Poems of India - "God is Great "

*“Allāh hu akhbar!

Allāh hu akhbar!

La ilahā illalāh!”*

Aslant upon the dusty way

The little mosque has thrown its shade,

A streak of blue at noontime laid,

To lengthen tardily with day;

And now the hour has come to pray,

Soldier and prince and clod—

‘God is great, God is great,

There is no god but God!’

He stands upon the outer wall,

His hand upraised, his sunken eyes

Look westward to where Mecca lies;

Ho! Islam’s men, it is the call

To evening prayer; he cries to all,

Soldier and prince and clod—

‘God is great, God is great,

There is no god but God!’

Close to the wall below his feet

A pomegranate, against the white,

Flaunts, green and scarlet, in the light,

Now glaring day has lost its heat;

Ho! Islam’s men in field and street,

Soldier and prince and clod—

‘God is great, God is great,

There is no god but God!’

Dark figure, seeing inwardly

Through evening mist and evening balms

To Mecca, white among the palms,

Across the rolling leagues of sea,

At thy long cry they bend the knee,

Soldier and prince and clod—

‘God is great, God is great,

There is no god but God!’

Spread at thy feet, around, beneath,

The world wears on amid its tears,

And few and evil are their years

Fighting their way from birth to death,

Soldier and prince and clod—

What shining city canst thou see,

Far off, beyond the flood of fate,

Where none are poor or desolate

That thou dost cry eternally?

There comes no answer, early, late,

But ‘God is great, God is great,

There is no god but God!’

*“Allāh hu akhbar!

Allāh hu akhbar!

La ilahā illalāh!”*