Usmana Akhtar Jamal عثمانہ اختر جمال

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Urdu poetry, from the first word

You don’t need to read Urdu to fall for a ghazal. Here is how one is built, the words people use about it, and how to read every poem on this site in three ways.

اردو

“Urdu”, written in Nastaliq

1. The script

Urdu is written right to left, in a flowing hand called Nastaliq — letters join and hang down in a slant, like a line of calligraphy. That is why Urdu books open from what an English reader would call the back, and why the book reader on this site turns its pages to the left.

Can’t read the script? Switch on Roman to see each line spelled out in English letters, so you can say it aloud.

2. How a ghazal is built

A ghazal is a string of couplets (sher). Every couplet ends with the same refrain, and just before it, a rhyme. Here are two couplets from one of the most loved ghazals of all, by Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869):

Matla — the opening couplet

ہزاروں خواہشیں ایسی کہ ہر خواہش پہ دم نکلے hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle بہت نکلے مرے ارمان لیکن پھر بھی کم نکلے bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle
Thousands of desires — each one worth dying for; many of my longings came true, and still they were too few.

A later couplet

نکلنا خلد سے آدم کا سنتے آئے ہیں لیکن nikalna khuld se aadam ka sunte aaye hain lekin بہت بے آبرو ہو کر ترے کوچے سے ہم نکلے bahut be-aabru ho kar tere kooche se hum nikle
We have long heard how Adam was sent out of Paradise — but far more disgraced was I, leaving your street.

nikle is the radif: it closes every couplet, word for word.

dam · kam · hum is the qafiya: the rhyme that changes each time.

In the matla both lines rhyme; after that, only the second line of each couplet does.

3. Reading poems on this site

اردو

Urdu, always

Every poem is shown as she wrote it, laid out the classic way — each couplet’s two lines matched in width.

Roman

Say it aloud

Turn on Roman and each line appears in English letters beneath the Urdu, so you can hear its music.

English

Know what it means

Turn on English for a translation after each couplet. Each poem says whether it is a draft or reviewed.

4. The words people use

ghazal غزل
A poem of couplets that share one rhyme and one refrain. Each couplet stands on its own — often about love, longing or loss.
sher شعر
A couplet: two lines that together make one complete thought. The building block of a ghazal.
misra مصرع
One line of a couplet. Each sher has two.
qafiya قافیہ
The rhyme — a word that rhymes from couplet to couplet, just before the refrain.
radif ردیف
The refrain — the word or words repeated exactly at the end of every couplet.
matla مطلع
The opening couplet. Both of its lines end in the rhyme and refrain, setting the pattern.
maqta مقطع
The closing couplet, where the poet traditionally signs the ghazal with her pen name.
takhallus تخلص
A poet’s pen name, woven into the last couplet.
behr بحر
The metre — the rhythm every line keeps. It is why a ghazal sings so naturally.
nazm نظم
A poem that develops one theme from start to finish, free of the ghazal’s rhyme rules.
afsana افسانہ
A short story. Afsanay is the plural.
daad داد
Praise from the audience — the “wah wah!” you hear at a mushaira, a gathering for poetry.

5. Words from her titles

Learn these eight and you can already read the names of her books and stories.

Now read her poetry