Word Meaning
इशक़
ishq
Meaning
Passionate, intense, or transcendent love; deep romantic or mystical devotion.
Detailed Meaning
In Urdu poetics, ishq represents an all-consuming passion that bridges earthly desire and divine union. In this couplet, it designates a costly and exhausting passion paired with wine-drinking, contrasting romantic indulgence with the austerity of a dervish. The poet ironically asserts that sustaining such intense romantic absorption demands great material wealth rather than mere ascetic renunciation.
Etymology
Arabic '‘ishq' (عشق), derived from the root '‘-sh-q' (ع-ش-ق), historically linked to '‘ashaqa', an ivy that entwines and tightly wraps around a tree.
Usage
As the defining motif of the classical ghazal, ishq serves as the spiritual and emotional axis that glorifies devotion, suffering, and transcendence.
Examples
The fire of passionate love consumes all worldly reason.
The path of love requires absolute surrender of the self.