Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, 

and Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, eds., Shi’ism: Doctrines, 

Thought, Spirituality (Albany: State University of New 

York Press, 1988); Wilferd Madelung, “Authority in 

Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam.” In La notion 

d’authorité au Moyen Âge: Islam, Byzance, Occident (Paris: 

Presses Universitaires de France, 1978), 163–173.

ghazal

 

(Arabic; also 

ghazel, gazal)

A ghazal is a love poem about eternal desire never 

fulfilled, in which unrequited and unattainable 

love drives the loyal lover to misery. Often, the 

lover will be likened to a moth near a candle, 

while the beloved is beautiful and inaccessible, 

off gallivanting with another or drinking from a 

wine goblet. The ghazal can be interpreted both 

as a love poem and a devotional poem, for the 

pain of separation that one feels from one’s lover 

is analogous to the pain of separation one feels 

from God.

The ghazal is originally a Persian poetic form 

that came to i

ndia

 in the 12th century with 

Muslim rule and flourished in India during the 

m

Ughal

 

dynasty

 (1526–1708). The rise of Urdu 

as the popular poetic language of north India gave 

birth to the Urdu ghazal, which is between five 

and 15 couplets long and uses the same rhyme 

and refrain throughout the poem. Although an 

Urdu ghazal is a single poem, each couplet within 

the  ghazal is considered a poem in and of itself, 

like a pearl in a necklace.

In India, the popularity of the ghazal led 

to the development of the mushaira, which is a 

gathering of poets who recite ghazal couplets to 

one another. The ghazal also evolved into its own 

musical form, as ghazal singers began performing 

with semiclassical musicians. Early Indian 

cinema

incorporated  ghazal 

mUsic

 into its commercial 

films, making ghazal music popular and acces-

sible to a larger audience.

Although the ghazal has historically been 

associated with Islam, it is now an ecumenical 

form of poetry adopted by different religious com-

munities. The Urdu ghazal is still the most famous 

form and remains popular in p

akistan

 and India, 

but ghazal traditions have emerged in other South 

Asian languages as well as in Spanish, Italian, and 

English. Among the most famous ghazal poets are 

Amir Khusrau (d. 1325), Hafiz (d. 1389), Mir Taqi 

Mir (d. 1810), m

irza

 g

halib

 (d. 1869), and Faiz 

Ahmed Faiz (d. 1984).

See also p

ersian

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

.

Varun Soni