After officially being adopted,[2] it was recorded in the same year by eleven major singers of Pakistan including Ahmad Rushdi, Kaukab Jahan, Rasheeda Begum, Najam Ara, Naseema Shaheen, Zawar Hussain, Akhtar Abbas, Ghulam Dastagir, Anwar Zaheer, and Akhtar Wasi Ali.

[3] In early 1948, A. R. Ghani, a Muslim from South Africa's Transvaal, offered two prizes of five thousand rupees each for the poet and composer of a new national anthem for the newly independent state of Pakistan.

[citation needed] When President Sukarno of Indonesia became the first foreign head of state to visit Pakistan on 30 January 1950, there was no Pakistani national anthem to be played.

The NAC chairman, then Federal Minister for Education, Fazlur Rahman, asked several poets and composers to write lyrics but none of the submitted works were deemed suitable.

[citation needed] It was later played for Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan during his official visit to the United States on 3 May 1950.

In 1955, there was a performance of the national anthem involving 11 major singers of Pakistan, including Ahmad Rushdi, Kaukab Jahan, Rasheeda Begum, Najam Ara, Naseema Shaheen, Zawar Hussain, Akhtar Abbas, Ghulam Dastagir, Anwar Zaheer and Akhtar Wasi Ali.

[13][14] The national anthem is a rendering of a three-stanza composition with a tune based on eastern music but arranged in such a manner that it can be easily played by foreign bands.

Typically twenty-one musical instruments[5] and thirty-eight different tones[5] are used to play the national anthem,[15] the duration of which is usually around 80 seconds.

[2] The lyrics have heavy Persian poetic vocabulary,[17] and the only words derived from Sanskrit are "ka" (کا [kaˑ] 'of'), and "tu" (تو [tuˑ] 'thou').

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!

Flag with the star and crescent, The leader of progress and ascent, Dragoman of past, the pride of present; Soul of the future!