اس راز کو اک مرد فرنگی نے کیا فاش
ہر چند کہ دانا اسے کھولا نہیں کرتے
is raz ko ik mard-e-farangi ne kiya fash
har-chand ki dana ise khola nahin karte
جمہوریت اک طرز حکومت ہے کہ جس میں
بندوں کو گنا کرتے ہیں تولا نہیں کرتے
jamhuriyat ik tarz-e-hukumat hai ki jis men
bandon ko gina karte hain tola nahin karte
Source: Zarb-e-Kalim (1936), section "Siyasiyat-e-Mashriq-o-Maghrib"; Kulliyat-e-Iqbal (Urdu), p. 610, page 610
Spotted a mistake in the text? Tell us — every poem is checked against its source. Rights holder? Request removal.
Two couplets from Zarb-e-Kalim, among the most quoted lines Iqbal wrote on politics. He passes on a "secret" told by a Westerner: democracy is a form of government in which people are counted, not weighed.
Short quotes only (up to characters): the book stays the author’s. Line breaks are kept — good for couplets.
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