Persian · noun · Love & Longing
Paighaam
पैग़ाम
said pai-GHAAM
also written: Payaam, paigam, payaam, paighaam
Meaning
A message; the word of love sent between the parted lovers.
Literally: message
How Iqbal uses it
Paigham is the message — the word sent to or from the beloved, freighted with all the hope and dread of the parted lover. A single paigham can hold a life: a yes, a refusal, a sign of remembrance across the distance. Lifted into Iqbal's wider register, paigham becomes the larger Message — the summons of love or of awakening that the poet himself is charged to carry to a sleeping people.
See it in the verse
Paighaam in Iqbal’s couplets
Mujhe aah-o-fughan-e-nim-shab ka phir payam aaya
Tham ai rah-rau ki shayad phir koi mushkil maqam aaya
Tham ai rah-rau ki shayad phir koi mushkil maqam aaya
The cry of the midnight again brought me its message: pause, traveller, for perhaps another hard pass has arrived.
Adversity · Courage · Awakening
Ye payam de gai hai mujhe baad-e-subh-gahi
Ki khudi ke aarifon ka hai maqam padshahi
Ki khudi ke aarifon ka hai maqam padshahi
The morning breeze brought me this message: the station of those who truly know selfhood is sovereignty.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge · Leadership
Related words
PERSIAN
Payaam
A message, a tiding; the love-message carried to the beloved.
ARABIC
Qaasid
A messenger, a courier; the one who carries the lover's message to the beloved.
PERSIAN
Naama
A letter, a written missive; the love-letter sent to the beloved.
ARABIC
Hijr
Separation, parting from the beloved; the ache of being apart.