What is "qaafiyaa"

Qaafiyaa is a device employed in a form of 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 word Share (شیر) instead of Shore (شور) will be 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۔

HAJIB (حاجب): When there are two "Qaafiyaa" and two "Radeef", the first radeef which is inbetween 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

MazmooN sifat ka qiyamat say laR giyaa مضمون صفات قد کا قیامت سے لڑ گیا Qamat kay Aagay sir khijalat say gaR giya قامت کے آگے سر خجالت سے گڑ گیا

اس شعر میں قیامت اور خجالت اور لڑ اور گڑسے ردیف حاجب ہیں۔