Meaning
A small stream, brook, or watercourse.
Literally: water-seeker
How Iqbal uses it
The aab-ju, the little brook threading the garden, belongs to Iqbal's scenes of living water; the small stream that murmurs toward the river shares in the larger symbolism of motion, freshness, and the journey toward the sea.
See it in the verse
Aab-ju in Iqbal’s couplets
Yunan-o-Misr-o-Roma sab mit gaye jahan se
Ab tak magar hai baqi naam-o-nishan hamara
Ab tak magar hai baqi naam-o-nishan hamara
Greece, Egypt and Rome have all been erased from the world — yet our name and our mark still remain.
Hope · Unity
Khudi wo bahr hai jis ka koi kinara nahin
Tu aabjoo ise samjha agar to chaara nahin
Tu aabjoo ise samjha agar to chaara nahin
Selfhood is an ocean that has no shore. If you have taken it for a mere stream, there is no help for you.
Selfhood · Aspiration · Self-Knowledge
Ai aab-e-rud-e-Ganga wo din hai yaad tujh ko
Utra tere kinare jab karwan hamara
Utra tere kinare jab karwan hamara
O waters of the river Ganga, do you remember those days — when our caravan first halted upon your banks?
Unity · Love
Baagh-e-bahisht se mujhe hukm-e-safar diya tha kyun
Kaar-e-jahan daraaz hai ab mera intezaar kar
Kaar-e-jahan daraaz hai ab mera intezaar kar
Why was I given the command to depart the garden of paradise? The work of the world is long now — so wait for me.
Action · Aspiration · Restlessness
Giran-baha hai to hifz-e-khudi se hai warna
Guhar mein aab-e-guhar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
Guhar mein aab-e-guhar ke siwa kuchh aur nahin
If you are precious, it is from guarding your selfhood; otherwise a pearl is nothing but the lustre of a pearl.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge · Humility