Meaning
The coin of life; one's very soul treated as ready cash to be spent.
Literally: cash of the soul
How Iqbal uses it
The lover offers his naqd-e-jaan, paying down his life itself as the price of love or union; the soul is the only currency true passion accepts.
See it in the verse
Naqd-e-jaan in Iqbal’s couplets
Ae jaan-e-padar nahin hai mumkin
Shaheen se tadaro ki ghulami
Shaheen se tadaro ki ghulami
O life of your father, it cannot be — the falcon will never serve the partridge.
The Falcon · Freedom · Selfhood
Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, jaan pur-soz
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
Yahi hai rakht-e-safar mir-e-karvan ke liye
A lofty gaze, speech that wins the heart, a soul that burns with feeling — this alone is the travelling kit a caravan's leader needs.
Leadership · Aspiration