Dunya

Dunyā (دُنْيا) is originally an Arabic word that was passed to many other languages such as Persian, Dari, Pashto, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Kurdish, Nepali, Turkish, Arumanian, North-Caucasian languages, Malay and Indonesian as well as modern Greek. It means the temporal world—and its earthly concerns and possessions—as opposed to the eternal spiritual realm, or the hereafter (ʾākhirah).^{[citation needed]} Dunyā most literally means 'closest' or 'lowest'. In the Qur'an, dunyā and ākhira represent oppositions in temporal, spatial and moral dimensions: now and later, below and above, evil and good, respectively.^{[citation needed]} Two Qur'anic ayat (verses) illustrating these points are:

• "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 12:101)

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 Quran 57:20.

Modern usage

The word Dunya/Dunia is being used today by all Arabic speaking nations as well as other languages that borrowed it from Arabic.
It is colloquially and in print used to describe a particular world, such as Dunia Islam, or refer to the world (Earth) in general, e.g. Dunya in Turkish.
It is also a common Middle Eastern feminine name meaning life or world.
Egypt is also called Umm al-Dunya in the Arabic language, meaning "the mother of the world" (original expression in colloquial Egyptian: "مصر أم الدنيا", trans. "Masr Um al-Dunya")