They Changed My God

WOH NAHIN BADLA

Meray hamdum, meray dost
ghalat feh’mee hay shadeed
woh tou woh-hee hay
woh badla kahaaN?

(Shayad khood ko bhee
woh bad’l na sakhay ---
woh a’lug behas hay.)

Darya kay rookh ko
musjid ko
mandir ko
pyar ko
nafrat ko
tou badla ja sakhta hay.

laikin oos ki zaat ko nahiN
bilkul nahiN!

Ghaure say dekho
apnay apnay dilouN maiN
apnay apnay dilouN ko
woh bad’l gaye haiN.

HE HAS NOT CHANGED

Sadly, my friend
sadly mistaken are you
He is the same as always
has not changed one bit.

(Perhaps even He
could not change Himself ---
but that is another debate.)

We can change
the course of a river
a mosque here
a mandir there
even love for hatred
or hatred for love.

But we cannot change Him
ever
you got it wrong there.

Search intently
peek in your heart
gaze at others
it is we
who have changed...!
_________________________________________


PS: Welcome to Chowk. Did you translate this? Wish Chowk had put up the orignal Urdu or at least Romanized Urdu version.

Tahmed:

Beautifully Put.

Later,

Dear Iqbal Sahib,

This is a beautiful poem on an important subject. Is the Urdu version available on the web as well?

Saxena: You write ``if there was, one of the spacecraft would have spotted it by now.``

It seems many years ago, a Russian cosmonaut visiting Indonesia said something like this too: that he had been out in space and did not see God. An Indonesian gentleman responded that he would have seen God if only he had stepped out of the spacecraft.

Actually, the more science advances, the more obvious it becomes that there is far more to things than we can ever imagine, let alone see or experience. And anyone interested in science knows that we can already see far more than people who have no interest in education and learning imagine even today. And from what we already know, it seems very, very unlikely if human consciousness and intelligence is the only consciousness there is in the universe. Or if this was the only universe, vast (12 billion light years across) though it is.

There is a God almost by definition. And that God is of the kind that Mr. Iqbal knows: kind and just and encouraging humans to the peaceful pursuit of science and prosperity.

God is a figment of the imagination of a scared caveman (or several cavemen) from a few thousand years ago. The sooner people accept that and move on, the sooner we can start to clean the world of stupidity and ignorance. If you must believe in a god, believe in the physics of the universe (don`t ask me who created the universe) and understand that there is only one set of laws and worshipping those laws will earn you nothing more than some knowledge of physics. There is also no heaven to go to - if there was, one of the spacecraft would have spotted it by now.

Let`s be clear - ``They`` can not take ``God`` anywhere, God is everywhere and Mr. Iqbal, He is with you, and with everyone who loves Him and struggles with one`s human frailties.

Anwar Iqbal wrote:

``They came and shouted:
We cannot let God waste his time
We are here to save him from kids and
butterflies``


Interesting thoughts.They not only changed
but have Hijacked the tolerant religion
that some of us grew up with and
cherished.

Ras

I cannot hold my tears since I read this poem.

This was very beautifully written.

simple yet excellent.

I`m sorry about your experience

Anwar Iqbal#

Very true.

They have taken the God away on their shoulders and bringing their orders in HIS NAME.

Jesus Christ!

Dear friend, you have captured my sentiments in words more glorious than any I would ever have penned.