A Rare Book on Iqbal, Manto, and Faiz

 

“Not of an Age, but for All Time” : Revolutionary Humanism in Iqbal, Manto, and Faiz by Abdul Jabbar, Peter Lang International Publisher, 2021, 228 pages. List price: $94.95 (hardback); $94.95 (eBook). Amazon discounted price: from $48 (new hardcover)
Review by Prof. Louise Nayer
San Francisco, CA

In a world where we can send texts across continents that arrive in milliseconds, how can people in the West not know of three great literary figures: Iqbal, Manto and Faiz, three thinkers whose lives and work will live on forever. “Not of an Age but For all Time” Revolutionary Humanism in Iqbal, Manto, and Faiz by Abdul Jabbar explores their lives, their work and the bigger contribution each has made to bettering humanity.

The book is divided into three sections, exploring each figure and also summarizes the main points of each chapter and looks closely at specific literary works. The clear organization helps the reader easily move from one section to the other. Jabbar uses his love of history and depth of knowledge about specific historical events as well as his knowledge of literary works in his approach to both language and content. This book needs to be read widely by all those in the West to explode myths and fears surrounding writers from South Asia.

In America and other places in the world, we live in fear of “the other.” What this book does is to show what is universal: the search for love and the desire for dignity of all humans are more important than the borders that separate us. The book is also a call to action: we must raise our voices, especially in these difficult and polarizing times to make the world a better place. The book also uses voices from the West, such as Anne Frank, to bridge the divide between cultures. “How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” (Anne Frank) Iqbal was a writer, politician and philosopher. Jabbar introduces us to all aspects of his life, his despair over wars, the League of Nation’s failures and what Israel, backed by the United States, has done to the Palestinians. He also proposes solutions to these failures based on love and equality for all.

Prof Abdul Jabbar

Jabbar writes about the complexity of Iqbal’s vision, who believed in the individual: “Every person is a shining star on their nation’s horizon,” but he also believed in the collective struggle against colonialism. Jabbar compares him to Camus, even though Camus was an atheist and Iqbal a Muslim. They both carried hope inside them, hope that would extinguish despair. In that way, this book creates bridges. Iqbal, though a Muslim, believed in taking good things from the West to make life better while also preserving his own culture and legacy.

“My eyes wear the protective dust of Medina and Najaf.” He does not believe that Islam is static; rather that is evolving and not bound to tradition. In his poem, “Jihad,” he writes about the “constant struggle for betterment.” But, as Jabbar says, the struggle is never-ending, the struggle against colonialism and toward enlightened selfhood. Iqbal was wrongly accused of negligence of women’s rights, but Jabbar illustrates how that wasn’t true and thus part of his book is debunking prejudice and myths created by those who never study those they malign.

Manto, the second writer that Jabbar writes about, is similar in vision to Iqbal. He also longs for a more just world. Through his short stories, he writes about those most marginalized by society and, like the social realists of the West, reveals the truth of people’s lives, those who struggle the most. Jabbar talks of one story where a father is reunited with his daughter, only to realize she was brutally raped. In a wrenching scene, the father is grateful that she is alive. Another story shows how a dog is claimed by two different groups of people—with one sign saying “Pakistan” and another sign saying “India.” The dog is a symbol of the Partition and the massacre of so many. The dog runs back and forth between the two camps and in the end is fatally shot. The dog’s death is a symbol of the massacre of close to one million people that occurred during the Partition.

Jabbar also illustrates how Manto’s early life led to his obsession with telling the truth. When Manto was seven, 1,000 people were massacred and 4,000 injured by the British during a peaceful protest in 1919. This had a huge effect on the man he would become. Jabbar also talks about how uprooted Manto felt when he moved to Pakistan (though he loved Pakistan).

This feeling of dislocation and the theme of violence permeated his work.

Along with exploring each author’s politics and early life, Jabbar also writes in depth about their craft. He says that like Poe, Manto is a master of plot. One can find nothing is in each story that does not belong there, that is not part of a larger design. He also talks about each writer’s vision. In one of Manto’s stories, he writes with compassion for a woman who leaves her newborn baby by the roadside is shown. The woman is in desperate circumstances. Some who read the story only see the woman as “evil.” Jabbar shows how Manto is able to find humanity in all humans; in this case, this woman is crying out for help against abuse. Manto also explores the exploitation of women, rape during times of war and the men who do not let women lead independent lives. Sadly, all over the world women are still oppressed, even in America. The #metoo movement revealed what many do not wan to believe, that many women in the country are assaulted and raped too frequently.

The last author, poet, Faiz, also longs for a world filled with love and peace. He chose exile from his country of Pakistan several times because he was imprisoned many times for his anti-capitalism and pro-socialism stance. His travel to the Soviet Union to accept the prestigious Lenin Peace Award angered the United States government, which conveyed its displeasure to Pakistan’s government. Jabbar also writes about how he was criticized because he married a white woman, even though she converted to Islam and supported the family when Faiz was imprisoned many times. Again, Jabbar’s book shows how people stereotype others and cannot open themselves up to higher truths. Of course, our divided and partisan climate in America is built on disinformation and falsehoods. In this way, the book is timely.

The poetry of Faiz is widely read in South Asia. His poetry is concerned with pain and suffering, with suggestions on how the suffering, created by human-made systems of oppression and tyranny, can be mitigated. It is concerned with pain and suffering. He writes about “congregation of pain” and about “Those who are too weak to bear/The crushing weight of time.” Jabbar shows that like Iqbal and Manto, Faiz wants the voices of the most vulnerable in society to be heard. When Faiz accepted The Lenin Peace Prize in 1962, he gave a passionate speech about his longing for a society based on justice and equality and not on greed.

Abdul Jabbar has done a remarkable job of introducing the world to three great thinkers and writers. In a time of terrible wars, increasing inequity between the haves and have nots, climate change and mass shootings, we can only hope that these voices of hope over despair can change the world for the better. This book is important for everyone to read: to reveal the truth and inspire change.