Meaning
The rose and the nightingale; the classic pair of beloved and lover.
Literally: flower and nightingale
How Iqbal uses it
Gul-o-bulbul, rose and nightingale, names the archetypal romance of Persian-Urdu poetry, beauty and the one who sings for it; Iqbal inherits this whole symbolic world even as he pushes its lament toward action and selfhood.
See it in the verse
Gul-o-Bulbul 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
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
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