Meaning
The contingent being, that whose existence is merely possible and derives from another.
Literally: possible, contingent thing
How Iqbal uses it
Iqbal sees the contingent self as poised between nothingness and necessity, called to rise by binding itself to the necessary Being.
See it in the verse
Mumkin in Iqbal’s couplets
Ho agar khudnigar-o-khudgar-o-khudgir khudi
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
If your selfhood becomes self-seeing, self-making and self-possessed, it is even possible that not even death can make you die.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Tujhe kitab se mumkin nahin faragh ki tu
Kitab-khwan hai magar sahib-e-kitab nahin
Kitab-khwan hai magar sahib-e-kitab nahin
You cannot be free of the book, for you are a reader of books but not their master.
Self-Knowledge · Action · Selfhood
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