Meaning
A given meter-and-rhyme pattern set for a poetic gathering, on which all poets must compose.
How Iqbal uses it
At a mushaira a tarah fixes the zameen so that every participant's ghazal shares the same metrical and rhyming ground.
See it in the verse
Tarah in Iqbal’s couplets
Ho mere dam se yunhi watan ki zeenat
Jis tarah phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
Jis tarah phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
Let my country be adorned by me, as a garden is adorned by its flowers.
Aspiration · Youth · Action
Ho halqa-e-yaaran to bresham ki tarah narm
Razm-e-haq-o-baatil ho to faulad hai momin
Razm-e-haq-o-baatil ho to faulad hai momin
Among friends, the man of faith is soft as silk; in the battle of truth against falsehood, he is steel.
Courage · Selfhood · Justice
Khudi ka nasheman tere dil mein hai
Falak jis tarah aankh ke til mein hai
Falak jis tarah aankh ke til mein hai
The nest of your selfhood is inside your own heart — the way the whole sky lives inside the pupil of an eye.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge