Urdu Dictionary

Persian · noun · Love & Longing

Dilbar

दिलबर

said DIL-bar

also written: dil-bar, dilbar-e

Meaning

The beloved; literally the one who carries off the heart.

Literally: heart-stealer, sweetheart

How Iqbal uses it

Dilbar literally means heart-carrier — the one who steals the heart away and keeps it. It is an affectionate, slightly playful name for the beloved, naming beauty by its effect: you are undone the moment you behold it. The word holds the ghazal's central helplessness in a single image — love as a theft you welcome, a heart gone willingly out of your own keeping.

See it in the verse

Dilbar in Iqbal’s couplets

Khuda agar dil-e-fitrat-shanaas de tujh ko
Sukoot-e-laala-o-gul se kalaam paida kar

If God gives you a heart that can read Nature, then draw speech out of the silence of the tulip and the rose.

Self-Knowledge · Aspiration · Awakening

Main jo sar-ba-sajda hua kabhi to zameen se aane lagi sada
Tera dil to hai sanam-aashna tujhe kya milega namaz mein

Whenever I bowed my head in prostration, a voice rose from the earth: your heart is in love with idols — what will you gain from prayer?

Self-Knowledge · Humility

Jis se jigar-e-laala mein thandak ho wo shabnam
Daryaon ke dil jis se dahel jaayein wo toofan

To the tulip's heart he is the dew that cools it; to mighty rivers he is the storm that makes their hearts tremble.

Courage · Justice · Selfhood

Dil se jo baat nikalti hai asar rakhti hai
Par nahin taaqat-e-parvaaz magar rakhti hai

What comes from the heart carries power; it has no wings, and yet it has the strength to fly.

Love · Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Suni padi hui hai muddat se dil ki basti
Aa ik naya shiwala is des mein bana den

The dwelling of the heart has lain desolate for ages — come, let us build a new temple in this land.

Unity · Hope · Love

Aa ghairiyat ke parde ik baar phir utha den
Bichdon ko phir mila den naqsh-e-dui mita den

Come, let us lift the veils of estrangement once more; reunite the separated, and erase the mark of duality.

Unity · Love · Hope

Related words

Mashuq

The beloved; the one who is loved and desired.

Dilruba

Heart-ravishing beloved; one whose beauty seizes the heart.

Sanam

Beloved, sweetheart; literally an idol, the beloved worshipped like one.

Yaar

Friend, companion, beloved; the intimate word for the loved one or dear comrade.

Mehboob

'Beloved', 'darling' — one who is loved.

← Back to the dictionary