Meaning
The exhilaration of wine, the giddy rapture that wine kindles, often a figure for spiritual intoxication.
Literally: the ecstasy of wine
How Iqbal uses it
Suroor-e-mai is the lift of intoxication, which in mystic verse stands for the rapture of divine love rather than literal drink. Iqbal redirects the tavern's joy toward the sober drunkenness of a soul intoxicated with truth.
See it in the verse
Suroor-e-mai in Iqbal’s couplets
Ilm mein bhi suroor hai lekin
Ye wo jannat hai jis mein hoor nahin
Ye wo jannat hai jis mein hoor nahin
There is a certain delight in knowledge too — but it is a paradise without companions.
Self-Knowledge · Love · Humility
Kya dabdaba-e-nadir kya shaukat-e-taimuri
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
What of Nadir's dread power, what of Timur's splendour? In the end every such record is drowned in the pure wine of time.
Humility · Self-Knowledge · Adversity
Main shakh-e-tak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar
I am a branch of the vine, my song is my fruit; from that fruit press out the tulip-red wine.
Action · Aspiration · Youth