Iqbal: An Appraisal

Dr. Maroof Shah

I begin with a personal note. Iqbal has been my passion, my weakness and my love.  Even though one could criticize certain of his formulations/ readings/conceptions one can’t ignore his seminal contributions in diverse fields. There are certain people who attempt to argue that Iqbal isn’t relevant today, that he was merely a poet and his philosophical thought is dated or inherently problematic. Iqbal has even been charged with being an ideologue of Muslim fundamentalism. But the question is why is Iqbal so deeply revered by common Muslims? Why are there many libraries, institutes and localities named after him? Why is Iqbal the most quoted Urdu poet in most circles? Iqbal has been criticized by certain orientalists for his neoorthodoxy and parochial and nonuniversalist conception of Islam.
I wish to highlight distinctive points of Iqbal’s greatness though it doesn’t mean that we cannot differ from him on many issues and that much water has flowed from the time of his death and retrospectively we are in a better position to be critical regarding certain of his fundam,ental theses.
*          Iqbal is the greatest poet-philosopher of Urdu language. There are one or two poets who may have excelled him as a poet but none who can stand above him as poet –philosopher.
*          He is the only Muslim thinker who has evolved or formulated a distinctive philosophy of his own vis-à-vis modern philosophical thought for showing vital role of Islam in the modern age.  There are many Muslim philosophers who have either repeated traditional philosophical thought or who have subscribed to Marxist and other view[points I formulating their philosophies. Iqbal remains rooted in tradition
*          He is the most outspoken thinker of Muslim ummatism (community consciousness) in recent Islam
*          Who else than Iqbal deserves the name of Hakeemul Ummat in the 2oth century Islamic world
*          His is the most original attempt to secure for Islam a privileged space in modern episteme that has been seriously taken by Western intelligentsia.
*          He has been the  most worthy successor of mystical or gnostic (irfani) poets who has been able to reach the masses in Urdu and Persian languages. His greatest contribution lies in this domain. Islam has been renovated and reinvigorated by Sufis and Sufi poets rather than purely theological figures. He deserves, in certain sense, the title of mujaddid. Modern man can be converted either through a rigorously argued philosophical perspective or through the use of deeply moving poetry. Iqbal qualifies on both grounds. No traditional aalim has been able to wield such an influence as Iqbal in reviving religious/mystical ethos in the 20th century.
He is amongast the most uintegrated oor unfragmentd and multidimensional  personalities in recent Islamic history. He is simultaneously a poet, a philosopher, a politician, a visionary, a mystic and many more things. There are traditionally four paths to perfection suited for four kinds of personalities. Mysticism, religion, philosophy and poetry. He has appropriated all of them. In yet another terminology he is simultaneoiusly a karma yogi  (philosopher of action), a bhakta yogi (the poet of ishq), a raj yogi (an advocate of self culture through concentration) and jnani yogi ( a mystic in gnostic or irfani tradition, a philosopher). Speaking in diverse voices, at diverse planes he has naturally able to influence so many people.
Here, to refute the charges of irrationalism, fundamentalism and parochialism against him I will only highlight his credentials as a thinker in modern Islam by foregrouinding his contribution towards appropriating modern science in Islam. It is he, who following Whitehead championed the view that the ages of faith are the ages of reason and sought to prove this thesis in his philosophical work. Unfortunately Iqbal is read as a poet only and not as a prose writer who argued for certain funbdamentally new things in the history of Islamic thought. He alone, amongst the galaxy of modern Muslim intellectuakls, has ventured to reconstruct theology, to exercise absolute ijtihad in theological matters. His contemporaries are still caught in debating ijtihad in juristic matters while as he moved far ahead. He was born ahead of his age and that explains partially certain people’s rejection of him. He was, undoubtedly, after Ghazzali, an exceptionally original and bold mind the like of him is to be found with great difficulty in last many centuries after Ghazzali. As one critic has said if the Quran were to be revealed now it would be in Iqbal’s verse on Abul Kalam Azad’s prose. Even the extreme critics of Iqbal can’t deny the captivating force of his poetry.
*          As a modern na’t writer he has hardly been excelled. There is no modern thinker of Islam who has written comparable verse in praise of the Prophet (SAW)
*          His contribution to modern Sufi thought is yet to be duly appreciated. His attempt to reconstruct mystical thought in Islam is unprecedented. Affirmation of time, action, history and other things that had not been duly done in the history of Sufism despite the Quran’s explicitly affirmatory attitude towards these things that we see in Iqbal is his greatest service to Sufism. Dynamic affirmatory orientation of Sufi thought has been the contribution of Iqbal. Despite certain disagreements from traditional Sufi and the tradituionalist  metaphysical viewpoint Iqbal’s contribution remains seminal
I wish to highlight Iqbal’s contribution towards evolving a modern view of Islam, his contribution to appropriation of modern science in Islam. Though retrospectively we might differ from Iqbal on certain pints but we can’t dispute his immense contribution towards arguing Islam’s relevance and adaptabity in modern times Attempting to provide consistent theory of modernist reconstructionist response to modern science.

1. Providing a sophisticated philosophical version of compatibility thesis.
2. Rereading Muslim intellectual history on anticlassical modernist lines.
3. Appropriating for the first time in Muslim history and in quite compelling fashion modern physics in Islamic or spiritual interpretation of the universe.
4. Quite a consistent defense of evolution and rereading Islamic intellectual history for the purpose. In this connection he had to reread metaphysical/philosophical content of Islam. His philosophy of self and time and history fit quite nicely with evolutionary thinking.
5. Providing a possible theological/metaphysical foundation for Islamic modernism.
6. A bold step in the direction of formulating new kalam that Muslim modernists like Sir Syed, Amir Ali and Abduhu desperately wanted for accomplishing their purification/reinterpretation of traditional religious thought.
7.  Quite a novel interpretation/defense of the idea of finality in Islam that involved linking it with the birth of modern age and inductive intellect.
8. An attempt to prove modern European culture as part/continuation of Islamic culture itself. This is an attempt to bridge the East and the West by foregrounding Western spirit of Islamic tradition.
9. A critique of certain attempts that posit a distinct identity of Islamic science. For him science is universal, objective, rational and by virtue of these characteristics already Islamic. Though an independent venture of human spirit it is a sort of prayer. The question of values doesn’t arise in Iqbal’s perspective. As Islam rejects the sacred/secular dichotomy so scientific observation is an act of prayer.
10. A bold exercise in absolute ijtihad not only in the domain of law but in other domains of religious thought as well. A methodology for practizing science without fearing any censuring from any religious Inquisition. A reassertion of a version of Ibn Rushd’s argument for validation of scientific and philosophical enterprise in Islam.

        He carried forward Sir Syed’s unique contribution to Quranic exegesis. Sir Syed had proposed himself the task of “reinterpreting Muslim theology, making it compatible with post-Renaissance Western humanistic and scientific ideas.” But he was not ideal candidate to accomplish the task as he didn’t have the first hand knowledge of Western canons of thought, its philosophical and scientific tradition. Iqbal alone among his other distinguished contemporaries could contribute something substantial in this direction as he had first hand knowledge of both traditional Islamic and modern Western thought. In fact he has provided broad outlines and a rational methodology for making Islam a “scientific religion.” He has in effect followed Ibn Rushd in his problem of reconciling ma’qul (demonstrative truth) with manqul (scriptural truth).
This methodology has led Iqbal, like Sir Syed, into a radical reinterpretation of theology and some highly unconventional positions on major issues. Like Sir Syed he more or less accepted evolution and symbolically/allegorically interpreted certain references to supernatural in his lectures. He managed to avoid the strictures of conservative orthodoxy by presenting his views in difficult philosophical rather than easily understandable theological format. This however contributed to neglect of his thought also as he was not understood by masses or even the generality of ulema. Unlike Sir Syed and certain other modernists he doesn’t subscribe to modern Christian heresy that reduces religion to morals alone. Like Sir Syed he has paid glorious tribute to European thought and culture. He emerges a stauncher rationalist than Sir Syed when he comes to appropriate Islamic metaphysics. He rationally treats the Absolute. Even the Infinite can be captured by thought. Jinns, angels, hell and heaven are appropriated from a perspective that modern sensibility could easily accept. Rather than impose a naturalistic paradigm from without on the Quran he sees the latter itself advocating a sort of naturalism, the “Quranic naturalism.”
He has attempted to reckon with or appropriate all the important thought currents of modern science and the philosophy inspired by it that have some bearing on religion. He positively approaches Darwin, Freud, Jung, Comte, Fraser, Einstein, Russell, Whitehead and many other important figures of the modern scientific world. He independently but critically approaches all of them as well as classical Islamic scholarship for his proposed reconstructive endeavor. He welcomes modernity with almost all its attendant consequences and implications for traditional Islam.
It needs to be clearly borne in mind that Iqbal is not a modernist in the precise sense in which  the traditionalists use the term.He is neither anthropomorphist secular humanist nor antimetaphysical positivist. He is fundamentally a religious metaphysician. However he is not a traditionalist either. He is significantly influenced by modern scientific and philosophical  trends
His whole philosophy and interpretation of Islam reveals the influence of modernist scientific outlook. His belief in evolution with  its methodological naturalism, his idea of perfect man and belief in progress, his eschatology, his interpretation of the finality of prophethood,  his theodicy, his critique of mysticism, his empiricist  defence of religion, his inductionist outlook, his demythologization of the legend of Fall, his divinization of time and his time-centred interpretation of Islam, his psychologizing of religion, his rejection of parapsychology or occultism as pseudoscience, his plea for absolute ijtihad and dynamism and the whole project of reconstruction of religious thought in Islam, his panentheistic leanings, his praise of innovation, novelty and creativity, his humanism, his concept of moral evil (Iblis), his appropriation of the West as the further development of some of the most important phases of Islamic culture and thus welcoming Islam’s movement towards the West, his epistemology and his thesis that History is the source of knowledge according to the Quran, his privileging of becoming over being and time over space, his interpretation/appropriation of prophetic and mystical experience, his elevation of scientist to the status  of sagehood, his philosophy of ego, his condoning of the Renaissance, his attempt at a spiritual interpretation of the universe, his anthropocentric leanings, his rejection of body-soul dualism in almost what appears to be secular theological spirit, his eulogization of power, his attitude towards Nature and environment, his interpretation of man’s vicegerancy, his reading of many modern scientific notions in the Quran and Islamic history, his rejection of what is called as Islamisation of knowledge, his concepts of space, time, causality and destiny, his positivist spirit (seen in his praise of Zia Gokalp), his approaching certain tricky theological issues in the light of modern science, his proofs for the existence of God, his belief in a growing universe, his appropriation of intuition as developed intellect, his defense and interpretation of Muslim culture and civilization, his advocacy of deed and action over idea and thought, his advocacy of experimental method, his Islamisation of modernity (or modernization of Islam), his critique of “Magian” supernaturalism, and “worn out’’ or “practically a dead metaphysics” of present day Islam – all these reveal the influence of modern science  in Iqbal. We may not agree with him on certain issues, especially his simplistic reading of modern science and his too conciliatory apprioach to it but what is here the issue is relevance and contemporaniety of Iqbal. Iqbal was far more modern tha many of his modernist and secularist critics but his conscious attempt to reamin rooted in the framework of the Quran makes him a thinker in the traditional sense and thus worth reckoning by all those who are concerned with upholding Islamic traditional heritage in the face of modernity and secualirzation. It also appears that perennialists are yet to appreciate fully providential value of modernity and they overemphasize its darker aspects. Here Iqbal who perceived importance of modernist turn in thought and its inevitabity to a certain extent seems to be more perceptive. Modern spirit, at root, is not satanic or Faustian though it easily succumbs to such a perversion. For Iqbal history is meaningful and all its events are fraught with great meaning and their positive value needs to be appreciated. He approaches modernity from this vantage point. Rhere is something more to modern history than a series of falls and  degenerations. 

In search of Iqbal

Between fulsome praise and meaningless nit-picking, where lies the real Iqbal

Ajaz ul Haque

For those who like to quote profusely from Iqbal’s poetry to explain Iqbal’s message, this one may be a disappointment. We don’t have a deluge of couplets to offer, but a simple point to drive home. Well, that much may safely be done without making too many references to the source.
That Iqbal is a great mind must be a conclusion based on a profound study and not a mere slogan heard and passed on. The first one needs a serious approach towards, the second one a mere emotion which, needless to mention, may be all love, no knowledge. Iqbal as a phenomenon appeals to heart the same way as Iqbalian thought stimulates mind. What we as students require is a beautiful combination of both. Heart to feel the majesty of a man called Iqbal and mind to fathom the depth of his poetry and philosophy.
As we remember the poet of the East, we are facing a question which no scholarship can provide an answer to. Let’s put his poetry aside as we have a tough job at hand. The job of placing Iqbal between his trenchant critics and ever loyal admirers. Those who summon Iqbal at every point to express their love and those who refute him for having done `more harm than good’. At this moment Iqbal himself might have relished to articulate his perplexity about himself.
Iqbal Bhi Iqbal Say Aaghan Nahi Hai (Even I don’t know, who am I)
There is a perception gaining ground in many critics about those who according to him `make muchado’ about Iqbal. They see all Iqbalian research as a fertile market where everyone loves to sell his product and get going. The need of emphasizing the relevance of Iqbal, they believe is all created. The question here is this. What do we mean by `selling’ Iqbal. Is Iqbal-selling becoming a new breed of literature or a legless truth which they only know who say like this. There are two views to this and both are extreme. One based on too much of knowledge and the other on too much of ignorance. One group is so emotionally obsessed with an aura called Iqbal that they don’t even accept approaching the poet from a scholarly perspective where objectivity matters, sentiments come next. In doing so they do no good but block all ways of studying him from different angles. Their attachment to Iqbal is more exciting than objective. The other group is too dangerous to handle for the sheer ignorance they shoot their arguments from. Who Iqbal, what Iqbal? All their refutations are not only farcical, but illogical too. Scholarship demands that those who reject Iqbal must have read him more intensely than those who accept him. If a Tolstoy spurns Shakespeare’s King Lear as a piece of non sense, mind you it’s Tolstoy doing so. If George Orwell refuses to acknowledge Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World  as a piece of original literature, it’s a phenomenon called Orwell undermining Huxlean legend. Likewise to sweep a comment on Iqbal needs a mind perhaps profounder than those who accept him as a creative colossus of the literary world. Negation always comes with an extra push that naturally requires more intellectual energy. One wonders when even well-to-do men in their respective fields enjoy talking so flippantly about subjects not their province. Satirizing the whole Iqbalian thought without actually knowing as to who the man was and what did he do all his life is a nice way to register your naiveté and ignorance. Iqbal, they believe, has been reduced to birds, squirrels and flies. Well that is an aesthetic nicety which only an art-lover can appreciate. Let’s not forget even scriptures contain parables of cattle, mosquitoes, worms, ants and creatures pettier than that.
What do big brains do? They do nothing but `give nothingness a local habitation and a name’. That is what Shakespeare did and that is what Iqbal left for us. Contributions of an ideal thinker may sound insignificant to those concerned with the hard truth of life. Poets are useless for technocrats the same way technocrats are for poets. But the fact remains that everyone has a role. The world is run not by ideas alone, not by labour alone, but by a combined force of theory and practice. What matters is the bigness of that idea and the power behind the theory which can make a difference in the world of practice. Iqbal was a thinker like many great thinkers we see on the horizon of literature and philosophy. Like all original minds, he too was full of contradictions which his readers sometimes name as evolution and sometimes as the beauty of expression. A restless, mercurial genius out to know the unknowable secretes of existence. Someone in search of the ultimate truth, painfully involved in the process of understanding the inscrutability of life and being did leave a universe of ideas behind him.
Who sells him and how? Whom does one sell him to? Who buys him? Is making Iqbalian discourse a subject of interest for others an act of selling. If we talk about Einstein’s theory of relativity, do we sell Einstein. If Shakespeare finds a great market in film, in theatre, Da Vinci lives as a symbol of artistic excellence, Ghalib attracts playwrights and dramatists. Do all these endvours mean pure business? Anyone of them can be the subject, but do you sell your ideal when you show your passion in him. Even religious studies are being approached through secular means of teaching and learning. Then do we sell God in our classrooms. If we talk about metaphysics, do we sell faith?
Ideology aside, for a student of literature, philosophy and history Iqbal makes a subject and if you hold a seminar, a debate, an essay competition on a subject, you don’t sell it, you propagate it. What remains is intent which no one can gauge the truth of. Acts are assessed on their appearance, what lies within the dark realm of one’s personal faith can only be speculated but not pronounced like a verdict. The rest if someone sells falsehood and perfidy in the guise of Iqbal, that does not mean selling him out, that means raping the very message. And that is not business, that is crime.
Pope said about Bacon that he was `the wisest, the brightest and the meanest of all’. The acknowledgement is more objective than emotional. Here we have a lesson to learn. Genuine scholarship demands a forthright analysis. Iqbal must be seceded from Iqbalian studies, not in the sense post-modernists demand, but in the sense intellectual logic demands.  If we are deeply passionate in our devotion towards a mystique called Iqbal, we must be equally dispassionate towards a discipline called Iqbalian studies. Therein we can at least make an attempt to locate Iqbalian genius.

Allama Iqbal's Concept of `Knowledge and Humanism

Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Gania

The poet of the East laid down the foundation of a great concept. Among the modem Muslim thinkers, Allama Iqbal holds a unique distinction. He saw and studied life with all its philosophy and message. In fact Allama had a very broad intellectual canvass, which stored a rich knowledge of world,  intellectual traditions.  He reflects on life in its universal context. As a fruit of his global perspective, he is not only one of the thinkers of Muslim culture, but also he, is one of the universal thinkers' of humankind. '
In this context H. Nasser very a0ly writes, “the need of the hour is to rediscover Iqbal in his true perspective and not to keep him confined to a narrow limit. Infact, Iqbal is a common heritage of whole humanity and his message should be allowed to reach uninterrupted and unhindered to all the citizens of the world."
Allama Iqbal's approach towards the problem of the nature of religious experience is conceptual as well as practical: It is conceptual because he searches for a possibility of a meaningful expression of religious experience. His approach is practical also, because he seeks to   understand the   meaning    of      religious experience within the total life experience. . Allama Iqbal rightly writes that ‘to earn something and to try to achieve it is itself an ideal otherwise life will change into death.’
This is why he made the practical dimension of Quranic vision, on the subject matter in his famous book, The Reconstruction of religious thought in Islam, that "The Quran is a book which emphasis 'deed' rather than 'idea'."
It shows that Allama Iqbal's approach is practical towards the fife, and religion. That is why he says in his Reconstruction lectures that "Religion is not a departmental affair, it is neither a mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mere action; it is the expression of the whole man." These quotations from Allam's valuable writings emphasis, that he has a firm faith-on the religious philosophy and ideology of Islam.
As     a       multidimensional personality,        he     is       also very conscious    about the    Muslim       culture        and education. The dimension  of life is very important before him, because education is a part and parcel of the culture of a nation , and is the very important instrument through which  a culture perpetuates itself. Therefore the two cannot be separated from each other in just as the flesh cannot be separated from the bone.
According to Allama Iqbal, one country safely profit from the experiences of others. But great care should' be taken in respect of values, principles and ideas. Because consciously or unconsciously blind adaption of other culture and education can destroy the entire fabric of a particular nation's culture, So Allama is very clear on this point and cautions, us that:

Look into thy own clay for the fire that is wanted
 The light of another is not worth stringing for.

Thus, it is clear that Allama Iqbal was--totally opposed to borrowed educational and cultural ideas. According to him every system, programmme or plan of education is the creation of an ideal society. So the text books, the mentality of the teacher and his general attitude towards life, the views of the managing and governing authorities, etc reflects this ideal. Therefore, the ideal  is continuously attracting pupils towards itself. This education becomes a servant of great ideals and can be adapted to serve every one of them equally. These very ideals can inculcate the action and sacrifice among the teachers as well as their taught. But when a nation lacks these great ideals, they gradually lose their grip on history and so their decline follows. That is why Allama says:

Individual dies If the life flow ceases.
Nation dies if the ideal of life disappears.

Life of the Individual depends on relationship of the body and the soul. Life of the nation depends on the preservation of its tradition and culture.
Maulana Rumi says:
"Knowledge is a snake for  you or poison, if you use It `to increase your mat&-131 body alone. But if knowledge is used for the emancipation of the soul, then it is  your best friend. "
So, before Allama Iqbal Islam -and Islamization should be the purpose of a Muslim Pupil and teacher. So his whole educational and cultural basis should-be, based upon this goal. In this respect Allama Iqbal once wrote to one of his close associate, the well known educationist Kh. K. G. Saieedein. In this letter he clearly emphasizes his ideology about education as:
"By Ilm, I mean that knowledge, which is based on senses. Usually I have used the word in this very sense. This knowledge yields physical powers which should be subservient to Deen (i.e. the religion of Islam). If it is not subservient to Deen then it is demonic, pure and simple...."
It is incumbent on Muslims to Islamize knowledge.
"Abu Lahab should be metamorphosed into Haiyder." If this Abu Lahab becomes Haider-e-Karrar, or in other words, if it (i.e. Know- ledge and the power it wields) becomes subservient to Deen, then it would be an unmixed blessing into mankind."
But when he saw the learners are inspired by me love of wrong ideals, ideologies and philosophies through the agencies the institutions that embody  the educational systems created by those ideals, he strongly criticized these schools. He says:

"The school is unaware of its aims and objects until it has an access to the urge within.
As long as knowledge does not take the fruits of love; it is nothing but an exhibition of thoughts:
He clearly showed his resentment against those teachers and pupils whose ideology was not firm about Islamization of knowledge and said:
(These Idols of the present era the product of the school , are endowed with the  neither with the manners of the infidels nor with masterly cut of Abraham's father.)

Infact he was of the opinion that for the establishment of a new and progressive Muslim Society, a reform in Islamic culture and education is necessary. For this purpose Allama Iqbal felt the heed for educating and training the Ulema and scholars first. For this purpose, Allama Iqbal wanted to establish an Islamic University for the education of the new scholars, teachers and especially the Ulema " (The learned scholars of Islam). This was necessary for the realization of many objectives, and one of them, as explained by himself was, who does not know that the moral training of the Muslim masses is in the hands of such Ulema and preachers who are not really competent to perform this duty. Their knowledge of Islamic history and sciences is extremely limited. In order to persuade the people to adopt in their lives the moral and religious values of Islam, it is necessary for a preacher of today to be not only familiar with subjects like history, economics and sociology but must also have complete knowledge of the literature and modes of thinking of the community."
Allama had a firm faith in Quranic principles. He wanted that Muslims should build a society based on knowledge. He left a vision behind and we are to implement it. He idealized what, we should put to practice.
The Islamic  University was not created. However, in thirties  the Aligarh Muslim University thought of introducing a new  faculty of Isiamic studies. Aftab Ahmad Khan Chancellor of the University wrote to Allama Iqbal seeking his advice. Allama Iqbal wrote a       long letter  to      him   which is very       important document. Some of the extracts are: "our first and foremost object should be to create Ulema of proper qualities who could fulfill the spiritual needs of the community. Please note that along with the change in the outlook of the people their spiritual requirements also undergo a change. The changes in the status of the individual, his advancement made by the physical sciences, have completely revolutionized modern life. As a result the kind of Ilim -i-Kalam and the theological understanding which was considered sufficient to satisfy the heart of a Muslim of the middle Ages, does not satisfy him anymore. This is not being stated with  the intention to injure the spirit of religion; but in order to rediscover the depths of creative and original thinking (Ijtihad), and to emphasize that it is essential to reconstruct our religious thought...... Like many other matters, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's farsightedness made him also look into this problem. As you may know, he laid the foundations of his rationalism on the philosophical doctrines of an ancient and bygone age for the resolution of this problem. I am afraid; I do not agree with you the proposed curriculum of Islamic studies. In my view the revival of the faculty of Islamic studies on the old lines would be totally useless. As for the spiritual value of the ancient theology, one can say   that is based on antiquated ideas, and as for its educational significance, it is irrelevant in -the face of the emerging new problems or the new presentation of old problems what is needed today is to apply ones mind in a new direction and to exert for the construction of a new theology and a new Ilm-i-Kalam. It is evident that this job can be accomplished only by those who are competent to do it. But how to create sucn Ulema? My suggestion is that if you desire to keep the conservative element of our society satisfied, then you may start with the faculty of Islamic Studies on the old lines. But your ultimate objective should be to gradually bring forward a group of such Ulema who are themselves capable of independent and creative thinking (Ijtihad-I-Fikr) in accordance with my proposed scheme.
In my view the dissemination of modern religious ideas is necessary for the modern Muslim nations. A struggle has already commenced in the Islamic world between the old and new methods of education as well as between the upholders of spiritual freedom and those monopolizing religious power. This movement of independence of human thought is even influencing a conservative country like Afghanistan. You may have read the speech of the Amir of Afghanistan in which he has attempted to control the powers of the Ulema. The emergence of numerous such movements in the other parts of the Muslim world makes one arrive at the same conclusion. Therefore, in your capacity as the Head of a Muslim University, it is your duty to step forward in this new field with courage.
However, it is historically a bitter truth that the educational reforms in the field of religion proposed by Allama Iqbal were not implemented sincerely, even if an attempt was made shortly before his death to establish a Darul-Uloom according to his specifications. For this purpose correspondence  started between Allama Iqbal and AI-Muraghi, the Rector of al-Azhar University of Egypt, through the the,n young, energetic and dynamic religious reformist Maulana Syed Abul-Ala Maudodi, but the Egyptians could not produce an  Arabic instructor satisfying Allama Iqbal's requirements.
Later on, he invited Maulana Syed Abul-Ala Mawdudi, and committed him that, if he will move to this Darul-Uloom, I will also initiate him in the reinterpreting and reconstructing the Islamic jurisprudence. Unfortunately no sooner Maulana Mawdudi reached from Hyderabad to Darus-Salam, Pathankote, Allama Iqbal passed away
Infact, it was the dearest desire of Allama Iqbal that, an Islamic educational system on modern scientific basis should be given on priority, so that, human kind will satisfy spiritually as well as mentally through this original educational system.
Allama Iqbal does not define Islam as a theologian but as a philosopher. He says that, Islam is not a religion in the ancient sense of the word. It is an attitude  that is to say, Of freedom and even or defiance of universe. It is really a protest against the entire outlook z` the ancient world. Briefly, it is the discovery of man.
Thus by this statement, Allama Iqbal explains that, Islam as a religion and as a culture, is humanistic in its nature. Any interpretation of Islam which sanctifies feudalism and & discriminates  between man and man, is not acceptable to Allama Iqbal. Allama's western critics contended at he picked up this humanism from European thought and interpreted Islam in that light.
But Allama Iqbal vehemently claimed that humanism is purely production of Islamic culture and teachings. It is actually z( main gift of Islam to the west.
According to Quranic teachings, Allama believed that many new worlds are concealed in its verses and countless eras yet to come are hidden in its wisdom. Its different interpretations can resolve the problems of the past, present and future ages provided that the Muslims are able to reconcile "Reason" with "Love" and realize that the new world lying buried in their hearts  in anxiously waiting to unfold itself on hearing the word "be" from them.
Allama Iqbal describes this Quranic truth as:

'
By the above Persian verse, Allama Iqbal subscribed to the view of flexible and progressive interpretation of Quranic laws for 'worldly affairs (Muamalaat) in order to cope with the needs and requirements of the changing times. -
He realized that now-a-days Islam requires 'emancipation' from the medieval fancies of theologians and jurists, thus he proclaimed that,
"Spiritually we are living in a prison-house of thoughts and emotions which during the course of centuries, we have weaved round ourselves". For this reason he rejected the dynastic/ hereditary caliphate, Immate or Sultanate as the outmoded forms of government which the Muslims evolved. In this matter, he refers Ibni-Khuldun, the famous historiographers of Islam, who also is in favour of the above mentioned demolition of the hereditary Khilafat.      •--~'
Aliamai-i- Iqbai criticizes the western form of democracy as a political system, which is flawed in many ways. Since there is no other acceptable alternative, therefore, the establishment of popular legislative assemblies in some Muslim countries is a return to the original purity of Islam. He explained his views regarding this matter clearly in his, "Reconstruction" in 6th Lecture.
According to Dr. Javid Iqbal, Allama Iqbal is of the opinion about the Quranic rule of obeying those who exercise authority from amongst you (Sura 4: verse 59). In fact means obeying only those leaders who are, like you and not the kings or dynastic rulers. So in this connection he advocates the argument that the powers of the caliphate could be vested in a body of persons or an elected assembly. In this way he favours the collective Ijtehadic system. (,Ijma or consensus of the community of Muslim Ummah) should be intermingled in present days. In this Ijtihad and Ijma there should be lawyers, sociologists, modern thinkers and Islamic jurists together to solve the grim and grave problems of the Muslims on the whole. He explained this unique idea in his "Reconstruction lectures".
Allama lqbal also believes that, the essence of "Tawhid' (Unity of Allah) as a working idea, is human equality, human solidarity and human freedom. According to him, an Islamic state, is "an endeavdu-t6' transform these ideal principles into space-time forces, an aspiration to realize them in a definite human
As mentioned earlier  Aliama iqbal believes that Islam and Islamization, in real sense has a vast humanistic nature and attitude, so in his proposed Islamic state, Islamic laws cannot be imposed on the non-Muslim minorities. They have always been and shall be covered under their own laws. Allama Iqbal proclaimed categorically in his speeches and statements that:
"The principle that each group is entitled to free development on its own lines is not inspired by the feeling of narrow communalism. There are communalisms and communalisms. A community which is inspired by feeling of ill-will towards other communities is low and ignorable. I entertain the highest respect for the customs, laws, religious and social institutions of other communities. Nay, it is my duty, according to the teaching of the Quran, even to defend their places of worship, if need be.
Here Allama Iqbal's assertion regarding the responsibilities of a Muslim state to safeguard the rights of the minorities is based, on Sura 22, verse 40 of the Quran in which Allah says:

If Allah had not created the group of Muslims to ward off the others aggression, then churches, synagogues, oratories and mosques where Allah is worshipped most, would have been destroyed."
Rt. Justice Dr. ]avid Iqbal, the living legendry son of llama Iqbal interprets this Quranic verse as:
In the early stage of Islamic history this Quranic verse was interpreted as a legal provision for the protection of the places of worship of the "people of the Book" Jews and Christians. After the conquest of Iran this protection was extended by the jurists to the Zoroastrians, who were considered as "like the people of the Book" (Kamisl-Ahle-Kitab). The same protection extended to the Hindu temples during the reign of some Mughal emperors in India.

Iqbal's Concept of poetry

By Prof.Shafi Shouq

The most essential feature of Iqbal’s poetry lies in his mastery in expanding the language made available to him by the variety of poetries in Persian and Urdu and also in his ability to maintain an interactive contact with the variety of poetries produced in other languages, especially English and German. His creative communion with the poetries of the past and present and conscious effort not to write in isolation made him, on the one hand, adhere to the classical rigours of Persian and Urdu poetry and achieve capacious waywardness of western poetry, on the other; all his poems partake of both these qualities. His idiom and style overwhelmed post_Iqbal Urdu poetry and have been imitated and recycled to the extent that it is very difficult to appreciate his formal innovative skill in welding the two qualities. He, in tune with the Platonic notion of inspiration from “ghaib” (the invisible divine force), believed that a poet’s ability to “contrive” new meanings is ingrained in his nature, but, at the same time, is made communicative to others through poet’s conscious training in the craft. Though his theory of poetry is not available to us in any of his prose works, it is amply expressed both through his own poetic practice and in many a stray statement about the mystique of creativity obtaining in his poems. Here is a summary statement on his notion of poetry taken from zarb-I kaleem :

Har chand ki ijaadi m’aani hai khudaadaad
koshis se kahaan mard-I hunermand hai aazaad
khooni ragi m’emaar ki garmi se hai t’amir
maikhana-I Hafiz ho ki butkhaanai Behzaad
be mihnate paiham koi  jawher nahin khulta
Roshan sharari tesha se hai khaanai Farhaad

Invention of meaning is a divine gift, notwithstanding,
never can a man of skill be free from unfailing effort;
Nothing but the heat of blood in arteries is expressed,  
Be it Hafiz’s tavern or the idol-house of Behzad.
No gem gets unravelled without unceasing strife,
Farhad’s abode is illumined by the sparks of his hammer.

(Tr. S.S.)

While regarding inspiration as the echo of a sublime soul, he never ignored the poet’s vocation as a rational artist in giving shape and structure to utterances under the direction of a social responsibility and commitment to be effective in achieving the desired array in the order of things. Iqbal, like the author of Peri Hupsous, namely, Longinus, believed that poetic ecstasy occurs in a sublime soul in very brief spurts of energy. Poet’s task is to retrieve the primeval beauty of seemingly ordinary objects from the dust of the routine and then re-energise them with the “ soz-i darun” that is a latent faculty of a creative mind. With his emphasis on strife and conscious effort to untangle the skeins of experience, Iqbal does not regard poetry as a spontaneous overflow of the ecstasy, but as poet’s rational effort to find the most approximate equivalent to amorphous experience or the halo of light that he discovers in things around; it is a strenuous strife with the already existing language, no less  painful than Farhad’s endeavour to make rivulet of milk run through rocks.  

Rang ho ya khisht wa sang, chang ho ya harf wa saut
M’jizai fann main hai khuni jigar se namud
Qatrai khuni jigar silk o banata hai dil
   Khuni jigar se sada wa sarur wa sarud.

The “unsolicited” inspiration comes in the form of transient flashes, but not to a mind, however potent in terms of natural propensity it may be, that remains passively in wait for the ecstatic moments; the poet’s mind has to remain restively in search of the celestial brilliance that is  always abundantly present in every bit of nature.

darin gulshan parishan misli boyam
nami danam chi mi khwaham chi joyam
barayad arizu ya bar nayayad
shahid-I soz wa saz-i arizooyam

A restive gale of fragrance I am in this garden,
not knowing what I desire and what I seek;
unmindful of the wish’s fulfilment or deprivation,
a martyr of the music of desire I am.

(Tr. S.S.)

The finds of the creative quest find corresponding echoes in the gifted mind. This notion of Iqbal’s creative process is, in many respects quite identical with Coleridge’s account of higher meaning of nature the discovery of which is the activity of spirit that results in “self-realizing intuition”. Coleridge wrote:
In looking at objects of Nature while I am thinking, as at yonder moon dim-glimmering through the dewy window-pane, I seem rather to be seeking, as it were asking for, a symbolical language for something within me that already and forever exists, than observing anything new. Even when that latter is the case, yet still I have always an obscure feeling as if that new phenomenon were the dim awaking of a forgotten or hidden truth of my inner nature.
( Coleridge, 1895. Anima Poetae, p. 115.)
Iqbal expresses his concept of natura naturans, the interactive communion between nature in the sublime sense and creative soul, in many a beautiful verse. Here is a short poem from payam-i mashriq, titled huur wa shaair ( The Houri and the Poet) that he wrote in reply to Goethe’s poem of the same title:

Houri:
Na ba baadah mail daari nab a man nazar kushaai
Ajab in  ki  tuu nadaani rah-wa rasm-I aashnai
Hamah saaz-i  justajue  hama soozi aarizuue
Nafase ki mai guzaari ghazale ki mai sarai
Ki arm ba chshm aayad chu tilsm simyaie

Poet:
Dil-e rahravaan farebie ba klaam-e neish daarie
Magar ien ki lazzate o narasad ban auk-e khaare
Chi kunm ki fitrate man ba maqaame dar nasaazad
Dile naa sabuur daaram chu sabaa ba laala zaare
Chu nazar qaraar gierad ba nigaare khuubrooye
Tapad aan zamaan dile man paye khuubtar nigaare
Ze sharer sitaarah jooyam ze sitaarah aaftaabe
Sare manzille nadaaram ki bamieram az qaraare
Chu ze baadah-e bahaare qadah-e kasiedah khezam
Ghazale digar saraayam ba havaa-e nav bahaare
Talabam nihaayate aan ki nihaayate nadaarad
Ba nigaah-e naa shakiebe ba dil umiedvaare
Dile aashqaan bamierad ba bahisht-e jaavidaane
Na navaay-e dardmande na ghame nag ham gusaare

Houri :
Neither you yearn for wine nor you look at me
you know no customs of friendship, how strange!
All you seek is music ever for the heat of desire,
Your soul doles out wine, your verses brim with wine.
With your song you create a world of pleasant garden
Here in paradise I visualize the enchantment of your poesy.

Poet:
You dupe the hearts of wayfarers with your stingy speech,
but joy is never conveyed through the points of those prickles.
No destination in view I have, my nature I cannot stop,
an impatient heart I possess as  breeze in a flower garden.
The moment my eyes rest at the face of a beauteous thing,
the heart is ardent again for some more attractive splendour.
In a spark I search for a star, in star search for the sun,
nowhere I find the end, in rest I find my death.
From a gentle breeze I prepare goblets filled with vintage, 
with every breeze of spring I compose a fresh new song.
I yearn to find the end that has no finite end,
with an insatiable vision, with a heart sated with hope.
The hearts of lovers shall perish in the never-ending paradise
for there is no cry of ache, no grief, and no sharer of grief.

(Tr. S.S.)

Thus for Iqbal, creative activity is essentially an endless, unmotivated groping around for the flashes of truth that are by nature ineffable, but the very longing for attainment is the quintessence of real meaningful being. In Iqbal’s aesthetic framework the power of poetry lies not in the gain of strife, but in unceasing strife itself. Taking the nature as the sine qua non for poetic imagination, Iqbal envisions a genuine poet as essentially homeless, without a permanent locus to have respite from the never-ending engagement. Being always adrift, in the expanse of impersonal material objects, each significant for being a glimmering of the Infinite, is a poet’s job. The Poet’s reply to the Houri reminds us of these lines from Faust’s reply to Worry in Goethe’s Faust (of course without the daemonic intellectuality in Faust’s aesthetic way of life).

A fool! Who thither turns his blinking eyes
And dreams he’ll find his like above in the skies.
Let him stand fast and look around on earth;
Not mute is this world to a man of worth.
Why need he range through all eternity?
Here he can seize all that he knows to be.
Thus let him wander down his earthly day ;
When spirits spook, let him pursue his way;
Let him find pain and his bliss as on he stride,
He ! every moment still unsatisfied.
{Tr. George Madison Priest, 1941.) 

Addressing the Sun, Iqbal produces yet another poetic statement on the nature of the creative quest:

Aarizoo noor-e haqiqat ki hamaare dil main hai
Laila-I zauq-e talab ka ghar is manzil main hai
Kis qadr lazzat kishod-e ‘aqda-e mushkil main hai
Lutf sad haasil hamaare s’ai-e laa haasil main hai.

Longing for the light of Truth lies in our heart,
Laila of yearning has her abode here in this world.
All pleasure lies in resolving the riddle,
Immense pleasure is the reward of the unrewarding strife.

(Tr. S.S.)

In Iqbal’s order of things the poet enjoys the highest pedestal for his/her being the “dieda-I bina-I qaum” a nation’s power of vision.

Mehfil-e nazm-e hakoomat, chahra-e zeba-I qaum
Shair-e rangin nawa hai dieda-e bina-e qaum

In the order of things poets are the beauty of the face of a nation,
A poet with melodious expression is a nations power of vision. 
Jamiel tar hain gul-wa laala faiz se us ke
Nigaah-I shaair-e rangien nawa main hai jaadoo.

All beauteous flowers become prettier because of poets’ grace,
Magic lies in the vision of a melodious poet. 
In his introduction to Muraqqa-i Chughtai of Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Iqbal clearly formulated his notion of the role of poet in society.
The spiritual health of a people largely depends on the kinds of inspiration which their poets and artists receive. But inspiration is not a matter of choice. It is a gift, the character of which cannot be critically judged by the recipient before accepting it. It comes to the individual unsolicited, and only to socialise itself.
Like Mathew Arnold, Iqbal firmly believed that poetry is significant only when it is a criticism of life and an effective medium for the propagation of ennobling ideas and strengthens essential goodness of man. Arnold wrote in his 1880:
More and more mankind will discover that we have to turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us. Without poetry, our science will appear incomplete; and most of what now passes with us for religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry.
In consonance with Arnold’s prophesy, Iqbal also believed that poetry has to play its role without any prejudice of race, political geography and faith. In his introduction to Payaam-I Mashriq he wrote:
… is vaqt dunya main aur bilkhasus mamaaliki mashriq main har aisi kaushis jis kaa maqsad afraad wa aqvaam ki nigah ko jagrafiyaayi hadood se baalaa tar karke an mein ak sahih aur qavi ansaani sierat kie tajdied  yaa tavlied ho , qaabil-I ihtiraam hai.
Tr. Throughout the world, particularly in oriental nations, all such efforts deserve respect as are aimed at reviving or augmenting truthful and powerful human nature.        
It is with this noble aim that poet has to pursue his/her vocation and ceaselessly give went to his soz-e daroon (music within).

Sahar dar shaakhsaare boostaane
Chi khus mi guft murge naghma khwane
Bar aavar har chi andar sienah daarie
Sroode naalai aahe fughane

As dawn is there at work in the garden
And happily birds are rapt in song,
Express whatever lies silent in your bosom,
A song, a wail, a sigh or a cry.

(Tr S.S)

Between Secularism , pluralism and Secularism

By Dr.Muhammad Suheyl Umar

The presentation would briefly discuss: That our public life needs whatever wisdom we can find, whether religious or secular; That the Scriptures and the Wisdom Traditions of man are a rich source of such wisdom; That our religious and secular world needs frameworks, patterns, settlements and institutions within which this and other wisdoms (both religious and secular) can be put forward, learned, taught, explained, discussed, disputed, deliberated about and have practical effects in public life; That in the contemporary world and in our present environment the ways of doing this that have been worked out have considerable potential, but that they need to be both critiqued and developed much further; That there is a special need to do fuller justice in the public sphere to religious intensities, those deep and powerful convictions, understandings, desires, community attachments, habits and practices that are at the heart of each tradition, and that one vital way of doing so is by thorough engagement with the scriptural texts that are at the core of their identities; And, finally, that because religious intensities in the public sphere rightly give rise to deep fears of fanaticism, divisive confrontation and bloody conflict, one of the greatest needs is for the healthy intensity of passionately wise faith. We live for the first time in history in an age of multiculturalism and it is utterly important and central that we think in plural terms about faith. The most towering problem facing people in the 19th century was nationalism and in the 20th century it has been ideology as, for most of the century, the nations have been located on the opposite sides of the ideological divide and the cold war conflict. But now when the war in gone and the ideological conflict in over the greatest problem that faces the 20th century is the ethnic conflict and because those conflicts are powered, in part, by multiple faiths clashing with one an other it is important that we turn over attention to that danger and do our best to annihilate whatever problems we face now or that may come down the road. I would offer a few observations on the subject today and since every one comes to the discussion with ones own specific tool kit and training I would exclude all practical considerations and try to say some thing philosophically or theologically as, like the medieval Muslims and Christians, I too consider philosophy to be the long arm of theology and see religious arguments at work behind attitudes and actions that apparently seen to have nothing in common with religion, even in mundane matters like the way Muslim, and perhaps Christian, males treat their females! Moreover I do not agree with the way mostly common responses are made to the misplaced religious arguments and bad logic used by the present day extremist Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Most often the response is made by dissociating oneself from the monstrosities by saying that this is not Islam or this is not true Hinduism or Christianity. But that amounts to side stepping the question and turning a blind eye to the fact that the groups in question from among all the communities are putting forward religious arguments to validate their actions and the conceptual framework and basic assumptions through which these operate are claimed to be supported by their basic religious texts. In this case one cannot absolve oneself of one's responsibility by simply disowning the group or groups in question. One must place the sin at the doorsteps of a definite group, school of thought or mode of interpretation in one's community and try to hold a mirror to their thinking. I have done that separately in one of my short studies that is available for free distribution here so I leave it out for the purposes of the present presentation. Before the fall of Soviet Communism both the capitalist and Communist worlds tended to write religion out of their scenarios of the future. Today, projections of a simply secular future seem less persuasive. The shift in perception is probably mainly due to what is called militant Islam, beginning with the Iranian Revolution and climaxing in the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001. But one might argue that this perception is just catching up with the reality obscured by the expansion of Communism earlier in the twentieth century and by the influence, especially in the media and education, of a largely secularized Western-educated elite throughout that period. Probably between 4 and 5 billion of the world's more than 6 billion people are directly involved with a religion today, and this picture seems unlikely to change a great deal during the rest of the twenty-first century. So during the lifetimes of all of us now alive we would do well to reckon seriously with religions as shapers of our world, for worse or for better. This does not mean that we have a purely religious world to deal with; rather it is simultaneously both religious and secular in complex ways. There are important issues between the religions; but there are also further, overlapping issues between each of the religions and the various secular understandings and forces. Here it would be wise to take account of the ways such relationships have been handled in the recent past, by referring to the three major "settlements" made in this regard, namely, the British, the French and the American. I would refer to one of the sessions of the Clinton Global Initiative in the section on "Religious and Ethnic Conflict" to make my point. It had a panel with an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American. As they spoke about religion and politics the Frenchman resisted any suggestion that religions should be taken seriously as religions within the political sphere: problems were traced mainly to economic causes, and he was confident that if poverty were dealt with effectively the unrest in French cities would disappear. The American (who was also a Muslim) insisted that the religions needed to contribute to public discourse but that the American separation of Church and state was a healthy thing. The Englishman, John Battle MP (the Prime Minister Tony Blair's special adviser on the religions), told stories of his own involvement with religious communities in his Leeds constituency, and evoked a complex settlement in which religious bodies were seen as stakeholders in society with whom the government and other public bodies were in constant communication and negotiation and whose identities could be affirmed by such means as state-supported faith schools. It was as if each was representing his own nation's settlement, developed over centuries. Making judgments on such complex achievements, each worked out in special circumstances, is dangerous, but I will risk it in summary form. I think that in the current world situation the French secularist solution is the least satisfactory. It, like the others, is understandable in historical terms— working out the epochal, often bloody confrontation between the French Revolution and Roman Catholicism— but its practical exclusion of religions from the public sphere (including state schools and universities) is in effect the establishment of a state ideology that is not neutral in relation to religion but is suspicious, critical and often hostile. It is not well suited to a religious and secular world. The American separation of church and state is far more benign with regard to the religions, and in fact religion plays a major role in American politics. But there has been a tendency to try to use the separation to create a neutral public space, where it is illegitimate to draw explicitly on religious sources. This 'lowest common denominator' public square (expressed, for example, in banning official recognition of any particular religious symbols, holidays or practices and refusing to let state schools teach religious education or state universities teach theology as well as religious studies) is increasingly being criticized, even by secular thinkers such as Jeffrey Stout of Princeton University, who see it as an impoverishment of public life. Both religious and secular traditions should be able to contribute in their distinctive ways to public debate rather than reducing all discourse to a secularized lowest common denominator. That at its best is what happens in Britain also. Its particular history has kept religion involved in its public life, sometimes controversially usually resisting pressures from those quarters who have more sympathy with secularist, often atheist, ideologies and would favour a French-style settlement. Britain also comes out rather poorly from comparative studies of the relative alienation of the Muslim minority from the rest of society. In global terms, Britain has the conditions for pioneering work in shaping a religious and secular society that draws on the resources within each of the traditions for peaceful living and working together. They have an extraordinary range of religious communities in a society that has also experienced intense secularization. The British settlement works within what one might call a minimal secular and religious framework that enables mutual public space. This has been shaped over many centuries and is constantly open to renegotiation. The framework is minimal in that it refuses to impose either a particular religious solution or a particular secular solution and so lives by ongoing negotiation rather than by appeal to a fixed constitution or principles. It therefore helps to create a mutual public space with possibilities for shared discussion, dialogue, education, deliberation, and collaboration— in contrast to the French tendency towards strictly secular public space and the American tendency towards neutral public space. But for all practical purposes this constant, ongoing renegotiation leaves the British settlement little better than the others, oscillating between the secular pluralism and religious exclusivism. The point that I am driving at by alluding to the just mentioned "settlements" is that there is no widespread confidence that 'the secular project' can adequately resource any society in areas such as personal and family life, ethics and politics, health and environment, civic and international responsibilities. So where is wisdom to be found for the shaping of our society in the twenty-first century? Our situation is rather different. Pakistan draws on the Islamic tradition for As some one made a flippant remark that Pakistan already has more of religion than it can use! Each of the three traditions has its own, distinct yet related, ways of giving priority to God, honouring God, blessing or hallowing the name of God, respecting the mystery of God's active, holy presence among us. These texts are most liberating when they are read for the sake of God and God's purposes, even though we differ on just how God is to be identified. This is immensely important for public life. Each of the Abrahamic faiths identifies idolatry as the most radical distortion and corruption of human life. To give ultimate status, honour and priority to whatever is not God— whether a race, a nation, a leader, an ideal, a gender, an ideology, a science, an economic system or even the whole of creation -harnesses immense religious energies often to devastating effect. The most insidious forms of idolatry are explicitly religious, distorted ways of identifying God or trying to harness God to one's own cause. The only reliable way of countering such idolatries is continually to seek the God beyond our constructions, to be open to correction, challenge and critique, and to sustain those practices of prayer, common life, study and debate that allow the truth to be recognized. What could be healthier for each of the Abrahamic faiths than to contribute to this by the shared study of scriptures? What could be healthier for our public life than for citizens within these faiths to be able to share their wisdom and together to work out ways of faithful, non-idolatrous service of the common good? The one problem of a particularly specific nature in the west, and especially in America is the presence of many Christians that hold that there in only one true faith and only they have it. That of course makes it difficult as we work for harmony among the world's faiths. The usual proof text/argument on the Christian side is that "no one commeth to the Father except through me" or same variation of the same theme. Those who advance this line of argument they don't know their history. The practice of the early Church and most later traditions was to engage appreciatively as well as critically with thought and practice in their surrounding cultures. As far as the literalism is concerned they are completely ignorant of the fact that the Christian Church has a very rich and long standing exegetical tradition and it goes right back to the patristic age where there are four steps in interpreting any verse of the Bible. First the literal meaning that's the lowest but the fundamentalists always stop there. The Second question that must always be asked is the ethical meaning. The third is the allegorical meaning and the highest level is that of the anagogic meaning. In Christian history that in the supreme rule to apply in interpreting a text. It was argued that "No one commeth to the Father save though the Son." What does the word Son mean? If it is the Jesus of Nazareth, so that Jesus in gone. So there is no way that people will get to God through that reference. Is it the risen Christ? Or is it the Christ who is referred to in the first 4 verses in the Gospel of John as the Word or in Greek the "Logos"? In the beginning it was the Word, it was with God the Word was God. Through him all things were near and in some translations, without him nothing was made. Now let's take that literary. If nothing in this whole world & history was made without the Word which was God, in God, that means that Buddha was created by God, Muhammad was created by God. If God made these prophets, these enlightened souls, it is up to me to honor the followers of those originators of the religions made my God. If you religion is the only true religion then God bless you. But I hope you will follow the teachings of your master who tells us to love not just our friends but our enemies. Loving people require that we not bad mouth them. So every religion asks you to live up to that command. حرف برلب آوردن خطاست As Iqbal, the sage and poet of the East, has said: To allow a bad word to rise to the lips is a fault; For all alike are the creatures of God, both the Kafir and the True Believer. The essence of humanity is respect for man; And thou shalt do well to make careful note of this important point. To be a man is to behave well as individuals towards each other, And one should forge ahead on the basis of friendship. A creature of Ishq picks up his way by the light provided for him by God; And he is equally compassionate towards the Believer and the non-believer. Let the difference between Kufr and Din sink deep into the pores of the heart: And always remember that for one heart to flee from another heart in malice, hate, or dislike, is the greatest tragedy in human life. Geographical extent Misplaced Absolutes super session ism The answer to the 'problem', if anyone considers it to require an answer, lies in the following verse, which many consider to be among the last Revelations received by the Prophet and which in any case belongs to the period which marks the close of his mission. As such it coincides with a cyclic moment of extreme significance― the last 'opportunity' for a direct message to be sent from Heaven to earth during what remains of this cycle of time. Many of the last Quranic revelations are concerned with completing and perfecting the new religion. But this verse is a final and lasting message for mankind as a whole. The Qur'an expressly addresses the adherents of all the different orthodoxies on earth; and no message could be more relevant to the age in which we live and, in particular, to the mental predicament of man in these later days. For each of you We have appointed a law and a way. And if God had willed He would have made you one people. But (He hath willed it otherwise) that He may put you to the test in what He has given you. So vie with one another in good works. Unto God will ye be brought back, and He will inform you about that wherein ye differed. Sometimes the best way to approach claims regarding exclusive possession of the truth is simply to laugh and to leave things in God's hands. Thus we conclude this section with an anecdote, told to us by one of the ulama many years ago. Two Iranian scholars were discussing religion. One of them asked the other, "In the last analysis, who goes to paradise?" The other, a poet well known for his sense of humour, answered, "Well, it is really very simple. First, all religions other than Islam are obviously false, so we do not have to consider them. That leaves Islam. But among Muslims, some are Shi'ites and some Sunnis, and we all know that the Sunnis have strayed from the right path and will be thrown into hell. That leaves the Shi'ites. But among Shi'ites, there are the common people and the ulama. Everyone knows that the common people don't care about God and religion, so they will burn in the Fire. That leaves the ulama. But the ulama have become ulama in order to lord it over the common people. That leaves you and me. And I am not so sure about you." Doesn't this kind of reasoning sound familiar? It is perhaps not wildly inaccurate to say that many of our contemporaries think this way, whether they be Muslims, Christians, Jews, scholars, scientists, politicians, or whatever. And this sort of position sounds suspiciously like that of Iblis, whose motto is, "I am better than he."

Endnotes :-

1 In the Wake of 11th September, Perspectives on Settled Convictions― Changes and Challenges, Compiled by Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore, 2005. Also see Muslim-Nom Muslim Relations, K. A. Nadim.

2 Jeffrey Stout, Democracy and Tradition (Princeton University Press, Princeton 2004).

3 The Bible is notably hospitable to traditions of wisdom in the Ancient Near East and in the Hellenistic and Roman civilizations, and does not see God as confining wisdom to believers – there are many instances of wisdom arising outside Israel and the Church. The practice of the early Church and most later traditions was to engage appreciatively as well as critically with thought and practice in their surrounding cultures. And from within their own traditions many Jews, Muslims, Hindus and others would make similar points about how their wisdom has been drawn from many sources. To say that no tradition has a monopoly on wisdom is not to be a relativist: in theological terms it is simply to believe in the providence and generosity of God.

4 Muhammad Iqbal, Javid Namah, in Kulliyat-i-Iqbal, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore, 1994, p. 673. For a translation see A. Q. Niaz, Iqbal’s Javid Namah, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore, 1984, p. 329.

5 God doth what He will. But it is clearly in the interests of man that a Divine intervention which founds a new religion should be overwhelmingly recognizable as such. The accompanying guarantees must be too tremendous, and too distinctive, to leave room for doubts in any but the most perverse, which means that certain kinds of things must be kept in reserve as the special prerogative of such a period. The Qur’an refers to this ‘economy’ when it affirms that questions which are put to God during the period of Revelation will be answered (V, 101), the implication being that after the Revelation has been completed, questions will no longer be answered so directly. It is as if a door between Heaven and earth were kept open during the mission of a Divine Messenger, to be closed at all other times.

6 The change from first to third person with regard to the Divinity is frequent in the Qur’an.

7 If He had sent only one religion to a world of widely differing affinities and aptitudes, it would not have been a fair test for all. He has therefore sent different religions, specially suited to the needs and characteristics of the different sectors of humanity.

8 V, 48.

IQBAL, LAHORE PRESS AND KASHMIR STRUGGLE

BY Z. G . MUHAMMAD

Introduction

The story of Kashmir oscillates between ecstasy and agony; joviality and desperation; happiness and disappointment; hope and despair. It has had its eras of triumphs. It has its periods of defeats. It has had both the avuncular and despotic rulers. It has had naiks and khalnaiks. Many a merciless marauders have invaded this land in the past and set a blaze the salubrious and sylvan vales and dales.
There might have been golden periods in the history of this land but predominately the people of this beautiful place have been bawling and wailing. They have passed from one phase of deprivation to another, one period of slavery to another period of slavery. The end of Moughal rule ushered in a whole train of miseries for the people of Kashmir. After Moughals it was Afghans that ruthlessly trampled down the people of the state. The Afghan governors proved to be 'ferocious bigots, tyrants and barbarians. The women both Hindu and Muslims were targets of the lustful eyes of some lascivious Afghan soldiers. Many beautiful damsels were put by them in their harems. "Many Kashmiri both male and female were captured and send as presents to their masters, friends or kinsmen at Kabul" The end of Afghan rules saw the arrival of the Sikhs and Kashmir fell to Ranjit Singh in 1819-the Sikhs entered Kashmir in great triumph and Jubilation. "The troops not unexpectedly, indulged freely in loot. Then Jamiamasjid, in Srinagar was shut up under the plea that it afforded accommodation for some 60 thousand persons. While assembling there, it was apprehended that they would find opportunities for meeting together and plating against the Sikh rule" It was not only shutting of mosque writes Mr R.K.Parmo in his book a History of Sikh in Kashmir, "Then Azan or call for prayer was prohibited. It was followed by placing cow-slaughter under a ban. Soon after, Phula Singh, the leader of Nihangs and Akalis arranged guns to blow up the Khanqah Moulla mosque." There is no need for an evidence for proving that "A virulent anti-Muslim communalism marked the policies of new dispensation. Muslims had a taste of what it meant to be on the receiving end of bigotry. The Sikh rule was synonymous with hated beggar (Corvee) and exploitation of worst kind for the common people. In words of Mr. M.J.Akbar the Kashmir spirit seemed to have collapsed under the burden of nearly a century of operation. The Muslims were on the receiving end, they were most discriminated against. His life was not worth peanuts. Mr. Moorcroft writes, "The murder of a native by a Sikh is punished by a fine to the Government from 16-20 rupees ,of which 4 rupees are paid to the family of the deceased if a Hindu and 2 rupees if a Muhammadan". The end of Sikh rule heralded the arrival of yet another century of tyrant and despotic rule. The Dogra rule was established through the so-called Treaty of Amritsar, signed on 16 March 1846. The velley of Kahmir was sold to Gulab Singh for just 75 lacs. The Maharaja Gulab Singh first Dogra ruler wanted to "the recover the amount from the people of Kashmir within his lifetime. To achieve his goal he introduced a tyrant tax system. Prithvi Nath Koul Bamzai , notes with some dismay in his book on History of Kashmir that the maharaja would personally pounce at and pocket as little as a rupee if it was held out in front of him.' The tax system introduced by the Dogra rulers was so horrifying that it had made life of the common people miserable; the worst sufferers were the Muslims of the State, who were discriminated against on every count and every count. The Paradise on Earth, that had waxed thousand of Sanskirit, Persian, Urdu and English poets lyrical had been converted into a virtual inferno, to escape from the flames emanating from this perdition many a Kashmir escaped into the neighbouring states of Punjab and North West Frontier Province. They departed from this state with a bag full of stories of pain and agony. How aptly said by our great poet Agha Shahid Ali:
" I am being rowed through Paradise on a rive of Hell"

Punjab and Kashmir.

The stories of the plight of the people of the state had traveled outside the State. Punjab, particularly Lahore and Amritsar were second home for Kashmiris. Thousands of Kashmiris during winters used to travel to these two twin cities for making an earning. The long winter's, meager sources of income, lack of work during winters forced thousands of peasants and farmers to migrate to these two cities as labourers. It were not only the labourers but thousands of artisans, craftsmen, small traders and businessmen who were part of the caravan of Tongas and Lorries that traveled on the Jhelum- Valley road after the harvest season. Thousands of Kashmiris for economic reasons had made the cities of undivided Punjab particularly Lahore as their permanent abode. "In 1891 according to census 111775 Kashmiris residing in different parts of Punjab" By dint of their commitment, dedication and hard work they had created an important niche for themselves in Punjabi society. Without getting assimilated in Punabi society they had become an important part of this society. They not only contributed to the economy of Punjab but also adorned its intellectual landscape.
The migratory Kashmiris played ambassadorial role in making plight of Kashmiris known to the world. The migratory laborers with 'stomach' full of painful and agonizing stories of exploitation, chastisements, tortures and tyranny by the Dogra rulers traveled every year to different areas of Punjab. Many a hearts were moved on listening tales of miserable plight of Kashmiris in tattered dress. It was on 15 March 1929 that the conscience of world was shaken when Sir Albion Bannerji a former minister with a feudal rulers exposed the misrule of Maharaja Hari Singh and told an international news agency Associated press at Lahore that " Jammu and Kashmir state was laboring under many disadvantages with a large Mohammedan population absolutely illiterate, laboring under poverty and very low economic conditions of living in the villages and practically governed like dumb driven cattle. There is no touch between the government and the people, no suitable opportunity for representing grievances and the administrative machinery itself requires overhauling from top to bottom to bring it up to the modern conditions of efficiency. It has little or no sympathy with the people's wants and grievances."
Not only people of Kashmiri origin settled in Punjab were moved by pitiable stories of this beautiful land but many others with human hearts expressed their concern. The miserable plight of Kashmir inspired many a poets to write highly melancholic odes about the people of this unfortunate land.
Punjab Press and Kashmir.
Kashmiri who had became a stranger in his own country found yet another envoy to tell his story- the story of his agony pain to rest of the world- the Punjab press. The newspapers published from Lahore played a yeoman's role to tell the story of Kashmir to the rest of the world. When Kashmir was sold along with Kashmiris for peanuts i.e. for Rs.7 by a handful of British officials to Gulab Singh the subdued Kashmiri accepted new master with out any ostensible resistance. This document which had been described as Treaty of Amritsar has been denounced by many historians as "Document of Kashmir Bondage" had not evoked any perceptible resistance and Kashmiris by and large had accepted it as fait accompli. It was an English newspaper published from Lahore The Punjabee founded by Syed Mohammad Azam who later founded the Lahore chronicle "was the first to raise voice in support of the Muslim population, now the slaves of a tyrant." This paper continued to raise its voice against the plight of Kashmiri Muslims who were at the receiving end wrote on 9 May 1857. "By the brutality and tyranny of that incarnation of sensuality avarice and all evil, Maharaja Gulab Singh, Cashmere is rapidly being converted into melancholy desert." The paper further said, " The smiling fields now lie waste, happy hamlet have turned wretched collections of ruined homesteads and desolate hearths. And all this is the work of one demon, to whose tender mercies an enlightened Christen Government has made over the most beautiful valley."
At the commencement of the 20th century an important and powerful Kashmiri Mohammad Din Fauq appeared on the scene. "Fauq was born in February 1987. After serving in Government as Patwari he turned to journalism under late Munshi Muhbub Alam, editor and proprietor of the Paisa Akhbar . In 1901 Fauq began his own paper Panja Fauld and in 1906 Kashmir magazine was ushered into existence which lived up to 1934." Fauq was interested in bringing out a paper from Kashmir his ancestral home. "In 1905 he filed an application to Maharaja Partap Singh seeking permission for publishing newspaper Kashmir from Srinagar. Permission was not granted instead Maharaja instructed his Minister to frame such rules that would debar even considering these applications in future." There was blanket ban on publication of newspapers in Kashmir at this particular period of Kashmir history. He had dedicated his writings for raising his voice against the plight of Kashmiris and stirring conscience of people against the tyrant rule of autocratic rulers.
"Munshi Mohammad Din Fauq is one of those patriotic personalities of Kashmir who worked tirelessly for revolutionizing political and social consciousness of his people," Writes Prem Nath Bazaz, . "In Kashmir common people were in deep slumber and educated class was self-centered busy in pursuing their vested interests. Fauq worked day and night to wake them up from their slumber and was preparing them for fighting for their rights." Dr. Iqbal admired him a lot for his commitment for Kashmir and called him Mujdil Kashmara . He loved his writings Fauq himself wrote about it, " Sir Iqbal liked my newspaper writings because of Kashmir and invariably called me Mujdil Kashmara ( ) This sufficiently suggests that he liked my writings about Kashmir aimed removing educational and moral backwardness in Kashmiris and waking them up from their deep sleep."
Since there was ban on publishing and printing of newspapers in Kashmir, some writers from this land got their write ups also published in Lahore newspapers. " Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz started writing for a Lahore based Urdu weekly Akhbari- I- Am when he was a student as back as 1928." The writings in Punjab press about the pitiable condition of people in Kashmir had mobilized some Muslims of Kashmiri origin to launch an organization, The Anjuman-I-Kashmiri Mussalman-I-Lahore. This organization became a strong voice for redeeming people from deprivation and exploitation. 'The Anjuman raised it voice against providing jobs in the State to non-state subjects, it worked for recruitment of Muslims in army and demanded restoration of proprietorship of land to peasants'

A MILE POST
In the history of Freedom Struggle, 13th July 1931 is an important milepost. On this day many people fell to the bullets of the Dogra soldiers. "The news of indiscriminate and unprovoked firing outside the Central jail, Srinagar, reached Lahore on the evening of 16th July and was published in the Muslim Press on the 17th morning. The news shocked Muslims of Punjab. Individuals and organization sent about seven to eight thousand protest telegrams to Maharaja. Thousands of telegrams were also addressed to the Viceroy urging immediate intervention."
The publication of news about the mayhem outside the Central Jail in Lahore newspapers sent a chain of shockwaves to the Muslim community allover India. There were widespread demonstrations against the killing of Muslims outside the Central Jail allover India. It stirred the conscience of the Muslim intellectuals. "Hundreds of poems appeared in newspapers of Punjab in condemnation of the firing which were recited to huge crowds. Two of the poems one by Abdul Majid Salik and second by Agha Hashar Kashmiri, were read out from pulpits in mosques." Had not the Lahore newspapers reported 13th July tragedy, it would perhaps have gone unnoticed and Kashmir Struggle would not have gathered the desired momentum. The indignation that the news created amongst the Muslims of India against the Maharaja earned many a friends to Kashmir movement and resulted in the birth All India Kashmir Committee that subsequently played a very significant role in mustering mass support for the Kashmir movement. Seen in retrospect this organization which was later on headed by Dr. Mohammad Iqbal played a more vital role in exposing the misrule of Maharaja before the world community than the indigenous political organizations in the State which where caught up in schism right from 1932 more for ego-centric reasons than for political reasons.
Two newspapers, Inqalab and Zamindar published from Lahore played significant role in advancing Kashmir cause. "One cannot speak of the great influence and support given by the Punjab press, especially Lahore, to Kashmir cause writes C. Bilqees Taseer, "without making special mention of Maulana Abdul Majid Salik and of his newspaper and that of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Zamindar" These newspapers undoubtedly played an important role in bringing socio-political awareness amongst Kashmiris. They in real sense worked as periscopes for outside for looking at Kashmir. These newspapers were available in Srinagar city at two shops Ghulam Ahmed Book Sellers Zania Kadal and Ghulam Mohammad Noor Mohammad Tajrain Kutab Maharaj Ganj. There were many other papers like Siyast, Muslim Outlook, Alfazal, Al Aman, Eastern Times, Kashmiri Musalman, Kashmir Mazloom that had dedicated themselves for advocating Kashmir cause. These newspapers printed in Lahore were smuggled into the State in Lorries. "The Youngman's Muslim Association of Jammu helped in their distribution in Resi, Udhampur, Sopore, Mirpur, Kishtiwar, Ramban, Srinagar, Shopian, Muzzfarabad."
Seen in retrospect, the role of Punjab newspapers in bringing about socio-political awareness in Kashmir is commendable.

References

1. The History of Struggle for Freedom  in Kashmir by Prem Nath Bazaz Page 108
2. History of sikh rule in kashmir by R.K.Parmo page 117-118.
3. Kashmir behind the vale by M.J.Akbar page 53
4. Imperial Gazetteer of India 1909, Jammu and Kashmir as quoted by Mohammad Yousuf Saraf in magnum opus Kashmir Fights For Freedom Page 298             
5. Quoted from The History of Freedom Struggle in Kashmir by Prem Nath Bazaz.
6. For details see Kashir by G.M.D. Sufi page No 767
7. The Kashmir of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah by C.Bilqees Taseer Feroz Sons Lahore page 339
8. Journalism in Pakistan, First Phase by Dr Abdul Salam Khursheed  Published by United Lahore PP 36-37
9. Kashir by G.M.D. Sufi page No 377
10. Naqush Sahafat by Abdul Rashid Taseer  (urdu) page No 77
11. Letter of Prem Nath Bazaz addressed to editor Jadeed Kashmir Muzzafarabad   30 August 1959 reproduced in   Iqbal aur Mushahir Kashmir by Kaleem Akhtar  published by Iqbal Academy Lahore page No 117 a
12. Mushahir Kashmir page No 115
13. Ahead of his times  Prem Nath Bazaz His Life and Works by Nagin Bazaz page No 24
14. For details see Kashmir’s Struggle For Independence (1931-1939) Muhammad Yusuf Ganai, Mohisin Publications Srinagar Kashmir page 93
15. Inqalib Lahore August 23, 1931 quoted in  Kashmir’s Struggle For Freedom by Muhammad Yusuf Gania page No 95
16. Kashmir Fights For Freedom by Mushammad Yousuf Saraf Page No 454 Feroz Sons Lahore
17. Kashmir of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah C. Bilqees Taseer Page No 340
18. The Kashmir of Sheikh Mohammad Abullah by C. Bilqees Taseer page No 340