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
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