Meaning
A wounded or half-slaughtered bird, fluttering in its death-throes.
Literally: sacrificed bird
How Iqbal uses it
The murgh-e-bismil, the bird wounded and writhing, is a piercing emblem of the lover or martyr quivering in the agony of love or sacrifice; its restless flutter figures a passion that cannot be stilled even by the death-blow.
See it in the verse
Murgh-e-Bismil in Iqbal’s couplets
Har shai musafir har cheez raahi
Kya chand tare kya murgh o maahi
Kya chand tare kya murgh o maahi
Every thing is a traveller, every object a wayfarer — whether the moon and stars, or the birds and the fish.
Restlessness · Action · Unity
Tu huma ka hai shikari abhi ibtida hai teri
Nahin maslahat se khali ye jahan-e-murgh-o-mahi
Nahin maslahat se khali ye jahan-e-murgh-o-mahi
You are a hunter of the huma, your journey has only just begun; this world of birds and fish is not without its hidden purpose.
Aspiration · Youth · Hope