Urdu Dictionary
Persian · noun, masculine · The Tavern & the Cup

Baadah

बादा
said baa-dah
also written: Bada, badah, baada, baadeh
Meaning

Wine; the classic Persian-poetic term for the intoxicant of divine love.

Literally: wine

How Iqbal uses it

Baadah is the classical Persian word for wine and the favourite term of the Sufi poets for the intoxication of divine love — the draught the pir-e-mughan (tavern-master) ladles out to the seeker. To call for baadah is to ask for ecstasy, the dissolving of the sober ego into love. Iqbal keeps the word but demands a baadah-e-deerina, an ancient and potent wine, that gives the self heat and motion rather than oblivion.

See it in the verse

Baadah in Iqbal’s couplets

Bhari bazm mein raaz ki baat keh di
Bada be-adab hun saza chahta hun
In the crowded gathering I blurted out the secret — I am terribly insolent; I ask for my punishment.
Courage · Love
Har ek chiz se paida khuda ki qudrat hai
Koi baDa koi chhoTa ye us ki hikmat hai
Every single thing reveals the power of creation; that one is large and another small is part of its wisdom.
Humility · Self-Knowledge · Hope
Related words
PERSIAN

Mai

Wine; emblem of divine love, ecstasy, and the annihilation of the ego.

ARABIC

Sahba

Wine, especially the reddish or amber vintage; a poetic name for the draught of love.

PERSIAN

Mai-e-naab

Pure, unmixed wine; the unadulterated draught of mystical love.

ARABIC

Sharaab

Wine or any intoxicating drink; in the mystical idiom, the rapture of divine love.

ARABIC

Saaqi

The cup-bearer who pours the wine; in mystic verse the giver of spiritual ecstasy, and the beloved.

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