Urdu Dictionary

Persian · noun · Love & Longing

Husn-o-ishq

हुस्न-ओ-इश्क़

said HUSN-o-ISHQ

also written: husn-o-eshq, husn o ishq

Meaning

Beauty and love; the eternal pairing of the beautiful beloved and the loving lover, a governing theme of the ghazal.

Literally: beauty and love

How Iqbal uses it

Husn-o-ishq, beauty-and-love, names the eternal pair at the heart of the whole tradition — the beloved's beauty and the lover's love, each calling the other into being. The classic teaching is that beauty cannot bear to remain unseen and so creates the love that beholds it; love and beauty are two faces of one reality. Iqbal makes this pairing cosmic: beauty (the Divine self-disclosure) and love (the soul's answering passion) are the very engine of creation, the dialogue from which the universe is born.

See it in the verse

Husn-o-ishq in Iqbal’s couplets

Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain

Beyond the stars there are worlds yet — there are still more trials of love to come.

Aspiration · Love · Restlessness

Dayar-e-ishq mein apna maqam paida kar
Naya zamana, naye subh-o-sham paida kar

In the realm of love, create your own standing — bring a new age into being, new mornings and new evenings of your own.

Aspiration · Action · Love

Tere ishq ki intiha chahta hun
Meri sadgi dekh kya chahta hun

I long for the very limit of Your love — look at my simplicity, see what I dare to ask.

Love · Aspiration · Restlessness

Ishq dam-e-Jibreel ishq dam-e-Mustafa
Ishq Khuda ka Rasool ishq Khuda ka kalaam

Love is the breath of Gabriel, love the breath of the Prophet; love is the messenger of God, love is the Word of God.

Love · Aspiration

Mard-e-Khuda ka amal ishq se sahib-e-firogh
Ishq hai asl-e-hayat maut hai is par haraam

The deeds of the man of God shine with love; love is the essence of life, and death is forbidden to touch it.

Love · Aspiration · Action

Tere ishq ki inteha chahta hoon
Meri sadgi dekh, kya chahta hoon

I long for the very furthest reach of your love — look at my simplicity, look at what I dare to ask for.

Love · Aspiration

Related words

Husn

Beauty, comeliness; the radiant loveliness of the beloved.

Ishq

Love — passionate, all-consuming love, whether for the divine or the human.

Jamal

Beauty, grace, splendor; the divine or human beauty that draws the lover's gaze.

Aashiqi

The state or act of being in love; passionate loverhood.

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