Word Meaning
ख़ुद-कुशी
khud-kushi
Meaning
suicide; the act of killing oneself; self-destruction.
Detailed Meaning
Literally meaning the killing of oneself, 'khud-kushi' denotes suicide or self-inflicted annihilation. In Iqbal's famous couplet, it serves as an allegory for moral and cultural self-destruction, warning that Western modern civilization carries within itself the seeds of its own ruin. Rather than literal death, the term here evokes the inevitability of collapsing under one's own hubris.
Etymology
Persian: compound of 'khud' (self) + 'kushi' (from 'kushtan', to kill, with the abstract suffix -i).
Usage
In classical Urdu poetry, khud-kushi is relatively modern as an abstract philosophical critique, frequently symbolizing ideological or existential self-ruin rather than physical suicide.
Examples
Refusal to heal becomes a quiet suicide of the soul.
Their arrogance proved to be nothing less than political suicide.