Arabic · noun · Time, Fate & the Cosmos
Subh
सुब्ह
said SUB-h
also written: subah, subh, morning
Meaning
Morning, dawn, the first light of day.
Literally: Arabic subh: the daybreak.
How Iqbal uses it
Subah is the morning, the full daybreak that follows the first grey of dawn — light established, the world awake. Where sahar is the breaking edge, subah is the arrived day, emblem of clarity, renewal and the end of night's confusion. Iqbal uses it for the dawn of awakening writ large: the morning of a revived community, the light that scatters the long night of slumber and servitude.
See it in the verse
Subh in Iqbal’s couplets
Dayar-e-ishq mein apna maqam paida kar
Naya zamana, naye subh-o-sham paida kar
Naya zamana, naye subh-o-sham paida kar
In the realm of love, create your own standing — bring a new age into being, new mornings and new evenings of your own.
Aspiration · Action · Love
Use subh-e-azal inkar ki jurat hui kyunkar
Mujhe malum kya wo raaz-dan tera hai ya mera
Mujhe malum kya wo raaz-dan tera hai ya mera
How did he find the daring to refuse at the dawn of time? How would I know whose confidant he is, yours or mine.
Courage · Selfhood
Qalb o nazar ki zindagi dasht mein subh ka samaan
Chashma-e-aftab se nuur ki naddiyan ravaan
Chashma-e-aftab se nuur ki naddiyan ravaan
The life of the heart and the eye is like daybreak in the desert; from the spring of the sun, rivers of light flow out.
Awakening · Hope · Self-Knowledge
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