Persian · noun phrase, feminine · The Tavern & the Cup
Mai-e-naab
मय-ए-नाब
said mai-e-naab
Meaning
Pure, unmixed wine; the unadulterated draught of mystical love.
Literally: pure wine
How Iqbal uses it
The 'pure wine' is Iqbal's image for an unmixed, undiluted spiritual intoxication, free of hypocrisy and compromise. It is the strong draught fit for the awakened self, not the watered cup of the timid.
See it in the verse
Mai-e-naab in Iqbal’s couplets
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
Related words
PERSIAN
Mai
Wine; in Sufi poetry, a symbol for the intoxicating love and ecstatic knowledge of the Divine.
PERSIAN
Durd
The dregs or lees at the bottom of the wine-cup; in mystic humility, the very draught the lowly lover treasures.
ARABIC
Saaf
Clear, pure, clarified; of wine, the limpid draught drawn off from the dregs, the pure top of the cup (contrasted with durd, the lees).