In Islam, ' ( ar, دُنْيا ) refers to the temporal world and its earthly concerns and possessions, as opposed to the hereafter ('' ʾākhirah''). In the Qur'an, ''dunyā'' and ''ākhira'' are sometimes used dichotomously, other times complementarily. Islam does not ''a priori'' dismiss the world as "evil". Instead, this world is defined as "the field of ''ākhira''" and the place of examination. In ancient Caucasian religions such as Mari, Dunya or Tunya refers to the God of the World. Two Qur'anic ayat (verses) show that ''dunyā'' and ''ākhira'' are not considered as alternatives to each other per se: * "Ordain for us the good in this world 'al-dunyā''and in the hereafter 'al-ākhira''" ( ''Surah Al A'râf'' 7:156) * "You are my friend in this world 'al-dunyā''and the next 'al-ākhira''" (''

Surah Yusuf Yusuf ( ar, يوسف, ; Arabic synonym of "Joseph") is the 12th chapter (Surah) of the Quran and has 111 Ayahs (verses). It is preceded by sūrah Hud and followed by Ar-Ra’d (The thunder). Regarding the timing and contextual background of t ...

'' 12:101) What the Qur'an condemns is too much attention to the earthly life at the cost of forgetting the eternal life. For this purpose, Muslims are encouraged in the Qur'an 47:24 to ponder the verses of the Qur'an itself, and to do their best to not get too attached to this temporal existence and its trappings. In Islam, ''dunyā'' is a test; success and failure lead to paradise and hell, respectively.

Modern usage

The term is originally an Arabic word that derives from the root ''d-n-w'' ( 'to bring near'). In that sense, dunya is "what is brought near". The term has spread to many other languages, particularly those with large groups of Muslim speakers. For example; * / in Egyptian Arabic * in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

* in

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

* () in Kurdish * () in Hindi,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

and

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

* () in Bengali and

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

* (, ) in

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

* () in Gujarati * () in Urdu, Sindhi and

* () in Persian * () in Modern Greek * in Hausa * in

Adamawa Fulfulde Adamawa Fulfulde is a variety of the Fula language. It is spoken mainly in Cameroon but also by significant communities residing in Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan by Fula people, Fulani pastoralists across the Sahel. It is also known as Eastern Fulfulde ...

* in Wakhi, * in Malay,

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

and

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...

* in Javanese * in

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

* in Uzbek * in Somali * () in Udmurt

References

External links

Religious discussion of Dunya
Arabic words and phrases Islamic terminology Islamic philosophy {{arabic-lang-stub