Fikr-e-Iqbal - 3
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
Allama Iqbal has made some interesting comments about the chasm between material progress and the moral and social decline in the West in his preface to another collection of his Persian poems, Payam e Mashriq.
Payam e Mashriq (Message from East) was written in the early part of the 20 th Century as a posthumous tribute and an address to the German poet Goethe.
The chasm between the material progress and the moral decay had pushed Europe into wars and destruction which had adversely affected people in the West and stirred its writers and poets. Goethe and Herder were impressed with Persian poets like Hafiz Shirazi, Sh Saadi, Firdosi, etc., and tried to lift the moods of the Europeans by imitating this style in their poetry and started an Eastern Literary Movement in the West. This movement was not particularly impressed with anything in the Persian society other than what was needed: the message of hope and love. Through his poems in Payam e Mashriq Allama Iqbal suggests the correct national, moral and religious attitude that is essential for nations to progress and live in peace with other nations. Allama Iqbal tries to give this message through his poems in Payam e Mashriq to his fellow poets in Europe that love and hope is not enough to come out of the morass that the mankind is in after the destruction wreaked by wars; it needs good religious and sound moral principles.
Allama Iqbal says the problem which the West faces is occasioned because its intellectuals are bestowed with watchful eyes but do not have a heart that is motivated by spirituality. He says:
Dil e Bedaar Nadadand Ba Dana- e- Farang
Ein Khadar hast ke Chashm e Nig-rane Darad
He further says in the following couplet that the peripatetic, sophists and illuminati have polluted the fountainhead of knowledge and consciousness of Europe and darkened the whole world.
Mukad-dar Kard Maghrib Chashma Haae Ilm o Irfaan Ra
Jahan Ra Theera thar Sazad che Mash-shai che Ishraqi.
In his preface to Payam e Mashriq, Allama Iqbal makes an interesting observation: Europe did not pay heed to its poets like Goethe, scientists like Einstein and philosophers like Bergeson because of their pride in the antiquity of their civilization. He pins hope with America which has no baggage of the past to care about in accepting new thoughts. It is pertinent to remember here that even though America was discovered by chance by the Spaniards in search of gold, it was built by those who left Europe after persecution by the inquisition of the church and by the anarchy of the renaissance to build a nation of hope for the suffering people under God. It is now up to us Americans to show whether we are one nation under God or an attempt to revive the old Roman Empire of intrigues and intrusions. Our standing in the world and its future depends upon this.
It is indeed difficult for the world to follow the rules of God when Muslims with their lofty claims about their religion are an object of pity. When Shaikh Obaidullah Sindhi met Stalin to propose Islam as a way for the emerging Soviet Empire, Stalin is supposed to have retorted that when none of the Muslim country had adopted Islam as its way how could you expect us to do so (Mohammad Mian in Reshmi Roomal Tahreek).
By ignoring the realities that were revealed through Prophet Muhammad SA more than 1400 years ago, and what was laid bare by Shaikh Munairi RA 700 years ago, and what Allama Iqbal tried to inspire in us through his inspirational poetry, the decline of Muslims continues while Islam is being blamed for it wrongly. We seem to love some misguided people who have been successful in fooling us in the name of religion more than the true religion given to us by true prophets of God and the honest Islamic scholars.
On the other hand what was inferred by Descartes only four hundred years ago was accepted whole-heartedly by the Western civilization and has taken it to its zenith of material progress. By giving morality and religion a lesser place because of the psyche developed by the inquisition of Church, and to placate all the other civilizations to participate in our way of material success, we might be enjoying the material success in the West but are suffering different kinds of serious problems. On the other hand, the Muslim world is suffering in poverty and Muslims are led to believe that their religion and their loyalty to outdated morality is the real impediment to their progress. Iqbal is calling Muslims to wake up to material realities and calling the West to moral imperatives necessary to make their lifestyle a model for the world through his poetry.
Iqbal is neither for the distorted religion nor for irresponsible free thinking. He wants to correct both through correct thinking. He understood the errors which we made in religion through free and irresponsible thinking to suit the need of our rulers, and invited them back to the source and not its misguided interpreters. He corrected the malady of free thinkers through scripture and common sense values. Qur’an was his only reference which he showed to a British journalist who came to interview him and requested him to show his library. The following couplets show his reverence and respect for the Qur’an and his dismay at the way it is being neglected and abused.
Faash Goyam Aanche Dar Dil Muzmar Asth
Ein Kitab e Neest Cheez e Deegar Asth
The unequivocal conviction of my heart is that Qur’an is not a book but something more, something different.
Bar Khor Az Qur’an Gar Khwahi Sabaath
Dar Zameerash Deeda Am Aab e Hayaath.
Benefit from Qur’an if you want eternity, Qur’an will enrich your spirit with elixir of life.
Choon Ba-Jaan Dar Rafth, Jaan Digar Shawad
Jaan Choon Digar Shood Jahan Digar Shawad
If you imbibe the message of Qur’an your life will change, it is not just life, the world around you will change, says Allama Iqbal in the above couplet.
Khwar Az Mahjoori e Qur’an Shudi
Shikwa Sanj e Gardish e Dawraan Shudi
The despicable state we are in is because we have neglected Qur’an and we are blaming everyone, everything else for it.
Blaming the correct reason for Muslims’ failure, Allama says in the following couplet: The misguided Muslim jurists are ever ready to change the interpretation of Qur’an to suit their interest instead of changing themselves according to its true spirit.
Khud Badalthe Nahin Qur’an Qur’an Ko Badal Dethe Hain
Kis Khadar Hain Ye Fakhihan e Haram Be Taufeekh .
Some of these misinterpretations stem from an attitude of expediency. One of the major mistakes which we have made with regard to understanding the religion is: we think that all the cultural baggage with which we came into the fold of Islam is also a part of religion. The second mistake we have not been able to overcome is that we did not discard the distortions that were made in the religion of God to suit the needs of the rulers by some selfish scholars even though many a true scholar and mujtahid have pointed them out to us. These distortions have now become a part of religion under the patronage of successive rulers and centuries of practice on them. All the suffering we undergo because of this waywardness is conveniently explained as a test from God which is inevitable for every “True Believer”. Without convincing masses on such baseless justifications for their pitiful conditions it would not have been possible for our rulers then and our politicians now to make the devout religious people a fodder for their campaigns to gain power and holding onto it.
As the followers of all the prophets before Muhammad SA had justified their wrong actions by attributing them to their ancestors (Ch2 V170), Allah sent His final messenger Muhammad SA with this caution for his followers: They (people before you) were a people who lived their life earning their due, you will not be asked about their deeds, but you are answerable to your own deeds (Ch2 V141). To reinforce this concept of individual responsibility Allah further said: You will all be accounted individually for your actions (Ch19 V95). The same way Nations are also held accountable for their collective consciousness over which they join under their leaders with their flags (Ch11 V98). By ignoring these important injunctions of personal responsibility and hoping that by justifying our misdeeds by attributing them to our predecessors, we can carry the baggage of antiquity without slipping deeper into the morass is a deception we are willfully inflicting on ourselves. Man is bound to err as to err is human but by repeating same mistakes again and again knowingly we are not only playing into the hands of devil but have become devils. There is redemption through repentance (Ch4 V17-18) but repentance is not a passport to more of the same mistakes but a tool to find the way from wilderness to civility, from confusion to serenity.
In response to a question as to who has got the right to be in peace and guided, Allah says in the Qur’an: The one who believes and does not corrupt his belief in what He has revealed to mankind through His prophets and do not make transgressions in it are the ones who have the right to be in peace and be guided (Ch6 V81-82). If those of us who claim to have belief in what was revealed by Allah through His prophets, but do not have peace should check the correctness of our beliefs and actions. Unfortunately by interpreting Zulm (Darkness) in this verse as Shirk (attributing partners to Allah) we have kept the believers complacent about the other types of Zulm (corruption) which we have allowed into our faith and our actions. This is despite the fact that Nabi SA in a hadith has explicitly said: He SA is not worried that his follower will be involved in Shirk e Jali (attributing partners to Allah and worshipping idols) but he is worried about their involvement in Shirk e Khafi (Hidden Shirk) which he said is Riyaa, that is hypocrisy (Musnad Ahmed and Shuab Al Iman). He SA further said while Noor (the light and guidance from Allah) is one, Zulm (Darkness) is many (Muttafiq un Alai). And to think that shirk alone is the darkness about which Allah cautions us in the above verse has allowed us to lose sight of the other mistakes we are immersed in in matters of our religion.
Indeed Allah tests (Ch67 V2), but only those who work to promote virtues and oppose evil to the best of their capacity irrespective of if you are a Muslim or not. We have seen this in the example of the county clerk M/S Davis who refused to sign Homosexual marriage license and was put into jail. The chaos that we have created in our attempt to replace the corrupt and inept regimes does not appear to be a test from Allah but our own ineptitude and our own error in understanding the letter and spirit of Islam in relation to such matters. The warning by Qur’an to the heedless and irresponsible is that Allah does not test them but allows them to be destroyed by their self-righteous hubris (Ch43 V36-39).
With subjectivity in philosophy, anarchism in politics goes hand in hand, says Dr Russell (HOWP). Matters of religion and philosophy are kept subjective even today for politics to reign over an anarchic world. Allama Iqbal has elaborated on this notion in his philosophy and poetry and has made strong political foes. The following couplet summarizes his philosophy when he says: I have exposed the myth of the so called “Free Thinkers” (Khalandars) so that the universities and seminaries are free from the shackles of these misguided individuals.
Kiye hain Faash Rumooz e Khalandari Main ne
Ke Fikre Madrasah o Khan-khah Ho Aa’zaad.
In the following couplet Allama calls the conscientious and conscious people to action sighting the example of Moses; communicating with God was not enough for Moses, Moses had to use the staff, which was a symbol of effort and power, to secure the release of the suffering people from the exploitation of Pharaoh.
Rishi ke Faakhon se Toota na Brahman ka Tilism
A’asa na ho tho Kaleemi hai Kaar e be buniyad.
Allama is not against free thinking. He wants responsible thinking where people develop the skill to understand the right from wrong and are ready to forego self-interest for greater good. He is not against democracy; he wants people to become aware of the ploy of the politicians who want to have their way through the vote of misinformed public misguided through mass media controlled by vested interests. He is against those free thinkers who invoke the mantra of freedom of thought and expression to give a feeling of empowerment to the disenfranchised only to advance their heinous agenda, and to make the intellectual and spiritual man a base social animal. He says:
Aa’zaadi e Afkar se hai unki Tabahi
Rakh-the Nahin Jo Fikr o Tadabbur Ka Salkiha
Ho Fikr Agar Khaam To Aa’zaadi e Afkar
Insaan ko Haiwan banana Ka Tareekha.
The test for all of us is whether we show courage to accept the truth, or continue to portray truth and reality as relative so that we can have our way through propagation of false ideas and ideologies and blame them on others, be it religion, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sunnis, Shias, Wahhabi, Salafi, or West and Machiavelli. This deceit is the ploy of those who do not have the moral courage to own their mistakes and are always on the lookout for scapegoats to pass on the onus of their irresponsibility.
We can’t exhibit the moral courage to accept and amend our mistakes if we make intellect alone as our guide, because intellect always thinks of our material benefit. We should make our hearts filled with the love for humanity to be our guide to come out of the morass. Love is the quality of God. It is His pure love that is sustaining all of us despite our blunders. It is His love which is feeding the sinner and the pious alike in the hope that sinners will one day come out of darkness after experiencing His love and their own callousness. Allama Iqbal says in the following verse: I am a free thinker because I have allowed the love in my heart to reign over my intellect.
Man Banda e Aazadam Ishq asth Imam e Man
Ishq Asth Imam e Man, Aa’khl asth Ghulam e Man.
Allama Iqbal is not against the value of intellect but he wants us to understand its limitations. Allama considers both love and intellect as partners in an enterprise to understand the truth and build a better world based on it. But he values love more because of its spontaneity and selflessness. Intellect is like love and is aware of the suffering of mankind but love is willing to take risk while intellect is cautious in its action. The following couplet confirms this view:
Aa’khl Hum Ishq Asth, wa- az Zau’khe Nigah Be-gana Neesth
Wa-le Ein Be-chara Ra Aan Jur-ra’athe Rindana Neesth.
Allama further says in the following couplet: Love and intellect both lead us in the path of life. While love leads us to our destination instantaneously, intellect responds to the problem in a measured way.
Har Do Ba Manzile Ra-waan Har Do Amir Kar-waan
Aa’khl Ba Heela Me Burad, Ishq Burad Ka-shan Ka-shan
Intelligence is quick to act when it serves our interest even at the risk of putting the whole world into danger. It procrastinates and demonstrates willful evasion under the alibi of its imperfection when it does not serve its interest. This purposeful evasion of responsibility by the cons is to let anarchy reign so that they have opportunity to make their wealth out of human suffering. These sick minds with this bizarre attitude and selfish motives can’t establish a universal order for universal good but can only plan to destroy the vulnerable. Such distorted intellect acting to fulfill selfish agenda, unmindful of its consequences, is at the root of all maladies which our world faces today.
On the other hand it is love which has labored with deep commitment to make all discoveries with which mankind is benefitting. Intellect is only making money out of the labor of love of some individuals. Love recognizes the problem and gives us insight into solutions that are in the interest of one and all unmindful of the risks. The poet has pointed out the importance of love in this couplet: Abraham plunged into the well of fire lit by Nimrod because of his commitment and love to his belief in the Omnipotent and Omniscient God and came out of it unscathed; on the other hand the intellectuals of Nimrod court who lit this fire stood dazed in astonishment.
Be-Khatar Kood Pada Aatish e Nimrod mein Ishq
Aa’khl hai Mahve Nazara, Sar e Baam Abhi.
The first line of an inspirational Hindi song which I like goes like this: I seek strength from the Giver of all things lest my confidence in myself weakens.
Ithni Shakti Hamin Dena Da’atha
Khud pe Wishwas Kamzor Ho Na
This is a genuine wish and the sincere desire of every person, and Allama Iqbal through his philosophy and poetry has shown us the way to obtain and nurture this spiritual strength. If Allama Iqbal has used some jargons some idioms and some anecdotes related to Islam or any other religion or philosophy, it is because he has reached his conclusions through it. By dismissing him as a partisan thinker because of this, we may serve our partisan inclinations but will keep ourselves away from the realities of life for our own harm. If there are some contradictions in his thought then it is because of the way human beings evolve intellectually by accepting and rejecting things in light of new experiences and new disclosures about them. It is for us to pick the best and leave the rest.
Confidence in self (Khud Eitamadi) and trust in God (Khuda Eitamadi) are the two wheels which are essential for a person to progress in his journey on the path of life. Without both these wheels we will not just be stuck in our journey of life but will lose the very purpose of life itself. With abundant self-confidence and no belief and trust in God and accountability before Him we will either become tyrants pillaging the rights of others to serve our interest, or become junkies after we face failures in our foolish adventures to serve our selfish interests. Working for our spiritual growth through rituals without understanding the source of our spirit and the proper way to develop it, we become hermits. We may believe that we have become lesser gods through such exercises and rituals but we can’t solve the problems of mankind, and in fact add to them by acting gods without being one as we have seen in the life history of several such claimants.
Allama Iqbal is aware of the arduous task of maintaining the balance between developing spiritual prowess to act as vicegerents of God and to restrain the self from behaving like God and acting recklessly to destroy the balance on which Allah has created this universe (Ch55 V7-13). That is why he says in the following couplet and I conclude with it: The thing that gives life and meaning to my earthly existence is the part of Your soul which You have blown into me (Ch15 V28-30), but it is difficult for me to take care of it and nurture it properly to perform my role as your vicegerent without transgressing the limits.
Is Paykar e Khaki mein Ek Shai Hai so Teri Hai
Mere liye Mushkil Hai Is Shay Ki Nigahbani
