Urdu Dictionary

Arabic · noun · The Tavern & the Cup

Saqi

साक़ी

said SAA-qee

also written: saaqi, saki, saaqi-e

Meaning

The cup-bearer who pours the wine; in mysticism, the master or the Divine who dispenses spiritual grace.

Literally: cup-bearer, wine-pourer

How Iqbal uses it

Saqi is the cup-bearer — the beautiful one who pours the wine, beloved and giver of intoxication at once, presiding over the gathering with a glance as heady as the drink. In Sufi poetry the Saqi is the spiritual guide or the Divine itself, pouring the wine of love and gnosis that drowns the self. Iqbal famously addresses a Saqi in his verse, calling for a wine that would rekindle the spirit of a slumbering people — intoxication not as escape but as awakening.

See it in the verse

Saqi in Iqbal’s couplets

Nahin hai naumeed Iqbal apni kisht-e-veeran se
Zara nam ho to ye mitti badi zarkhez hai saqi

Iqbal is not without hope, even from his barren field — let there be a little moisture, cupbearer, and this soil is wonderfully fertile.

Hope · Aspiration

Bohat dekhe hain main ne mashriq-o-maghrib ke maikhane
Yahan saqi nahin paida wahan be-zauq hai sahba

I have seen many a wine-house in both East and West: here no cup-bearer worth the name, there a wine with no savour at all.

Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Bahut dekhe hain maine mashriq-o-maghrib ke maikhane
Yahan saaqi nahin paida, wahan be-zauq hai sahba

I have seen many a tavern of the East and the West — here no cup-bearer is born, and there the wine itself is without relish.

Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Nasha pila ke girana to sab ko aata hai
Maza to jab hai ki girton ko thaam le saqi

Anyone can pour the wine and let people fall — the real worth is when the cup-bearer catches those who are falling.

Leadership · Humility · Action

Digar-gun hai jahan taron ki gardish tez hai saqi
Dil-e-har-zarra mein ghaugha-e-rusta-khez hai saqi

The world is changing, the wheeling of the stars is swift; in the heart of every atom there is the tumult of a rising.

Awakening · Hope · Restlessness

Faqir-e-rah ko bakhshe gae asrar-e-sultani
Baha meri nava ki daulat-e-parvez hai saqi

To the wayfaring beggar were granted the secrets of kingship; the price of my song is the whole treasure of Parvez.

Self-Knowledge · Humility · Selfhood

Related words

Maikhana

The tavern; in Sufi symbolism, the lodge of spiritual intoxication where divine wine is served.

Sharaab

Wine or any intoxicating drink; in the mystical idiom, the rapture of divine love.

Jaam

A goblet or wine-cup; the fabled cup of Jamshed that showed the whole world within it.

Mai

Wine; emblem of divine love, ecstasy, and the annihilation of the ego.

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