Meaning
A maker of speech; an eloquent poet or, sometimes, a flatterer who spins fine words.
Literally: speech-fashioner
How Iqbal uses it
The artful weaver of verse; the term can praise craft or, with a shade of irony, mark mere fluent talk without substance.
See it in the verse
Sukhan-saaz in Iqbal’s couplets
Tu bacha bacha ke na rakh ise tera aaina hai wo aaina
Ki shikasta ho to azeez-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Ki shikasta ho to azeez-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Do not hoard and shield your heart — it is the kind of mirror that, once broken, grows dearer in the eyes of the Mirror-maker.
Love · Courage · Adversity
Zamane ke andaz badle gaye
Naya raag hai saaz badle gaye
Naya raag hai saaz badle gaye
The ways of the age have changed; the tune is new, the instruments have changed.
Awakening · Action · Restlessness
Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, jaan pur-soz
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
A lofty gaze, speech that wins the heart, a soul that burns with feeling — this alone is the travelling kit a caravan's leader needs.
Leadership · Aspiration
Wajud-e-zan se hai tasveer-e-kaenat mein rang
Isi ke saaz se hai zindagi ka soz-e-darun
Isi ke saaz se hai zindagi ka soz-e-darun
It is the presence of woman that gives colour to the portrait of the universe — from her instrument comes the inner fire of life itself.
Love · Unity · Humility
Tu bacha bacha ke na rakh ise tera aaina hai wo aaina
ke shikasta ho to aziz-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
ke shikasta ho to aziz-tar hai nigah-e-aaina-saaz mein
Do not keep your mirror anxiously protected — yours is the kind of mirror that, even when shattered, is dearer in the eyes of its maker.
Courage · Selfhood · Adversity
Khudi ke saaz mein hai umr-e-javidan ka suragh
Khudi ke soz se roshan hain ummaton ke charagh
Khudi ke soz se roshan hain ummaton ke charagh
Within the music of selfhood lies the trace of an everlasting life — and it is by the burning of selfhood that the lamps of whole peoples are lit.
Selfhood · Leadership · Hope