Persian · noun · Iqbal's Emblems

Khaar

ख़ार

said khaar

Meaning

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

How Iqbal uses it

The thorn figures the pain inseparable from beauty, the suffering that attends every rose and every love. It can also mark the hardships of the road that test the traveller, for the garden is never thornless.

See it in the verse

Khaar in Iqbal’s couplets

Ye aql o dil hain sharar shola-e-mohabbat ke
Wo khar-o-khas ke liye hai ye nistan ke liye

Both intellect and heart are sparks of the flame of love — one is meant for thorns and straw, the other for a whole reed-bed.

Love · Self-Knowledge · Action

Related words

PERSIAN

Gulaab

The rose, the central flower of the garden and the object of the nightingale's love.

PERSIAN

Aashiyan

A bird's nest, the small home woven of straw to which the bird returns.

PERSIAN

Bahaar

Spring, the season of bloom and renewal when the garden returns to life.

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