Mohammad Iqbal’s ideas are often considered forked in philosophical context. His enigmatic personality is often clouded amidst the diverse and contradictory images that his admirers and detractors have projected. On one hand he is celebrated as an able variegated author, and on the other he is considered the Architect of Pakistan. There is also a third Iqbal who is referred to as the Karl Marx of the East. The poems of the poet cum philosopher were inspired by Islam but his assimilation and syncretisation with Hinduism made him different from the writers in Arab.
To understand the stance of Mohammad Iqbal it is important to understand the basic tenets of Islam. Islam is the largest followed religion which is considered similar to Judaism and Christianity in the following aspects:
1. Jews, Christians and Muslims are Ahl- Al Kitaab, i.e. people of the book.
2. They refer to their religion as monotheistic; which believes in one God, the creator, the benevolent and merciful judge of all humanity.
3. Islam is based on five pillars:
a) Shahadah: Commitment to God.
b) Salat: Five prayers a day.
c) Zakah: Charity
d) Sawm or Siyyam: Fast during the 9th
Month of the islamic calendar.
e) Hajj: Once in a life time pilgrimage
Dhu- Al-Hijja.
India’s Islamic period might have begun when introduced by Arab merchants, who sojourned the Arabian sea around the shore of the subcontinent. Some were even granted special protection for the practice and relieved of taxation. In the plains due to the contiguous border, another Arab presence in the form of a Muslim army appeared in the eighth century.
By 1290 all of India was under the loose domination of the Arabs which lasted till 1858.
The advent of Britishers pushed Muslims to the bottom of the power ladder. This change in position and status led them to demand a separate state to re-establish themselves. Hence the idea of the two nation theory emerged, which concluded with the partition of India in 1947.
In this social and political context, Mohammed Iqbal came out with his views on religion and nationalism. He was a genius poet who used his poems as a medium to convey his social, religious and political views. In the early part of his life, his poetry was imbibed with a burning passion for Indian nationalism and its heterogenous culture. His Tarana e Hind (Saare Jahan Se Acha) in 1904 extolled the glories of his vision about Hinduism. Through poetic symposia and in a milieu in which memorizing verse was customary, his poetry became widely known, even among the illiterate. Almost all educated Indian and Pakistani Muslims of his and subsequent generations have quoted Iqbal.
However after his return from Europe in 1908, Iqbal acquired a new worldview, where he began to reflect on the religious issues in the wake of the European aggression against the Muslim countries including Turkey and Persia. He came to oppose nationalism for two reasons: it had resulted in harmful racism and imperialism in Europe, and it had failed to establish a sufficient sense of common purpose in India.
He advocated Pan Islamism as the political goal of the Islamic world. He challenged secular ideological subjugation in his discourse ‘Bandagi Namah’.
Talking about the cultural differences between East and the West, he viewed East as the heart of the world and the West to be the body. The driving force of the heart is Ishq (love) whereas that for the body is Aql (intellect).
On one hand he wanted to reinterpret some Islamic ideals like to restore freedom of Ijtihad – A means of independent judgement in Muslim politics, whereas on the other hand he was a conservativist to demand a restricted way of life for women.
He rejected secular and material foundation of democracy and batted for Tauheed (oneness of God). For him Islam was more than a religion; a political system to be subscribed by all Muslim Millat members (supranational nation of believers). He held on to the ideas of Tauheed, equality and solidarity and freedom.
Congress brand of nationalism was seen as a threat to Muslim culture and political aspiration. He wanted the merging of all Muslim community into one that is Millat, based on Shariat.
For him, the political ideology would be composed of two basic elements:
1. Millat
2. Khudi (self).
As Iqbal saw it, the Muslim community should successfully teach and encourage generous service to the ideals of brotherhood and justice. Islam’s hidden power was the mystery of selflessness. At the end of the day, the only way to achieve active self-realization was to sacrifice oneself in the service of causes greater than oneself. The life of the Prophet Muhammad and the devoted dedication of the first believers served as a model. The second poem completes Iqbal’s vision of the self’s ultimate fate.
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