Arabic · noun · Mind & Knowledge
Nazar / Nigah
नज़र / निगाह
said na-ZAR / ni-GAAH
also written: nigah, nigaah
Meaning
Gaze, vision, insight — the discerning eye.
How Iqbal uses it
True sight belongs to the heart, not the intellect. The cure for the self is nazar, not the mere report (khabar) the mind collects. The gaze of love (nigah-e-ishq) seeks only what is living; a high, fearless gaze is the wayfaring-kit of the one who leads the caravan.
See it in the verse
Nazar / Nigah in Iqbal’s couplets
Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, jaan pur-soz
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
A lofty gaze, speech that wins the heart, a soul that burns with feeling — this alone is the travelling kit a caravan's leader needs.
Leadership · Aspiration
Nigah-e-ishq dil-e-zinda ki talash mein hai
Shikar-e-murda sazawar-e-shahbaz nahin
Shikar-e-murda sazawar-e-shahbaz nahin
The gaze of love is searching for a living heart — dead quarry is not worthy of the royal falcon.
Love · The Falcon · Awakening
Faqat nigah se hota hai faisla dil ka
Na ho nigah mein shokhi to dilbari kya hai
Na ho nigah mein shokhi to dilbari kya hai
The heart's verdict is settled by a glance alone — and if there is no spark in the glance, what charm is left at all?
Love · Courage · Self-Knowledge
Khirad ke pas khabar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
Tera ilaj nazar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
Tera ilaj nazar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
Reason holds nothing but information; your true cure is nothing but vision.
Self-Knowledge · Awakening
Nigah paida kar ai ghafil tajalli ain-e-fitrat hai
Ki apni mauj se begana rah sakta nahin dariya
Ki apni mauj se begana rah sakta nahin dariya
Cultivate vision, O heedless one, for radiance is the very nature of things; a river cannot stay a stranger to its own wave.
Awakening · Self-Knowledge · Selfhood