Page 18 - Pakistan Link - April 21, 2023

P18 - PAKISTAN LINK - APRIL 21, 2023 COMMENTARY
n By Dr Ahmed S. Khan Book & Author Iqbal’s work, and asked her for more books of his
Chicago, IL in Turkish translation. Dr Schimmel writes that
“The person wrote that he was a bearer in
r Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal (Novem- a restaurant in a small town of Eastern Anato-
ber 9, 1877- April 21,1938) was one of Dr Annemarie Schimmel: lia – that seems to be sufficient proof for Iqbal’s
Dthe great thinkers of the 20th century. unquestionable appeal to simple minds too, who
Dr Iqbal was an amalgam of an oracle, a seer, a Gabriel’s Wing do not grasp properly the philosophical impli-
poet, a philosopher and a thinker. Dr Ali Shariati cations of his poems but are moved just by the
describes him as “a man of religion and a man of energy they feel, even through the medium of a
this world, a man of faith and knowledge, a man translation.”
of intellect and emotions, a man of philosophy Commenting on the background of his phi-
and literature, a man of God and people. A devo- losophy, Dr Schimmel writes: “No doubt, Iqbal
tee during the night and a lion during the day.” cannot be understood without the religious
He further states that “Iqbal is considered to be background of his homeland. He’s firmly root-
a contemporary thinker and philosopher of the ed in the prophetical tradition of Islam, and in
same rank as Bergson in the West or the same the mystical thought of India. He has struggled
level as Ghazzali in Islamic history.” against whatever he thought wrong in this mysti-
The message and the writings of Iqbal have cism and has rediscovered the personal, dynamic
many dimensions: literary, religious, political, God of Prophetic revelation who is described
social, educational, and economic. Iqbal’s poetry best not in the abstract philosophy of the lectures
and philosophy are aimed at humanizing the but in the poet’s deep and pathetic prayers.”
world. The central theme of Iqbal’s philosophy Discussing the nature of Iqbal’s philosophy,
is the concept of “Khudi or Selfhood.” It is the Dr Schimmel observes that “as to the question
source of feeling and knowing one’s inner ca- of this philosophy one should not forget that a
pabilities and potential through contemplation, difference exists between a scientific philoso-
introspection, self-cognition, self-realization and pher and a prophetic philosopher. Iqbal was
determined action. It is the sense of human iden- certainly of the second type, endowed with an
tity in the individual as well as the society. In the extraordinary capacity for assimilation, and for
words of Iqbal: synthesizing seemingly divergent facts into a
When ‘self’ embraces the energy of life new unity that may look, at the first glance, sur-
The stream of life is transformed into an ocean prising enough, but has, in any case, proved as
According to Iqbal, science, culture, po- stimulating formative of the Weltanschauung of
etry, literature, and law — everything — is the Pakistan.”
product of human aspirations actualized through Dr Schimmel observes that “sometimes one
continuous struggle. making Iqbal himself speak rather than his com- She believes that Iqbal had tried under the Influ- gets the impression that his study of European
Dr Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003) was mentators. Since only part of his work is available ence of Goethe and Rumi, to postulate a dynam- philosophy leads him, in the course of his life,
an internationally acclaimed scholar who dedi- in translation, full quotations were considered use- ic Islam; he was aware that the human being is more and more to the conviction that all the
cated more than fifty years of her life to explain ful. I simply want to give a picture of Iqbal’s way called on to improve God’s earth in cooperation good and appropriate ideas launched by Western
Islam to the West. Her interest in Iqbal dates back of thinking, arguing, suffering, and again finding with the Creator, and that one should exhaust the philosophers had been expressed centuries ago
to her student days at the University of Berlin. To mental peace in the security of his religion --- sus- never-ending possibilities of interpreting Qur’an in a somewhat more ideal form by Islamic think-
quote her “my long lasting love of Iqbal has let pending judgment as far as possible though the in order to survive changing circumstances. Dr ers. As he writes in 1916:
me to publish a number of works which are more book will be, in any case, an account of any per- Schimmel further observes that Iqbal also taught Yesterday, I saw the Mathnawi of Maulana Rumi:
or less relevant for a study of his contribution to sonal experience with Iqbal’s work.” Dr Schimmel that one should never rely exclusively upon intel- Every thought devours another though,
Muslim thought…. In many articles I have tried also acknowledges her indebtedness to a large lect, as much as modern technology and progress One idea grazes upon another idea---
to show Iqbal in context of Islamic modernism, number of friends and colleagues that include can be admired, and that man is called on to par- God gracious! In a special chapter he has
or deal with his imagery.” Her scholarship served put this idea that every being besides God Al-
as a bridge between East and West, cultures and mighty is devouring and being devoured and has
religions. Dr Schimmel was an avid scholar of brought into consideration so beautifully Shake-
the poetry and philosophy of Allama Iqbal and speare’s philosophy that Shakespeare’s spirit itself
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi. She considered Iqbal would tremble!”
as one of the greatest poets of the East. Dr Schimmel observes that “this way of in-
Dr Schimmel served as the professor of re- terpretation provided him with new possibilities
ligious studies at University of Ankara, Turkey of combining harmoniously Islamic tradition
(1954-59). During her stay in Turkey her trans- with the most recent scientific research. Only
lation of Rumi’s poetry furthered her interest in thus, he thinks, Muslims can become interested
Iqbal. On the insistence of her Turkish friends, in Western science and discover that Europe is
she translated ‘Jawednama’ into Turkish. This indebted to Islam, and that therefore the adopt-
led to her first visit to Pakistan in 1958, which ing of recent scientific results from the West does
opened a new door in her scholarship and inqui- not do any harm to primacy of Islamic thought.”
ry that ultimately took her to Harvard University. As Allama Iqbal has said, “If Muslim scholars
During her tenure at Harvard University (1967- were aware that Einstein’s most thrilling ideas
1992) as professor of Indo-Muslim culture, she are already existent in Islam, they would like
authored volumes of articles and dozens of books to take more interest in them and study them
covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues re- carefully.” Dr Schimmel observes that “Einstein
lated to Islamic studies, Sufism, Iqbal and Rumi. granted Iqbal the proof for his view concerning
Dr Schimmel wrote her first article on Iqbal the relation of God and universe --- that the uni-
in 1954, and from that point onwards she wrote Prof Dr A. J. Arberry, Cambridge University, and ticipate in it. In a central poem of Iqbal, “Message verse is limitless but finite --- and his theory of
on Iqbal in various languages and on several Prof Dr Hamiduallah, Paris, for their help in pre- of the East,” his answer to Goethe’s “Divan,” Iqbal relativity has impressed Iqbal’s theories of time
aspects of his message and philosophy. But her paring the manuscript. writes that science and love, that is critical analy- and space.” She further observes “…thus the Eu-
book Gabriel’s Wing – A Study into the Religious Dr Schimmel’s Gabriel’s Wing has five parts. sis and loving synthesis, must work together to ropean philosophy and scholarship becomes, in
Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (E.J. Brill, Leiden, In the first part she provides the historical back- create positive values for the future. And regard- Iqbal’s reading, a medium for leading back the
Netherlands, 1963 & 1989) is considered a su- ground of Muhammad Iqbal, his life, the aesthet- ing the status of Iqbal, Dr Schimmel states: Muslims to the sources of their own culture, and
perb example of her scholarship and insight in ic side of his work, and his religious motives. In “Iqbal has been praised – to quote only one giving them the feeling that these conceptions
Iqbal studies. the second part she discusses Iqbal’s interpreta- instance – by a leading Pakistani as ‘the trium- are nothing but their own heritage. Interpreted
Dr Schimmel in the foreword (1962) of Ga- tion of the five pillars of faith. In the third part phant missionary, the high priest of humanity,’ in this way, European civilization is no longer a
briel’s’ Wing writes “During the 25 years which she expounds on Iqbal’s interpretation of the es- (A. K. Bokhari, Iqbal Rev. April 1961) and one of danger for the Muslims but a stimulant for their
have passed since the death of Muhammad Iqbal, sentials of faith. In the fourth part she presents the first authors in this field has held that If the awakening.
hundreds of books and pamphlets, articles and some glimpses of Western and eastern influence Peacock throne is cause of pride for Iran, and the Dr Schimmel states that Iqbal has tried to
poems in honor of the poet-philosopher of Mus- on Iqbal’s thought, and on his relation to mys- Kooh-i-noor means glory and dignity for British answer in poems the claims of different philoso-
lim India have been published, most of them in tics and mysticism. And in the final and fifth part crown, then is Iqbal, of necessity, the decoration phers and political leaders during the different
Pakistan, the country which is proud of calling she sums up her work on Iqbal by synthesizing and ornament of poetical court of very country.” periods of his life, and the nasqsh-i-frang (The
him a spiritual father. In the West, too, his fame Iqbal’s message and philosophy. And in response to Iqbal’s critics regarding Picture of Europe) in the fourth part of Pay-
has spread perhaps more than that of any other Dr Schimmel regards Iqbal the spiritual fa- the difficulty of his expressions, Dr Schimmel am-i-Mahriq contains short poetical, sketches,
modern Muslim thinker and poet.” ther of Pakistan and the best example of a mod- tells the story that after her publication of the skillfully characterizing thinkers and poets of
Commenting on the approach and the style ern interpretation of Islam. His poetry was on Turkish-prose translation of the Javidname, she the West. The philosophers whose names have
of the books, Dr Schimmel states that “Although everyone’s lips in India in the 1930s, for the large- received a letter, in very bad Turkish orthogra- occurred most in Iqbal’s prose and poetry are
it would be easy to quote to a larger extent from ly illiterate masses could be reached only by the phy, revealing that the letter writer was an un- Hegel, Bergson, and Nietzsche.
earlier publications, I have tried to avoid that, poetical word which can be memorized easily. learned man; but he expressed his admiration for In the concluding pages of Gabriel’s Wing
www.Pakistanlink.com