Happy International Children’s Day - 20th November

How wonderful is it to commemorate International Children’s Day, on 20th of November, by remembering and honoring the Poet of the East Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, whose birthday is celebrated on 9th of November every year! Decades ago, he wrote his most famous and the most sung “morning assembly prayer” in Urdu, which is regarded the most precious gift that Allama Iqbal gave to every one of us.
This gift is the poem “Lab pe aati hei dua ban k tamanna meri, zindagi shama ki surat ho Khudaya meri”… Allama Iqbal wrote this poem in 1902, but it seems it is as fresh as ever. It is regularly recited in the morning school assembly, almost universally. Before the partition of subcontinent, this had been sung in Urdu-medium schools all over India by both Muslim and Hindu boys and girls. This prayer was broadcast by All India Radio a few months after Iqbal’s demise in 1938. 
This has also been interpreted by an all-women’s American bluegrass music band, Della Mae, which toured Islamabad and Lahore in 2012. The poem is a prayer in which a child prays to Allah for His help to outshine like a lamp of light. Let’s explore the true meanings of each stanza and know what Iqbal actually wanted us to become as a child, a student or a man or woman:
لب پہ آتی ہے دعا بن کے تمنا میری
زندگی شمع کی صورت ہو خدایا میری
My longing comes to my lips as a supplication of mine
Oh God! May like a shining candle be the life of mine
دور دنیا کا مرے دم سے اندھیرا ہو جائے
ہر جگہ میرے چمکنے سے اجالا ہو جائے
May the darkness of this world disappear through this life of mine
May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine
ہو مرے دم سے یونہی میرے وطن کی زینت
جسطرح پھول سے ہوتی ہے چمن کی زینت
May my homeland, through me, attain elegance
Just as the garden, through flowers, attains elegance
زندگی ہو مری پروانے کی صورت یا رب
علم کی شمع سے ہو مجھ کو محبت یا رب
May my life be like that of the moth, Oh Lord
May my love be for the beacon of knowledge, Oh Lord
ہو مرا کام غریبوں کی حمایت کرنا
دردمندوں سے ضعیفوں سے محبت کرنا
May my life's way be to support the needy
And to love the old and the grief-stricken
مرے اللہ برائی سے بچانا مجھ کو
نیک جو راہ ہو اس راہ پہ چلانا مجھ کو
My God! Protect me from the evil ways
Walk me through the path that leads to virtue Ameen. This is really a wonderful and inspiring prayer. Its message is universal and it specifically addresses us to grow up with powerful integrity, with the power of knowledge, moral strength and selfless leadership.