Urdu Dictionary
Persian · noun · Being & Non-Being

Sehr-e-Firang

सहर-ए-फ़िरंग
said sehr-e-fi-rang
Meaning

The magic of the West; the bewitching spell of European civilisation.

Literally: Sorcery of the Franks.

How Iqbal uses it

A signature Iqbalian phrase: the dazzling sehr of Western science, machinery and culture that mesmerises the East and can rob it of its soul unless seen through.

See it in the verse

Sehr-e-Firang in Iqbal’s couplets

Utha na sheesha-garaan-e-firang ke ehsaan
Safaal-e-Hind se mina-o-jaam paida kar
Do not be indebted to the glassmakers of the foreign land — fashion your goblet and cup from the clay of your own soil.
Selfhood · Freedom · Action
Related words
ARABIC

Sehr

Magic, sorcery, enchantment, bewitching spell.

PERSIAN

Firang / Maghrib

The West, Europe — literally “the Franks.”

ARABIC

Tilism

Enchantment, magic spell, a magical world or talismanic illusion.

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