Arabic · noun · Love & Longing

Aashiq

आशिक़
said AA-shiq
also written: ashiq, aashiqe
Meaning

Colloquial: a lover, admirer, one smitten.

Literally: lover, the one who loves

How Iqbal uses it

Aashiq is the lover — the one possessed by ishq, who has staked everything on the beloved and lives wholly for that face. The ghazal's hero is always the aashiq: burning, faithful, half-mad, glad to be ruined. For Iqbal the true aashiq is no passive sufferer but a figure of immense power: love is the force that makes the self vast, daring, and creative, so the lover is the one most fully alive.