Arabic · noun · Time, Fate & the Cosmos
Dunya
दुनिया
said dun-YAA
also written: duniya, dunya, this world
Meaning
The world; this transient lower world as against the hereafter.
Literally: Arabic dunya: the nearer, lower world.
How Iqbal uses it
The present world — "the nearer" life of the senses, often contrasted in pious usage with the hereafter and warned against as a snare. Iqbal pointedly refuses to let dunya be merely despised: against world-renouncing asceticism he affirms engagement with the world as the very theatre in which the self proves itself and serves God. The fault lies not in the world but in being enslaved by it.
See it in the verse
Dunya in Iqbal’s couplets
Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera ho jaye
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala ho jaye
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala ho jaye
May the world's darkness be dispelled by my being; may every place be lit by my shining.
Aspiration · Hope · Youth
Sabak phir parh sadaqat ka, adalat ka, shujaat ka
Liya jaega tujhse kaam duniya ki imamat ka
Liya jaega tujhse kaam duniya ki imamat ka
Learn once more the lesson of truth, of justice, of courage — for you will be called upon to lead the world.
Leadership · Courage
Dhoondne wala sitaron ki guzargahon ka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
He who charts the very pathways of the stars could not journey through the world of his own thoughts.
Self-Knowledge · Selfhood
Uthho meri duniya ke ghareebon ko jaga do
Kakh-e-umara ke dar-o-deewar hila do
Kakh-e-umara ke dar-o-deewar hila do
Rise, and awaken the poor of my world — shake the doors and the walls of the mansions of the privileged.
Justice · Action
Parindon ki duniya ka darvesh hoon main
Ki shaheen banata nahin aashiyana
Ki shaheen banata nahin aashiyana
I am the dervish of the world of birds — for the falcon never builds itself a nest.
The Falcon · Freedom
Tere azad bandon ki na ye duniya na wo duniya
yahan marne ki pabandi wahan jeene ki pabandi
yahan marne ki pabandi wahan jeene ki pabandi
Neither this world nor that one truly belongs to your free spirits — here there are restrictions on dying, there restrictions on living.
Freedom · Justice · Restlessness