- ABDULLAL MUSTAFVI
This 9th November is 143rd birthday of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal , our national poet , rightly titled as ‘Thinker of Pakistan’. It is not easy to pay real tribute truly matching to high literary stature of Allama Iqbal. He will continue to be regarded for centuries as a unique philosopher , thinker , scholar , lawyer , poet and politician. Above all , to me, he was a real devotee of the Holy Prophet(peace be upon him) and a practical believer of Holy Quran. Let’s not be misdirected with this impression that Iqbal was only a master poet of sub- continent , like many others. It is true that Iqbal created master pieces of poetry in Urdu and Persian languages but unlike others this laborious exercise spread over decades was much above the common aimless verbosity or high sounding jugglery of phonetics.
Iqbal , being a firm ideologue, used poetry as a popular medium of that particular era to awake the ignorant quarters of Muslim Ummah. Undoubtedly, he remained successful in this challenging mission. Stature of his intellect and ingress to the various segments of society can be gauged from the titles granted to him ,officially or unofficially, by masses. He is known as ‘ Poet of the East( Shair e Mashriq), ‘Thinker of Pakistan(Mufakir e Pakistan), ‘Artist or Creator of Pakistan( Musawir e Pakistan), Hakeem ul Ummat, whereas Iranians express their affection by calling him Iqbal e Lahori. Despite getting higher education from England and Germany , throughout his life , Iqbal was never seen in a state of inferiority against western intellectual world. His conceptual association with Quran and the selfless devotion towards Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was beyond any compromise. This spiritual bond actually converted Iqbal in to a unique scholar and a missionary reformer who relied on poetry to transmit his revolutionary message to the target audience; the Muslim Ummah particularly its youth. Impact of his great intellect is visible in the sub continent as an independent Muslim state Pakistan. In the presence of numerous religious and non religious scholars on sub-continent’s political canvas, it was only Iqbal who could precisely diagnose the future designs of Hindu extremist quarters and came out with a practical political solution which was very much compatible with universally prevailing modern political cum democratic tendencies .
Though , Iqbal created a much greater impact on Muslim Ummah beyond the limits of geographical boundaries of subcontinent, however , 1930 Allahabbad address is enough an evidence of his superior wisdom . Iqbal’s poetic work in Urdu includes Baang e Dara, Zarb e Kaleem and Baal e Jibril. Major poetic work in Persian comprises Asrar e Khudi, Ramooz e Bekhudi, Payam e Mashriq, Zabur e Ajam, Javed Naama, Pas Che Bayad Kard Ae Aqwam e Mashriq and Armughan e Hijaz. He did PhD from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich situated in Germany and his doctoral thesis was titled ‘The Development of Metaphysics in Persia’. He also authored a remarkable book titled ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ which is a compilation of seven lectures delivered on Islamic philosophy by Iqbal at various occasions at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh.
In these lectures Iqbal came out as a unique reformist who had a deep insight and firm grip on the teachings of Islam with an ability to point out those areas of intellectual foundations of Islamic philosophy which require re-examination. Stature and wide range of Iqbal’s intellect can be assessed by these seven lectures , considered a major work of modern Islamic thought , which contain rarely discussed topics. Let’s have a look upon titles of these seven master pieces. First- ‘ Knowledge and Religious Experience’ .
Second- ‘ The Philosophical Test of the Revelation of Religious Experience. Third- ‘The Conception of God and The Meaning of Prayer’. Fourth- ‘The Human Ego- His Freedom and Immortality’. Fifth- ‘The Spirit of Muslim Culture’. Sixth- ‘ The Principle of Movement(Ijtehad) In The Structure of Islam. Seventh- ‘Is Religion Possible?’. Undoubtedly, Allama Muhammad Iqbal was a rare gift of GOD for the Muslim Ummah , especially for the oppressed Muslims of the sub-continent, who created a durable political and intellectual world wide impact.
While assessing multi-dimensional shades of Iqbal’s personality , it must be remembered that he was such a unique intellectual of modern era who always viewed the universe with Quranic lens and never dared to violate the teachings or Sunnah of Holy Prophet( Peace be upon Him). This remarkable quality of Iqbal has been rightly explored by great spiritual personality and researcher of Hyderabad Sindh , Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan(late) in his masterpiece book titled ‘ Iqbal Aur Quran’ . It is a must read book for all those who desire to know about spiritual roots of Iqbal. It is a unique honor held by Allama Iqbal that his vision of creating an independent Muslim state in sub-continent became true almost seven years after his death. Pakistani nation would remain indebted forever to their beloved Iqbal; The Poet of The East .
