"Satan's Lament": The Sphere of Jupiter, in the Book of Eternity.
God of the righteous and the unrighteous,For more textual sources by Iqbal, click here, and here to return to the main page.
man’s company has devastated me.
Not once has he rebelled against my rule;
he has closed his eyes to himself, and has not found himself. 2510
His dust is a stranger to the joy of disobedience,
a stranger to the spark of pride.
The prey says to the huntsman, ‘Seize me’:
save me from the all too obedient servant!
Set me free from such a quarry; 2515
remember my obedience of yesterday.
My lofty aspiration through him has been abased;
alas for me, alas for me, alas for me!
His nature is raw, his resolution weak,
this opponent cannot withstand one blow from me. 2520
I need a servant of God possessed of vision,
I need a riper adversary!
Take back this plaything of water and clay:
a child’s toy suits not a man of a certain age.
What is man? A handful of straw; 2525
one spark from me is enough for a handful of straw.
If nothing but straw existed in this world,
what profited it to endow me with so much fire?
It were a shame to melt a piece of glass;
to melt a rock-that is a proper task! 2530
I have become so saddened by all my triumphs
that now I come to You for recompense;
I seek from You one who dares to deny me—
guide me, to such a man of God.
I need a man who will twist my neck, 2535
whose glance will set my body quivering,
one who will say, ‘Depart from my presence’,
one in whose eyes I am not worth two barleycorns.
Grant me, O God, one living man of faith;
haply I shall know delight at last in defeat. 2540
