Six years ago, I wrote a fantasy about the great Sufi master Maulana Rumi changing the world after being elected the ruler of a kingdom. From this fantasy was derived the title of my book as well as this blog and the newsletter: The Republic of Rumi.
The inspiration behind that fantasy was the fact that the foremost disciple of Rumi in modern times was Iqbal, and he is actually being recognized as a national hero in several states. Pakistan claims to have been conceived by him. Some of the Central Asian states acknowledge him as a national poet. In Iran also, he is held in high esteem. Hence, through Iqbal, the spirit of Rumi has actually been taking over the affairs of states since the middle of the 20th Century, at least in some ways.
This was the meaning of the fantasy which I wrote six years ago. At that time it was not possible for me to show how the message and the influence of Iqbal can be used for actually creating the kind of government, commonwealth or world order that may be called a "republic of Rumi". I think, now I am in a position to share some interesting findings in this regards.
The keyword is "spiritual democracy". Iqbal stated in the sixth lecture of the Reconstruction (1930) that the ultimate aim of Islam was some kind of a "spiritual democracy". He said that it was to be evolved out of "the hitherto partially revealed purpose of Islam".
I feel that it may be a good idea if this blog and newsletter could be used mainly for elaborating this concept at least for some time. I hope that this suggestion would be welcome by most of the readers - and I would like to hear from you what you think about it.
I think it is a great idea,Mr. Shafique.
ReplyDeleteJust a 'yes' or 'no' to the following would suffice.
ReplyDelete1. Is Pakistan being conceived by Iqbal a false claim?
2. Is the purpose of Islam now (completely) revealed?
And:
3. Where exactly had the spirit of Rumi begun to take over (in the middle of the 20th century) and how far have we come?
And yes, please do feel free to address 'spiritual democracy' for as long as you like. I'm sure it'll be a great idea. Given the prevailing 'unevenness' of the state-of-affairs, it'll take that many reiterations for the spirit of Rumi to pass into the bloodstream by the middle of this century (or something like that).
yes, it will be another journey into the ideal and help us to create it around us.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
ReplyDeleteOne big thing that I'm learning from Iqbal is the reality of the ever-present creation of the world, the lack of finality of humanity, and not resting in old, solid forms. I sense that your blog and newsletter elaborating on the concept of the spiritual democracy is a great idea. They can thus serve to manifest a continuing evolution of the purpose of Islam for the good of all.
All good wishes,
robert