Tu Ghani Az Har Do Alam man Faqir: A poem that Dr Iqbal penned but doesn’t belong to him!

 

This Sufi story goes back more than a century now. In small city of Dera Ghazi Khan [Punjab], a boy was born and named Muhammad Ramzan. He was an able student from beginning and grew up to become a good teacher at local school. 

 

Despite working for British Civil Services, he remains a Sufi at heart and mureed of Maulana Faiz Muhammad Shah Jamali. He was also a poet with Takhalus of ‘Itaai’ hence became known as Muhammad Ramzan Itaai  [محمّد رمضان عطائی ] . He was also a huge admirer of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s poetry. 

 

 

 

 

Muammad Ramzan Itaai had a friend Maulana Ibrahim Naagi, who was a friend of Dr. Allama Iqbal. Once day as Ibrahim Naagi returned from Lahore, he brought some fresh kalam by Dr Allama Iqbal as below:

 

تو غنی از ہر دو عالم من فقیر
روز محشر عذر ہائے من پذیر

تو دونوں عالم سے بے نیاز ہے اور میں ایک عاجز سوالی ہوں
روز قیامت میری ایک گزارش قبول کر لینا 

ورحسابم را تو بینی نا گزیر
از نگاہ مصطفےﷺ پنہاں بگیر

اگر میرا حساب نامہ اعمال دیکھنا ضروری ہے تو
برائے مہربانی میرا حساب محمّد مصطفیٰ ﷺ کی نگاہوں سے بچا کر کرنا

 

When Ibrahim Naagi finished recited the kalam, he had tears with eyes with such heart touching verses. But it affected Muhamad Ramzan Itaai even harder and he went into state of wajd and went unconscious. 

 

Muhamad Ramzan Itaai later went for Hajj pilgrimage and there at the holy site, a thought came to his mind that perhaps he asks Allama Muhammad Iqbal to give this beautiful Rubaai. 

 

Upon his return to Punjab, he wrote a letter to Dr Muhammad Iqbal in which he humbly made this request. Some time later, he received a letter of consent from Dr Allama Iqbal in which stated that such poems are not anyone’s property and he can happily take it. 

 

When Armaghan-e-Hijaz was composed, Allama took above verses out of the compilation and it still doesn’t exist in the book. However, he did composed a another rubaayi [couplets] on the same style and narrative, as below:

بہ پایاں چوں رسد ایں عالم پیر
شود بے پردہ ہر پوشیدہ تقدیر

مکن رسوا حضور خواجہ ما را
حساب من زچشم او نہاں گیر

اے میرے رب , روز قیامت یہ جہان پیر اپنے انجام کو پہنچ جائے اور ہر پوشیدہ تقدیر ظاہر ہو جائے تو اس دن مجھے میرے آقا و مولا کے حضور رسوا نہ کرنا اور میرا نامہ اعمال آپ کی نگاہوں سے چھپا رکھنا

 

Muhamad Ramzan Itaai visited Lahore in December 1937 to appear for his Master in Persian exams. Then he visited Dr Allama Iqbal along with his friend Ibrahim Naagi, who introduced him. Muhammad Ramzan recited those verses that Allama gave to him and everyone went in tears. 

 

In April Dr Allama Iqbal passed away. Muhammad Ramzan was there at his grave and in tears with emotions. 

 

Ibrahin Naagi used to say that Muhammad Ramzan hit a jackpot by making such request and obtaining such beautiful verses in glory of Prophet. When Muhammad Ramza died, he made a bequest that these verses to be written on his forehead. His grave still exists the oldest cemetery of Dera Ghazi Khan named Mullah Quaid Shah and these verses are inscribed over his gravestone.