ghazal

The tradition & historical record

Ghazal is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The ghazal form is ancient, tracing its origins to 7th-century Arabic poetry. It spread into the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century due to the influence of Islam in the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate, and is now most prominently a form of poetry of many languages of South Asia and Turkey. It set to music has also become a popular music genre in Malaysia and Singapore courtesy of Indian trade. A poem of ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen couplets, which are independent, but are linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their poetic form. The structural requirements of ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content, due to its highly allusive nature, ghazal has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation. ¹

The word ghazal originates from the Arabic word غزل (ġazal). This genre of Arabic poetry is derived from غَزَل (ḡazal) or غَزِلَ (ḡazila) - To sweet-talk, to flirt, to display amorous gestures. The Arabic word غزل ġazal is pronounced [ˈɣazal]. In English, the word is pronounced or. ¹

The ghazal is a short poem consisting of rhyming couplets, called bayt or sher. Most ghazals have between seven and twelve bayts. For a poem to be considered a true ghazal, it must have no fewer than five couplets. Almost all ghazals confine themselves to less than fifteen couplets (poems that exceed this length are more accurately considered as qasidas). Ghazal couplets end with the same rhyming pattern and are expected to have the same meter. The ghazal's uniqueness arises from its rhyme and refrain rules, referred to as the qafiya and radif respectively. A ghazal's rhyming pattern may be described as AA BA CA DA, and so on. In its strictest structural form, a classical ghazal follows a number of rules: ¹

Matla': The first sher in a ghazal is called the matla'. Both lines of the matla' must contain the qafiya and radif. The matla' sets the tone of the ghazal, as well as its rhyming and refrain pattern. Radif: The refrain word or phrase. Both lines of the matla' and the second lines of all subsequent shers must end in the same refrain word called the radif. Qafiya: The rhyming pattern. The radif is immediately preceded by words or phrases with the same end rhyme pattern, called the qafiya. Maqta': The last couplet of the ghazal is called the maqta'. It is common in ghazals for the poet's nom de plume, known as takhallus to be featured in the maqta'. The maqta' is typically more personal than the other couplets in a ghazal. Bahr: Each line of a ghazal must follow the same metrical pattern and syllabic (or morae) count. Unlike in a nazm, a ghazal's couplets do not need a common theme or continuity. Each verse is self-contained and independent from the others, containing the complete expression of an idea. ¹

The Ghazal tradition is marked by the poetry's ambiguity and simultaneity of meaning. Learning the common tropes is key to understanding the ghazal. There are several locations an Urdu sher might take place in: ¹

The Garden, where the poet often takes on the personage of the bulbul, a songbird. The poet is singing to the beloved, who is often embodied as a rose. hoon garmi-i-nishat-i-tasavvur se naghma sanj Main andalib-i-gulshan-i-na afridah hoon - Ghalib I sing from the warmth of the passionate joy of thought ¹

I am the bulbul of a garden not yet created The Tavern, or the maikhana, where the poet drinks wine in search of enlightenment, union with God, and desolation of self. mir un neem-baaz ankhon men saari masti sharab ki si hai - Mir Taqi Mir 'Mir' is in those half-closed eyes all flirtation is a bit like wine ¹

The ghazal originated in Arabia in the 7th century, evolving from the qasida, a pre-Islamic Arabic poetic form. While the qaṣīda was a long-form poem (often up to 100 couplets) focusing on tribal panegyrics, lampoons, or moral maxims, its opening prelude, known as the nasīb, was thematic for nostalgia and romance. Over time, the nasīb began to be written as standalone, shorter poems, which became the ghazal. The ghazal blossomed as an independent genre during the Umayyad era (661–750) and continued to develop in the early Abbasid era. It inherited the formal structure of the qaṣīda, specifically the strict adherence to meter and the use of the qafiya (end rhyme). To meet the demands of musical presentation, the ghazal became briefer and utilized lighter poetic meters, such as Khafīf, Ramal, and Mutaqārib, moving away from the more ponderous meters like Kāmil, Basīṭ, and Rajaz. Thematically, the Arabic ghazal branched into two primary schools: ¹

The Udhri school (al-ghazal al-ʿudhrī): Named after the Banu Udhra tribe, it emphasized "courtly" or Platonic love, characterized by devotion and suffering (e.g., Jamil ibn Ma'mar). The Hijazi school (al-ghazal al-ṣarīḥ): Known for its erotic or explicit themes and a more lighthearted tone (e.g., Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah). ¹

With the spread of Islam, the Arabian ghazal spread westwards into Africa and Al-Andalus, and eastwards into Persia. Its popularity was closely tied to the spread of the Arabic language. In medieval Spain, ghazals were written in both Arabic and Hebrew (by Jewish poets influenced by Arabic prosody) as early as the 11th century. The form also influenced West African literary languages such as Hausa and Fulfulde. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ghazal”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

ghazal is form of poetry in South Asia and the Middle East, whose first and every even-numbered lines rhyme, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 39 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²