Urdu Dictionary
Persian · proper noun · Faith & Sacred History

Farang

फ़रंग
said fa-rang
also written: farang, firang, europe, faranj
Meaning

The land of the Franks — Europe and the West; in Iqbal the emblem of dazzling but soulless modern civilisation and material power.

How Iqbal uses it

Iqbal warns the East against the glitter of Faranj that hides a civilisation without heart.

See it in the verse

Farang in Iqbal’s couplets

Utha na sheesha-garaan-e-firang ke ehsaan
Safaal-e-Hind se mina-o-jaam paida kar
Do not be indebted to the glassmakers of the foreign land — fashion your goblet and cup from the clay of your own soil.
Selfhood · Freedom · Action
Related words
PERSIAN

Rome

Rum — the Roman/Byzantine and later Anatolian world; emblem of Western imperial power set against Persia, and the land of Rumi.

PERSIAN

Firang / Maghrib

The West, Europe — literally “the Franks.”

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