. So when you hear enmity justified as a religious requirement, the couplet gives you the specific reply: that is not what it is teaching you, that is what you are bringing to it.
अर्थ और सीख
इसी 1904 के तराने का शेर। ध्यान रहे कि यहाँ ‘हिन्दी’ का मतलब हिन्दुस्तान का बाशिंदा है, ज़बान नहीं — यह फ़र्क़ अक्सर मिट जाता है।
इसे सुनाते समय बताइए कि यहाँ ‘हिन्दी’ का अर्थ हिन्द का बाशिंदा है, भाषा नहीं — वरना शेर छोटा हो जाता है। और ध्यान रखिए कि इल्ज़ाम मज़हब पर नहीं, उसके नाम पर बैर रखने वालों पर है।
Where it comes from
Verified against the collected work of Allama Iqbal (1877–1938) on Urdu Wikisource, in the poem beginning مذہب نہیں سکھاتا آپس میں بیر رکھنا (source). Devanagari transliteration and English rendering are our own.
