Lab Pe Ati hai Dua - The Finest of Prayers

Lab Pe Aati Hai - Finest Prayer written for younger generation
This article was originally written on 5th July, 2016
Naqash Munir

The most beautiful ‘Lab Pe Aati Hai’ ‘dua’ once sung as a school song in school assemblies of Pakistan is lost somewhere in the history.  When I started school in 1995, we sang ‘Qaumi Taranah’, the National Anthem of Pakistan, which is written in Persian. To be honest, I merely met someone who would talk about it or its meaning. Nonetheless the echo of the National Anthem sung by us woke up all the residents of Harley Street but I’m sure most of the students didn't know what they were saying. So before completing school I searched for its meaning and realized that it is nationalistic as compared to the ‘dua’ which is written in our national language.

A Pakistani kid will definitely have no idea what he/she sang all their lives. Since Persian is not a language which a child in Pakistan will use to communicate almost 15-20 years of his/her age. Singing just the ‘Qaumi Taranah’ is not enough. This makes me think if we teach our children to be morally good then chances are more that it will pave the path towards achieving what we pray for in our National Anthem. In my opinion if ‘Qaumi Taranah’ is the peak, then ‘Lab Pe Aati hai’ is the passage to it.

Many child and adult singers have sung ‘Lab Pe Aati Hai’ in their own renditions on various media. It is believed to be one of the finest ‘duas’ which we can teach to our children. It is not about Urdu, English, Persian or any other language but about building a bridge for better understanding and visionary thinking of our children. By doing so, we can introduce them to the philosophy of Dr. Muhammad Iqbal whom we also consider as our National Poet.

I suggest to bring back ‘Lab Pe Aati Hai’ or ‘Bachhe ki Dua’ to the young thinking minds. It should be taught and made compulsory with all zeal and zest at all Government and Private educational institutions.

The better we teach, the better we achieve.

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