Meaning
A sigh; a groan of pain or longing.
Literally: a sigh
How Iqbal uses it
Aah is the sigh — the hot breath of grief that escapes the lover's burning breast, the smallest and most constant utterance of love's pain. The ghazal credits it with fearsome power: the lover's sigh can set the heavens alight, an aah-e-sard (cold sigh) or aah-e-aatishin (fiery sigh) rising from a heart on fire. It is longing made audible, the involuntary proof of a soul that suffers love.
See it in the verse
Aah in Iqbal’s couplets
Agar kho gaya ek nasheman to kya gham
Maqamat-e-aah-o-fughan aur bhi hain
Maqamat-e-aah-o-fughan aur bhi hain
If one nest is lost, why grieve? There are other stations of sighs and laments still ahead.
Restlessness · Hope · Adversity
Jawanon ko meri aah-e-sahar de
Phir in shaheen bachchon ko bal-o-par de
Phir in shaheen bachchon ko bal-o-par de
Give the young my dawn-time sigh of longing — and give these falcon-children their wings and their feathers once more.
Youth · The Falcon · Aspiration
Agar kho gaya ek nasheman to kya gham
Maqamat-e-aah-o-fughan aur bhi hain
Maqamat-e-aah-o-fughan aur bhi hain
If one nest is lost, why grieve? There are other stations of sighs and laments still ahead.
Restlessness · Hope · Adversity
Na-suburi hai zindagi dil ki
Aah vo dil ki na-subur nahin
Aah vo dil ki na-subur nahin
Restlessness is the very life of the heart; alas for the heart that has lost its restlessness.
Restlessness · Aspiration
Mujhe aah-o-fughan-e-nim-shab ka phir payam aaya
Tham ai rah-rau ki shayad phir koi mushkil maqam aaya
Tham ai rah-rau ki shayad phir koi mushkil maqam aaya
The cry of the midnight again brought me its message: pause, traveller, for perhaps another hard pass has arrived.
Adversity · Courage · Awakening