Arabic · noun · Spirit & the Divine
Azal / Abad
अज़ल / अबद
said a-ZAL / a-BAD
also written: abad
Meaning
Eternity-without-beginning (azal) and eternity-without-end (abad).
How Iqbal uses it
The frame of time the self is asked to escape. He recalls the “morning of azal,” the primordial dawn of creation, and roots the dervish's fearless truth-telling in a custom kept “since azal.” To live in Khudi is to step out of the circle of dawn and dusk into the everlasting.
See it in the verse
Azal / Abad in Iqbal’s couplets
Use subh-e-azal inkar ki jurat hui kyunkar
Mujhe malum kya wo raaz-dan tera hai ya mera
Mujhe malum kya wo raaz-dan tera hai ya mera
How did he find the daring to refuse at the dawn of time? How would I know whose confidant he is, yours or mine.
Courage · Selfhood
Hazar khauf ho lekin zaban ho dil ki rafiq
Yahi raha hai azal se qalandaron ka tariq
Yahi raha hai azal se qalandaron ka tariq
Let there be a thousand fears, yet let the tongue stay true to the heart; this has been the way of free spirits since the beginning of time.
Courage · Selfhood · Self-Knowledge