Translation of Aye Deeda e beena (Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

A. Nafees
Translation
Once more, ablaze with lightning are the lands of Sinai valley!
Again, the face of reality is colored with fire,
message of annihilation, invitation to confront the truth.
O’ light of the eyes!
Now is the time to bear witness, whether we have the strength or not.
Now, the responsibility for healing our troubles and sorrow is vested in the enemy of our being;
the garden of paradise is reduced to manmade desert.
Do we have the pride of zeal and the courage to follow the manly path?
Once more, ablaze with lightning are the lands of Sinai valley!
O’ light of the eyes!
Again, let’s purify our hearts
in the hope that may on this slate,
between us, some new agreement is reached.
Now, tradition of oppression is the device of the elites of this world
and support of oppression is the expediency of the Mufti of our faith.
To change the age old covenants of obedience
it is essential that there is a mandate of refusal (No).
And listen!
May be this light of Saiqal1
is that best saying in the book,
that to make the hearts of everyone on this world yearn like a beggar,
is now descending from the heavens.
Listen!
Morphed in this eternity
are we the helpless folks,
who are the learned as well as the well informed.
Listen!
We the voiceless and the friendless
are Basheer2 as well as Nazeer2.
And call out to everyone in seats of authority
to exercise caution in dispensing their wisdom.
When the gathering of martyrs will rise
there will be a dearth of hanging ropes;
there will be no saviors.
All requitals and punishments will be meted here itself;
here itself, retributions and rewards will be determined;
from here, the noise of tumult will arise;
here itself, will be the day of judgment.