The Child’s Prayer | Poem 10 | Summary, Questions and Answers |

English | Class 9th |Tulip Series | jandkncert | Free NCERT Solutions |

Poem 10 – The Child’s Prayer | Tulip Series | Summary, Questions, and Answers |
(Sir Muhammad Iqbal)

Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), the famous Muslim philosopher, and poet, was born in Sialkot, pre-partition India. He studied at Lahore, Cambridge and Munich and was also admitted to the bar at London. Back home he practised for some time but devoted most of his energy to writing. He also took an active part in the politics of the subcontinent. In 1927 he was elected to the Punjab provincial legislature and in 1930 became president of the Muslim League, Iqbal was considered the foremost Muslim thinker of his day. His poetry and philosophy, written in Urdu and Persian have been widely read and admired. His seminal works include Bang-e-Dara, Bal-e-Jibreel, Armaghan-e-Hijaz, Zarb-i-Kaleem, Asrar-e-Khudi, Rumaze Bekhudi, Payam-e-Mashriq Zubor-e-Anjum and Javed Nama etc.

The Child’s Prayer (Sir Muhammad Iqbal)

My tender hopes arise to the lips I pray:

Kindly candlelight may my life be!

May through me world’s darkness vanish away

And every corner fill with light of day!

May I adorn my land, to me so dear

Even as the blossoms make the garden fair!

As the moth goes round the shining light in zest

So, let me love the candle of knowledge best!

To love and serve the poor my mission be;

For the weak and those in pain my sympathy!

Save me, my God, from all snares of evil:

To walk the virtuous ways grant me the will!

(Translated from the Urdu by Prof. G R Malik)

Central Idea of the Poem

            As we know from the title that the poem is about the child’s prayer. This prayer is about the pious and virtual wishes of the child. In the poem, the child prays to Almighty Allah to fulfil his wishes so that he could serve the nation and help the needy.

Summary of the Poem

          The poem “The Child’s Prayer” has been written by a famous Muslim philosopher and poet, Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal. In this poem, he writes the pious and virtuous wishes of a child. The poem has been translated from Urdu by G. R. Malik. The opening line in the Urdu version is’ “Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tammana meri”. The whole poem is a child’s prayer. The child prays to Almighty Allah to fulfil his wishes so that serve the humankind in the field of education. The loving hopes in the form of pray rise on the lips of a child in which he wishes his life to be like a lighted candle that illuminates the room removes darkness. He wishes to fill every corner of the world and let the darkness of the world vanish through his light. Just like the blossoms make the garden fair and lovely and let his land lights up because of him. He wishes his life be like a moth who goes round the light in passion and him love the candle of knowledge to his best. He prays his mission to be to serve the poor and help those who are in pain and need his sympathy. In the last lines, he prays to Almighty Allah to save him from the wrong deeds of evil and always let him be on the right path.

Click Here for English | Class 9th |Tulip Series | Summary, Questions and Answers

Understanding the Poem

Q1. Who is the speaker in the poem and to whom is it addressed?

Ans. The child is the speaker of the poem and the poem is addressed to Allah.

Q2. What does the child wish to be? List his wishes in the order they are described in the poem.

Ans. The child wishes to be a lighted candle so that the darkness of the world vanishes away because of his light. To love and get the knowledge, he wishes to be like a moth so that he could get enough knowledge to share with others. He wishes to serve the poor and help pay the sympathy to the weak and those who are in pain.

Q3. Why does the child want to be a) candle b) moth c) blossom?

Ans.

a) The child wants to be a candle because he wishes to enlighten the world with his knowledge.

b) The wants to be a moth so that he could love and have the passion attraction towards the knowledge to receive it.

c) The child wants to blossom so that his land, be decorative just like the blossoms decorate the garden of flowers.

Q4. What is the child’s mission?

Ans. The child’s mission is to love and serve the poor and weak and sympathize those who are in pain.

Read More About Mother, Here I Cannot Remember My Mother.

Learning about the literary device

Identify metaphors and similes in the following lines

My tender hopes arise to the lips I pray:

Kindly candlelight may my life be!

As the moth goes round the shining light in zest

So, let me love the candle of knowledge best!

Save me, my God, from all snares of evil:

Ans.

Metaphors: My tender hopes rise to the lips, Kindly candlelight, the candle of knowledge, snares of evil

Similes: Moth is used as a simile in the poem.

Structure of the Poem

          There is no particular rhyme scheme in the translated poem, but it seems to be in the form of ‘ab aa’. The poem is translated in only one stanza of twelve lines having no fixed length of lines. The poem has been translated from Urdu version to the English version.

Discussion

What are the various prayers that you make in the morning assembly at the school? Discuss their meaning with your classmates.

Ans. Homework assignment for students.

Suggested Reading

Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa by Iqbal