Persian · noun · Struggle & the Sword

Jaan-baazi

जाँबाज़ी

said jaan-baa-zee

also written: Janbazi

Meaning

The risking of one's life; fearless self-sacrifice in a cause.

Literally: life-gambling (jan + bazi)

How Iqbal uses it

The reckless staking of life for love or cause, a martial-romantic virtue. Iqbal's call to dynamic struggle prizes this readiness to gamble life itself.

See it in the verse

Jaan-baazi in Iqbal’s couplets

Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, jaan pur-soz
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye

A lofty gaze, speech that wins the heart, a soul that burns with feeling — this alone is the travelling kit a caravan's leader needs.

Leadership · Aspiration

Related words

PERSIAN

Sarfaroshi

Readiness to sacrifice one's life; the willingness to offer up one's head for a cause.

ARABIC

Fidaai

One who sacrifices himself; a devotee ready to die for the beloved.

ARABIC

Shaheed

A martyr; one who dies for faith or a sacred cause.

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