Arabic · noun · People & Roles

Muhtasib

मुहतसिब
said muh-TA-sib
also written: mohtasib, muhtasib
Meaning

The censor of public morals who enforced religious law, forbidding wine and vice.

Literally: the censor of morals; market-and-morals inspector

Usage & notes

The muhtasib was the official charged with enforcing public morals — smashing wine-jars, policing the tavern — so in poetry he is the enemy of the lovers, the heavy hand of joyless orthodoxy come to break the cup. His raids on the maikhana figure the state's or the establishment's war on free, love-soaked devotion. Iqbal uses him as the emblem of coercive piety: the more zealously he smashes the jars, the more the wine of love finds new vessels; force cannot police the heart.