Qaumi Tarana

Qaumi Tarana, national anthem of Pakistan, written in Urdu but with a strong Persian influence. Following the end of colonial rule in British India in 1947, the territory was partitioned, leading to the creation of the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan. It then fell upon the two countries to come up with their individual national anthems. Interestingly, the tune of “Qaumi Tarana” was composed well before the lyrics were penned.

History and origin

In June 1948 the Pakistani government announced a cash prize for the lyrics and melody for the national anthem. A Muslim man from South Africa, A.R. Ghani, offered 5,000 Pakistani rupees each for the winning lyricist and composer. The search proved futile, however, and that December the government established a national anthem committee, made up of politicians, poets, and musicians, to select a melody and lyrics. However, the first entries that the committee received did not meet its standards.

In August 1949 a melody by musician Ahmed Ghulam Ali Chagla was approved as the composition for the anthem. It is said that the tune, without lyrics, was played for the first time for a foreign head of state when the shāh (king) of Iran visited Pakistan in 1950. The committee asked eminent poets to write lyrics to fit the composition. Poet Hafeez Jalandhari’s verse was chosen from among the many submissions. The national anthem, with lyrics, made its public debut on Radio Pakistan on August 13, 1954—the performance led by Jalandhari himself. A few days later, on August 16, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced its official adoption.

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The anthem

The anthem, which is about 80 seconds long, has three stanzas extolling the country’s beauty, its strength, and the unity of its people. It emphasizes the importance of faith, brotherhood, and commitment to progress and excellence, and invokes the imagery of the crescent and star on Pakistan’s national flag. Although the composition is based on Eastern melodies, the arrangement uses Western techniques. The transliteration of “Qaumi Tarana” in the Latin alphabet is:

Pāk sarzamīn šād bād
kišwar-ē ḥasīn šād bād
tū nišān-ē ʿazm-ē ʿālī šān
arⱬ-ē Pākistān!
markaz-ē yaqīn šād bād


Pāk sarzamīn kā niẓām
quwwat-ē uxuwwat-ē ʿawām
qaum, mulk, salṭanat
pāyindah tābindah bād!
šād bād manzil-ē murād


Parčam-ē sitāra(h) ō-hilāl
rehbar-ē taraqqī ō-kamāl
tarjumān-ē māⱬī, šān-ē ḥāl
jān-ē istiqbāl!
sāya(h)-ē Xudā-ē ẕu-l-jalāl

The anthem’s English translation is:

Blessed be the sacred land
Happy be the bounteous realm
Thou symbol of high resolve
O Land of Pakistan!
Blessed be the citadel of faith


The order of this sacred land
Is the might of the brotherhood of the people
May the nation, the country, and the state
Shine in glory everlasting!
Blessed be the goal of our ambition


The flag of the crescent and star
Leads the way to progress and perfection
Interpreter of our past, glory of our present
Inspiration for our future!
Shadow of God, the Glorious and Mighty

Notable renditions

In 1955 11 notable Pakistani singers—Ahmad Rushdi, Kaukab Jahan, Shameem Bano, Rasheeda Begum, Najam Ara, Ghulam Dastagir, Naseema Shaheen, Zawar Hussain, Akhtar Abbas, Anwar Zaheer, and Akhtar Wasi Ali—performed “Qaumi Tarana.” Since then, a number of musicians have rendered it in their unique styles. Pakistani rock band Junoon introduced the anthem on electric guitar in 1996. The country set a world record in 2012 when thousands gathered in a stadium in Lahore to sing “Qaumi Tarana.” To mark 70 years of Pakistan, season 10 of the TV program Coke Studio Pakistan released a collaborative performance of the anthem by various artists.