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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Iqbal and Quran: "the new method"

"Your creation and resurrection
are like the creation and resurrection of a single soul."
Iqbal's "method" for discovering the Unseen in one's soul
is based on this verse (28 in Surah Luqman)

Many online services allow us to create multiple identities. Hence, if you are William James, you can be William1910@gmail.com as well as James000@gmail.com, and so on. You would be the real person while these profiles or avatars would be your virtual selves, and you may have as many as you like.

According to Iqbal, we are like these virtual profiles. We are not real. "The existence of individuals is virtual; the existence of the nation is real," he wrote in a ghazal in 1906 (وجود افراد کا مجازی ہے، ہستیء قوم ہے حقیقی). Five years later he elaborated the point in a paper:
"...the individual as such is a mere abstraction, a convenient expression for facility of social reference, passing moment in the life of the group to which he happens to belong." 
A year later he wrote in Urdu, "The individual exists only with reference to the nation, and is nothing on his own; the wave is in the river, and nothing outside it."
فرد قائم ربطِ ملت سے ہے تنہا کچھ نہیں
موج ہے دریا میں اور بیرونِ دریا کچھ نہیں

He kept repeating this idea until his very last breath: his last poem, 'The Human Being' (حضرتِ انساں) was an ode to humanity as a collective ego.

Our reluctance to accept that this is what Iqbal believed is perhaps the main reason why we fail to understand him. Not only our education but even the social, political and religious institutions in the post-colonial world seem to be conditioning us in the opposite direction.

Is that why we have become so unreal? Iqbal believed that we become real only when we annihilate our individual self, ego or soul, in the collective ego. He called it "bekhudi" (بیخودی) - translated by A. J. Arberry as "selflessness".

This selflessness, or the diminishing of the individual self in the collective ego, has an educational purpose. It is the method suggested by Iqbal for discovering the "Unseen" in our souls.

The "Unseen" thus discovered is not a magic lantern of spirits. It is a living experience of the kind of biological unity implied in the famous verse of Quran, "Your creation and resurrection are like the creation and resurrection of a single soul." (31:28). It gives us personal, moral and political power - power which can be verified and used in the real world.

It goes without saying that there need not be any quarrel with those who understand or practice these matters differently. What Iqbal has offered is just a new method, which may be tried out to see whether it gives what it promises: secrets, mysteries and moral power.
Any questions? I would try to address them in the next post if you post them as comments or email me at khurramsoffice@yahoo.com 

14 comments:

  1. this is very disturbing to me....after reading this, unwillingly my mind drifted away to mirror back my position in social life and position of our nation in world.this is giving an impression that if this is what Iqbal wanted to convey or what was proposed method by God then unfortunately we are devastated one as a nation. because concept of unison is far away from perceptional ground. I am amazed now how we can repair loss and bring back breath of unity in our environment????

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    Replies
    1. By understanding the goal which our nation is supposed to fulfil in the present times. I hope to share some special insights about this on August 14 this year.

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  2. Thank you Khurram Sahib, a great riddle is solved!

    Questions;

    1- How to achieves selflessness ?

    2- How does one diminishes his or her individual self in the collective ego ?

    3- How has Iqbal described this new method, which he offers ?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I shall try to answer these questions soon.

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    2. Does the stage of bekhudi come after stage of first building the khudi? After we develop our Khudi we can use it for the betterment of the nation..Is that how it is mean to be?

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  3. This is very useful post which quite profoundly and clearly describes Iqbal's point of view of the importance of collective consciousness of a people, nation and humanity. This aspect of Iqbal's thought has always inspired me through your writings and your analysis has made it more and clearer for me all the time.

    Personally have pondered on following verses of Quran which are so inimitable about collectiveness:
    1) See what Abraham's prays while raising foundations of Kaaba, he did not pray about himself or his family but about a nation:
    “our Lord! And make us submissive unto Thee and our seed a nation submissive unto Thee” (2:128 )

    2) And see how Allah created and desired collectiveness of humanity:
    ” Mankind were one community; then they differed” (10:19)

    3) Further see how on the day of resurrection people would be called in the presence of their Lord, not individually but as a nation:
    “ and thou wilt see each nation crouching, each nation summoned to its record.” (45:28)

    4) And see how important is the collective effort of people in the eyes of Allah, the individuals do not matter when bigger scheme of things are discussed:
    “Allah do not change the condition of a folk until they first change that which is in their hearts” (13:11)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is very useful post which quite profoundly and clearly describes Iqbal's point of view of the importance of collective consciousness of a people, nation and humanity. This aspect of Iqbal's thought has always inspired me through your writings and your analysis has made it more and clearer for me all the time.

    Personally have pondered on following verses of Quran which are so inimitable about collectiveness:
    1) See what Abraham's prays while raising foundations of Kaaba, he did not pray about himself or his family but about a nation:
    “our Lord! And make us submissive unto Thee and our seed a nation submissive unto Thee” (2:128 )

    2) And see how Allah created and desired collectiveness of humanity:
    ” Mankind were one community; then they differed” (10:19)

    3) Further see how on the day of resurrection people would be called in the presence of their Lord, not individually but as a nation:
    “ and thou wilt see each nation crouching, each nation summoned to its record.” (45:28)

    4) And see how important is the collective effort of people in the eyes of Allah, the individuals do not matter when bigger scheme of things are discussed:
    “Allah do not change the condition of a folk until they first change that which is in their hearts” (13:11)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Greetings,

    Thank you very much for this post.

    This post conveys to me the odd phenomenon of how we strive to express ourselves, to become individuals, to be persons, and so on. And yet these ways of seeking real-ness (which seem right but apparently lack real merit) have led us to a collective heartache in which, as you say, we find ourselves having become unreal.

    I also note how you cite that a failure to understand Iqbal is due to reluctance to accept what he believed. If Iqbal taught from a Quranic foundation (which I understand he did), then, perhaps, contributing to a lack of understanding of his works and philosophy (and so being unable to put them to practical use) may be the elevating of different interpretations of the Quran and Islam above Iqbal's. Along these same lines, I think that one can also be confused into buying into the worldly image of despair and hopelessness, this also causing one to minimize and/or dismiss the utterly genuine gold of Iqbal.

    I very much like how you end it. Let us try it out.

    I look forward to your continuing teachings on this. I am a particularly interested in your elaborations on the the "how" of "the new method."

    All good wishes,

    robert

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  6. Greetings,

    Thank you for including this video (particularly one with English subtitles).

    I did not not watch it until after I had written my first response. I have now watched it.

    I see that my request for more elaboration on "the new method" has been answered. Perhaps (?) "the new method" is not so new.

    All good wishes,

    robert

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course the new method is not so new any more. I learnt much of it from Bruce Lee when I was a kid - didn't you?

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    2. Greetings,

      Yes! :)

      All good wishes,

      robert

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  7. i am visually challenged, instead of reading i find it much easier to listen to translation here: http://www.quranexplorer.com/Quran/Default.aspx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much. I highly recommend Quran Explorer to everyone who is interested in Islam, whether out of belief or mere curiosity. The website is most certainly a must-visit.

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