Arabic · noun · Spirit & the Divine
Hijab-e-Akbar
हिजाब-ए-अकबर
said hi-JAAB-e-AK-bar
also written: hijab-e-akbar
Meaning
The 'greatest veil'; the seeker's own self or existence imagined as the heaviest barrier between him and God.
Literally: the greatest veil
How Iqbal uses it
Where the mystics call the self the greatest veil, Iqbal answers that the disciplined self is rather the very mirror of God.
See it in the verse
Hijab-e-Akbar in Iqbal’s couplets
Keh raha hai mujh se ae joya-e-asrar-e-azal
Chashm-e-dil wa ho to hai taqdeer-e-aalam be-hijab
Chashm-e-dil wa ho to hai taqdeer-e-aalam be-hijab
He says to me: O seeker of the secrets of eternity, if the eye of the heart opens, the destiny of the world stands unveiled.
Self-Knowledge · Awakening · Aspiration
Ishq bhi ho hijab mein husn bhi ho hijab mein
Ya to khud aashkar ho ya mujhe aashkar kar
Ya to khud aashkar ho ya mujhe aashkar kar
Love is veiled and beauty too is veiled; either reveal yourself, or make me one who can be revealed.
Love · Self-Knowledge · Restlessness
Aflaak se aata hai naalon ka javaab aakhir
Karte hain khitaab aakhir uThte hain hijaab aakhir
Karte hain khitaab aakhir uThte hain hijaab aakhir
At last the skies answer the cries that rise to them; at last the veils lift and the silence breaks into speech.
Hope · Action · Aspiration
Related words
ARABIC
Hijab
A veil, a covering; also bashfulness, and in mysticism the screen that hides the Beloved from the seeker.
ARABIC
Nafs
The lower self or ego-soul, seat of base appetites, which the seeker must discipline and refine.
ARABIC
Fana
Annihilation, passing away; the mystic's extinction of the self in the Beloved, the goal of the Sufi path.