Persian · noun · The Heart & the Body
Naala
नाला
said NAA-la
also written: Nala, nala, naalah, nala-o-faryaad
Meaning
A lament, wail, or plaintive cry.
Literally: wailing, lament, plaintive cry
How Iqbal uses it
Naala is the plaintive wail — the drawn-out cry of the lover's grief, often paired with the nightingale's lament for the rose. Louder and more musical than the sigh, it is sorrow that sings. The ghazal links the lover's naala to the bulbul's, both pouring out a beautiful pain; Iqbal too prizes the lament of the longing heart, the cry that is itself a kind of music and a sign of life unwilling to fall silent.
Related words
PERSIAN
Aah
A sigh; a groan of pain or longing.
PERSIAN
Faryaad
A cry for help; a complaint or appeal.
PERSIAN
Fughaan
A loud lament, wailing, or outcry.
PERSIAN
Bulbul
The nightingale, the songbird that pours out its longing for the rose in the classical garden lyric.
PERSIAN
Soz
Burning; inner fire, fervour, pathos.