Aatish-e-ishq
The fire of love; the burning passion that consumes the lover.
Literally: the fire of love
Aatish-e-ishq is the fire of love — the blaze kindled in the heart that burns the lover from within, consuming peace, reason, and at last the self. The ghazal returns again and again to this flame: love as something that scorches and purifies in the same stroke. For Iqbal the fire is generative, not merely destructive: it is the heat that forges the self, burns away the dross, and gives life its warmth and daring — a flame one should pray to keep, not quench.
Aatish-e-ishq in Iqbal’s couplets
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
Naya zamana, naye subh-o-sham paida kar
Meri sadgi dekh kya chahta hun
Ishq Khuda ka Rasool ishq Khuda ka kalaam
Ishq hai asl-e-hayat maut hai is par haraam
Meri sadgi dekh, kya chahta hoon
Ishq
Love — passionate, all-consuming love, whether for the divine or the human.
Soz
Burning; inner fire, fervour, pathos.
Atish
Fire; one of the four classical elements and a symbol of ardour.
Sharar / Shola
Spark (sharar) and flame (shola).
Tapish
Burning agitation and palpitation, the throbbing heat of a heart inflamed with restless longing.