Persian · noun · Faith & Sacred History

But-khaana

बुत-ख़ाना

said but-KHAA-na

also written: Butkhana

Meaning

An idol-temple; a house of idols and false worship.

Literally: idol-house

How Iqbal uses it

Iqbal sets the but-khaana against the haram as the realm of idolatry opposed to pure monotheism, though he can use it tenderly in the mystic's paradox of finding God even there. The idol-house is the standing image of misplaced devotion.

See it in the verse

But-khaana in Iqbal’s couplets

Jinhen main dhundhta tha aasmanon mein zaminon mein
Wo nikle mere zulmat-khana-e-dil ke makinon mein

Those I searched for across the skies and the earth turned out to dwell in the darkened house of my own heart.

Self-Knowledge · Awakening · Selfhood

Related words

PERSIAN

But

An idol; metaphorically, a beautiful beloved.

PERSIAN

Dair

A cloister, temple, or place of non-Muslim worship; in poetry, the abode of the wine-server and the unbeliever.

SANSKRIT

Somnaat

The famed Hindu temple of Shiva in Gujarat, used in Persian-Urdu poetry as the archetypal great idol-temple.

ARABIC

Haram

The sacred sanctuary, especially the inviolable holy precinct around the Kaaba in Mecca.

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