Qafiya

Qaafiyaa or Qafiyah (Persian: قافیہ, Urdu: قافیہ) is a device employed in a form of Persian poetry and Urdu poetry known as ghazal (a poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain) and also in nazm. The qaafiyaa is the rhyming pattern of words that must directly precede the ghazal's radif.

The example below is of a ghazal below by Daag Dehelvi.

In this case the qaafiyaa is the following pattern of words: jalwa-gaah, nigaah, raah, haale-tabaah and aah. The radif is mein.

Aafat kii shoKhiyaa. N hai. n tumhaarii nigaah mein
mehashar ke fitane khelate hai. n jalwa-gaah mein

wo dushmanii se dekhate hai. n dekhate to hain
mai. n shaad huu. N ke huu. N to kisii kii nigaah mein

aatii baat baat mujhe yaad baar baar
kahataa huu. N dau. D dau. D ke qaasid se raah mein

is taubaah par hai naaz mujhe zaahid is qadar
jo TuuT kar shariik huu. N haal-e-tabaah mein

mushtaaq is adaa ke bahot dard-ma. nd the
ae DaaG tum to baiTh gaye ek aah mein

Haroof e qafiyaa: (حروف قافیہ): ravi ، rauf, qaid and tasees ۔ These letters precede ravi, which is the last letter of qaafiyaa.

Harf e ravi (حرف روی): it is the last letter in qaafiyaa e.g. in nigah and gulshan, ہ and ن are ravi. It is in other words the last letter of qaafiyaa.

Harf e rauf (حرف روف): it is the letter preceding ravi. For example, ش in gulshan (گلشن) and ا in nigah (نگاہ) are rauf. It is mandatory that haroof e rauf must match with each other. Using the word share (شیر) instead of shore (شور) is considered wrong.

Harf e qaid (قید): this precedes rauf e.g. ی in dare (دیر) and bare (بیر).

Harf e tasees (تاسیس): if harf e rauf is preceded by alif (الف), it is called tasees e.g. in kamil (کامل) and shamil (شامل), letter (الف) is tasees.

وہ حروف جو روی کے بعد آتے ہیں وہ حرف وصل، حرف خروج، حرف مذید اور حرف نائرہ کہلاتے ہیں۔^{[needs translation]}

Hajib (حاجب): when there are two qaafiyaa and two radifs, the first radif which is in between two qaafiyaa is known as hajib.

جس شعر میں دو قافئیے اور دو ہی ردیف ہوں اس میں سےپہلی ردیف کو جو دونوں قافیوں کے درمیان واقع ہو اس کو حاجب کہتے ہیں۔ جیسے کہ^{[needs translation]}

MazmooN sifat ka qiyamat say laR giyaa^{[needs translation]}

مضمون صفات قد کا قیامت سے لڑ گیا^{[needs translation]}

Qamat kay Aagay sir khijalat say gaR giya^{[needs translation]}

قامت کے آگے سر خجالت سے گڑ گیا^{[needs translation]}

اس شعر میں قیامت اور خجالت اور لڑ اور گڑسے ردیف حاجب ہیں۔^{[needs translation]}

Origin

The origin of qaafiyaa is Arabic; it is the rhyming of the ends of the words. Ghazal is a form of romantic Arabic poetry. Ghazal is essentially flirtatious and quite often playful poetry.

A ghazal which has no radif is known as ghair muradaf ghazal; if it contains radif, it is called a muradaf ghazal.