Word Meaning
मस्जिदों
masjidoñ
Meaning
Mosques; Islamic places of worship (plural oblique form).
Detailed Meaning
In this couplet, 'masjidoñ' refers to mosques, the physical and symbolic spaces of formal religious worship. The poet laments a wasted youth when bowing in mosques was dismissed or felt like hypocrisy, contrasting it with old age where the back is involuntarily bent like a prayer arch. The plural oblique emphasizes the conventional sites of orthodox devotion.
Etymology
Arabic مَسْجِد (masjid, place of prostration), from the triconsonantal root س-ج-د (s-j-d, to prostrate), with the Urdu oblique plural marker '-oñ'.
Usage
In classical Urdu ghazal, the mosque is frequently contrasted with the tavern (maykhana) to satirize shallow orthodoxy against sincere love.
Examples
leaving the quiet of mosques for the tavern
the call echoing across silent mosques