Wajdan e Mohabbat by Pakeeza Tayyaba

About this novel

Wajdan E Mohabbat (Urdu: وجدانِ محبت) by Pakeeza Tayyaba is a long Urdu family romance about Aqib, a young man grieving a forbidden love. His quiet pain is set against the happy bustle of his sister Hira’s engagement.

The novel opens with a poem by the writer on what love is: it begins life, it travels with every breath, it can raise a person from the depths or bring them down from the heights, it leaves no room for ego and teaches the art of sacrifice – and through it all, the refrain says, love is intuition, a feeling beyond words.

Then the story begins in a dark office cabin. Aqib sits with his eyes closed and his head resting on the back of his chair, lost in his own world, when his phone rings. It’s his mother, Shafaq Begum: “Where are you, beta? Hira’s in-laws are about to arrive for the rasm, and you’re still not home.” Aqib says he’s just leaving – he forgot because of work. His mother gently points out that if he came out of his thoughts, he’d remember other things too; work is just an excuse. She isn’t angry, she says, just worried, as any mother would be. After hanging up, Aqib stands like a defeated man and thinks, “People now want to put restrictions even on my thinking about you – but I won’t let that happen. You can never leave my heart.”

بہن کی منگنی کی خوشی، اور دل میں چھپا ایک ادھورا غم۔

When he gets home, the house is in chaos. His younger brother Haris flops onto the sofa, relieved – “Thank God you’re here, Bhai, Mom has turned me into a full-time servant!” Their father, Shahid Malik, jokingly announces that all the work is already done, and Haris protests that Mom made him do everything while “our Hira, Malika Aaliya, the rare diamond,” didn’t lift a finger. Aqib forces a smile for everyone’s sake, though inside he feels completely hollow.

Pakeeza Tayyaba balances family warmth with a hero’s hidden heartbreak, and the title promises that love – however painful – remains the deepest feeling of all.

You can read Wajdan E Mohabbat online here or download the complete PDF for free. Separate episodes are also available: Episode 9 and Episode 10. More by the writer: Mein Thehra Awara and Hidayat Ka Wasila, or see all Pakeeza Tayyaba novels.