Urdu Dictionary
Persian · noun · Nature & the Garden

Sholah

शोला
said SHO-la
also written: Shola, shola, sho'lah, shu'la
Meaning

A flame or blaze; figuratively burning intensity.

Literally: flame, blaze

How Iqbal uses it

Sho'la is the leaping flame — the visible fire of passion, taller and more dramatic than the spark, the blaze of a heart fully alight with love or longing. The ghazal makes it an image of beauty (the beloved's face like a flame) and of the lover's own burning. In Iqbal's symbolism the sho'la is the restless upward-striving of the living self, fire that refuses to lie still — the flame as the very emblem of a soul that will not be content.

See it in the verse

Sholah in Iqbal’s couplets

Khudi ko na de seem-o-zar ke ewaz
Nahin shola dete sharar ke ewaz
Do not trade away your selfhood for silver and gold — no one hands over a blazing flame in exchange for a mere spark.
Selfhood · Freedom · Courage
Ye aql o dil hain sharar shola-e-mohabbat ke
Wo khar-o-khas ke liye hai ye nistan ke liye
Both intellect and heart are sparks of the flame of love — one is meant for thorns and straw, the other for a whole reed-bed.
Love · Self-Knowledge · Action
Related words
PERSIAN

Atish

Fire; the blaze of passion or fervour.

PERSIAN

Sharar / Shola

Spark (sharar) and flame (shola).

PERSIAN

Aatish-e-ishq

The fire of love; the burning passion that consumes the lover.

PERSIAN

Soz

Burning; inner fire, fervour, pathos.

PERSIAN

Tapish

Burning agitation and palpitation, the throbbing heat of a heart inflamed with restless longing.

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