Meaning
A fresh, dew-moist flower; a flower in full freshness.
Literally: moist flower
How Iqbal uses it
The gul-e-tar, still wet with morning dew, is the image of beauty at its freshest and most perishable; Iqbal uses such freshness to sharpen the pathos of how quickly the garden's glory passes.
See it in the verse
Gul-e-tar in Iqbal’s couplets
Khuda agar dil-e-fitrat-shanaas de tujh ko
Sukoot-e-laala-o-gul se kalaam paida kar
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
Tu bacha bacha ke na rakh ise tera aaina hai wo aaina
Ki shikasta ho to azeez-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Ki shikasta ho to azeez-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Do not hoard and shield your heart — it is the kind of mirror that, once broken, grows dearer in the eyes of the Mirror-maker.
Love · Courage · Adversity
Shakh-e-gul par chahak wa-lekin
Kar apni khudi mein aashiyana
Kar apni khudi mein aashiyana
Sing, by all means, on the rose-branch — but build your nest within your own selfhood.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Tu bacha bacha ke na rakh ise tera aaina hai wo aaina
ke shikasta ho to aziz-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
ke shikasta ho to aziz-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Do not keep your mirror anxiously protected — yours is the kind of mirror that, even when shattered, is dearer in the eyes of its maker.
Courage · Selfhood · Adversity
Safina-e-barg-e-gul bana lega qafila mor-e-na-tawan ka
Hazar maujon ki ho kashakash magar ye dariya se par hoga
Hazar maujon ki ho kashakash magar ye dariya se par hoga
The caravan of feeble ants will make a boat of a rose petal; though a thousand waves clash against it, this boat will cross the river.
Hope · Courage · Unity