Meaning
Humble supplication, the lover's abasement and entreaty before the beloved.
Literally: humble supplication, devout submission, neediness
How Iqbal uses it
Niyaz is the lover's humble pleading — the bowed-down neediness and devotion that answers the beloved's lordly naaz. It names love's lower posture: the supplicant who asks, who offers, who lays himself at the beloved's feet. The ghazal turns on the dance of naaz and niyaz, pride above and humility below; in the divine reading niyaz is the soul's reverent self-offering before a Beloved it cannot command.
See it in the verse
Niyaz in Iqbal’s couplets
Kabhi ae haqeeqat-e-muntazar nazar aa libas-e-majaz mein
Ki hazaron sajde tadap rahe hain teri jabeen-e-niyaz mein
Ki hazaron sajde tadap rahe hain teri jabeen-e-niyaz mein
O long-awaited Truth, show Yourself once in the garb of the visible — for a thousand prostrations quiver in this humble, waiting brow.
Love · Aspiration · Restlessness
Kabhi ai haqeeqat-e-muntazir nazar aa libas-e-majaz mein
Ki hazaron sajde tarap rahe hain meri jabeen-e-niyaz mein
Ki hazaron sajde tarap rahe hain meri jabeen-e-niyaz mein
O long-awaited Truth, show yourself once in the dress of the visible — for a thousand prostrations are stirring restlessly on my brow of longing.
Love · Aspiration · Restlessness
Khudi ki shokhi-o-tundi mein kibr-o-naaz nahin
Jo naaz ho bhi to be-lazzat-e-niyaz nahin
Jo naaz ho bhi to be-lazzat-e-niyaz nahin
There is no arrogance or vanity in the spirited fierceness of selfhood — and any pride it does carry is never without the sweetness of humility.
Selfhood · Humility