Word Meaning
ब-क़दर
ba-qadar
Meaning
According to; in proportion to; to the extent or measure of.
Detailed Meaning
A compound formed from the Persian preposition 'ba' (according to, by) and Arabic 'qadr' (measure, capacity, value). In this couplet, it indicates limitation or proportion, meaning that the friends' engagement with the speaker's grief went only to the measure of superficial consumption or talk (lips and teeth). In Urdu poetry, it frequently establishes the correlation between suffering, capacity, and fate.
Etymology
Persian 'ba' (to, by, according to) + Arabic 'qadr' (extent, measure, value).
Usage
Commonly used in classical ghazal to denote the measure of one's endurance, longing, or fate.
Examples
To the measure of one's capacity, grief was meted out.
Joy was granted according to the depth of longing.