Meaning
A wave of wind; a gust or current of air.
Literally: wave of air
How Iqbal uses it
The wave of wind that ripples the grass and the water is part of Iqbal's animate landscape where air itself moves like a sea; the breeze in motion carries scent, song, and the stir of life through the garden.
See it in the verse
Mauj-e-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
Nigah paida kar ai ghafil tajalli ain-e-fitrat hai
Ki apni mauj se begana rah sakta nahin dariya
Ki apni mauj se begana rah sakta nahin dariya
Cultivate vision, O heedless one, for radiance is the very nature of things; a river cannot stay a stranger to its own wave.
Awakening · Self-Knowledge · Selfhood
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