Iqbal: His Life and Our Times

Cover design MelloWatts 

Originally published at Marghdeen Learning Centre

The mind of Goethe,
The heart of Rumi,
The message of the Quran.

This was the unparalleled legacy of the poet-philosopher credited with birthing a nation and a state, and at no other time has the world been more ready to embrace his ideas than it is right now. 

The story of his mind, and what he taught, as told herein from a new and compelling angle, leads us on a trail of discovery towards a new way of life. You're invited to approach this as a handbook for implementing his life-giving ideas.

The above-quoted blurb reflects the spirit in which my new book, Iqbal: His Life and Our Times, is being offered. The book is a tribute to Iqbal by ten sovereign states, since it is being published jointly by Iqbal Academy Pakistan and the Cultural Institute of the Economic Cooperation Organization, which is the successor organization of the RCD and now includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The international edition is being brought out by Libredux, UK, on behalf of the original publishers. It will be available from Thursday, May 8.

It can be ordered from the page on the Createspace Website. It will also be available on other websites, including Amazon. The Pakistani edition is hopefully coming out by the end of this month.  

Much has been written about Iqbal but this book may turn out to be different (even from my earlier writings) because it presents Iqbal with a special focus on how his ideas can be implemented today - especially in Pakistan and the Muslim world, but also elsewhere - by individuals as well as societies. I have kept it less than 200 pages, so that it may serve as a compact handbook.

Until the book comes out this Thursday, I offer you following introduction written by two people for whom I have deep respect and gratitude.

Introduction

by 

Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan;

and Iftikhar Arif, Director, ECO Cultural Institute (ECI)

Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) is the only poet and thinker in the history of world literature who has been credited with the birth of a new nation and a new state. It is therefore very befitting that a handbook about his life and thought should be brought out by an organization comprising of ten member states. The Economic Cooperation Organization’s Cultural Institute (ECI) is pleased to bring out this publication jointly with Iqbal Academy Pakistan.

In addition to his unique status in Pakistan, Iqbal also happens to be either a national poet or a household inspiration in several other countries including Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and India. In Turkey, his symbolic grave stands in the compound of the mausoleum of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi. In the universities of Heidelberg and Cambridge, there are chairs or fellowships in his name. Roads, buildings and monuments have been named after him in other countries too, including Mauritius.

Iqbal: His Life and Our Times fulfils the need for a simple and reliable introduction to the life and work of this unmatched genius, highlighting the practical relevance of his ideas for those who wish to consider them for implementation. The author, Khurram Ali Shafique, is well-known in the field of Iqbal Studies. The awards which he has received for his previous publications include the coveted Presidential Iqbal Award.

The present volume includes many findings that are the outcome of the author’s original research. Of special interest to the general readers as well as the experts would be the evidence, presented here for the first time, which establishes a historical connection between the political ideas of Iqbal, the American thinker Mary Parker Follett and the Bengali visionary C. R. Das. 

We are hoping that this volume will offer much by way of looking at the present times from new avenues. 

It is shown here that the views expressed by Iqbal in his poetry and prose formed a coherent system of thought, and the same was implemented by him through political and social action. 

This is to dispel the myth which has been preventing a deeper understanding of Iqbal’s thought until now, i.e. the false but widely perpetuated assumption that the ideas presented by Iqbal were either inconsistent with each other or they kept undergoing such perpetual changes throughout his life that they cannot be considered for implementation in any other time.

The system of his thought and its underlying principles are being presented here, perhaps for the first time. It is also being shown that in spite of its inner coherence, the system of Iqbal’s thought kept pace with the evolution of the collective life of his community. 

This evolution can be studied by dividing the intellectual life of the poet-philosopher into three stages: inquiry, discovery and transcendence. The duration of each stage has been established here on the basis of biographical and textual evidence, and the book has been divided into three chapters accordingly. 

Each of these three stages started in his mental life when his community adopted a new goal collectively. The goals, their relevance to the world and humanity, their implications for Iqbal, and his contribution towards achieving them are issues which are being discussed here in a fresh light. This may turn out be one of the most significant contributions which this book will make to the subject.

If nations of the world desire to come closer in their hearts and minds, they cannot ignore to learn about the ideas, emotions and visions of each other. The Economic Cooperation Organization’s Cultural Institute (ECI), formed through a charter at the third summit meeting of the countries of ECO held at Islamabad in 1995, aims at fostering understanding and the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of its members through common projects in the field of the media, literature, art, philosophy, sport and education. 

The present volume is being offered in line with this vision, and with the conviction that it is important for everybody to be informed about the ideas of Iqbal, since they may be counted among those cultural forces which have gone into shaping a significant part of our world.

This conviction is shared by Iqbal Academy Pakistan, a statutory body of the Government of Pakistan, originally established through an act of parliament in 1951 and reinforced through an ordinance in 1962. The aims and objectives of the Academy are to promote and disseminate the study and understanding of the works and teachings of Iqbal. The Academy has been translating its objectives into action and activity through a number of measures including publication programme, IT projects, outreach activities, Iqbal Award Programme, website, research and compilation, audio-video, multimedia, archive projects as well as exhibitions, conferences, seminars, projection abroad, research guidance, academic assistance, donations and library services.

We hope that the readers will benefit from the book which we are offering here jointly, and this will go a long way in achieving our common objectives.

Order online from Thursday, May 8

Comments on this post can be made directly at the website of Marghdeen Learning Centre. 

The Election Aftermath: an Iqbal Studies Perspective

"An election which is only a partial expression of the people’s will is null and void." (Hazrat Umar Farooq, r.a.) 

This saying of the second caliph was cited by Iqbal in his paper 'Political Thought in Islam' (1908). How do the recent elections stand in the light of this saying? - blatantly rigged, voters stopped from voting or forced to vote against their will, and so on.

The purpose of beginning this post with that quote is to remind us that Islam of the free people is different from the religion of the slaves. It is comparatively more concerned with freedom of nations and civic liberties than worrying about the wardrobes of women or teaching the victims to show "compassion" to their oppressors. "Democracy, then, is the most important aspect of Islam regarded as a political ideal," according to Iqbal ('Islam As A Moral and Political Ideal'; 1909).

If Iqbal were alive today, he may have eagerly declared that the present protests against rigging were a step in the direction of establishing a truly Islamic society - and perhaps the most important step in that direction since 1949. It would not have mattered to him that the protesters are not using the name of religion. He would have repeated his words from some other occasion: "The Muslim [of this country], I believe, instinctively realizes the peculiar nature of the circumstances in which he is placed..." ('Islam and Ahmadism'; 1935).

Iqbal's advice to the political activists in Pakistan may have been the same which was offered by him to the political reformers of other Muslim countries in 1908:

"They would certainly impress [their people] more if they could show that their seemingly borrowed ideal of political freedom is really the ideal of Islam, and is, as such, the rightful demand of free Muslim conscience." (Political Thought in Islam').

The cornerstone of this ideal, according to Iqbal, is "the idea of universal agreement". On the basis of the above-cited quote from Hazrat Umar, Iqbal stated in his 1908 paper: "The idea of universal agreement is in fact the fundamental principle of Muslim constitutional theory."

Let's try to understand what he meant by "universal agreement" and how it can help us analyze the current situation in Pakistan.

Iqbal believed that society was like an organism, and "if one portion reveals a certain organic craving, the material to satisfy that craving is almost simultaneously produced by the other." ('The Muslim Community - A Sociological Study'). The example which he offered for explaining this was that the modernism of the Aligarh Movement was complemented by the healthy conservatism of Akbar Allahabadi. It is possible to conclude from this example that if we desire to find out what the Muslim community of British India collectively wanted in that period, we would have to place the ideals of the Aligarh Movement side by side with the poetry of Akbar Allahabadi.

There was no "agreement" between the two, but the collective will of the community resided in the point where these two contradictory ideas converged: preserving and strengthening the national character. Hence, this was the point of "universal agreement" even though the two schools of thought in the community appeared to be opposed to each other.

If we place the results of the recent elections on the map of Pakistan, we see a different political party coming to power in each province. Treating Pakistan as a single organism, we need not stop at this seeming conflict - especially if we have learnt anything from the aftermath of the elections of 1970, whose results may be faintly reminded to us by these ones.

From the perspective of the older democracies, the emergence of   mutually exclusive power zones may serve as a threat to the federation. Indeed, they may, if we repeat the mistakes of the past.

From the perspective of Iqbal Studies, this situation is an opportunity (and so was the situation in 1970-71),  for creating a prototype which could serve as the model for "a world-state [whose] structure will be determined not by physical force, but by the spiritual force of a common ideal." This idea, presented by Iqbal in his 1908 paper, perhaps deserves to be explored in greater detail now.

Spiritual Democracy

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.

C. R. Das and Allama Iqbal

 اسرار خودی کا ریویو دیکھنے کا منتظر ہوں۔ سی آر داس کا خطبہء صدارت کانگریس آپ نے دیکھا ہو گا۔ اُس نے اسی روحانی اصول کو سیاسی رنگ میں پیش کیا ہے۔   

("I'm awaiting the review of Asrar-i-Khudi. You must have seen the presidential address to the Congress by C. R. Das. He has presented the same spiritual principle in a political manner.")

(Iqbal, January 6, 1923)

The excerpt is from a letter written by Iqbal to a young writer, Abdul Majid Dayabadi, in Urdu. The reference is to the presidential address delivered at the 37th session of the Indian National Congress held at Gaya on 26th December 1922.

Chittaranjan Das, better known as C. R. Das (1870-1925), was one of the most prominent Indian leaders from Bengal. Just like Iqbal, Das was also a barrister, poet and politician. He became known as "Deshbandhu" (Friend of the Country) after successfully pleading the case of Indian militants in 1909. He was later persuaded by his close friend Muhammad Ali Jauhar to join the non-cooperation movement initiated by Gandhi in 1920, but he retained some of his own terms. These were explained by him most elaborately when he presided over the Gaya session of the Congress two years later while Gandhi was in jail. Notable among the younger admirers of Das were Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy (later prime minister of Pakistan) and Subhas Chandra Bose, the beloved "Neta Ji" whose charisma was practically irresistible even for those who disagreed.

The presidential address of Das, to which Iqbal referred in the excerpt quoted above, may be summarized into four basic themes. The first of these may not be completely in sync with Iqbal's ideas, but the other three are among the finest elaborations of their common ideals:

1. "Law and order" is a fallacy promoted by tyrants and despots for enslaving people. Incidentally, this is an antithesis of what Iqbal had been promoting as "Islamic principles" of politics since 1908 (see, for instance, 'Political Thought in Islam' and 'Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal' by Iqbal). A detailed comparison of the ideas of these two great contemporaries may, in my opinion, give us insight into the roots of some very puzzling issues that face us even today.

2. It is impossible to attain freedom by violent means. Das quoted several examples from history to show that revolutions brought through violent means did not result in freedom: Magna carta, French Revolution and the Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution. Iqbal must have agreed most completely with this thesis (and it fully resonated in Iqbal's poem 'The Dawn of Islam' written less than three months later).

3. Individual, society, nation and humanity are interconnected in a spiritual manner. This is mainly the idea in which Iqbal noticed an affinity to his own philosophy. Of course, Iqbal did not presume that Das was in any way "inspired" by him or even familiar with his works (although Das was almost certainly acquainted with some of the works of Iqbal). Das actually quoted at length, with acknowledgment, from The New State (1918), a groundbreaking book by the American writer Mary Parker Follett. Follett had proposed a blueprint for a "spiritual" kind of "new democracy" in America, and a comparison of her book with the writings of Iqbal can bring a few more surprises (as I hope to show in the fourth book of Iqbal's biography which I am writing in Urdu these days).

4. A new plan of work for Congress. Das suggested seven fresh items for updating the original programme of non-cooperation. The first among these was "a clear and emphatic confirmation" of Lucknow Pact to safeguard the distinct identity of Muslims. Another interesting proposition was "the great Asiatic Federation" which, of course, would practically consist of a majority of Muslim countries. Das believed that "the Pan-Islamic movement which was started on a somewhat narrow basis has given way or is about to give way to the great Federation of all Asiatic people". Knowingly or unknowingly, Das was lending support to what Iqbal had stated a few months earlier in his Urdu poem 'The Khizr of the Way' (Khizr-i-Rah): "The salvation of the East lies in the unity of the international Muslim community, but the peoples of Asia are still unaware of this point"-  

ربط و ضبط ملت بیضا ہے مشرق کی نجات

ایشیا والے ہیں اس نکتے سے اب تک بیخبر

Postscript: This post is far from comprehensive. It is just meant to point out some resources for further study: 

• Complete text of the presidential address by C. R. Das
• Short biography of C. R. Das

Prologue to 2017

2017 published by
Libredux, UK

Dear friends, 

The clouds of war linger over the East and while some people there may suspect the hand of "Western powers", the people in the "West" are themselves harrowed by myriad problems, some of which are essentially similar to those elsewhere. Is it not the time for taking the first practical step towards a meaningful action based on the certainty that regardless of the odds, the intentions may not, would not and cannot fail eventually?

It is not possible for any individual to outline the course for such action, but the first step towards discovering it collectively has to be a common understanding about our past - a simple and optimistic overview of the recent history of humanity highlighting some ideals on which nations have already agreed and may cooperate in future. 

This is the aim of this serialization of my recent publication, 2017, which will appear in weekly instalments on this blog on Fridays, so that input may be gathered from everyone as "comments", and possibly also related posts on other blogs. 

The first instalment is just an attempt to raise the question: can we reclaim the goal of "an age of plenty" for "all the nations" that was a commonly held dream in a recent past?

Regards,

Khurram Ali Shafique 

On March 5 1946, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill visited Westminster College in Missouri, USA. In his speech, which later became famous for several reasons, he said:

The United Nations Organisation must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force… It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organisation, while it is still in its infancy… Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organisation with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organisation [i.e. the United Nations].

…If the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the world, certainly in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience… there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty.

Churchill may have been stamping his authority as a world power rather than making a prediction, but the  dreams embedded in his words were being dreamt by so many at that time, even more ubiquitously outside the English-speaking world of the British Prime Minister. Less than seventy years later, those dreams not only seem to have failed but also to be forgotten. It was said that only folly or sub-human crime could prevent an age of plenty.

Instead, we now find ourselves to be in an age where even the remembrance of such promises seems to be sub-human folly, if not also crime. 

The promised paradise may not have happened until now, but can it be reclaimed soon? Why or why not? Post your answers as comments.

Further "reading":

• Complete recording of Churchill's speech (with text) as video on Youtube
• Text of Churchill's speech as web page

Book launch tonight: "Online"

Would you like a free ebook of 2017: The Battle for Marghdeen as soon as it is published tonight? Some coupons will be made available from this blog for a limited time.

Marghdeen is an ideal city presented by Iqbal in Javid Nama. There is no poverty, crime or injustice. Life is inside-out and people know their destinies. 

In my new book, 2017, I have tried to explain that Marghdeen is a parable about our times. It describes what can be achieved today, if we are willing to understand the principles and bring a change in how we see the world. 

The book is just 80 pages, but has taken me five years to write. I hope that everybody will find it readable and interesting - some kind of "non-fiction thriller". 

It will be released electronically by Libredux, UK, tonight at midnight when Pakistan celebrates its 65th Independence Day. A special post will be uploaded on this blog and sent out in the newsletter at that time. 

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 

The Principle of Collective Self-Development

“We should meet and convey to each other our opinions regarding education and progress of the nation. Whatever mistake there might be in our thinking should get corrected through the opinions of others.” This was the golden principle by following which we acquired a sovereign state. We are on the verge of losing all because we abandoned this principle and still seem to be forgetting it.

The year 1887 has been adopted as the starting point for this overview of history because the year started with a unique New Year resolution made by 67 representatives of the Indian Muslim community. They had gathered at Aligarh on December 27, 1886, coming from all over the British India and including among themselves knights and nawabs as well as primary school teachers and ordinary people. Some 70 students of the Aligarh college were also asked to be seated in the hall where Sir Syed Ahmad Khan presented the issue in these words (originally in Urdu): “Although we are called a nation, we are unaware of each other’s circumstances, as if we were different peoples.” 

The participants wanted to realize a Muslim nationhood. To this end they agreed to hold annual gatherings where the community could reach consensus on matters of national importance. The organization holding these sessions, each year in a different city, was to be called Mohammedan Educational Congress (later changed to Conference). It came into being on December 27, 1886.

This event may qualify as a starting point because, although the idea of consensus was rooted in the Quranic instruction that believers should consult each other when deciding important matters, no Muslim community after 7th century AD had been able to make its own consensus the final arbiter, since monarchs had come to hold sway after the Pious Caliphate of the early period. 

Hence the resolution of 1886 was the beginning of a new chapter, not only in India but across the world. The text of the resolution could be translated as: 

In view of an overall decline in education among Muslims, and with a mind that efforts should be made for progress in all forms of education through a national consensus and by taking national initiatives, it is desirable that a session called Mohammedan Educational Congress, comprising people from several districts, should be held every year for deliberating on such matters. This session shall not be held at a fixed place but held each year at a place whose residents are willing to make arrangements for it.

The rationale behind founding such an organization was, in the words of Sir Syed, “that we should meet and convey to each other our opinions regarding education and progress of the nation. Whatever mistake there might be in our thinking should get corrected through the opinions of others.”

This became the guiding principle for the Indian Muslim community and eventually led to the creation of an independent state. In retrospect, the major implications of this principle may be listed as follows:

• The goals of the “nation” are to be defined by consensus (whether implicit or explicit).
• While it is our right to have our own opinion, it is our responsibility to “seek consensus” and be willing to modify our own propositions for that purpose, if needed.
• There is no fixed ideology for the community to be dictated by priests, intellectuals, leaders or esoterics. The ideology is supposed to be evolving perpetually through the ongoing process of collective decision-making by the entire community.
• In principle, all members of the community are entitled to participate in this decision-making process (and hence also in the on-going evolution of the community’s ideology, ideals and goals). 
• In practice, if some stakeholders cannot participate in the process for any reason, it is the moral responsibility of everyone else to keep the interests of the absentees in mind as much as possible. 

From 1887 to 1953, the nation was seldom without leaders who upheld this principle explicitly and respected its implications – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Allama Iqbal, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, to name just the most prominent ones. Looking back at the goals adopted and achieved at each stage in that period, we may notice two important things: (a) the goals were not proposed on behalf of a particular class but rather the entire community; (b) they were subject to modification through collective decision-making. Here is a brief overview:

1. Nationhood for the Indian Muslim community (the goal adopted on December 27, 1886, starting the stage of “Inquiry”, 1887-1906).
2. Separate electorates for the Indian Muslim community ( the goal adopted on December 31, 1906,  starting the stage of “Discovery”, 1907-1926).
3. Autonomy for Indian Muslims in the provinces where they were in majority (the goal proposed in March 1927, starting the stage of “Transcendence”, 1927-1946).
4. Pakistan (the goal adopted through the elections of 1945-46, starting the stage of "Freedom", 1947-66)

The fourth goal was also significant in the sense that a state formed in the name of God enabled the community to extend membership to like-minded people from other faiths on terms of complete equality: “Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims…”.

Perhaps it was a disastrous oversight that when the early historians and educationists of the new country reviewed the nation’s history, they defended such landmark decisions either by presenting rational arguments or on the authority of national heroes. In the process, it was overlooked that regardless of who made a proposition and by what argument it was supported, the decision had always rested with the entire community.

It seems that sometime around 1953 the Pakistani intelligentsia lost sight of this basic principle which had been guiding the course of collective self-development. Instead, our educated elite attempted to understand history by analogies of other forms of government such as the classical model of Arab imperialism, the “older democracies” of the West, and the communist republic.

Is it possible, therefore, to distinguish between Pakistan as perceived by the educated elite and Pakistan as lived by the masses? This seems to be the case, especially if we take a closer look at the two phenomena through which the principle of consensus-seeking seems to be dividing our history into twenty-year stages of self-development. These phenomena may be called the “peak moments” and the “turning points”.

"My" Immortal Beloved: a Personal Interpretation

Image modified from Dick Strawser's blog

The German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven is considered to be one of the greatest in history. The opening notes of his fifth symphony have come to symbolize music itself while his ninth serves as the source for the anthem of the European Union. Along with Goethe, Wordsworth and Coleridge, he is counted among those who gave birth to the great Romantic Age. As such, his work is supposed to be repository of great ideas expressed through musical notes instead of words.

The stature of Beethoven has not declined in these two hundred years but the way we respond to him has probably changed to the worse. Reading the analyses and commentaries written in the nineteenth century, we feel as if their writers were using music as a tool for discovering something new in themselves. In the latter times we often find the music being interpreted as a mere personal expression - be it of freedom and human potential or of the agony suffered by a genius (as in the movie The Immortal Beloved and the BBC documentary The Genius of Beethoven).

It seems as if we have stopped asking relevant questions to the great masters (to ask Beethoven who his immortal beloved was or whether it felt really bad to be a deaf composer is indeed irrelevant to the quality of his music). If the music of Beethoven is to remain ageless, it must find in each age a new set of worthwhile questions to be addressed.

The nine questions listed by Allama Iqbal in his Persian poem 'The New Garden of Mystery' (Gulshan-i-Raz Jadeed) are perhaps just the kind of questions needed in our times. Since they were derived from a six-hundred years older text widely used as a textbook of Sufism throughout the Muslim world, a study of Beethoven's music in the light of these questions may turn out to be nothing less than asking Iqbal to build a gigantic bridge between the futures of the classical East and the modern West.

A biographical introduction to the great composer, 'Beethoven: the Music Within' appeared at this blog yesterday. I now intend to offer a weekly series of nine posts introducing a symphony of Beethoven in the light of the corresponding question from Iqbal every Thursday:

1. Symphony No. 1 (Question 1), June 7
2. Symphony No. 2 (Question 2), June 14
3. Symphony No. 3 (Question 3), June 21
4. Symphony No. 4 (Question 4), June 28
5. Symphony No. 5 (Question 5), July 5
6. Symphony No. 6 (Question 6), July 12
7. Symphony No. 7 (Question 7), July 19
8. Symphony No. 8 (Question 8), July 26
9. Symphony No. 9 (Question 9), August 2

It may be asked why the nine symphonies and the nine questions should be considered in their corresponding orders. They need not be, but it may appear that while deriving his set of nine questions out of the seventeen classical ones, Iqbal went for a logical sequence in which the questions would occur to most people in their search for a higher truth, especially if the search is carried out from the heart:

"But the question arises as to the what and the where of the Unseen. The Quran replies that the Unseen is in your own soul." (Iqbal, The Development of Metaphysics in Islam, p.108)

So, it would not be too much of a coincidence if we were to find that the Truth had also chosen to unfold itself through a similar path in the works of Beethoven. After all, as the German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist T. W. Adorno has said, ""We do not understand music - it understands us." The nine  symphonies have indeed been considered to have followed a "natural order" (or perhaps even the "supernatural", if one were to consider the 'Curse of the Ninth').

Of course, this is not to say that the questions cannot be applied to the music of Beethoven in any other way, or some other sequence, by some others. The purpose of the present series is to open a new door rather than close any.

I hope that whichever entrance we choose, we can still end up in front of a beautiful altar and behold the majesty of our unity as humankind. Collective consciousness, Zeitgeist and public opinion are insufficient expressions for naming that unity. Collective ego is how Iqbal defined it but the most appropriate phrase that may also capture the complexity of our relationship with this dynamic and constantly growing unity was given to us, incidentally, by none other than Beethoven himself: Meine unsterbliche Geliebte - my Immortal Beloved. 

What comes out through such un-suspected harmonies as those between the music of Beethoven and the philosophy of Iqbal is the unity of human existence. Much of what Beethoven wrote in July 1812, quite possibly to a special woman, is what may also be addressed to this human unity:

My angel, my everything, my very self. – only a few words today, and in pencil (with yours)... can our love exist but by sacrifices, by not demanding everything...  Oh God, look upon beautiful Nature and calm your mind about what must be – love demands everything and completely with good reason, that is how it is for me with you, and for you with me... 

Oh - There are moments when I feel that language is nothing at all... Wherever I am, you are with me... Pursued by the goodness of mankind here and there, the goodness that I wish to deserve as little as I deserve it. – Man’s humility towards man – this pains me – and when I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is the man who is called the greatest? – And yet, – therein lies the divine element in man... 

Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love a true edifice in Heaven - but also as firm as the firmament. –

...my thoughts turn towards you my Immortal Beloved, now and then happy, then sad again, waiting whether fate might answer us... be patient – only through quiet contemplation of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm; for only by calmly considering our lives can we achieve our purpose of living together.- be calm - love me - today - yesterday - What yearning with tears for you - you - you my life – my everything...

Forever yours

forever mine

forever us

Songs of Layla and Simorgh

Layla and Simorgh may be regarded as the two most significant metaphors for the collective ego in the history of Muslim literature. While Layla emphasizes the beauty of the collective ego, Simorgh illustrates its power. These two aspects came together in the short story 'Time Bygone' (گزرا ہوا زمانہ) published by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1873. The celestial bride presented in that story was obviously modelled after Layla but her dialogue was reminiscent of Simorgh: "I am the soul of all human beings."

Symbols of love and power, such as Layla and Simorgh, had come to be seen as metaphors of the Ultimate Ego (i.e. God) during the centuries of our intellectual and political decadence (and I am inclined to believe that this was not the meaning ascribed by the writers Nezami Ganjavi and Sheikh Fariduddin Attar). A lasting contribution of Sir Syed to our literature and culture is that in very subtle manners he shifted the focus on the collective ego. The concept was elaborated most clearly by Allama Iqbal in the next generation, and thus an intellectual revolution was completed.

It is true that the intelligentsia since 1936 have tried to undo this intellectual revolution by shifting the focus again on the individual self and God, and by taking out the collective ego from the equation, but it seems that they have not succeeded so far. Practically all the national songs that became phenomenally popular in Pakistan represent the nation either as Layla or as Simorgh, but usually in a manner reminiscent of the inferences drawn by Sir Syed in his short story.

I often play 'Sohni Dharti' in my workshops and ask the participants to note the lines that may be regarded as addressed to the celestial bride of Sir Syed's short story. Usually the participants end up observing that the song by Masroor Anwar, which has become a collective identity for Pakistan, can also be addressed in its entirety to the celestial bride of Sir Syed. In other words, the song 'Sohni Dharti' presents Pakistan as that celestial bride and thus emphasizes the beauty of the collective ego.

• See my post 'Sohni Dharti'

The other national song which has come to define the identity of Pakistan in the same phenomenal manner is 'Jeevay Pakistan' by Jamiluddin Aali. When I play this song and ask the listeners to note the lines that may be regarded as allusions to Simorgh as described by Sheikh Fariduddin Attar, they end up saying that the entire song may be described as a song about Simorgh. Same is the case with 'Mien Bhi Pakistan Hoon' written by Sehba Akhtar. To this may be added the official national anthem of OIC, 'Hum Mustafavi Hain' by Jamiluddin Aali.

• See 'Jeevay Pakistan'
• See 'Mein Bhi Pakistan Hoon' 
• See 'The Melody of Muslim Revival'

Then there is that didactic song which is usually regarded as the most philosophical and profound of all national songs written in Pakistan: 'Yeh Watan Tumhara Hai' by Kaleem Usmani. Listening to it carefully, we may find it to be a straight forward listing of "do's" and "don'ts" from the perspective of the same collective ego - Layla and Simorgh. So is the national anthem written by Hafeez Jallundhri.

• See 'Kaleem Usmani'
• See 'The Meaning of National Anthem'

In my humble opinion, these national songs and anthems form the backbone of Pakistani literature, culture and art. Our explorations in this field cannot be seen as fulfilling their purpose until we recognize these national songs in this capacity, explore their deeper meanings and understand their connections with the centuries of our literary heritage. I have attempted this in Topline Social Studies Programme, a series of textbooks for secondary schools published in a revised edition last year.

Peak Moments in the History of Pakistan

Through my researches about the history of Pakistan, its literature and the ideas which led to its creation, I have come upon a rather curious pattern. It is the recurrence of "peak moments" precisely every twentieth year (with one slight exception).

The gathering of Muslim community represnetatives from all over India at Aligarh in 1886 was the first of its kind in Islam since the days of the early caliphs. Strangely, something similar has been happening since then – every twentieth year with a slight change in 1947:

• 1886, Foundation of Muslim Educational Conference
• 1906, Foundation of All-India Muslim League
• 1926, General Elections on the basis of separate electorates
• 1946, General Elections on the question of Pakistan
• 1967, Birth of PPP and popularity of 6 Points
• 1987, General discontent with General Zia
• 2007, Lawyers' Movement

Why does it happen, and can it help us in a better understanding of our history (and of ourselves)?

For those unfamiliar with these events, here is a brief recap:

• The representative gathering at Aligarh in 1886 founded the Muslim Educational Conference. A gathering like that – or perhaps even surpassing it – happened exactly twenty years later in Dacca in 1906 where the All-India Muslim League was founded. The demand for separate electorates was put forward, which we were able to exercise exactly twenty years later in the general elections held in 1926. Precisely two decades after that we had the winter elections of 1945-46 in which Pakistan was voted for.
• Since the birth of Pakistan a year later, i.e. in 1947, these cycles may be counted from the year in which Pakistan was created. Twenty years later, in 1967, Pakistan People’s Party was founded in West Pakistan and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s Six Points gained acceptance in the Eastern wing. It may be noted that general elections which had never been conducted since the birth of Pakistan, were conducted as a result of this popular uprising – and we find this to be the case again twenty years later.
• In 1987, the end of the Afghan War being in sight, the bomb blast in Karachi, the re-emergence of political parties in the municipal elections through the backdoor, the political liaisons of Benazir Bhutto and the increasing discontent with the non-party democracy introduced by General Ziaul Haq made the need for fresh mandate felt most widely felt among all segments of the Pakistani society (and not only among those who were opposed to the rule of General Ziaul Haque or Islamic reforms). Elections on party basis happened the next year – whether through Divine intervention or human design is a question which doesn’t concern us here.
• Adding twenty to 1987 brings us to 2007 – need we say anything about this last year?

And hence the question:

Why does it happen, and can it help us in a better understanding of our history (and of ourselves)?

Conflict of mind and spirit

"The mind of Europe" was a signifient term that emerged soon after the World War when T. S. Eliot defined it in an essay in 1919. By no means was he the creator of the actual concept, which can be traced back to the appearance of The Flowers of Evil by the French poet Charles Baudelaire in 1857.

It is interesting to note that Eliot's most significant contemporary in the Muslim world, Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, defined "the spirit of Muslim culture" in his landmark poem 'The Mysteries of Selflessness' (1918) and later in the fifth lecture of his famous prose work, the Reconstruction (1920/34).

Both the "mind of Europe" and "the spirit of Muslim culture" have cosmopolitan outlooks. While Iqbal proclaimed that the Spirit of Muslim Culture was eager to enlist non-Muslims for the common cause of actualizing the oneness of humankind, the "mind of Europe" also seemed bend upon taking non-European adherents.

Clashes cannot happen between civilizations as such because each conflict is accompanied with mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge and fusion of cultures - even the proverbial Crusades were not devoid of such intermingling. It is also less likely that the spirit of one civilization could be at odds with the other. Therefore, perhaps the root cause of the present tension is that the Western academia for at least a century and a half has been defining its culture in terms of collective mind (whose extensions are collective consciousness, collective subconscious, and so on) whereas Islam could not define its own culture except with reference to "spirit" (whose extensions are collective self, consensus of opinions, and so on).

There is no clash of civilizations but yes, there seems to be a conflict between the mind of Europe and the spirit of Muslim culture.

3. Unity of nation

In the preface of the Reconstruction, Iqbal mentions the need for a modern method through which we could have “a living experience” of the kind of biological unity embodied in the following verse of the Quran:

“Your creation and resurrection are like the creation and resurrection of a single soul.”

Iqbal specifies the following characteristics of such a method:

1. It will give us a living experience of the kind of biological unity embodied in this verse
2. It will be comparable to the work of the “more genuine schools of Sufism” with two differences (#3 and #4)
3. It will be physiologically less violent
4. It will be psychologically more suited to a concrete type of mind
5. Demand for scientific form of religious knowledge may become redundant in the presence of such method

Despite giving these hints, he doesn't specify the method but in the next document which he wrote after this, i.e. the Allahabad Address (in which was offered the concept of Pakistan), he says:

“One of the profoundest verses in the Holy Quran teaches us that the birth and rebirth of the whole of humanity is like the birth and rebirth of a single individual.”

Obviously he is referring to the same verse which was quoted in the preface of the Reconstruction but he doesn’t repeat the verse itself, as if he would like the reader to consult the other passage together with this. He goes on to say:

“Why cannot you who, as a people, can well claim to be the first practical exponent of this superb conception of humanity, live and move and have your being as a single individual?”

It seems obvious that the method through which this “superb conception of humanity” can be experienced is this: an entire nation should “live and move and have your being as a single individual.”

The unity of nation in this sense is organic, is related to the unity of humanity and is ultimately derived from the Oneness of God. Nation in this sense cannot be forged by color, race, territory or culture. These factors may also play some role but the unity does not depend on them. Rather, it regulates them in the forward march of history towards “a final combination of humanity.”

This is a follow up on issues discussed in previous posts: 1. Unity of life; and 2. Unity of humankind 

Picture is a detail from illustration by Tabassum Khalid for Secrets and Mysteries by Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal

The unity of humankind

Iqbal's concept of ideal state seems to be based on three unities:

1. The unity of life
2. The unity of humankind
3. The unity of nation

The second of these is mentioned in the Allahabad Address in the following words:

Indeed the first practical step that Islam took towards the realization of a final combination of humanity was to call upon peoples possessing practically the same ethical ideal to come forward and combine. The Quran declares, “O people of the Book! Come let us join together on the ‘word’ (Unity of God), that is common to us all.”

The verse which has been quoted here is 64 of the third chapter. Iqbal perceives it as an ideal and a goal: "a final combination of humanity” is going to be the destination where the humanity will arrive at last, and perhaps it's too early right now for us to fully comprehend this far-off goal lying in a distant future when all nations will acquire a unity of vision despite religious and cultural diversity. “The wars of Islam and Christianity, and, later, European aggression in its various forms, could not allow the infinite meaning of this verse to work itself out in the world of Islam,” Iqbal goes on to say. “Today it is being gradually realized in the countries of Islam in the shape of what is called Muslim Nationalism.”

Hence this “final combination” seems to be an inevitable destination which cannot be avoided. Humanity seems to be moving towards it through good and bad experiences – just as Joseph moved towards the fulfillment of his dream. By forgetting this ideal we increase misery. By recognizing it we bring “peace within and peace without” (to borrow a phrase from Jinnah).

Even if we can't completely comprehend this unity in the present state of chaos, can we at least have some direct experience of it now? The answer, according to Iqbal, is yes.

Pakistan, the next 20 years

In view of the history of Pakistan, five trends seem likely to occur in the next twenty years:

2008-10: Disenchantment with the West

Disenchantment with the West, having acquired a new hype in July, is likely to escalate relentlessly because there is a regrettable lack of quality communication between West and the people of Pakistan, especially the unschooled masses who have been the true balancing factor in the life of this country.

2010-16: Isolation

Once the phase of disenchantment reaches its peak, an increasing number of Pakistanis including the educated segment are likely to become culturally and mentally isolated from the West.

Possible Conflict

Conflict of interests easily explodes into its actual equivalent when negotiations fail. The absence of quality dialogue between West and the masses of Pakistan also can lead to an actual conflict if disenchantment and isolation are not addressed in the earlier stages.

2017-26: Crisis of federation

Pakistan was all about discovering new possibilities but the various theories about forms of government tried out here, and the existing perception about federation, have been West-defined to various extents. These may get affected as a consequence. In that case, for a decade beginning around 2017, it may seem as if the idea of Pakistan as conceived in the Lahore Resolution of 1940 has become irrelevant in some ways if not all.

2026-27: Emergence of inherent unity

The units which now constitute the federation of Pakistan have been interdependent since the earliest known period of civilization. This inherent unity of the region can easily surprise the onlookers by discovering a new channel for its continuation.

It may be seen that at each stage there are possibilities for preventing conflict and facilitating healthy growth. They require vision and where there is no vision, people perish.

The unity of life

Iqbal’s concept of ideal state depends on three unities, which he discussed in the Allahabad Address (1930):

1. The unity of life
2. The unity of humankind
3. The unity of nation

The first of these, i.e. the unity of life, implies that contradictions cannot exist. Oneness of God, as expounded in the Quran, takes this philosophical notion a step further by offering opportunities to witness and experience this non-contradiction:

"In Islam God and the universe, spirit and matter, church and state, are organic to each other. Man is not the citizen of a profane world to be renounced in the interest of a world of spirit situated elsewhere. To Islam matter is spirit realizing itself in space and time." (Read complete text of the Allahabad Address)

Is this the same thing as going back to theocracy? Many Western scholars and their Pakistani followers have indeed understood it that way. However, the mainstream Pakistani scholarship (now unfortunately marginalized even in Pakistan), has always understood it to mean something else, something unknown even in the history of Islam because although this had been evolving in the conscience of the community, it required a peculiar setting such as that of modern times in order to be realized.

It is what Iqbal described as “spiritual democracy” in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (written around the same time as the Allahabad Address): rather than isolating religion from politics, the rule of democracy should be extended to include religion as well. Norms in all walks of life, such as religion, art, literature, culture and education ought to be decided by consensus of the people rather than by any priesthood, whether of the clergy or of the academics (Read Iqbal’s statement about spiritual democracy).

Hence Iqbal’s concept of the unity of life is simultaneously opposed to secularism, atheism and theocracy. To borrow a phrase from the popular discourse of the Second Wave Feminism, it means that “the personal is the political.”

Can a spiritual democracy ever ensure equality between followers of different religions? That is a valid concern but in order to address it we need to look at “the unity of humankind”...

Joseph as Nation and State

An analogy may be drawn between Pakistan and Joseph. In Chapter 12 of the Quran, the story begins quite dramatically with young Joseph discussing a dream with his father. He has seen the sun, moon and stars prostrating before him but it turns out to be the beginning of a long series of travails. He gets separated from his parents, is thrown into a well, sold into slavery, falsely accused of a crime, imprisoned and completely forgotten - except by his grieving father who loses his eyes weeping for him.

This idea was posted recently in The Republic of Rumi Newsletter and has brought some feedback, for instance:

Has Pakistan seen the dream about sun, moon and stars?? Joseph = Pakistan; then Father of Joseph = Iqbal?? If yes then what about his lost eyes (sight)? Including his brothers, meaning all Muslim states?? We have to interpret the "king’s" dream? Who is the king here? U.S.?