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
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
, ''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
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
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
Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, an ...
* in
Turkish
* 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
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...
,
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
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the ...
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
* () in
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
* () in
,
Sindhi and
Punjabi
* () in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
* () in
Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
* in
Hausa
Hausa may refer to:
* Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa
* Hausa language, spoken in West Africa
* Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states
* Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse
See also ...
* 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
* in
Uzbek
* in
Somali
Somali may refer to:
Horn of Africa
* Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region
** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis
** Somali culture
** Somali cuisine
** Somali language, a Cushitic language
** Soma ...
* () in
Udmurt
References
External links
Religious discussion of Dunya
Arabic words and phrases
Islamic terminology
Islamic philosophy
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