Aab-e-rawan
Running water; a flowing stream.
Literally: running water, flowing stream
Aab-e-rawan is 'running water' — the flowing stream or brook, classical emblem of life in motion, of time passing, and of freshness kept by movement, set against the stagnant pool that goes foul; the river that stays pure because it never stands still. Iqbal loves this image of life-through-motion: like the wave and the quicksilver, the running stream stands for the self that lives by flowing, for movement and striving as the very condition of staying clear and alive.
Aab-e-rawan in Iqbal’s couplets
Ab tak magar hai baqi naam-o-nishan hamara
Gauhar mein aab-e-gauhar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
Kaar-e-jahan daraz hai ab mera intzar kar
Ab tak magar hai baqi naam-o-nishan hamara
Utra tere kinare jab karwan hamara
Kaar-e-jahan daraaz hai ab mera intezaar kar
Joo
A stream, brook or small watercourse; an irrigation channel.
Nahr
A canal or watercourse; the channel that irrigates a garden or field.
Mauj
Wave; a surge or swell.
Bahr / Dariya
Sea; (dariya) river or large body of water.
Seemab
Mercury; quicksilver, an emblem of ceaseless, agitated motion.
Chashma
A spring or fountain, the source from which fresh water wells up.