Meaning
Distraction and madness of love together, the doubled frenzy of an utterly enamoured heart.
Literally: distraction and madness
How Iqbal uses it
This pairing stacks the lover's bewilderment upon outright madness, the heart wholly carried off by passion. Iqbal can read such junoon as a noble derangement, the sublime madness of a soul that has staked everything on love.
See it in the verse
Wala-o-junoon in Iqbal’s couplets
Dhoondne wala sitaron ki guzargahon ka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
He who charts the very pathways of the stars could not journey through the world of his own thoughts.
Self-Knowledge · Selfhood
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur bhi hai
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur nahin
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur nahin
There is one madness that carries clear awareness; there is another madness that carries none.
Restlessness · Self-Knowledge · Action
Kabhi jo aawara-e-junun the vo bastiyon mein phir aa basenge
Barahna-paai vahi rahegi magar naya khaarzaar hoga
Barahna-paai vahi rahegi magar naya khaarzaar hoga
Those who once wandered in the wilderness of passion will come back and settle in the towns; the bare feet will be the same, but the field of thorns will be new.
Adversity · Restlessness · Courage
Sama sakta nahin pahna-e-fitrat mein mera sauda
Ghalat tha ai junun shayad tera andaza-e-sahra
Ghalat tha ai junun shayad tera andaza-e-sahra
My passion cannot be contained even in the vastness of nature; O madness, perhaps your measure of the desert was wrong.
Restlessness · Aspiration · Selfhood