Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq

شیخ ابراہیم ذوق

1789–1854 · Late Mughal (Delhi)

Poet laureate (Malik-ush-Shu'ara) at the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Ghalib's great rival, Zauq was celebrated for the correctness and fluency of his Urdu.

How to read Zauq

Study Zauq for idiom: his lines often read like proverbs because they are built from the living speech of Delhi, set perfectly into the metre.

Couplets in the course (2)

لائی حیات آئے قضا لے چلی چلے

اپنی خوشی نہ آئے نہ اپنی خوشی چلے

laa'ii hayaat aa'e qazaa le chalii chale

apnii khushii na aa'e na apnii khushii chale

Life brought us, so we came; death takes us, so we go;

we neither came of our own will nor leave of our own will.

Sheikh Ibrahim ZauqMuzāre' musamman akhrab makfūf mahzūfmatlaBeginnerTazaad (antithesis)Tikraar (repetition)

اب تو گھبرا کے یہ کہتے ہیں کہ مر جائیں گے

مر کے بھی چین نہ پایا تو کدھر جائیں گے

ab to ghabraa ke ye kahte haiñ ki mar jaa'eñ ge

mar ke bhii chain na paayaa to kidhar jaa'eñ ge

In my distress I now say I will die;

but if I find no peace even in death, where will I go?

Sheikh Ibrahim ZauqRamal musamman makhbūn mahzūfmatlaBeginner