Meaning
Beauty, comeliness, especially the beauty of the beloved.
Literally: Goodness, fairness.
How Iqbal uses it
Husn is the great pole opposite ishq in the classical lexicon — the beauty that draws the lover. In the Sufi register Iqbal inherits, husn is divine beauty (the Beloved's self-disclosure) toward which love is the pilgrimage, and the dialectic of husn and ishq runs through the poetry.
See it in the verse
Husn 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
Miri mashshatgi ki kya zarurat husn-e-mani ko
Ki fitrat khud-ba-khud karti hai laale ki hina-bandi
Ki fitrat khud-ba-khud karti hai laale ki hina-bandi
What need has true beauty of meaning for my adorning hand? Nature, all on its own, paints the tulip red.
Self-Knowledge · Humility · Action