Meaning
The other, the stranger or rival; anyone who is not the lover himself.
Literally: other, alien
How Iqbal uses it
The rival reduced to his essence as the not-I; Iqbal also gives ghair a mystical edge, the otherness that the lover's annihilating love must dissolve.
See it in the verse
Ghair in Iqbal’s couplets
Jina wo kya jo ho nafas-e-ghair par madar
Shohrat ki zindagi ka bharosa bhi chhod de
Shohrat ki zindagi ka bharosa bhi chhod de
What kind of living is it that hangs on another's breath? Give up even your reliance on a life of fame.
Selfhood · Freedom · Self-Knowledge
Pani pani kar gai mujh ko qalandar ki ye baat
Tu jhuka jab ghair ke aage na man tera na tan
Tu jhuka jab ghair ke aage na man tera na tan
The wandering sage's words washed over me with shame: the moment you bow before another, neither your mind nor your body is your own.
Selfhood · Courage · Freedom