Word Meaning
क़नाअत
Qanaa'at
Meaning
Contentment, resignation, or satisfaction with one's modest portion or limited condition.
Detailed Meaning
Refers traditionally to the moral virtue of being content with one's meager lot and shunning greed. In Iqbal's couplet, however, the word is deployed antithetically as a warning against passive complacency and settling for the immediate sensory world. The poet exhorts the soul not to remain confined by contentment, but to continuously strive for loftier realms.
Etymology
Arabic, derived from the triconsonantal root q-n-ʿ (ق-ن-ع), signifying satisfaction with a modest portion.
Usage
While classical Sufi poetry celebrates qana'at as spiritual independence from worldly desire, modern Urdu poetry, especially Iqbal's, often warns against it when it signifies a lack of ambition.
Examples
Contentment is an inexhaustible treasure.
Do not let contentment turn into an excuse for inaction.