My Thread on Allama Iqbal

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#1 [Permalink] Posted on 9th November 2017 04:11

It creates a flutter in my heart when I think of Allama Iqbal.

Nikli to dil-e-Iqbal se hai
Na janiye kis ki hai ye sada
Paigham-e-sukoon pahuncha bhi gayi
Dil mehfil ka tadpa bhi gayi

Though ensuing from Iqbalâ€™s heart
Who knows whose cry it is
The public got solace from it
While the activists got charged up!

Today some friends on Facebook are talking about Allama Iqbal on Facebook for he was born on this date.
I wrote bove words on FB.

For a long time I wanted my own thread on him who should be counted as amongst the most significant revivers of Muslim Ummah.

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#2 [Permalink] Posted on 9th November 2017 11:17

Is there any details on Allama Iqbal's question that was bothering him about an understanding of his on Islam. Something for which no poet could help him but was then finally answered by Allama Kashmiri?

I heard about this incident in a lecture by Shaykh Riyadhul Haq on memory, but he didn't go into details.

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#3 [Permalink] Posted on 9th November 2017 13:03

abu mohammed wrote:

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I too remember that comment by Shaikh Riazul Haq but I am clueless about the actual episode.

I do remember what happened during the visit of Rashid Rida, Mufti from Egypt in Deoband. In a lecture by Allama Shabbir Ahmed Usmani he felt that the Allama was giving beautiful Daleels. In Allama Kashmiri's lecture he felt that the Allama is speaking the truth, daleel or no Daleel. That is the difference between a scholar and a Sufi.

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#4 [Permalink] Posted on 9th November 2017 13:31

I think the incident is mentioned here but not the full details
Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri reh.aur Allama Iqbal ka waqia. Sheikh Makki Sahab

Halalified YT Audio

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-xmJ71thDU

Another talk
I haven't heard this just yet, but posting in case I forget. (Hoping to find the question)

Allama Iqbal Rah Aur Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri | Mufti Zar Wali Khan Sab

Halalified YT Audio

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dACKBGSAhn4

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#5 [Permalink] Posted on 12th August 2018 07:26

Love letter to Persia

Ammar Ali Qureshi

TFT (The Friday Times) Issue: 25 Apr 2014

Iqbal Lahori never saw Iran, yet he wrote most of his poetry in Persian and had an abiding love for the culture that transformed Islam.

Tehran ho gar aalam-e-mashreq ka Geneva
Shaayad kura-e-arz kee tadqeer badal jaae
If Tehran could become the Geneva of the Orient
The fortunes of this hemisphere might turn

(Iqbal in his poem Jamiyat-e-Aqwam or League of Nations)

Iran fascinated Iqbal. His doctoral thesis titled The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, submitted in 1908, at the University of Munich in Germany, is a comprehensive survey of Persian philosophical thought over the centuries â€“ from Zoroastrian times to the Islamic period up to the end of the 19th century. Iqbal admired Iranians for their refinement of manners, philosophical mind, ancient civilization and high culture. In his collection of essays and articles, published as Maqaalaat-e-Iqbal in 1963, Iqbal observed that the most important event in the history of Islam was the conquest of Persia as it played a major role in the subsequent intellectual and cultural development of the religion.

Delivering a lecture at Aligarh in March 1910 on the topic of The Muslim Community â€“ A Sociological Survey, Iqbal averred: â€œOur Muslim civilization is a product of the cross-fertilization of the Semitic and the Aryan ideas. It inherits the softness and refinement of an Aryan mother and the sterling character of a Semitic father. The conquest of Persia gave the Muslims what the conquest of Greece gave to the Romans; but for Persia our culture would have been absolutely one-sided.â€

â€œMuslims have inherited the softness and refinement of an Aryan mother and the sterling character of a Semitic fatherâ€

Iqbalâ€™s research for his doctoral thesis on Persian philosophy had a major impact on his thinking; although he had started writing verses in Urdu as a student in the 1890s, he decided to compose poetry in Persian during his stay in Europe for his Ph.D. He explains in Asraar-e-Khudi (The Secrets of the Self) his decision to switch to Persian from Urdu:

Although the language of Hind is sweet as sugar
Yet sweeter is the fashion of Persian speech
My mind was enchanted by its loveliness
My pen became a twig of the Burning Bush
Because of the loftiness of my thoughts
Persian alone is suitable to them (Translation by R.A Nicholson)

Although Urdu poetry draws heavily on Persian idiom and imagery, Iqbal found Persian more suited to this thought and temperament and a better means of communication to a wider audience in the Indian sub-continent as well as other countries of the Muslim world. At the end, more than half and nearly two-thirds of Iqbalâ€™s poetry was in Persian and only above one-third was in Urdu; Out of over 12,000 verses, around 7000 verses are in Persian and nearly 5000 verses are in Urdu; Out of his ten collections of poetry, six are in Persian, only three in Urdu and his last collection Arghaman-e-Hejaz (The Gift of Hejaz), published posthumously, is partly in Persian and partly in Urdu.

His first collection of poetry Asrar-e-Khudi, all in Persian, was published in 1915 while his first Urdu collection Bang-e-Dara was published in 1924. When repeatedly asked about his preference for Persian, Iqbal is said to have remarked that he feels helpless as most ideas come to his mind in Persian.

In turn, Iran has also been fascinated by Iqbal Lahori

Iqbal embraced famous Persian poet Rumi as his spiritual guide and modelled his style of poetry on that of his spiritual mentorâ€™s masterpiece â€“ Mathnawi-e-Rumi. He had deeply studied other greats of Persian poetry at home (as at college he formally studied Arabic, Philosophy, English Literature and Economics) and proudly declared in Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms)

Mara binger key der Hindustan deegar namee beenee
Brahmin zadai ramz ashnae Room-o-Tabriz ast
Look at me, you will never find another in India
Who like me, a Brahminâ€™s scion, understands the secrets of Rum and Tabriz

In a verse in Payaam-e-Mashreq (Message from the East), Iqbal established his link with Shiraz â€“ the cradle of art and culture in Iran â€“ in the following way

Tanam gulee ze khayaban jannat-e-Kashmir
Dil az hareem-e-Hejaz va nawa ze Shiraz ast

Physically I am a flower from the garden of Kashmir

My heart is from the sanctuary of Hejaz and my melody is from Shiraz
Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosadegh was responsible for popularzing Iqbal in Iran

Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosadegh was responsible for popularzing Iqbal in Iran

Two of Iqbalâ€™s greatest desires remained unfulfilled: a pilgrimage to Hejaz and a visit to Iran. In 1933, Iqbal went to Afghanistan (he was invited by the King) and longed to visit Iran via Herat but could not go beyond Kandahar during this journey.

In turn, Iran has also been fascinated by Iqbal Lahori â€“ someone who never visited Iran, did not study Persian formally or firsthand observe their way of life yet produced such gems in his Persian poetry. However, it should be noted that Iqbal was hardly known or appreciated in Iran during his lifetime. In 1932, when Iranian monarch Reza Shah Pahalvi invited Bengali poet and first Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore to visit Iran, Iqbal felt snubbed and slighted. Although Iqbal sent his Persian poetry books to academics in Iran, he was not well known beyond the academic circles in Iran during his lifetime.

After Iqbalâ€™s death in 1938, Iranâ€™s poet laureate (known as Malak-o-Shaura in Iran) Mohammed Taqi Bahar popularized Iqbal in Iran. He paid rich tributes to Iqbal in his verses and termed the â€œpresent age as the special period of Iqbal who is heir to thousand years of Islamic cultural heritageâ€. By early 1950s Iqbal was well known among Iranâ€™s intelligentsia in addition to its academic circles.

Iqbal felt snubbed and slighted

In 1952, Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq, who was a national hero due to his oil nationalization policy, broadcast a special radio message on Iqbal Day and eulogized his role in Indian Muslimsâ€™ struggle against British imperialism (Mossadeq was himself embroiled in confrontation with the Britain over the oil-nationalization issue). After Mossadeqâ€™s message was broadcast, Iqbalâ€™s reputation and popularity went up in leaps and bounds. By the end of the 1950s, the complete Persian works of Iqbal were published in Iran in addition to translations of his Urdu poetry and his famous lectures on the reconstruction of religious thought in Islam. In the 1960s, his doctoral thesis on Persian philosophy was translated from English to Persian and soon established itself as the standard work on Persian philosophy among Iranians.
Iran had a tradition of religious modernism in which figures like Jamaluddin Afghani played a key role

Iran had a tradition of religious modernism in which figures like Jamaluddin Afghani played a key role

Iran, although not formally colonized like India, had a long history of struggle against Western imperialism and foreign interference in its internal affairs during the twentieth century â€“ British and Russian between 1893 and 1953 and American from 1953-1979. Iran also had a tradition of religious modernism in which figure such as Jamaluddin Afghani, born and educated in Iran, played a key role. By 1970, Iranian intellectuals found themselves dealing with two main questions: Western imperialism or physical and intellectual domination of the West and the role of Islam in the state. It is in this context that Iqbalâ€™s message of Islamic revival or reconstruction of religious thought in Islam and his poetry of self-awareness of and freedom from colonialism struck a resonant and responsive chord among Iranian intellectuals. It needs to be mentioned that Iqbal was not against the West per se (as he has praised the West for its knowledge, learning and technology) but criticised it for its materialism, colonialism and imperialism.

By 1970, Iran had â€œdiscoveredâ€ Iqbal. His verses appeared on banners and his poetry was recited in meetings of the intellectuals who became the leading lights of the 1979 revolution. Although Iqbal inspired many intellectuals, four names deserve special mention â€“ Ali Shariati, Mehdi Bazargan, Sayyed Ali Khamenei and Dr Abdulkarim Soroush. Ali Shariati, considered to be the ideologue of the Iranian revolution, and Ali Khamenei, currently the Supreme Leader, have written scholarly books on Iqbal; Bazargan, Iranâ€™s first Prime Minister after the 1979 revolution, and Dr Soroush, a former revolutionary turned chief critic of the current religious government who lives in exile and has been hailed as the Martin Luther of Islam in the West, have acknowledged their intellectual debt to Iqbal in their writings.

In 1986, President Khamenei, currently the Supreme Leader, toured Pakistan and quoted the following shayr from Iqbal:

Khawaja az khoon-e-reg-e-mazdoor saazad laal nab
Kishte dehkaan az jafaye deh khudayian shood kharab
Inqbalab ay Inqalab ay Inqalab

The capitalist extracts red wine from the workerâ€™s blood
The peasantâ€™s crop is spoiled by the oppression of the landlords
Revolution, Oh Revolution, Oh Revolution

Ali Shariati, a Sorbonne educated sociologist, embraced Iqbal as his role model just as Iqbal had adopted Rumi as his mentor; Shariati perhaps popularized Iqbal the most in Iran through his lectures at Hosseniyeh-e-Ershad, a religious center with a modern lecture hall which became the epicenter of revolutionary activity during the 1970s and was also briefly closed down by the Shahâ€™s regime. Iqbalâ€™s evocative and moving Persian elegy for Imam Hussein (AS) adorned the walls and pillars of Hosseniyeh-e-Ershadâ€™s stage. No better example of Iranâ€™s admiration and appreciation for Iqbal can be given than this: In a country which is overwhelmingly Shia and has produced thousands of poets who have composed Persian elegies for Imam Hussain, Iqbal is accorded the pride of place in the pantheon of Persian elegy writers.

After 1947, the readership of Persian in India and Pakistan has declined to lamentably low levels; both Pakistanis and Indians have given up reading Persian. With a steep decline in Urdu readership in India after partition, Indians, for whom Iqbal wrote Tirana-e-Hindi, are twice detached from Iqbal. With nearly two- thirds (about 60%) of his poetry in Persian it is now left to Iranians to enjoy and appreciate Iqbalâ€™s verses.

Two of Iqbalâ€™s greatest desires remained unfulfilled

No wonder, Iqbal composed a special poem for Iranians in Persian â€“ whose oft-quoted verses are full of fire and feeling. In this powerful and passionate poem in Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms), Iqbal poured out his love and affection for the Iranians, gave them glad tidings for their future and foresaw a savior who would deliver them salvation from slavery and misery.

Like a tulipâ€™s flame I burn
In your presence as I turn;
By my life, and yours, I swear
Youth of Persia ever fair!

I have dived, and dived again
With my thoughts into lifeâ€™s brain
Until I prevailed to find
Every secret of your mind.

Sun and moonâ€”I gazed on these
Far beyond the Pleiades,
And rebuilt a sanctuary
In your infidelity.

I have twisted well the blade
Till its edge was sharper made;
Pale the gleam and lustreless
Wasted in your wilderness.

My thoughtâ€™s images dispense
To the Orientâ€™s indigence
The bright ruby that I gain
From your mines of Badakhshan.

Comes the man, to free at last
Slaves confined in fetters fast;
Through the windows in the wall
Of your prison I see all.

Make a ring about me now;
In my breast a fireâ€™s aglow
That your forebears lit one day,
Things of water and of clay.
(Translation by A.J.Arberry)

The author lived in Iran during the revolution and tweets at @AmmarAliQureshi.

Source : TFT

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#6 [Permalink] Posted on 23rd April 2019 07:27

Singing Iqbal

You Tube has a lots of videos where people, men and women, have sung Iqbal's poetry.

I long back came to the conclusion that it does not work.

His poetry should be recited and not sung.

His poetry simply does not make itself available for singing purpose.

You can read it, of course, in a good voice.

Listen to this recitation, for example, in a very sonorous voice.

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#7 [Permalink] Posted on 29th April 2019 07:09

Three Points

There is this Lecture on Tulu-e-Islam by some one called Ahmed Javed and a viewer Azam Khan on You Tube has pointed out three very important points in this lecture.

(1) This Ummah will keep falling in depths and keep dying but you keep telling them stories of life and victory.

(2) The western philosophy is very attractive. They will make guns to kill people but the design will be so beautiful that even non-fighters will find them attractive.

(3) Modern thought has man so miserable that you are trying to find evidence of God in things like science that you yourself are doing.

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#8 [Permalink] Posted on 14th May 2019 09:31

Allama Iqbal's Sorrow

Allama Iqbal lived a sorrowful life. Khilafah was abolished in 1924 and the Allama left this world in 1938.

He might have got some good news in his life about the state of Muslim Ummah but at the moment I can not think of any.

Agar usmaniyon par koh-egham toota to kya gham hai?
Ki khoon-e-sad hazar anjum se hoti hai sahar paida

If the mountain of sorrow befell the Ottoman what is the worry?
After all it takes the sacrifice of a million stars before it is dawn

When Allama was born in 1877 the Russians had long back gobbled up Central Asia and were in the process of wiping out Islam from the lives of Muslims there.

When he was ten years old, in 1857, the British Empire gobbled up India.
The French and the British gobbled up the Muslims lands nearly 50-50 percent for each.

Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, Safavi Empire, Sokoto Empire, Egyptian Empire, erstwhile Umayyad and Abbasid lands all fell to the European powers.

The sun never set in the British Empire.

And only few people were left there to grieve for the glory of Muslims. And Islam.

Last big blow came in 1924 with Mustafa Kamal abolishing Khilafah to please the British.

Sorrow, sorrow, sorrow.

And more sorrow - Allama was gone in 1938.

He did not see the sunrise.
Not even the light at the end of the tunnel.

And then there was the light at the end of the tunnel.
Muhammed Ali Jinnah was in the field and struggling for an equitable deal for Muslims in India once the British left.

Less than a decade after Allama was gone the British too were gone.

Unthinkable had happened.

In fact slowly most of the Muslim countries were freed from French, Italian, British and Dutch clutches.
This happened withing a short period around the middle of last century.
This would have pleased the Allama.

Then came even better news.Though Muslims of India were divided into three parts but two Muslim countries came into being - Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Even better things happened.

In 1979 the Iranians threw away the Shah and turned their country into an Islamic Republic. (Though a Shia country Iran was influenced by Iqbal's thoughts.)

And in 1989 the Afghan Mujahideen did to USSR what the birds did to the elephants of Abraha. Turned them into chewed fodder.

And one and half a dozen Muslim countries appeared out of the belly of USSR.
USSR disappeared.
Among the countries that came out of it is Kazakhstan - a country nearly as big as India!

And if you talk of the latest events then you have the US running hear and there to sit down on the table with the desire to have a chat with the Taliban. Taliban!

Incredible and unimaginable.

So guys stop cribbing. Of course Palastine, Rohingya, India, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Algeria and China are very painful trouble spots for Muslims but if you can try to look away a little bit then the positive signs too have started appearing.

I suppose we are living in better times then Allama lived in.

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#9 [Permalink] Posted on 22nd October 2019 10:23

Sagacious Allama Iqbal

Late Dr Israr Ahmed pointed out a curious dichotomy in Allama Iqbal's approach.

Let us take Kulliyat-e-Iqbal. It has practically nothing about day to day problems or the political turmoil that was churning in real life in India. It was all about past glory and higher things.

take the case of his politics. In this case the whole attention was practically occupied by the ground level problems of the Muslims of India.

When I heard this observation of late Dr Israr Ahmed I found it a curious one.

For sometime now I have become of the opinion that Allama Iqbal was ultra smart in this move.

Kulliyat-e-Iqbal as well as his Persian poetry is for motivating the Muslims. This has to be talked publicly so as to reach the Muslim masses.

You exact ground level strategy, operations, moves, maneuvering and tactics are an entirely different game. These should not be known to the adversaries in advance. And he ensured that. And how!

There is not only a lesson for us here but even an example to follow.

Let your motivating poetry be known to the world while keep your strategy very close to your heart.

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#10 [Permalink] Posted on 25th October 2019 23:40

Maripat wrote:

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Good observation! However, Dr.Israr Ahmed Rh himself explained his revolutionary strategy in detail and openly.

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#11 [Permalink] Posted on 31st October 2019 23:36

Maripat wrote:

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Thats mesmerising- that linked vid. Never been to such poetic recitations.

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#12 [Permalink] Posted on 4th April 2020 07:28

Issues with a Couplet

Ki Tark Tag-o-Dou Qatre Ne To Abruye Gohar Bhi Mili
Awargi-e-Fitrat Bhi Gyi Aur Kashmakash-e-Darya Bhi Gyi

By giving up on fighting the water drop was honoured with a pearl
It was relieved of wandering and it was relieved of struggle of river

The best site for Allama's poetry gives a strange translation:

Though the drop got pearlâ€™s dignity by abandoning struggle
It lost taste for wandering and struggle in the river

The translation given there is simply not feasible.

This brings us to the problematic nature of the couplet.

Apparently Allama is advocating against struggle. Not merely G!h@d but all struggle.

Now that is certainly not Allama's usual nature.

So what is happening.

This used to bother me and it used to make me feel very uneasy.

Then I happened to be reading Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi's Mathnawi some days back.

On the second or the third page aI got a couplet there with a similar theme.

I tried to compare that with what Allama is saying here.

That is when it dawned upon me what must have happened.

Rumi in that couplet is talking about the greed of the water droplet and not its struggle.

So it is not about struggle but about greed, putting too much efforts in anything.

I should know.

I hurt my health by working too hard. That can happen and that is simply not allowed.

And that is the issue behind the couplet.

The idea belongs originally to Rumi RA.

And if you read the Urdu couplet now again it will be an easy feeling.

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#13 [Permalink] Posted on 4th April 2020 08:22

Dr Israr Ahmed on Allama Iqbal

In the video linked above we come to know the astounding thing that in his last times Allama Iqbal had disposed all of his books.

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My Thread on Allama Iqbal

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