Persian · noun · Iqbal's Emblems

Khaar

ख़ार
said khaar
also written: khar, khaar, thorn
Meaning

A thorn, the sharp companion of the rose and the pricking obstacle of the path.

Literally: thorn

How Iqbal uses it

The khaar is the thorn — the rose's inseparable companion, classical emblem of the pain that comes bound to beauty, of the obstacle in the lover's path, and of the hurt that guards the flower; 'gul aur khaar,' rose and thorn, name beauty and its attendant suffering as one. Iqbal uses the thorn for the necessary hardship woven into beauty and striving, the pain that is not the enemy of the rose but its protector and price — even the thorn earns its place in the garden by guarding the bloom.