Dr Zafar Khan Safdar
November 9 marks the birth anniversary of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, one of the most remarkable intellectuals and poets in the history of the subcontinent, a visionary whose thoughts transcended borders and continue to inspire generations across the globe. Over the years through his poems and philosophy, through his speeches and writings, his letters and lectures, Allama Muhammad Iqbal laid a great influence on cultural, social, political and social disputes of the Muslims and Non-Muslims of the sub-continent. He promoted ideas of Muslim unity, shedding of national differences and Islamic political cooperation.
In the 18th century, Europe saw the rise of nation-states, which led to secularism and religion being confined to private life. Iqbal’s vision was not just about creating a political entity but also about building a society where Muslims could freely practice their religion, uphold cultural values, and contribute to the world with the intellectual and moral authority of Islam. He saw Pakistan as a symbol of the Muslim world’s struggle for self-determination. Iqbal connected the idea of a separate state with the spiritual and intellectual revival of the Muslim community, envisioning a new world where Muslims would play a leading role in shaping global history. His poetry urged the Muslim youth to rise above their limitations and become the architects of their own destiny.
After being elected as the president of the All-India Muslim League in 1930, Allama Iqbal coined the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent with clear demarcation of the sub-continent. Allama Iqbal saw the era of former feudal culture and contemporary capitalism. Because of the place of his origin, his education, and his journey to Europe, he was able to weigh and measure the advantages and deficiencies of both eras. He was, in fact, essentially a poet by nature, and he responded to the internal tragedy that faced Islam as well as the silence of the Muslims. He admired the achievements of the West, its spirit of vigour, its academic tradition, and its scientific discoveries. However, he also denounced the economic exploitation of capitalism, the ethical decay of secularism, and the imperialism of European colonial domination. Allama Iqbal was in favour of going back to the fundamentals of Islam in order to provide an Islamic alternative to modern Muslim culture.
The 20th century undertook generally the whole Islamic world, more specifically Indian-subcontinent, into a politically decisive moment. Consequential to a wide period of colonial reign, Muslims brought up a series of mounting struggles to respond to the political and cultural domination of the West. Cherishing the centuries of unmitigated history of Islamic supremacy and influence in the lives of the Muslims, Islam contributed a momentous role in Muslim response and retort to Western imperialism. This stimulated the advancement of Islamic modernism, and was an issue to instigate Muslim independence and nationalist movements. Fascinated with their Islamic legacy and tradition, Islamic reformers wanted to bring back Muslim pride and self-confidence to restore Muslim society politically and communally. Their formation of Islamic reconstruction called for a fresh interpretation, a development of Islam that could bring about harmony between Islam and modernity, which restated the privileged circumstances and significance of Islamic ideology to politics, law, and society. Since the Indian Muslims did not obtain enough potency of temperament to resist those forces, which inclined to fragment their communal being, the distinguished Muslim intellectual reformer Allama Iqbal had mentioned the correlation among consensus, democratization, and Ijtihad.
Iqbal was not merely a preacher and philosopher. He stood for courage and action, perseverance and self-reliance, and above all faith in Allah and devotion to Islam. In his person were combined the idealism of the poet and the realism of the man who takes a practical view of things. He had an unflinching faith in Islamic principles, and success in life meant to him the realization of one’s ‘self’ and to achieve this end the only means was to follow the teachings of Islam. His philosophy essentially revolves around the issue of the progression of human being. Iqbal argues that ‘self’ is the root of all existence, an entity which may appear to be perishable but which can attain immortality.
Iqbal‘s most important contribution was his restoration of a conscious energetic spirit of Islam. He was symbolic to Muslims whose Islamic principles that needed a fresh spirit to their Islamic society. He rebuilt the basic ideals in his poetry that could rouse Muslims, educated and uneducated, to an intuition of what ideal they ought to have, and blaze their intellects with a longing to discover means of seizing such ideals. To have clothed his insights in poetic form and thus to have fired the hearts and minds of millions to pursue and implement these ideals is an extraordinary achievement, one which more than justifies the great esteem that Allama Iqbal had enjoyed. According to Soviet biographer of Allama Iqbal, N.P.Anikoy “Iqbal is great for his passionate condemnation of weak will and passiveness, his angry protest against inequality, discrimination and oppression in all forms i.e., economic, social, political, national, racial, religious, etc., his preaching of optimism, an active attitude towards life and man’s high purpose in the world, in a word, he is great for his assertion of the noble ideals and principles of humanism, democracy, peace and friendship among people”. Although a great poet and philosopher he was no less a practical politician. With his firm conviction and faith in the ideals of Islam, he was one of the few who originally thought over the feasibility of carving out of India such an Islamic state in the North-West and North-East Zones which are historical homelands of Muslims. Notwithstanding Iqbal’s advocacy of Indian nationalism on the basis of Islam, the overwhelming majority of the Indian Muslims adopted the path of a separate Muslim nationalism as the only way leading to their salvation. Less than two years after his death, All-India Muslim League resolved to struggle for the creation of separate Muslim homeland on the ideological foundations laid by their poet-philosopher, Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
Quaid-i-Azam once said that Allama Iqbal was not just a remarkable poet with a lasting legacy in the world’s finest literature, but also a dynamic figure who, in his lifetime, made the most significant contribution to awakening and nurturing the national consciousness of Muslims. In Western political thought and history, Allama Iqbal is recognized as a towering figure in poetry, philosophy, and politics. His literary brilliance has earned him comparisons to iconic poets such as Milton and Shelley, placing him alongside the greatest literary minds of history.
The writer is Ph.D in Political Science, and visiting faculty at QAU Islamabad. He can be reached at zafarkhansafdar@yahoo.com
