Mushtaaq

Longing, eager, ardently desirous.

Literally: eager, longing, ardently desirous

Mushtaaq describes the lover as one consumed with eager longing — the heart that aches and reaches for the beloved, full of shauq (ardent desire). It names the very posture of love: leaning forward, hungry, all attention turned toward the longed-for face. In the spiritual register the soul is mushtaaq for the Divine, the eager seeker whose whole being is a forward yearning toward the Beloved it has not yet reached.