Meaning
The red rose.
Literally: red flower
How Iqbal uses it
The red rose, queen of the garden and object of the nightingale's love, is the standing emblem of beauty bought with blood and of the beloved; its colour ties it to Iqbal's web of red imagery, tulip, twilight, and the ardent heart.
See it in the verse
Surkh-gul in Iqbal’s couplets
Khuda agar dil-e-fitrat-shanaas de tujh ko
Sukoot-e-laala-o-gul se kalaam paida kar
Sukoot-e-laala-o-gul se kalaam paida kar
If God gives you a heart that can read Nature, then draw speech out of the silence of the tulip and the rose.
Self-Knowledge · Aspiration · Awakening
Shakh-e-gul par chahak wa-lekin
Kar apni khudi mein aashiyana
Kar apni khudi mein aashiyana
Sing, by all means, on the rose-branch — but build your nest within your own selfhood.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Safina-e-barg-e-gul bana lega qafila mor-e-na-tawan ka
Hazar maujon ki ho kashakash magar ye dariya se par hoga
Hazar maujon ki ho kashakash magar ye dariya se par hoga
The caravan of feeble ants will make a boat of a rose petal; though a thousand waves clash against it, this boat will cross the river.
Hope · Courage · Unity