Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” (Urdu: لب پہ آتی ہے دعا), also known as Children’s Prayer, is a prayer in Urdu verse written by Muhammad Iqbal in 1902.
This prayer is widely recited in morning school assemblies across Pakistan and in many Urdu-medium schools in India. The prayer has been a longstanding part of the secular morning assembly at The Doon School in Dehradun, India.
In the 1940s, Muhibullah Nadwi, the Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, recalled reciting it as a student in an English-medium primary school. Even before that, All India Radio in Lucknow broadcasted the prayer just months after Iqbal’s passing in 1938. Beyond South Asia, the prayer has found diverse interpretations. In 2012, the American all-women bluegrass band Della Mae performed their rendition of the prayer during their tour of Islamabad and Lahore.
In October 2019, the headmaster of a government primary school in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, was suspended after two Hindu nationalist groups, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, objected to the prayer being recited in the school’s morning assembly, labeling it a “madrasa prayer.” Although the headmaster was later reinstated, he was transferred to another school.
Credits: This song is republished by Jagjit Singh in his musical rendition Cry For Cry
Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua By Allama Iqbal (with English translation)
Original: Urdu
لب پہ آتی ہے دعا بن کے تمنا میری
زندگی شمع کی صورت ہو خدایا میری
[Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri]
[Zindagi shamma ki soorat ho khudaya meri]
A wish turns into a prayer upon my lips
O God, may my life be like a shining candle
ہو میرے دم سے یونہی میرے وطن کی زینت
جس طرح پھول سے ہوتی ہے چمن کی زینت
زندگی ہو میری پروانے کی صورت یا رب
علم کی شمع سے ہو مجھ کو محبت یا رب
O God, may my life be like that of a moth [that is drawn to light, even at the cost of its own life]
May my love be for the beacon of knowledge, O God
ہو میرا کام غریبوں کی حمایت کرنا
درد مندوں 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 رہ پہ چلانا مجھ کو
O my Allah, protect me from evil,
Walk me through the path that leads to virtue
