Persian · noun phrase, feminine · The Tavern & the Cup
Mai-e-naab
मय-ए-नाब
said mai-e-naab
also written: mai-e-nab, mai naab
Meaning
Pure, unmixed wine; the unadulterated draught of mystical love.
Literally: pure, unmixed wine
How Iqbal uses it
Mai-e-naab is wine in its purest, undiluted state — and so the symbol of unalloyed divine love, grace without sediment or compromise. The poet asks for the clear wine, not the cloudy dregs, when he wants the highest reach of ecstasy. Iqbal uses the pure wine to image a faith and a love undiluted by convenience or fear, the real draught as opposed to the watered piety of the timid.
See it in the verse
Mai-e-naab in Iqbal’s couplets
Main shakh-e-taak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar
I am the vine-branch; my ghazal is my fruit — from my fruit, press out the rose-red wine.
Aspiration · Action · Youth
Kya dabdaba-e-nadir kya shaukat-e-taimuri
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
What of Nadir's dread power, what of Timur's splendour? In the end every such record is drowned in the pure wine of time.
Humility · Self-Knowledge · Adversity
Main shakh-e-tak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar
I am a branch of the vine, my song is my fruit; from that fruit press out the tulip-red wine.
Action · Aspiration · Youth