Meaning
The shimmering of the mirage; the deceptive wave of the desert mirage.
Literally: wave of mirage
How Iqbal uses it
The mirage that shimmers like water over the burning sands and dissolves as the traveller nears is Iqbal's emblem of illusory hope and false goals; the thirst chasing the mirage warns against pursuing the unreal while true water lies elsewhere.
See it in the verse
Mauj-e-Sarab 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