Iqbal Contrb

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IQBAL, THE HUMANIST

In Memoriam

Dr L. S. May

He, whose mind is reared by constant adventures, Will rise above thewhirlpool of the blue skies.

Jvd Nmah

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal's contributions to the Islamic and universal corpus of

thought are enormous. They cover philosophy, psychology, ethics, politics andreligion. By putting his ideas in translucent verse, he made great contributions to Urdu

and Persian literature.

As a young student, he read voraciously. He became conversant with the Englishlanguage and culture because of their inter-penetration into (Muslim) India. Arabic,

Urdu and Persian, respectively the language of the Qur'an, his mother tongue, and the

linguistic inheritances[1]of the educated Indo-Muslim elite derived from his Islamicroots. He became acquainted with the alien Greek and Latin, Germanic and French

traditions; the complex philosophical thought of such Greek giants as Plato (427-347B.C.) and his disciple Aristotle (384-322 B.C.); the German philosophers Kant (1724-

1804); Hegel (1770-1831); Nietzsche (1844-1900); the Frenchmen Comte (1797-

1857[2]) and Bergson (1859-1941)[3]; during his European studies (1905-1908) at

Cambridge, where he prepared himself for the Bar, and Munich University whichgave him his doctorate in philosophy. They and 'many others, including the renowned

father of the relativity doctrine, Professor Albert Einstein (1879-1955),[4] andSigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of the modern European school of

psychology, both contemporary with him stirred his mind as his famed Lecturespublished under the title: The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam[5]clearly

show. His ability to digest this vast two-and-a-half millennia of Western, and thirteen-hundred-years' Islamic, compendium of knowledge attests to his mental porousness

and his genius. He, therefore, may be called truly a twentieth-century humanist. Howdo we define this type of person? The earlier humanists were men of letters and

thinkers, grammarians, logicians, and rhetoricians, doctors of philosophy incontradistinction to the separate discipline of theologyjurists and physicians. Some

Muslims, amongst them the celebrated physician-philosopher Ibn Sn' (latinisedname Avicenna, 980-1036), were experts in almost all these disciplines.[6] Their

linguistic knowledge in Renaissance[7]times included Latin and Greek[8]and for some,Westerners,[9] Hebrew as well as Arabic.[10] It permitted them to read and absorb a
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wide spectrum of literature and thought and give them an international intellectualperspective. They consequently, unlike the religious groups, no longer fed themselves

upon Saints' lives and myths and dogmatic treatises. They accepted Revelation andwished to reform theology by their preferred return to the Christian Classics, that is,

the Bible and the Church Fathers.

[11]

This theme is basic to Modernism

[12]

whichIqbal strongly advocated. His theology in many ways radically departs from the

traditional interpretation found in the medieval (Muslim) tafsr (exegeses). Notonly did he call Allah by such philosophical epithets as the all-inclusive Ego, or

the Ultimate Ego,[13]but he defined Divinity's nature in terms of vital activity orenergy modes instead of solid substance.[14]He furthermore explained Creation as an

endless evolutionary process. He flatly asserted regarding the legal aspects: Theprimary source of the Law of Islam is the Qur'an [15]He, in true Modernist fashion,

thereby struck out the entire religio-legal medieval corpus considering it as invalid forthe Modern Age. If he thereby got into trouble with the ulam', so did Johann

Reuchlin (1455-1522) in whom the German Renaissance found its ripest expression.The Dominican brethren in Germany, fearing that his erudite scholarship coupled with

the knowledge of Hebrew might undermine their status and power, heartily denouncedtheir eminent countryman. Such fear was the greater because the humanists developed

a secular and a critical spirit, with which they scanned and scrutinised every aspect oflife; every institution and group. Erasmus in his Praise of Folly (Encomium

Moror)[16]attacked his people for the way in which they built their houses, the foodthey ate, their lack of manners, their educational system, ignorance, the scholars'

snobbishness, etc., etc. His friend Sir Thomas More (14711-1535) in his Utopia[17]

indirectly deplored his countrymen's rudeness, lack of pity and charitableness, theirwar-like tendencies, societal inequalities, for which he held Royalty and Church

responsible. Iqbal also harshly denounced the political authorities:

[18]

[The hoary arts of politics sink,

In earth's nostrils, kings and sultans stink.]

He, too, deplored poverty aided by taxation which he called the robbing of one'sbread,[19]and further strengthening inequality. If Erasmus' ideal order was symbolised

by any small Dutch town of his time; and for Sir Thomas More, it was nowhereland (Utopia's meaning), whose fictional capital was Amaurote [20]; for Iqbal it was

the mythical city of Marghadn set on Mars:
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!

[[21

[In Marghadn no pen wins lustre

from inscribing and disseminating lies;in the market-places there is no clamour of the workless,

no whining of beggars afflicts the ear!]

Here, !

[22][The lamp of the hard-toiling farmer is always bright,

he is secure from the plundering of the landlords!His tillage is not a struggle for water,

his harvest is his own, no other shares in it!]It is an egalitarian society following the Prophet Muammad's precept:

[![23 [In his eyes lofty and lowly are the same thing;he has sat down at the same table with his slave.]

It lastly knows internal and international contentment and peace:

[[24
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[Armies, prisons, chains are banditry;he is the true ruler who needs no such apparatus.]

The humanists clearly were severe critics openly daring to attack Church andState. It cost poor Chancellor More his head.[25] They regarded their critique as

strengthening instead of under-mining society's foundations.They lastly were not ignorant of contemporary national and even international

political developments. Erasmus, for instance, began to realise that West Europe in histime was undergoing a fundamental transition from Nation-States to more modern

States. Politically-minded Iqbal similarly felt that, given Europe's turmoil, a newworld was dawning in this whirling of time. His vision comprised another world

war which he bemoaned:

[26] [Because God is more manifest in love,

love is a better way than violence!]

Yet, [[27

[The excuse for this wastefulness and cruelty

Is the shaping and perfecting of spiritual beauty].

The post-War era saw his dream's fulfilment: the rise of an independent sovereignPakistan out of Islam's ashes, cold and dark[28]:

[29]

[Wait till you see, without the sound of the Trumpet,

a nation rising out of the dust of the tomb!]

He furthermore foresaw the East's industrialization and its entry into the newTechnological Age.

As a humanist, he welcomed the spirit's or self's freedom to rule itself, to think,
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express itself, follow its own religious and cultural traditions, and unfold itselfthrough time. This he called genuine self-realisation:

![30]

[Through self-knowlenge he acts as God's Hand,and in virtue of being God's Hand he reigns over all]

The humanists' secular orientation, in conclusion, does not necessarily signify anirreligious outlook. The view that the humanist movement was essentially pagan or

anti-Christian, or anti-Islamic in the case of Muslims, cannot be sustained.[31]They

did not leave the faith into which they were born.[32] Sir Thomas More staunchlydefended the Catholic Church, which ill-fitted his sovereign's designs.[33] Erasmus,

apparently feeling sympathetic toward the then nascent Prostestant Reform hewed by

the German malcontent Martin Luter (1483-1546), felt his colleague's animosity,[34]because he refused to support the Papal cause. Granted [he wrote] your friends willbe disappointed. Yet you will soon find more pleasant and reliable ones. ...If yourreputation in the world is not what it was, the friendship of Christ will more than

make up for this.[35]

He thus fervently agreed with Luther that Church reforms were essential and that

they meant a return to the pristine Christianity. He (unlike the Reformation's founder)

nevertheless died a Catholic. Iqbal ardently desired Islam's theologico-legal apartfrom its political and socio-economicrejuvenation. He lashed out against some of

the religious leaders (mulls) and theologians (`ulam') for refusing to change theirtraditional (medieval)

mould of thought:

[36]

(The religion of God is more shameful than unbelief,

because the mull is a believer trading in unfaith!]

He held them consequently responsible for political inertia of the Muslim masses

during their colonialist subjugation. They rejected his new theology, at first hisPakistan idea, meaning their coreligionists', fun her division, his secularist

orientation, and his accusations which heightened their animosity toward him. Theycountered with the charge that he was not true to the faith. He insisted that he was a
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genuine Muslim, and that Modernism was essential for Islam's survival in a whollynew world. He felt that his love for God and His Prophet(s) would sustain him in his

dark days:

[37]

[. . . since first I learned Thy [Allah's] name from my sire's lips,

the flame of that desire kindled and glowed in me....]

He, in true humanist fashion, burned with the desire to trans-form the world so that an

element of idealism is inherent in his (as in Erasmus' and More's) thought. They

extolled Divine mercy[38] side by side with human foibles, longed for order andpeace,[39]while carrying on their vast intellectual labours amidst conflict and disorder.

Sharing their great interest in the foundations of knowledge and its processes, or, as

Erasmus put it beautifully, the purer pleasures of the mind, [40] they lectured atuniversities, or held high government posts, and wrote prominently. Iqbal carried on

this rich tradition. He, as said, drank deep of good letters; and as a young man, he

applied himself to the study of ... philosophy[41]and diverse languages. Meantimehe applied his whole mind to religion....[42] In early youth and thereafter his

principal compositions were in verse.... It would be difficult to find anyone more

successful in speaking extempore.[43] He remained loyal to God and humanity

teaching them the preciousness of learning and of the freedom to live, think, work,express oneself meaningfully through poetry and art:

[44]

[If art is devoid of that substance which fosters self,woe be to such painting, poetry and music.]

However averse he may be to superstition, he is a steady follower of true piety,

with regular hours for his prayer, which are uttered not by rote, but from the heart. Hetalks with his friends about a future life in such a way as to make you feel that e

believes what he says ....[45]Iqbal agreed once more with Erasmus' dictum: We must be watchful in life.[46]

Otherwise the inhabitants of earth lose the wealth of `self'. [47]To prevent such atragedy's recurrence, humanity must continue to improve themselves and their institu-

tions and never forget that the intellect's application will remain arid unless it iswarmed by a loving heart nourished by God:
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! [[48 [Your reason is the fruit of life, your love is creation's mystery.]

Iqbal's scholarliness and profound concern with the destiny of his coreligionists'

humanity, his continued love for learning and his aim: to illumine the mind and soul,mark him (as shown) as a brilliant modern humanist.

![49]

It must be admitted that sufficient research has not yet been made on the works of thegreat philosopher-poet Iqbal. Many people know him only as a great poet. His

philosophy, his deep insight into the ways of human life and society, his exposition ofa new out-look of life and his contemplated pattern of a new society, are subjects still

to be studied deeply to be understood in their real perspective.

Iqbal was born at a time when the Muslim society of this sub-continent was in a

stagnant state of progress, if not, definitely decadent. The people had in them a mighty

life-force lying latent and they wanted somebody to move them on. This stirring of

new life came from this great poet and philosopher, Sir Md. Iqbal. The poet breathednew life and enthusiasm into the decadent Muslim society and opened before them a

new vista of life and light. He was not merely a dreamer but a practical man. Hetaught people that man should strive hard to reshape the destiny of this world. He

despised passivity, quietism and inaction. He inspired them to throw off the inertiaand inhibition of the past.

In his opinion a man is endowed with full freedom to develop his unlimitedpotentialities in active contact with his environment. The world is dynamic, it is ever

growing and it offers scope to man to develop his free and creative activity, toconquer nature and to develop the latent powers of his individuality. Man is

essentially a creative activity.It is not a fact that the destiny of man is a sealed matter. For every individual the

future exists as an open possibility. Man must develop that by constant effort andactivity. He never tolerated the escapist attitude of avoiding struggle. This reminds us

of the 19th century Indian Sannyasi-Swami Vivekananda who preached boldly thatStruggle is life and inactivity is death. Poet Iqbal spoke with convincing passion

that a man was capable of evolving Divine qualities in himself by ceaseless activities.
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He elaborated a message of dynamic activism and of a potentially glorious future.Poet Iqbal placed greatest emphasis on human achievements. Here we find him in line

with the German philosopher Neitzsche. Man was glorified, human genius exalted. Hetaught that man must strive hard to reshape the destiny of the world. He condemned

those who recoiled from struggle and loved peaceful quietism. He called it sinful toindulge in a feeling of passivism and inactivity. He could never reconcile with the

idea of resignation. He said the goal of humanity s as not submission but supremacy.

Poet Iqbal spoke with supreme eloquence:Your heart beats like a coward at thethought of struggle. That is life but death when it loses desire for combat? Again he

said:Dive into the river of life and fight the waves. Everlasting life is the outcomeof conflict. Struggle was the soul of these verses.

With poet Iqbal life was a ceaseless endeavour.

In the opinion of Iqbal, man is the centre of creative and dynamic energy. He can

defeat the inertia of matter and effect changes in the existing state of things. By his

ceaseless effort he can overcome his own limitations and realise himself and become aGod. But the man. The poet adored was not the present man. He was actually

dissatisfied with men as he saw, inferior in calibre, limited in intellect. He urged thatthe object of evolution was to bring such ideal men. So we find the quest of ideal man.

He emphasized on the personality of man. He argued that in a social environmentindividual personality found better scope to develop, and opportunities for expansion

of life. In a society, a man, con-fronted with opposing views and forces, found greater

fillips to fortify and strengthen his personality. Isolated individuals are forgetful of

higher ends of life.

He visualized an ideal society where the spirit of brotherhood and love, social serviceand spiritual warmth would permeate every heart. There would be no aggressive wars,no colour or race or class or national distinctions. The ideal society would consist of

strong personalities.

Aim of life according to him was to achieve a dynamic personality with a strong senseof egohood. This could develop only in a new social order, providing equal

opportunities of life for all and free from present ills and evils of life. He said theethical ideal of man was to develop a strong personality and for that he recommended

ceaseless activity. His total emphasis was on activities, on work. By ceaseless activity

a man would conquer nature and develop the latent powers of his individuality. He

believed that man might evolve divine qualities in his self by endless activity. Hewrote that when Man realises himself and all his potentialities, he becomes God.The same idea e find in the Hindu Upanishads Know thyself.

The motive force in work is love. It is love that directs hum n activities to the workingout of God's increasing purpose on earth. A perfect individual is he who has absorbedthe divine purpose. He works out the divine plan. In Iqbal's views, man works out the

plan of God and becomes co-worker with God. In his opinion the true believer is he


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who does develop all his latent potentialities and use them for the conquest andremarking of the world. Iqbal finds the differences between a believer and a non-

believer, not in a narrow theological difference but in a fundamental attitude in ourlife. He said con-quest of nature through knowledge was an act of prayer.

He emphasised on love as the motive force of all activity. He emphasised on a balancebetween intellect and love. He said intellect must be inspired by love, science by faith

otherwise intellect would be mere trickery.

The great poet and thinker Iqbal was not only the architect of n, he was really thearchitect of a new, vigorous and going ahead Muslim society that bids fare today to

make remarkable progress in every sphere of life. His clarion call to robust activismgave a new impetus to the people. He called the Muslim people to wake up.

The poet is remembered today with highest honour and respect in Pakistan.

Ezra Pound defined genius as the capacity to see ten things

where the ordinary man sees one. In him are dancing notes and

elements, which are impossible to pin down. A great artist, may

he be a painter or a poet, essentially has many facets and many

dimensions to his art. Iqbal being a great poet has many facets

and many dimensions to his poetry. But to a lay person exposed

only to the conventional wisdom, thanks to our broadcast and

print media, Iqbal is a poet of Islam, to the exclusion of all the

glorious magnitudes of his poetry. Though a substantial portion

of his poetry is centred around Islam and Muslims, ignoring the other features would

be unpardonably unjust.

The book under review Iqbal aur Insan Dosti by Talib Hussain Sayal is a commendable

effort to highlight the less acclaimed ingredients of Iqbals poetry and prose. His

research thesis, presented to Allama Iqbal Open University on which he was awarded

an MPhil degree, is the subject matter of this book.

In the foreword, the author writes how reading books on Iqbals lectures in The

Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam opened new vistas before him. The

realization dawned on him that by regarding him only as the poet of the east,

Hakeem-ul-Umat, and the originator of the ideology of Pakistan, we have restricted

and limited his genius. Iqbal, the author adds, is indeed the philosopher of humanity

and a savant.


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Iqbal translated the term, insan dosti, as humanism. It was defined as devotion to

human interest a system concerned with human and not divine or supernatural

matters. In other words, it is a doctrine where temporal considerations override the

celestial. It found acceptability with the renaissance when Europe bade farewell to

conservatism. Secular knowledge acquired currency and people started fashioningtheir lives in accordance with rational thought rather than divine guidance.

Iqbals liberalism and broadmindedness was evident in his admiration for Sir Syed.

His concern for the poor and the downtrodden made him write a book on

economics, Ilm-ul-Iqtisad, in 1903. He was cognizant of the importance of economic

factors in human life, and believed that poverty alleviation of Indians in general and

Muslims in particular is essential for their mental and spiritual well-being. In his

famous line in Persian, he ascribed the power of the West to its scientific knowledge

and skills.

Iqbal abhorred religious obduracy and radicalism. His poetry is replete with examples

of this nature. His poem Naya Shavala is a loud declaration of his creed:

This poem ends with a resounding message:

The irony is that the three couplets quoted above were expunged from the version of

the poem as it appears in the present day collection (censorship always existed!).

Poems like Tarana-i-Hindi, Hindustani bachon ka geet (in which he talks ofSaleem Chishti and Guru Nanak in one breath), Mulla aur bahisht, and Jibreel-o-

Iblees are proof enough of Iqbals humanism. The following line epitomizes his

abhorrence for religious intolerance.

Iqbal believed in universal brotherhood. He drank deep from the mainspring of

sufism. His admiration for a sufi poet like Maulana Rum and his abiding friendship

with Swami Ram Teerath evinced his liberalism and humanism which was above the

considerations of religion and creed.

He was a lover of nature who admired Wordsworths poetry. Poems like Himala,

Parinday kee faryad, Eik arzoo, Jugnoo, etc are his significant contributions to

the poetry of nature.

Iqbal believed in action full of vigour and vitality. A substantial portion of his poetry


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consists of exhortation for action. He considered performance of duty as

synonymous to worship.

Iqbal had great regard and admiration for the labourer and lamented the poor

remuneration he received.

The book being reviewed is the product of painstaking research. The author, who

initially had little knowledge of Persian and Arabic, learnt the two languages to gain a

full appreciation of Iqbals work. Every statement, whether of fact or opinion, is

documented. The bibliography contains reference to 118 books, three magazines and

11 dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The book is written in chaste Urdu, avoiding the

use of English terms and words, though at times the language gets a little obtuse. But

then it is the proclivity of scholarship. The author profusely quotes from Iqbals

Persian poetry but, barring a few instances, never translates it into Urdu. It wouldhave been far easier for the reader, who does not know Persian, had he done that.

Despite the obvious merits of the book, one feels that many portions and pieces

representing the humanistic aspects of Iqbals poetry have not been adequately

addressed. No mention was made of Iqbals poetry primarily written for children but

containing a universal message of humanism. It is therefore strange why no mention,

let alone analysis, was made of poems like Eik pahar aur gilahree, Eik gaaey aur

bakree, Eik makra aur makhi and Bachay kee dua when dealing with the

humanistic elements of Iqbals poetry.

Similarly, some outstanding poems of Iqbal like Masjid-i-Qurtaba (of which only a

brief reference was made), Haqeeqat-i-Husn and Shikwa have not been analyzed.

In the last two chapters of the book, the author appears to have exceeded the

parameters of his thesis. Discussion of Iqbals concept of birth control, causes of

creation of the universe not being random but programmed, the poets inspiration

from religion, his skepticism about democracy due to its subservience to capitalism,

his antipathy for womens emancipation despite his respect to them could well havebeen omitted.

According to the author, Annemarie Schimmel wrote that Iqbal was not concerned

with man as man but with his connection with God. Undoubtedly, this was also an

element ofIqbals poetry. But as the author set out to deal with only a specific


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component of Iqbals poetry, such a discussion may appear out of place. Discourse

on such topics seems to have dissipated the focus from the main topic of humanism.

IQBAL: A GREAT HUMANISTLUCE-CLAUDE MAITREMuhammad Iqbal (1873-1938) is one of the greatest figures in the literary history of

the East. He came at a difficult moment to give courage and hope not only to theMuslims of India (at a time when Pakistan did not yet exist) but to a whole nation sunkinto a state of bleak despair.

An original thinker, Iqbal gave his philosophy the garb of poetry and published anumber of works amongst which can be quoted:Asrar-i-Khudi (The Secrets of the Self),Rumuz-i-Bekhudi (The Mysteries of Selflessness), Payam-i-Mashriq (The Message of the East) and

Javid Namah (The Book of Eternity, baptised the Divine Comedy of the Orient). Knowing Persianas well as Urdu, he expressed himself in both these languages and, sometimes, even inEnglish, as is the case with his doctorate thesis, The Metaphysics of Persia(MunichUniversity) and of a collection of lectures he delivered in Madras, entitled "Reconstruction ofReligious Thought in Islam."

Iqbal had the ambition to bring East and West closer to each other through asynthesis of both cultures. If he criticised Europe which, he thought, was oblivious ofspiritual values, he nevertheless set as an example to his country the dynamism ofWestern thought. He also stressed that material progress can be really fruitful only if it isaccompanied by moral progress, and that matter must be conquered in order to free the

Mind.The message of Iqbal, like that of all great poets, has a universal value, and everyone

can find in his generous inspiration an answer to his other problems.Muhammad Iqbal made his appearance at a critical moment in the history of his

country. The Muslims of India, forgetful of their past glory, had sunk into a deepslumber, into a bleak despair caused by lassitude and abdication. Europe, on the contrary,was at the acme of her successes at the end of the 19th century, and all seemed for thebest in a world where optimism was the order of the day. Why this contrast? What deep-rooted causes had made of the subcontinent the homeland of a defeated and humiliatedpeople? This is what Iqbal set out to discover. In this universe deserted by happiness and

even by the mere joy of living, he was the Awakener, the prophet bearing the message ofa new and exhilarating Truth.

Where did the evil come from? According to Iqbal, the importation into Islam ofplatonician and neo-platonician ideas had sapped the vitality of the Muslims. For Plato,says he:

A wise man looks at death;Life is like a spark in the darkness of night.


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The Greeks of old considered life as an appearance, an illusion of which the famousMyth of the Cavern gives a perfect illustration. They were overwhelmed by the idea ofFatality, and freedom of the will did not exist for them. It is impossible to evade one'sdestiny: such is the theme of Greek tragedy. The philosophers taught renunciation of theSelf and detachment from worldly riches. This movement of thought penetrated into theEast and led to an explosion of mysticism whose high priests were the Sufis. A completedivorce was thus affected between Mind and Matter: the soul alone is important and thebody must be ignored as a shameful object.

Christianism, according to Iqbal, repeated the same error and was therefore incapableof developing into a perfect code of life; it remained an orderideally suited to monks whoseonly interest was the Other World. It arrested the growth of man and condemned him tobe torn eternally by an excruciating conflict.

Iqbal raises a protest against this negative and paralysing influence which preventsman from working to improve and change his condition. Action is the fountainhead of

life, and, in order to act, the individual must cultivate his Ego, for "in building up one'sEgo lies the secret of godhead"."O Sufi, can your cloistered prayers achieve anything?" asks the poet, and he

compares the Sufi and the true Muslim:One seeks God through mortification of the flesh,The other sharpens his ego on the divine whetstone;One kills the ego and reduces it to ashes,The other lights the ego like a lamp.For Iqbal, every living organism has a more or less developed individuality which

determines its place in the scale of being. In Man alone does this individuality become

Personality: "Throughout the entire gamut of being runs the gradually rising note of ego-hood till it reaches its perfection in man."

Every atom of this universe burns to reveal itself;Every particle yearns to be a god.However, man is not yet a complete individual and, therefore, he is not yet really free.

To conquer his freedom, he must first overcome the resistance of matter: "The greatestobstacle in the way of life is matter, Nature; yet Nature is not evil since it enables theinner powers of life to unfold themselves. The ego attains to freedom by the removal ofall obstructions in its way. It is partly free, partly determinate, and reaches full freedom byapproaching the individual who is most freeGod. In a. word, life is an endeavour for

freedom."Freedom is therefore a reward to be won. Iqbal has insisted again and again on the

necessity and value of effort:Take not thy banquet on the shore, for thereToo gently flows the melody of life:Plunge into the sea, do battle with the waves,For immortality is won in strife.


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***Everything lives by a continual strife,I am perpetually thirsty as if I had fire under my feet.

Iqbal goes even further than this and does not hesitate to say that the key to theproblem of Good and Evil is to be found in the idea of Personality: "The idea ofpersonality gives us a standard value: it settles the problem of good and evil. That whichfortifies personality is good, that which weakens it is bad. Art, religion and ethics must bejudged from the standpoint of personality."

And the poet exhorts man to attain his full stature:Art thou a mere particle of dust?Tighten the knot of thy egoAnd hold fast to thy tiny being!How glorious to burnish one's ego.

And to test its lustre in the presence of the Sun!Rechisel thy ancient frameAnd build up a new being!Such being is thy true beingWithout which thy ego is but a ring of smoke!And the miracle takes place:My being grew and reached the sky,The Pleiads sank to rest under my skirts.exclaims the poet in a moment of supreme rupture.Man must first strive to conquer his environment. This is the initial step he has to

take if he wants to discover the inmost secrets of his soul:The world of the spirit which has no frontiersCan only be conquered by a persistent crusade.Strike a dagger in the body of the Universe,It is full of jewels like the idol of Somnath.Our mind has failed to realiseThat the dust on our path is a dust of diamonds.Or else:To become earth is the creed of a moth;Be a conqueror of earth, that alone is worthy of a man.

And Iqbal defines his position in this way:"The life of the ideal consists not in a total breach with the real, which would tend toshatter the organic wholeness of life into painful oppositions, but in the endeavour ofthe ideal to appropriate the real with a view eventually to absorb it and to convert itinto itself and to illuminate its whole being."Iqbal agrees with the German philosopher, Nietzsche, to say that the Will to Power

motivates all the actions of men:


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Life is power in action;It derives from the love of domination and conquest.That Will to Power is the will to enjoy life in all its fullness and exuberance. It

maintains the ego in a state of perpetual tension and helps it to attain perfection:O thou that wouldst deliver thy soul from enemies,I ask thee: 'Art thou a drop of water or a gem?'....The drop was not solid and gem-like;The diamond had a being, the drop had none.Never for an instant neglect self-preservation:Be a diamond, not a dew-drop!Iqbal does not hesitate to proclaim that power is synonymous with truth and

determines the scale of values:Good is evil if your power thereby decreases,Evil is good if it increases your power.

And he adds:Life is the seed and power the crop;Power explains the mystery of truth and falsehood.A claimant, if he be possessed of power,Needs no argument for his claim.Falsehood derives from power the authority of truth,And by falsifying truth deems itself true.Its creative word transforms poison into nectar,It says to Good: 'Thou art bad' and Good becomes Evil.Iqbal thinks nevertheless that the unlimited power which science has given to men

must be controlled and directed by a higher ideal; it becomes a tool of destruction whenit separates itself from religion:

If it (power) is not subjected to religion, it becomes more dangerous than poison;If it is subjected to religion, it becomes a panacea for all ills.But Power alone could not ensure the dazzling metamorphosis of man. The most

effective weapon in this fight with Heaven, the weapon which makes all victoriespossible, is Love. Iqbal does not use this word in the derisively narrow sense to which ithas been reduced: when he speaks of Love, he speaks of something infiniteit is forhim the projection of man outside himself to embrace the whole Universe:

It is love that imparts colour to the tulip,

It is love that agitates our souls.If you open up the heart of this earth,You will see in it the blood-stains of love.And the poet gives men a solemn warning:Love is eternal and will end only with eternity.Many will be those who will seek love;To-morrow, on Judgment Day,


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Those who have not loved will be condemned.It is love which enables man to explore and develop his inner possibilities:My being was an unfinished statue....Love chiselled me: I became a man.However, Love cannot defeat the forces of Evil and give man his real stature if it is

not accompanied by detachment

what the poet callsfaqr. One should not be misled bythe word: it has for Iqbal a significance entirely different from the one it had acquired inmystical literature. It has a positive content, and does not imply a turning away fromreality but a detaching of the self from the Unessential to reach the Essential: The boat ofafaqir, says Iqbal, is always tossed by the waves.

Iqbal wants to give back to man his lost dignity:The position of man is higher than that of the sky;The essence of culture is respect for man.He wants to transform the ape-man of Darwin into a godhead. In order to achieve

his aim, he takes the Qur'an as his guide: "Verily, we have given honour and dignity toman." "We created you, We gave you shape and then We ordered the angels to prostratethemselves in front of Adam."

Iqbal rejects the traditional idea of the "fall" of man which makes of his earthly life apainful exile. The coming of man is, in his opinion, a glorious event hailed by the wholecreation:

Love acclaimed the birth of a being with a yearning heart;Beauty trembled, for one gifted with vision was born.Nature quaked, for from the helpless clay was born a self-creating, self-destroyingand self-observing being.

Life said: 'I have at last forced an opening into this ancient dome.'A whisper reverberated around the heavens and reached the abode of the Eternal:Beware, ye who are veiled, for the one who would rend asunder the veil is born!It is SatanIblis, as Iqbal calls himwho will give man the necessary stimulus. He

will show him the way to knowledge and perfection. Man will succumb not to evil but tohis curiosity. Satan, by rebuking him for his lack of audacity and adventurous spirit, willlead him on from conquest to conqest.

In Iqbal's great work,Javid Namah (The Book of Eternity), Satan complains to God thatman is an unworthy adversary. He, therefore, beseeches Him to send a more defiantenemy, a real opponent:

"O Lord of the Just and of the Unjust, the company of man has made me weary, ithas reduced me to nothing! Never did he rebel against my domination; he closed hiseyes upon his Ego and never found himself! His dust never tasted of bold refusal; itknows not the spark of Power! The prey says to the hunter: 'Take me!' May God saveus from too docile a servant! Free me, O Lord, from this prey; remember that Iswore allegiance to thee but yesterday! Man has enfeebled my courage. Alas, Alas!Weak and wavering, he is incapable of resisting the strength of my wrist. I want a


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servant of thine endowed with a penetrating gaze, a higher, more mature being! Takeback this toy of water and clay, old men do not like children's games! What is the sonof man? A handful of dry wood which but one of my sparks could set ablaze. And ifthere is nothing but dry wood in this world, why didst thou give me so much fire? Itis easy to melt a piece of glass, but how hard it is to liquefy a stone! I am saddened bymy conquests and I now come for my reward: I want thee to give me a being whocan deny me; open for me the path to such a man of God! I want a man who canbend my neck, a man whose gaze sets my whole body a-trembling! A man who willtell me: 'Goaway!' A man in front of whom my grain and my wind would be of novalue. 0 Lord! Grant me the joy to subjugate a real man, a worshiper of Truth!"Once liberated, man will set out on a triumphant march towards the ideal image he

has formed of himself:Rise, O thou who art strange to Life's mystery,Rise, intoxicated with the wine of an Ideal,

An ideal shining as the dawn,A blazing fire to all that is other than God,An ideal higher than HeavenWinning, captivating, enchanting men's hearts;A destroyer of ancient falsehoods,Fraught with turmoil, an embodiment of the Last Day.Iqbal has thus placed man at the centre of his philosophy; he makes him the only

subject of his preoccupations. He sees in him a creator capable of transfiguring himself,as well as transfiguring the world. Man, therefore, assumes inordinate proportions in hiseyes; he becomes a kind of demiurge who speaks to God as an equal:

Thou didst create night and I made the lamp,Thou didst create clay and I made the cup.Thou didst create the deserts, mountains and forests,I produced the orchards, gardens and groves;It is I who turn stone into a mirror,And it is I who turn poison into an antidote.Man must rebuild a world of his own choice:God decreed: 'It is like this and you have nothing to say';Man said: 'Verily, it is like this, but it ought to be like that'.And the poet asks challengingly:

God made the world; man made it more fair.Is man destined to become the rival of God?Iqbal incites man to become what he really is:Create if thou art alive: seize, like me, the sky with your hands!How long will you beg light like Moses on Mount Sinai?Let a flame similar to that of the Burning Bush leap out of your Being!


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Break to pieces whatever is not worthy of thee, shape a new world drawn from thedepths of your being!Man of God, be as dazzling and as sharp as the edge of a sword; be the architect ofthe destinies of the world!The great Persian poet of the 13th century, Jalal-uddin Rumiwho was Iqbal's

master

had also dreamt of the advent of the Perfect Man and, equipped with a lantern,like Diogenes, he had set out to find him:

Yesterday, the master with a lantern was roaming about the citySaying: 'I am tired of devil and beast. I want a man!My heart is weary of these weak-spirited companions. I desire the Lion of God andRustam, son of Zal'.They said: 'He is not to be found, we have sought him long'.He said: 'A thing that is not to be found that is what I desire'.It is not by a mere chance that Iqbal placed these verses at the beginning of the

combined edition ofAsrar-i-Khudiand Rumuz-iBekhudi.All his philosophy is indeed aquest or, to be more exact, a conquest of man. The Perfect Man is the end-result of animpassioned search, the glorious affirmation of the dignity, and even of the divinity, ofthe creature who contemplates its Creator face to face:

Through his self-realisation he becomes the hand of God;And as he becomes the hand of God, he rules over the Universe.Man must be bold enough to take this prodigious leap forward:Transmute thy handful of earth into gold,Kiss the threshold of a Perfect Man.He then becomes the mandi, the guide, the herald of a new era:

"The na'ibis the vicegerent of God on earth. He is the completes ego, the goal ofhumanity, the acme of life both in mind and body; in him the discord of our mentallife becomes a harmony. The highest power is united in him with the highestknowledge. In his life, thought and action, instinct and reason, become one. He is thelast fruit of the tree of humanity and all the trials of a painful evolution are justifiedbecause he is to come at the end. He is the real ruler of mankind; his kingdom is theKingdom of God on earth."This is how the poet hails his coming:Appear, O rider of Destiny!Appear, O light of the dark realm of Change! .. . .

Silence the noise of the nations,Imparadise our ears with thy music!Arise and tune the harp of brotherhood,Give us the cup of the wine of love!Bring once more days of peace to the world,Give a message of peace to them that seek battle!Mankind is the cornfield and thou the harvest,


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Thou art the goal of Life's caravan.However, Iqbal did not want this Perfect Man to be a myth, nor did he want him to

be the excessive dream of a poet. He had understood that man can only live in and forsociety and that he is closely linked to the group to which he belongs:

The individual exists in relation to the community,Alone, he is nothing.The wave exists in the river,Outside the river, it is nothing.He had meticulously drawn the plan of this society, whose prophet he was, and he set

out enthusiastically to build it because it symbolised for him "universal brotherhood andthe fullness of love". He suffered to see mankind divided into warring camps, and all hislife he worked for the reconciliation of nations:

Greed has split up humanity into warring camps; so speak the language of love andteach the lesson of brotherhood!

The God-intoxicated Faqiris neither of the East nor of the West;I belong neither to Delhi nor to Isphahan ; I speak out what I consider to be thetruth.In Iqbal's eyes, discriminations based on colour and race are a scourge for humanity.

He kept repeating that a harmonious life would remain impossible on the earth as long assuch distinctions exist:Not Afghans, Turks or sons of Tartary,

But of one garden, of one trunk are we;

Shun the criterion of scent and hue,

We all the nurslings of one springtime be.

He had dreamt of a society in which true brotherhood would exist and where thesocial rank of man would not be determined by his caste, his colour, or his fortune, butby the kind of life he leads: a world, says Iqbal, "where the poor tax the rich, where anUntouchable can marry the daughter of a king, and where capital is not allowed toaccumulate so as to dominate the real producer of wealth."

Iqbal cherished the vision of a world-state in which all the Muslims would form an

indivisible community. He also dreamt of a world in which politics and religion would beassociated so closely that they would be indistinguishable.

A few critics have claimed that the message of Iqbal was meant, above all, for theMuslim world and that, therefore, it could not have a universal value. The poet himselfhas explained very clearly his point of view on this fundamental question:"The object of my PersianMasnavis is not to attempt an advocacy of Islam. My realpurpose is to look for a better social order and to present a universally acceptable ideal


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(of life and action) before the world, but it is impossible for me, in this effort, to

outline this ideal, to ignore the social system and values of Islam whose mostimportant objective is to demolish all the artificial and pernicious distinctions of caste,

creed, colour and economic status. Islam has opposed vehemently the idea of racial

superiority which is the greatest obstacle in the way of international unity and co-operation; in fact, Islam and racial exclusiveness are utterly antithetical. This racial

ideal is the greatest enemy of mankind and it is the duty of all well-wishers of thehuman race to eradicate it. When I realised that the conception of nationalism based

on the differences of race and country, was beginning to overshadow the world ofIslam also and that the Muslims were in danger of giving up the universality of their

ideal in favour of a narrow patriotism and false nationalism, I felt it my duty, as a

Muslim and as a well-wisher of humanity, to recall them back to their true role in thedrama of human evolution. No doubt I am intensely devoted to Islam but I have

selected the Islamic community as my starting point not because of any national or

religious prejudice but because it is the most practicable line of approach to theproblem."

Owing to his dynamic and constructive philosophy, to his insatiable curiosity and zestin living, Iqbal succeeded in creating a happy equilibrium between the highest values ofthe East and of the West. He looked upon the world sympathetically and nothing he Isaw appeared to him negligible:For the seeing eye, everything is worth seeing,

Everything is worth being weighed on the scale of vision.

These verses are echoed by those of Jalaluddin Rumi, who said:Dissolve thy whole body into Vision,

Be seeing, seeing, seeing!

"Everything in the world is strange and wonderful for those who keep their eyeswide open", replies the Spanish philosopher, Jose Ortega y Gasset. And this echo is, inits turn, reverberated by the voice of the great American poet, Walt Whitman:

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.

This is the way of the poets, this is the way they converse, from one continent to theother, from one century to the other.

Documents

Iqbal Contrb