Address to a Leader Mired in Philosophy
(Translation & commentary on a ghazal by Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal)
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
To the Leader Mired in Philosophy
You have lost your self esteem
To be limited by Bergeson’s String
The conch of Hegel is bereft of pearl
You are trapped in his words
And their magical spell
How can your life be on firm ground?
When it is limited by such bounds!
Son of Adam is in quest of certainty
Is striving to end his morbidity
How can you brighten his dark night?
Without a faith which is all light
I am an idolater
From family of idol worshippers
You are a leader from clan of Hashem
My seed is from the family of Brahman
Philosophy is the mud from which I rise
Philosophy is my heart which gives me life
I have no claim to any perfection
But I am aware of philosophy’s limitation
The fire of your faith has turned cold
Learn from me to kindle it, once more
Sagacity can’t substitute all anchors
Philosophy is the path of drifters
Stray thoughts don’t make symphony
They paralyze life and its harmony
Religion is the calendar to set your goals
Prophets successfully played this role
When Quraysh lost their vision
Followed Mongols for their destination
Give reins of your heart to Muhammad
O The descendent of Ali,
Commit yourself to the mission of Ali.
(Commit for peace unmindful of its risk)
Zarb E Kaleem literally means “Power of the Speaker”. As it is, the words of the speaker which have the everlasting effect more than his evanescent charisma, I am inclined to translate it as “Power of the Word”. All the poetry in Zarb E Kaleem is a testimony to the power of words which resonates to this day. Zarb e Kaleem is the last collection of Dr Iqbal’s Urdu poetry which he wrote when he was a guest of Nawab of Bhopal, Sir Hameedullah Khan, after his return from Afghanistan.
To translate poetry from one language into another is difficult because the words used in one language do not convey the same meaning as its equivalent in the other. If the idioms and the words used in the literary work of one language are translated verbatim, they will mean nothing and become a joke. For instance, one of the idioms in Urdu to express extreme happiness is “DilBaghBaghHogaya”. This meaning emanates from the feeling of happiness that one gets after seeing the beauty of a garden. If this is translated verbatim as “My heart became garden, garden after seeing you”, it sounds ridiculous to an English-speaking person. Therefore, a translator has to use the words corresponding to the spirit in which a word or an idiom is used in the original work while translating it. For this one should be aware of not just the languages but also the author and the time in which the translated poem was written to do justice to it. This is what I have tried to do in this article.
Dr Iqbal had met Bergeson to let him know how his theory of Elan Vitae was akin to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (See my Article “Science and Philosophy Validate Religious Myths,” Pakistan Link, 4-5-2019). His qualm with him in this poem is that Elan Vitae is not the play of Unintelligent Nature as their interpreters understand, but the conscious outcome of the plan of the Creator and its Administrator of this universe who is the One and Only God. Dr Iqbal is not opposed to debate between opposing ideas as stated in the theory of dialectical process by Hagel. What he is opposed to is the argument for argument sake to circumvent, camouflage and corrupt the truth and have your way.
His praise for Ali RA at the end of the ghazal is because he struggled as the fourth Calif to establish this one principle that peace is essential to establish justice. Give me peace and I will give you justice was the punch line of his struggle. Those who were afraid of justice never gave him peace and assassinated him. The result is that there is no peace and no justice to this day in the Middle East and it has now engulfed the whole world. Perhaps for this reason Shah Valiullah RA, ranks Ali over other companions of Nabi SA (HujjathallahulBaligah).
The word Bu Ali used in the last verse which I have translated as your ancestor Ali can also mean, Avicenna, a famous scholar of science and religion who rejuvenated the Greek thought by translating the old texts into Arabic. He is cautioning the leader when he says: Ignoring the path of knowledge pursued by Avicenna and following the path of conquest by Timor is not the way to lead the world. That is why I have translated Bukhara as Mongols in the translation.
The actual title of this ghazal in the collection of poems by Dr Iqbal in “Zarb E Kaleem” is “Ek Phalsapha Zada Syed Zade Kay Naam”. Syed was a general term used for a leader in Arabic. But after Nabi SA, He alone was the spiritual guide and leader of Muslims. The title Syed came to be associated with people of other denomination by virtue of marrying into Ahlul Bayth (household of Nabi SA). In my attempt to understand which specific leader Iqbal AR is addressing in this ghazal, I got three names in the historical background in which this poem was written, namely Sir Syed Raas Masood, Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi.
Sir Syed Raas Masood was the grandson of Sir Syed Ahmed and Education Minister of Bhopal. He travelled with Sir Muhammad Iqbal on the invitation of Nadir Shah Baba. Nadir Shah was a general of Mir Amanullah Khan who fought the British after the failed attempt of Syed Ahmed Shaheed to overthrow the British and establish Khilafa in Afghanistan and helped him establish the Modern Afghanistan. Nadir Shah was sent to France as its Ambassador. Amanullah Khan was deposed and a novice, Bachcha Saqqa AKA Habeebullah Khan was installed as king. Under these circumstances Nadir Shah returned to Afghanistan. On his way back he met Allama Iqbal at Lahore. Nadir Shah expressed his desire to modernize the education system in Afghanistan for which he thought Allama Iqbal to be the best person with his mooring in both modern education and his religious understanding.
In accordance with the wishes of Nadir Shah, Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Raas Masood and Maulana Sulaiman Nadvi visited Afghanistan. During this visit Sir Iqbal and Sir Raas Masood developed a good understanding of each other as they were together on this trip while MaulanaNadvi joined them later. Unfortunately Nadir Shah was assassinated a few months after this trip and nothing much was done to modernize the education system in Afghanistan except that another masterpiece collection of Persian poetry “Pas Chay Baa-YadKard” was written by Dr Iqbal and left the record of this visit and the centuries of struggle of Afghans and the reasons for their failure. Modernization of Afghanistan by King Zahir Shah and Afghanistan becoming a ground of proxy war between warring cold war nations for domination of the region is recent history.
To understand God is easy but to understand the Prophet is difficult. Dr Iqbal with his Brahminical background and modern education knew God. Therefore, he was interested more in the Roza of Nabi SA in Medina and was waiting for this opportunity. The money which he had saved to go to Medina was spent on this visit to Afghanistan on the mission of modernizing its education. He did this in the spirit of the first revelation to his beloved Muhammad SA “Read”. He knew that ignorance was the biggest problem of Afghan people which was taken advantage of by all people to land them into problems which they faced all through history.
To compensate this missed opportunity to visit the Mausoleum of his beloved Muhammad SA, he wrote a poem of his imaginary travel to Medina in a collection of his famous Persian poetry, “Armughan E Hijaz”. Armughn E Hijaz means “The Gift of Arabia”. Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal considered Nabi SA to be the gift of Arabia to mankind. Those who do not get the benefit from their visit to Roza E Rasool should read it because the love expressed by the one who is waiting for his beloved is more intense than the one felt by the one who has consummated it.
As Allama Iqbal was facing a hard time after spending his saving to the cause of education in Afghanistan, Sir Raas Masood got him fixed with the household of Nawab of Bhopal, Sir Hameedullah Khan who was a very religious person. During his time with Nawab of Bhopal Sir Iqbal had very good equation with Sir Raas Masood who was his education minister and took special interest in their family.
The poem which is being translated here is addressed to Sir Raas Masood. This poem speaks of the interest which Iqbal as a revert to Islam from a Brahmin family had in bringing back this generational leader from Muslim family back to the reality and the true spirit of Islam. Iqbal as a doctorate in philosophy specializing in the oldest school of Persian, Indian and ME philosophy knew that a “Philosopher is the one who looks for a black ant on a black stone in a dark night”. This euphemistic way explains the limitation which a philosopher has on his senses and his mind in understanding the reality. Iqbal understood the need of the light of prophethood to see what we as mortals can’t perceive. This poem is also a commentary on the unfortunate reality that those with the light from prophets, instead of shining it on the dark spots of the confused minds, are mired with the charm of philosophers in an attempt to live the adage: do as the Romans do while in Rome.
If we consider Bu Ali referred to as Avicenna, then this poem seems to be an address to Syed Ahmed Shaheed. I am very skeptical to believe that a Jihadist like Syed Ahmed Shaheed would have read and understood the philosophy of Bergeson and Hagel mentioned in the first two verses of this poem. Therefore, I am more inclined to believe that this address is for Sir Raas Masood who was not a Jihadist.
Another possibility of the leader referred to in this ghazal is Syed SulaimanNadvi who was on this tour of Afghanistan with him. MaulanaNadvi was manhandled by people of East Pakistan when he suggested to them that Pakistan should adopt Arabic as a national language to rid Pakistan of cultural nationalism plaguing the newly born nation. As this stance of MaulanaNadvi is in tune with the message of Allama Iqbal in this poem, MaulanaNadvi does not appear to be the person to whom this ghazal is addressed. MaulanaNadvi who was from the Shibli school of thought and his successor was adept in Islamic theology, comparative religion and social philosophies. He presented Islamic teachings in a comparative analysis with other faiths and philosophies in a logical and lucid way. His Seven sermons of Madras on the life of Nabi SA are a proof to it. Many established Islamic scholars do not fully appreciate his contribution to Islamic thought.
This ambiguity in understanding and interpreting the literary work is interesting and intriguing and gives us the freedom to follow whatever interpretation we want but we should not use it to promote our pride or prejudice.
This advice is not just to Sir Raas Masood but to all in position of leadership to be aware of the merits and demerits in a philosophy, and in an argument before deciding any policy, no matter where from the philosophy and the argument emanate. Nabi SA has said: Pick up good wherever you find it for this is your lost heritage.
Material from Pas Chay Baa YaadKard by Syed Ahmed Esar, Ganjhaye Granmaya by RA Siddiqi, and Puranay Chiragh by Ali Miyan has been used to write this article.
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