My Take on Allama Iqbal

I have read many eminent people version on Iqbal and sometimes tends to get confused on the diverse understanding of such a great personality.  I have my own interpretation of what Iqbal stood for.  I have often described him as the prophet-philosopher for modern India. My view is based entirely on selective readings of his work and my personal revulsion against the widely prevalent interpretation of the Hindu ethics and way of life—the do-nothing attitude of meditation to cultivate peace of mind. Peace of mind is sterile concept productive of nothing but peace of mind. No great works of art, science or literature, no great discoveries or inventions have been made mind at rest but only by those in state of agitation bordering on insanity. Iqbal was first to revolt against an apathetic view of life and extol the virtues of the work- ethic and ceaseless striving for excellence. I deliberately chose the ignore his obsession with Islam and was instead inspired by his daring to talk to God on equal terms and lay a fair share of the blame for the downfall of Muslim glory on Him. While being a devout Muslim he never ceased to castigate the mullah and the maulvi for their backward looking interpretation of Holy Scripture.

            

Two pastimes which Iqbal indulged in lessened his image as a poet. These were law and politics. Although he qualified as a barrister and set up practice at the Lahore High Court, he did not take the profession seriously and very few briefs came his way. The then Chief Justice of the High Court, Sir Shadi Lal, quite rightly turned down proposals to make Iqbal a judge of High Court. His forays into politics were equally desultory and inconsequential. He made little contribution to the Round Table Conference to which he was invited more as a man of letters than as a politician and found it difficult to get on with Muslim leaders of the time.M. A. Jinnah soon discovered that he could not get Iqbal to toe his line. State leaders like Mian fazl Hussain and Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan did not take him seriously. Nor he them. It is unfortunate that more has been read into the few speeches he delivered at political conference than they deserved. It is ironic that while he strongly condemned nation states based on religion and refused to accept restricting Islam within geographical boundaries, he continues to regarded as the emotional basis for Pakistan. His vision was pan- Islamic – more in line with the ideas of Jamaluddin Afghani and Maulana  Maududi than those of Jinnah and the Muslim League.

            

Iqbal’s biographers have not been fair to him. They have tried to portray him as a paragon of virtue and above human failing. He was a full- blooded man who despite having a succession of wives at home, had a long love – affair with a Bombay socialite and a fleeting one at the time he was Heidelberg University. There is enough material on record in the way of correspondence between him and his lady friends to establish that these relationships were not platonic. Biographers have unfairly – in my view, dishonestly – tried to ignore, gloss over explain away these associations and create an image of an anemic, ascetic- like figure totally absorbed in philosophical speculation and writing poetry.

           

Iqbal’s massage can be summed up in the old adage, ‘God helps those that help themselves’. There is a constant refrain that man must strive with all that he has in him before he expects God to give him the fruits of his labour.  Perhaps the lines most often quoted are:

Khudi ko kar buland itna

Keh har Taqdeer say pahley

Khuda bandey say khud poochhey

Bataa, teyree razaa kya hai?  

Endow thy will with such power

That at every turn of fate it so be

That God himself asks of his slave

‘tell me, what it is that pleaseth thee?’

Khudi has been variously translated as self-hood, self-will, self-confidence and determination to succeed. God himself exhorts a man to determine his destiny.

Too apnee sar navisht khud apneey qalam say likh

Keh khaalee rakhee hai khana-e-haq nay teyree jabeen

Write your life’s story with your own hand

For God who is just has left a blank space on your forehead.

Another couplet frequently quoted convey the same massage:

Amal say zindagee bantee hai

Jannat bhee, jahannum bhee

Yeh khakee apni fitrat mein

Na nooree hai na naari hai

Its how we act that makes our lives,

We can make it heaven, we can make it hell.

In the clay of which we are made

Neither light nor darkness of evil dwell.

Iqbal makes it clear that man’s striving must be for a good cause and not for selfish or evil purpose:

            

            Yaqeen mahkam, amal paiham

            Mohabbat faatah-e-alam;

            Jihad-i-Zindagani main hain

            Yeh mardon kee shamsheeren

           

In man’s crusade of life, three weapons has he;

Faith that his cause is just;

Courage to wage eternal strife;

Love that encompasses all humanity.

For those who aspire to be leader of man Iqbal prescribes further reles:

            

            Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaaz, jaan pur soz

            Yehi hai rakht-e-safar Meer-e-kaarvan kay liye

            

            Broad vision, heart-warming speech, a warm personality

            These are all the baggage the laeder of acaravan needs to carry.

Each individual has a role in making up the community to which he belongs.

Afraad kay haanthon hai aqvaam kee taqdeer—the fate of humanity is in the hand of every human being. He has to be conscious of his responsibilities to society because he cannot function alone: Fard Qaaem rabt-e-maillat say hai—an individual is sustained by society: tanha kucch nahin—by himself he count for nothing; he is like a wave of the ocean which ceases to exist if there were no ocean.

Iqbal did not believe in separating religion from politics because politics divorced from religion (ethic) would lead to tyranny. It is not quite clear whether Iqbal believed in democracy. He admired strong man and wrote in praise of dictators both communist and fascist. At the same time he believed in freedom and right to chalk out one’s own course of life. Perhaps he subscribed more to meritocracy than the kind of democracy we have today.

            

            Is raaz ko ik mard-i-firangi nay kiya faash

            Har chand kay daanaa usey khola nahin kartey;

            Jamhauriyat ik tarz-e-hakoomat hai keh jis mein

            Bandon ko ginaa kart ay hain tola nahin kartey

            A foreign gentlemen exploded the myth

            Which secret wise men have never betrayed

            Democracy is a form of government in which

            Heads are counted, men never weighed.

Iqbal had faith in man’s ability to rise to supreme heights, to reach beyond the stars provided his quest was constant and not debased by thoughts of petty, personal gain. His flight was to be like that of the golden edge surveying the earth beneath it, not like that of a vulture looking for carrion. It was not to compromise his principals matter what the consequences were. Manzur Qadir’s son, Basharat, chose the following lines from Iqbal for the epitaph on a friend of the family, Mohammad Anwar:

            

           Qaid-e-mausem say tabeeat Azaad uskee

            Kash! Gulshan mein samajhta koee faryaad uskee

            From the prison bars changing seasons he remained free

            Alas! There was none in the garden to lend ear to his plea.

A man must be committed to the truth, then only can he be courageous:

           

            Aaeen-e-jawan mardaan haq-goee-o-baby baakee

            Allah kay sheyron ko aatee naheen boobaki

            The aim of young man is to boldly uphold the trust

            The leonine sons of Allah know not the art of deceit.

Every setback in life to him was another opportunity to prove his worth:  az bala-o-tarse? – do you fear evil; Hadith-i-Mustafa ast --- it is a saying of the prophet; Mard ra roz-e-safaa ast—to a man a day of ill-luck is but a day of purgatory.

There is nothing hidden from man if only he strives to unravel the mysteries of life:

            

            Mard-e-har say naheen posheeda zamee-e-taqdeer

            Khwaab mein deykha hai aalam i-nau kee tasveer

            Aur jab bang-e-azaan beydaar kartee hai usey

            Karta hai khwaab mein deykhee hooi duniya taameer

            

            From a free man are not hidden the secret of destiny

            He sees in his dreams vision of the world to be

            When the morning call to prayer rouses him

            He strives to build the world of his dreams.

Not for Iqbal, the ideal of the Hindu ascetic sitting cross-legged in the lotus pose, controlling his breath, stilling his mind and trying to rouse the serpent power lying coiled at the base of his spine. He was the prophet of restless energy:

            

            Khuda tujhey kisee toofaan say aashna kar day

            Key teyrey behr kee maujon mein izhtiraab naheen

            

            May God bring a strom in your life!

            I see no vitality in the waves of the ocean of life.

Words like iztirrab and talaatum (restlessness) appear frequently in Iqbal’s writing.

What was ture of individuals was equally true of races. They rose in strife, had their ups and down and collapsed into decadence:

            

            Aa tujh ko battaaoon main taqdeer-i-umam kya hai

            Shamsheer-o-Sana avval, taoos-o-rhubaab aakhir

            

           Come let me tell you of the destiny of races!

 They rise with the sword and the dagger

 They end with the lute and the viol.

            But a people at rest were a people without life:

            

            Nishaan yahee hai zamaaney mein zinda Qaumon ka

            Key subhoh-o-shaam badaltee hain in kee taqdeeren

            

            The real signs of life in races in this age are

            That morn and eve their fortunes change.

In Iqbal’s scheme of things man came first, God had a secondary role. Many a time he chides God for breaking His word ti mankind. God created the universe but it is man who gave it meaning:

            

           Too shab aafreede, chiraagh aafreedam

            Saqaal Aafeedee, agaam aafreedam

            Biyaabaan-o-Kohsaa-o-raagh aafreedee

            Khayaabaan-o-gulzar-o-baagh aafreedam

            

            Thou madest the night, I the lamp to light it

            Thou madest the clay, I moulded it into a goblet

            Wild wastes, mountains and jungles were were mode by Thee

            Orchards, flower lands and gardens were laid by me.

No doubt that God did create the world for us but it was also God who threw Adam and Eve out of Paradise for daring to transgress His ordinances. Iqbal question God’s might to impose such dire punishment on the progeny of Adam and Eve and ask Him to accept a fair share of the blame for the downfall of mankind.