Arabic · noun · Nature & the Garden
Hawa
हवा
said ha-WAA
also written: hava, hawaa, wind, air
Meaning
Air; wind, breeze (also, figuratively, desire or whim).
Literally: wind, air, breeze
How Iqbal uses it
Hawa is wind or air in the broadest sense — the moving element that ranges from the garden's gentle breeze to the destroying gale, and in a second sense desire or caprice (the 'hawa' of the lower self). It is at once life-breath and fickleness. Iqbal uses the wind for both the stirring force that wakes and tests the garden and, in its other meaning, the idle craving the disciplined self must master.
See it in the verse
Hawa in Iqbal’s couplets
Zindagi insaan ki ik dam ke siva kuch bhi nahin
Dam hawa ki mauj hai ram ke siva kuch bhi nahin
Dam hawa ki mauj hai ram ke siva kuch bhi nahin
A human life is nothing more than a single breath — and that breath is a wave of air, nothing but a fleeting movement.
Humility · Awakening · Action
Zamistani hawa mein garche thi shamshir ki tezi
Na chhute mujh se london mein bhi aadab-e-sahar-khezi
Na chhute mujh se london mein bhi aadab-e-sahar-khezi
Though the winter wind cut like the edge of a sword, even in London I never let go of the discipline of rising at dawn.
Action · Courage · Self-Knowledge