"Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua" (Urdu: {{nq|لب پہ آتی ہے دعا; also known as "Bachche Ki Dua"), is a duʿā or prayer, in Urdu verse authored by Muhammad Iqbal in 1902.[1] The dua is recited in morning school assembly almost universally in Pakistan, and in Urdu-medium schools in India.[2]
The song has long been sung in the private The Doon School in Dehradun, India, in a secular morning assembly ritual.[3] The Imam of the Jama Masjid, Delhi, Muhibullah Nadwi, recited it as a boy in an English-medium primary school in India in the 1940s.[4] Even earlier, the prayer was broadcast by All India Radio, Lucknow, a few months after Iqbal's death in 1938.[5] The prayer has also been interpreted by an all-women's American bluegrass music band, Della Mae, which toured Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan in 2012.
In October 2019, a headmaster of a government-run primary school in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, India, was suspended by the district education authorities following complaints by two Hindu nationalist organizations (Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal) that the song, which was being recited in the school's morning assembly, was a "madrasa prayer." Ali was later reinstated but transferred to another school.
| Urdu | Roman Urdu | English Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna miri zindagi shamma ki suurat ho Xudaaya miri | My longing comes to my lips as a supplication of mine Oh God! May like a shining candle be the life of mine | ||
duur dunya ka mere dam se andhera ho jaye har jagah mire chamakne se ujaala ho jaye | May the darkness of this world disappear through this life of mine May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine | ||
ho mire dam se yunhi mire vatan ki zeenat jis tarha phuul se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat | May my homeland, through me, attain elegance Just as the garden, through flowers, attains elegance | ||
zindagi ho miri parwane ki suurat, ya Rabb ilm ki shamma se ho mujh ko muhabbat, ya Rabb | May my life be like that of the moth, Oh Lord May my love be for the beacon of knowledge, Oh Lord | ||
ho mira kaam ghareebon ki himaayat karna dardmandon se za'eefon se muhabbat karna | May my life's way be to support the needy And to love the old and the grief-stricken | ||
mire Allah! buraai se bachaana mujhko nek jo raah ho, us reh pe chalaana mujhko | My God! Protect me from the evil ways Walk me through the path that leads to virtue |