5 Principles of Spiritual Democracy

The following five statements, in my understanding, constitute the basic principles of spiritual democracy.

The statements are simple but they can bring a paradigm shift when understood in context (and that shall be attempted in the future posts). Also, they form a process and must be taken in the order suggested here. For instance, the proposition that Islam does not allow separation between Church and State is well-known but its practical implications would obviously depend upon our beliefs about the individual and his or her relationship with society. Therefore, those concepts must be clarified before attempting this rather advanced proposition.

More in the future posts. For now, as we go through each of these statements, let's ask ourselves: does it challenge our existing views in any manner?

1. Individual:

“The essential nature of man, then, consists in will, not intellect or understanding.”

('Islam As a Moral and Political Ideal', 1909)

2. Society:

“The idea of universal agreement is in fact the fundamental principle of Muslim constitutional theory.”

('Political Thought in Islam', 1908)

3. Leadership:
“By leaders I mean men who, by Divine gift or experience, possess a keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam, along with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history.”

(The Allahabad Address, 1930)

4. Religion and State:

“The State with us is not a combination of religious and secular authority, but it is a unity in which no such distinction exists.”

('Political Thought in Islam', 1908)

5. Goal:

“…the immortality of a people, as Nietzsche has so happily put, depends upon the incessant creation of worths. Things certainly bear the stamp of divine manufacture, but their meaning is through and through human.”

('The Muslim Community - A Sociological Study', 1911)

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.

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

Fear is the key

Emperor Alamgir is attacked by a tiger:
in Secrets and Mysteries, Iqbal used this parable
for illustrating the point that belief in the Unity of God
puts an end to fear.
Read in the original Persian or translation)

In order to have practical value for everyone in society, the message of a thinker must include some straight-forward answers to some of the basic questions about life. One such question can be, "What is the source of evil in our soul?" Iqbal's answer is: "Fear."

It would be interesting to see how this central proposition was applied by him for understanding religion, politics and the destinies of nations.

1. The central proposition in Islam

In his seminal paper 'Islam As A Moral and Political Ideal' (1909), Iqbal offered a comparative study of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam from the perspective of "a critical student". There, he defined the distinctive trait of Islam in these words:

The central proposition which regulates the structure of Islam then is that there is fear in nature, and the object of Islam is to free man from fear. This view of the universe indicates also the Islamic view of the metaphysical nature of man. If fear is the force which dominates man and counteracts his ethical progress, man must be regarded as a unit of force, an energy, a will, a germ of infinite power, the gradual unfoldment of which must be the object of all human activity. The essential nature of man, then, consists in will, not intellect or understanding.

Hence we may see that "fear" is not just a psychological issue for Iqbal. It has ethical, political and even metaphysical implications and its elimination is the objective which defines the very structure of Islam, even as a religion.

2. Elimination of fear, a political ideal
The same concept became the cornerstone of the manifesto of Muslim nationalism nine years later. In 'The Mysteries of Selflessness' (Secrets and Mysteries), published in 1918, the concept was elaborated in three chapters, the first of which was titled, 'Despair, Grief and Fear are the Mother of Abominations, destroying Life; and Belief in Unity of God puts an end to those Foul Diseases.' (Read in the original Persian). There, Iqbal went a step further and suggested that fear breeds dissension and discord, since it grows weak when a people are united. 

3. Fear causes the loss of herd-instinct
In 1910, Iqbal had jotted down in his private notebook:

To my mind, governement, whatever its form, is one of the determining forces of a people's character. Loss to political power is equally ruinous to nations' character. Ever since their political fall the Musalmans of India have undergone a rapid ethical deterioration. Of all the Muslim communities of the world they are probably the meanest in point of character.

Harsh as this criticism of his own community may sound, it is interesting to notice that here again the decisive psychological factor was fear - or to be precise, how the loss of political power creates insecurity, and that in turns leads to meanness in character. Consistent with the proposition he made in 'The Mysteries of Selflessness' (i.e. fear breeds dissension), Iqbal may have later arrived at the conclusion that political insecurity diminished the collective instinct in his community. In 1930, he stated in his famous Allahabad Address:

The second evil from which the Muslims of India are suffering is that the community is fast losing what is called the herd-instinct. This makes it possible for individuals and groups to start independent careers without contributing to the general thought and activity of the community. 

4. Fear of majority in Europe
The right to vote was extended to some of the working class males in Europe in the middle of the 19th Century. This led to a hostile reaction from intellectuals such as Stendhal, Charles Baudelaire and Matthew Arnold (to name just a few). Consequently, an "intellectual elite" came into being whose purpose was to create a dichotomy between "high" and "popular" culture (which had been regarded as a unity by the best minds of the past). Iqbal must have understood that the elite in Europe reacted against democracy because they had a fear of the majority in their hearts, and this fear did what fear does: it bred dissension and discord within the European society itself. In his private notebook he wrote in 1910:

The reaction against Democracy in England and France is a very significant phenomenon. But in order to grasp the meaning of this phenomenon the student of political sciences should not content himself merely with the investigation and discovery of the purely historical causes which have brought it about; he must go deeper and search the psychological causes of this reaction. (See also 'Reaction against democracy in the West'). 

5. Fear of Islam in the mind of Europe
We have seen how Iqbal traced the evils in the political lives of his own society as well as in the societies of Europe to be rooted in various forms of fear. He observed the same to be the major reason why it was becoming increasingly difficult for the representative spokespersons of Islam to engage the intellectuals of the West on terms that might be acceptable to both societies, and may lead to joint efforts for the empowerment of the masses. Responding to one of the critics of his poem 'The Secrets of the Self' soon after the publication of its English translation in 1920, he wrote:

I am afraid the old European idea of a blood-thirsty Islam is still lingering in the mind of Mr. Dickinson. All men and not Muslims alone are meant for the Kingdom of God on earth, provided they say good-bye to their idols of race and nationality, and treat one another as personalities. 

6. Postscript: "Dare and Live"
A very useful and succinct summary of Iqbal's thought from this angle was offered by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah when he summarized the message of Iqbal in a single phrase, "dare and live". Jinnah said:

Iqbal... rises above the average philosopher, as the essence of his teachings is a beautiful blend of thought and action. He combines in himself the idealism of a poet and the realism of a man who took practical view of things. In Iqbal this compromise is essentially Islamic. In fact it is nothing but Islam. His ideal therefore is life according to the teachings of Islam with a motto, "Dare and Live."

The General Will

Whether the General Will is Fallible

from The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

...The general will is always right and tends to the public advantage; but it does not follow that the deliberations of the people are always equally correct. Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is; the people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived, and on such occasions only does it seem to will what is bad.

There is often a great deal of difference between the will of all and the general will; the latter considers only the common interest, while the former takes private interest into account, and is no more than a sum of particular wills: but take away from these same wills the pluses and minuses that cancel one another,7 and the general will remains as the sum of the differences.

If, when the people, being furnished with adequate information, held its deliberations, the citizens had no communication one with another, the grand total of the small differences would always give the general will, and the decision would always be good. But when factions arise, and partial associations are formed at the expense of the great association, the will of each of these associations becomes general in relation to its members, while it remains particular in relation to the State: it may then be said that there are no longer as many votes as there are men, but only as many as there are associations. The differences become less numerous and give a less general result. Lastly, when one of these associations is so great as to prevail over all the rest, the result is no longer a sum of small differences, but a single difference; in this case there is no longer a general will, and the opinion which prevails is purely particular.

It is therefore essential, if the general will is to be able to express itself, that there should be no partial society within the State, and that each citizen should think only his own thoughts:8 which was indeed the sublime and unique system established by the great Lycurgus. But if there are partial societies, it is best to have as many as possible and to prevent them from being unequal, as was done by Solon, Numa and Servius. These precautions are the only ones that can guarantee that the general will shall be always enlightened, and that the people shall in no way deceive itself.

Postscript from the blog-master: "The truth is that Islam is not a church. It is state, conceived as a contractual organism long before Rousseau ever thought of such a thing, and animated by an ethical ideal which regards man not as an earth-rooted creature, defined by this or that portion of the earth, but as a spiritual being understood in terms of a social mechanism, and possessing rights and duties as a living factor in that mechanism." (Iqbal, in the Allahabad Address; 1930)

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”.

Consensus Literature

Did he write high literature
or popular?

We have been told about two types of art, literature and culture. There is a "high culture", which is the best of what has been said and thought, and can be understood and appreciated mainly by the experts and the initiated. Then there is a "popular culture" which includes everything else and is usually meant for consumption by the uninitiated, the masses.

The truth is that this distinction, perpetuated by a bunch of intellectuals in the middle of the nineteenth century, fails to do justice to the greatest masterpieces of all times. Rumi, Shakespeare, Goethe, Iqbal and most of the great names of literature were appreciated by the elite as well as the masses, at least in their own times.

If literature represents our dreams, then only literature appreciated by all segments in a society can represent the collective dream of that society. In fact, such literature would be rather like the dream of the King of Egypt through which a Joseph could foretell the destiny of the nation.

Therefore, at least for practical purposes, we need to rise above the dichotomy of high and popular. For this reason I have introduced the term "consensus literature" in my writings (in Urdu I call it jamhoori adab, جمہوری ادب). 

Consensus literature refers to those writings which are appreciated by all segments in a society. We need to identify such writings so that we could foresee the destinies of nations. Since the easiest way to identify something begins with naming it, we need this term: consensus literature.

Goal Guppay Wala

A few years ago while walking in the streets of Karachi, I was suddenly stopped by one of my favourite melodies. It was the Ahmed Rushdi song, 'Goal Guppay Wala Aya'.

I turned around and noticed that it was being played from a cassette player on the hand-driven cart of a vendor actually selling "goal guppay" (a popular street snack: see Wikipedia). The seller was a young man in his early 20s. He was obviously born decades after the song was first released as soundtrack of the movie Mehtab (1962) (several years even before I was born), I asked him whether he liked the song and why he was playing it. 

He replied that he didn't like to shout in the streets for drawing the attention of potential customers to his goods. So he played the song instead and it did the job for him. 

The answer was not unexpected but it was still very reassuring to hear it from the "man in the street". In fact, the song is played by almost all vendors selling this popular street snack in Pakistan, especially in Karachi. I went on asking many of them in the subsequent weeks, and the answer was almost the same as that given to me by that young man. 

Today I want to share a few implications of this simple answer which are very close to my heart. I am sharing this today because the death anniversary of Ahmed Rushdi falls this week on Wednesday, April 11.

Ahmed Rushdi, a singer who has been dead for nearly thirty years (1934-1983), is still helping the street vendors in earning their livelihood. If it hurts their self-esteem to be shouting in the streets, Ahmed Rushdi volunteers to do it for them. The voice of a man who has been lying in his grave for almost thirty years is not only helping the poorest of the poor in earning a livelihood but is also protecting their self-esteem.

In Pakistan, the voice of Ahmed Rushdi is synonymous with style, finesse and everything desirable and beautiful: some of the best known songs of Ahmed Rushdi were filmed on Waheed Murad, the ultimate icon of style and grace. In those days, no lead actor in Pakistani movies could get accepted as stylish enough unless he got to lip-sync on soundtracks sung by Ahmed Rushdi. This is the kind of self-esteem which is still coming out in aid of the poor and humble street vendors.

Also to be noted is the fact that this voice, the voice of Ahmed Rushdi, was included in the chorus of eleven which recorded the first official version of the national anthem in 1954 - the version which was played on all official ceremonies afterwards, and of course, it was mandatory on every president, prime minister, military and civilian ruler, and the most powerful of the powerful rulers in Pakistan to stand up in its honour whenever it was played. So, the voice now selling street snacks for the poor is actually the same which has been commanding every ruler of Pakistan to stand up in its honour?

Many poets and artists claimed to be the redeemers of the working class (often without consent), but can any of them claim this unique privilege of actually going out on the streets to help the working class in earning a lawful earning even after three decades of their death?

"This blessing cannot be earned unless the Benevolent Almighty bestows it in His Kindness," as the Persian proverb goes. However, I do not take it to be a coincidence. There is something about this song - 'Goal Guppay Wala' - which we have failed to notice. 

Allama Iqbal mentioned an incident from the life of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in an article published in New Era (a short-lived journal published from Lucknow) in 1917. The article was titled 'Our Prophet’s Criticism of Contemporary Arabian Poetry'. In that article, Iqbal mentions two verses from the pre-Islamic poet Antra of the tribe of Abs that were recited in the presence of the Prophet, and the Prophet is reported to have said: “The praise of an Arabian has never kindled in me a desire to see him, but I tell you I do wish to meet the author of this verse.”

Please note that Antra lived in the pre-Islamic Arabia. He was not even a believer. Yet, the Prophet bestowed this unusual honour on him and Iqbal has tried to understand why:

Imagine the man, a single look at whose face was a source of infinite bliss to the looker desiring to meet an infidel Arab for his verse! What is the secret of this unusual honour which the Prophet wished to give to the poet? It is because the verse is so healthful and vitalising, it is because the poet idealises the pain of honourable labour.

What Iqbal has observed about the verses of Antra may also be said about the song mentioned here - "the verse is so healthful and vitalising... the poet idealises the pain of honourable labour." This is so true of 'Goal Guppay Wala', and so untrue of the poems written by elitists who claimed to be the friends of the masses (without the consent of the masses, of course). Those poems, written by the elitist progressive poets, try to obliterate the distinction between lawful and unlawful earning (halal and haram). They incite on violence more than hard work. They do not "idealise" the "pain of honourable labour" but make it deplorable and intolerable (consider, for instance the poem 'Aaj Ke Naam' by Faiz Ahmed Faiz).

Is it not possible that this song has gained an everlasting life in the Islamic Republic because consciously or unconsciously it matches the literary ideal which, according to Iqbal, the Prophet of Islam desired to promote in Muslim societies?

In case you wish to know, here are the original verses of Antra which were recited in the presence of the Prophet in the above-mentioned incident:

و لقد ابیت علی المظوی واظنہ

حتی انبل بہ کریم الکامل

Verily I pass through whole nights of toil to merit a livelihood worthy of an honourable man." 

Compare this with the lyrics of the song and decide for yourself whether they match or not. Foreign language readers! I do not have the ability to give an exact translation of the complete song, since it happens to be in very colloquial Urdu, but roughly it says something to the effect:

The Goal Guppay Wala is here, singing from street to street, spreading joy wherever he goes, see how he comes. My goods look fair, as lovely as fair cheeks.

It is a crime to steal, my dear, so work hard for a living. My brother, eat poor food and you will sleep well without fear of being reprimanded. Come, little boy, eat goal guppay, call that little girl too and even bring along your mum. Whoever eats this stuff today will return tomorrow for having some more - O yes, this is true what I am telling you!

Even better than the speech of a beloved are my herbs and spices. O beloveds, you shall never forget this self-intoxicated man. Come, fair girl, eat... 

(I am leaving out the last few phrases, which are so colloquial that I myself do not quite understand some of them - I am hoping that some friend, such as Akhtar Waseem Dar here, will help translate them for foreign language readers).

I hope that the gist presented here is sufficient for everyone to be able to compare it with the verses of Antra. If you find these lyrics to be similar to that, you may consider the question: What should be the role of this song in defining the art and literature of Pakistan?

Credits: the song was written by Hazeen Qadri, set to music by the duo Manzoor-Ashraf and sung by Ahmed Rushdi. It was filmed on Alaudin for the movie Mehtab (1962), which was produced and directed by Shabab Keranvi.

The International Stature of Iqbal

Street sign in Heidelberg, Germany.

Of all the intellectuals of the previous century, Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) holds a unique position at the beginning of the twenty-first. In all likelihood his ideas are going to play an increasingly more important role in shaping the world we live in. 

• He is the only poet or thinker whose ideas were directly responsible for the creation of a new state and nation, officially claiming to be his brainchild - Pakistan. In addition, he is either officially the national poet or unofficially a household inspiration in several other countries including Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and India.
• Study of his work and ideas is officially recognized as an academic discipline in its own right: “Iqbal Studies” is a fast-growing discipline in the countries of Iqbal’s influence, especially Pakistan. In the universities of Cambridge and Heidelberg, the academic stature of Iqbal is recognized by the existence “Iqbal Chairs”. 
• Recognition of Iqbal as the foremost disciple of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi is also on the rise: a symbolic grave of Iqbal may now be seen inside the compound of Rumi’s own mausoleum in Konya.
• Places are being officially named after him in many other countries too: the bank of the famous river Neckar in Germany has been named “Iqbal-Ufer”, there is an Allama Iqbal library in Mauritius, and so on.  
• Iqbal Academy Pakistan publishes material in more than twenty languages – on a regular basis. One-off publications about him and partial translations of his works are available in many more languages.
• There are more than 5000 books and perhaps more than a hundred thousand papers written about him – this is more than what had been written about any other literary figure, ever, within less than a century from their death.
• Unlike almost all other poets and thinkers from the 20th Century who got recognized as the greatest, the influence of Iqbal is not restricted to the intellectual community: his poems still captivate the hearts and souls of the masses – including the unschooled. His is a household name which is being passed on from mother to children and being called out in religious gatherings as well as pop concerts; his ideas are being owned by liberals, conservatives, progressives, Sufis, atheists, fanatics and altruists altogether.

These are just a few glimpses into the international stature of Iqbal. This is the asset which every Pakistani is blessed to have as a birth-right. Whatever belongs to Iqbal practically belongs to every citizen of Pakistan – including the lowest of the low, and including those who have to sleep on the pavement because they have got no home to live in. Do we want to make use of this valuable asset which Nature has given us a free gift? 

"40 years of tyranny are better than an hour of anarchy"

This is an excerpt from 'Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal', lecture delivered by Iqbal at the anniversary of Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam, Lahore, in April 1909.

The truth is that Islam is essentially a religion of peace. All forms of political and social disturbance are condemned by the Quran in the most uncompromising terms. I quote a few verses from the Quran:

• “Eat and drink from what God has given you and run not on the face of the earth in the matter of rebels.”
• “And disturb not the peace of the earth after it has been reformed; this is good for you if you are believers.”
• “And do good to others as God has done good to thee, and seek not the violation of peace in the earth, for God does not love those who break the peace. That is the home in the next world which we build for those who do not mean rebellion and disturbance in the earth, and the end is for those who fear God.”
• “Those who rebelled in cities and enhanced disorder in them, God visited them with His whip of punishment.”

One sees from these verses how severely all forms of political and social disorder are denounced by the Quran. But the Quran is not satisfied with mere denunciation of the evil of  fesad. It goes to the very root of this evil. We know that both in ancient and modern times, secret meetings have been a constant source of political and social unrest. Here is what the Quran says about such conferences: “O believers, if you converse secretly that is to say, hold secret conference, converse not for purpose of sin and rebellion”. The ideal of Islam is to secure social peace at any cost. All methods of violent change in society are condemned in the most unmistakable language. Tartushi - a Muslim lawyer of Spain - is quite true to the spirit of Islam when he says: “Forty years of tyranny are better than one hour of anarchy”.

“Listen to him and obey him, even if a negro slave is appointed to rule over you." Muslim mentions another important tradition of the Prophet on the authority of Arfaja, who says: “I heard the Prophet of God say, when you have agreed to follow one man then if another man comes forward intending to break your stick (weaken your strength) or to make you disperse in disunion, kill him”.

Those among us who make it their business to differ from the general body of Musalmans in political views ought to read this tradition carefully, and if they have any respect for the words of the Prophet, it is their duty to dissuade themselves from this mean traffic in political opinion which, though perhaps it brings a little personal gain to them, is exceedingly harmful to the interests of the community. My object, in citing these verses and traditions is to educate political opinion on strictly Islamic lines.

Abraham as a pioneer of world literature

Cenotaph of the tomb of Hazrat Ibrahim
(aliha as salam)

This is a special post celebrating the Islamic month of Zil Hajj. In the Muslim world, this time of the year is connected with the memory of Abraham, or Hazrat Ibrahim (alaih as salam).

Iqbal has summarized the spiritual history of the ancient world through seven visions in the first chapter of Javid Nama (1932). Just after introducing the oldest religion Hinduism, and before moving on to later religions such as Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, he presents the mythical figure of Sarosh as the angel who inspires music and poetry. A possible interpretation is that the acquisition of aesthetics and verbal arts (symbolized by Sarosh) occurred sometime before the appearance of Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, and was an important landmark in the spiritual development of humanity. Looking for a reference in the Quran to some historical personality who lived around this time and could be regarded as a trendsetter in verbal arts, our most likely choice is Hazrat Ibrahim (alaih as salam).

Caliphate

In his lecture ‘Political Thought in Islam’, delivered in London in 1908, Iqbal explained some of the aspects of conventional constitutional law in Islam. The following excerpt gives us an idea about the drift of his mind. 

In theory all Muslims, men and women, possess the right of election. There is no property qualification. In practice, however, women and slaves did not exercise this right. Some of the early lawyers seem to have recognised the danger of mass-elections as they endeavour to show that the right of election resides only in the tribe of the Prophet. Whether the seclusion of women grew up in order to make women incapable of exercising a right which in theory could not be denied to them, I cannot say.

The elector has the right to demand the deposition of the Caliph, or the dismissal of his officials if he can show that their conduct is not in accordance with the law of Islam. He can, on the subject, address the Muslim congregation in the mosque after the prayer. The mosque, it must be remembered, is the Muslim Forum, and the institution of daily prayer is closely connected with the political life of Muslim communities. Apart from its spiritual and social functions, the institution is meant to serve as a ready means of constant criticism of the State. If, however, the elector does not intend to address the congregation, he can issue a judicial inquiry concerning the conduct of any State official, or any other matter which affects the community as a whole. The judicial inquiry as a rule does not mention the name of any individual. I quote an illustration in order to give an idea of this procedure:

In the name of God, most merciful and clement. What is the opinion of the doctors of law, the guides of the people, on the encouragement of the Zimmis, and on the assistance we can demand from them, whether as clerks to the Amirs entrusted with the administration of the country, or as collectors of taxes?... Explain the above by solid proofs, establish the orthodox belief by sound arguments, and give your reasons. God will reward you.

Such judicial inquiries are issued by the State as well, and when the lawyers give conflicting decisions, the majority prevails. Forced election is quite illegal. Ibn Jama, an Egyptian lawyer, however, holds that forced election is legal in times of political unrest. This opportunist view has no support in the law of Islam; though undoubtedly it is based on historical facts. Tartushi, a Spanish lawyer, would probably hold the same view, for he says: “Forty years of tyranny are better than one hour of anarchy.”

30. Quran

This is the 30th chapter in the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality.It concludes Part 2 (out of 7) of the narrative.

You have come to the end of the enclave. At the end of the first part, the Poet prayed to God and here he is addressing the Prophet.

Petition to the Mercy for All Worlds

“You gave me this lute,” the Poet is saying to the Prophet, who is Mercy for All Worlds. “You see all that is in the hearts. If my words are informed by anything but Quran, and if my heart is without luster, then expose me and guard your people against the mischief of my wickedness. Choke the breath of my life and disgrace me on the Day of Resurrection by stopping me to kiss your feet. However, if I have threaded the pearls of Quran’s sweet mysteries on my thread and spoken the truth to the Muslims, then pray to God that my love be reconciled with action.”

If the Prophet sees “all that is in the hearts” then the Poet has no need to inform him about anything, but this was his best way of informing you that the Garden has been based on Quran.

This means that the Garden is a literary representation of the Muslim, since it is based on the Quran too. As a literary representation of the Muslim nation, its structure is supported on the Pillars of the Muslim Nation: Unity, Prophet-hood, brotherhood, equality and freedom. It is not restricted to any time or space, and your entry is not subject to your domicile, showing that the Muslim nation is not bounded by space, country is not the foundation of nation and the Muslim nation is timeless too. The Garden, representing the Muslim nation, has been interacting with you and its structure has been based on the Quran, showing that a nation is organized only through a constitution, and the constitution of the Muslim nation is the Quran.

As a literary representation of the Muslim nation, the Garden has acquired power from the Divine Law, beauty from the manners of the Prophet and the ideal it is perpetuating is Unity. Just as you are controlling the “inward” and “outward” forces of the Garden, so the Garden is controlling you, showing that the expansion of national life depends upon controlling the forces of the universe.

These were “secrets of the self” and “mysteries of selflessness” that could not have been explained unless they were first experienced by you. In this first enclave, Secrets and Mysteries, you were not far removed from the prior experience of the outside world, including many which might be contrary to these truths, and hence you were asked to banish all previous knowledge and follow no thoughts except the clues which lead to what you are looking for, and the principle of non-contradiction – showing that in times of decadence, conformity is better than speculation. Those times are now behind you, since you have discovered the source of the Garden (“Strive and find yourself in selflessness,” Rumi had said. “This is the easy path, may God know better.”). What lies ahead may be a different world altogether.

27. The Collective Ego

This is the 27th chapter in the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality. The collective ego is formed when a people learns to remember its past. The Garden of Poetry is doing the same and hence it is acting like a collective ego of which the reader has become a part.

The Muslim nation is a real personality, just like an individual. How does a nation become a real collective ego? In the same manner in which an individual acquires a personality, the Poet tells you.

Initially a child recognizes only its mother but then begins to recognize others too. With memory, it achieves a sense of self. Now the child learns to remember and hence yesterday becomes linked with today, which in turn is linked with tomorrow. Without the faculty of remembering, there would be no sense of self and no learning about the world would be possible: if you are sitting in a room with a friend but after leaving the room you cannot remember whether you were the person who remained seated or the one who got up and walked towards the door, how will it be possible for you to know whether gets out of the room automatically by remaining seated or by walking towards the door?

The same is the case with a nation. It becomes a collective ego by preserving its history. An individual may get up and leave the room in just a few moments but in the case of a nation, a process started by one generation can easily require several generations to finish it. If each successive generation keeps forgetting what ideals were adopted by the previous generation, such forgetfulness could mean for the nation the same thing as if a person fails to remember himself or herself from the previous moment. A nation without history is like an individual suffering from amnesia and asking every stranger melodramatically, “Who am I?”

By preserving its collective memory, which is history, a nation achieves a collective ego. The same is true of the Garden: at each step it seems to know the stages you have passed through, since its interaction with you is building up on your previous experiences here. This is one the mysteries of the Garden. It remembers.

The Muslim nation is not just the group of individuals who call themselves Muslim. Those individuals are members of the Muslim nation but the nation itself is an entity, just like the Garden, which remembers what stages have been traversed by each generation. Hence it interacts with each successive generation, offering them what is required at that very step – just as the Garden is doing with you. It is an entity just as mysterious as the Garden. It remembers.

Another way of understanding this entity is to call it “the Human Spirit.” Its existence is based on that incident long ago when all souls were gathered and the Creator asked them, “Am I not Your Lord?”

26. Remembrance

This is the 26th chapter in the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality.

It was to change such a world that you first wanted to find Joseph. The nine segments of ‘A Parable Never Told’ held out a promise, just as the next nine chapters in the Garden present a brand of nationalism somewhat different from the legacy of Machiavelli.

1

Showing that the Muslim nation is timeless, since its survival has been divinely promised

It’s an unknown time at the beginning of the world. Souls have been gathered and now the Creator asks them, “Am I not Your Lord?” They all answer, “Indeed, You are.”

Flames rise to burn Abraham, who has been cast in the fire by Nimrod, the king of Mesopotamia, for preaching the Unity of God and refusing to respect idols. God commands the fire to turn cold, and Abraham survives to visit Makkah and pray with his son Ismail, “Our Lord! Make us both Muslims, bowing to You, and of our descendents a Muslim nation, and show us our place of worship, and turn to us, for surely You are Oft-Returning, the Merciful.”

Mongols ravage the Muslim world. After five hundred years of holding sway over, Baghdad is sacked by the barbarians and its libraries drowned in the waters of the River Tigris in 1258 (eleven years after the meeting of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz). Like phoenix rising from its ashes, or like Abraham coming out the fire of Nimrod, the Muslim nation rises again to new grandeur and glory. “Love lives on through the glow of our hearts, though they are congested like a bud,” says the Poet. “If we die, the Garden will die too.”

In the Garden, you hear the songs of the nightingale, the blossoming of flowers and the meadow bathed in the soft tear of dawn. Flowers wither and shed their petals, spring is followed by autumn, but the Garden stays on to welcome another spring. Individuals, born of dust, die. Nations, born of a brave heart, live on and welcome new individuals. Sixty years are a lifetime for the individual, but a century is a short span of time in the life of a nation: its life perpetuates through history, which is to a nation what memory is to an individual.

“Surely, We have sent down this Remembrance, and surely We shall be its guardian,” says God about the Quran in Verse 9 of its Chapter 15. In that line is a promise that civilizations may come and go, but the Muslim nation is there to stay.

2

Showing that a nation is organized only through a constitution, and the constitution of the Muslim nation is the Quran

You hear the Quran being recited: the text coming out through a melody that remains untouched by shallow interpretation, conceited translations and inadequate commentaries.

3

Showing that in times of decadence, conformity is better than speculation

Jerusalem is destroyed forty years after the departure of Jesus Christ. After another sixty-two years, the Roman Emperor starts building an idol house over the ruins of the ancient temple of David and Solomon. Jews, descending from the other lines of Abraham (including the heirs of the prophet Joseph), have to move out and become scattered over diverse regions. The memory of Moses and Aaron lives with them, and the songs of David resonate in their hearts, and this preserves their existence as a nation against all odds. They survive.

4

Showing that the national character acquires power by following the Divine Law

If by some mistake an enemy presumes a truce when there is none, the Shariah, or the Divine Law, requires that Muslims must wait until the enemy has reinforced its defenses which it had dismantled due to the misunderstanding: life is not living except we live dangerously.

Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, one of the greatest Sufis of all times, is speaking to a disciple in the seventeenth century India. “Be careful about Persian fantasies,” says Sirhindi. “Their imagination is unmatched but they transgress the boundaries established by the Shariah.”

“Seek no other meaning in the Divine Law except the evident,” the Poet says to you. “There is nothing except light inside the gem.”

5

Showing that the national character acquires beauty by following the manners of the Prophet

A beggar is being too persistent at the door of a certain house. It is Sialkot, in British India, at the end of the nineteenth century, and the Poet as a young man lives inside that house. He breaks his staff on the head of the beggar but his old father, with tearful eyes, says to him, “On that Day when the followers of the Prophet are gathered before him – martyrs, heroes, saints – this beggar’s cries will also be heard there, and what am I to say when the Prophet asks me, ‘God committed to you a young Muslim, and was it too hard for you to teach him some of my manners?’” The Poet feels shame and remorse, and his father recites from Rumi: “Do not sever your life from the last Prophet. Do not trust your abilities too much!”

6

Showing that a nation requires a physical center, and the center of the Muslim nation is the Holy Kabah

Abraham and his son Ismail are raising the foundations of Kabah in Makkah and praying, “Our Lord! Accept from us, surely You are the All-Hearing, All-Knowing. Our Lord! Make us both Muslims, bowing to You, and of our descendents a Muslim nation, and show us our place of worship, and turn to us, for surely You are Oft-Returning, the Merciful.”

7

Showing that true solidarity comes from adopting a common ideal, and that the ideal of the Muslim nation is preservation and propagation of Unity

The Prophet was leading prayers when God commanded him to change the direction of the qiblah from Jerusalem to Makkah, you are told. The hypocrites found this difficult to comply with.

“Thus We have made you a Middle Nation, that you may be witnesses over nations, and the Messenger a witness over your,” says God in Verse 143 of Chapter 2 of the Quran. “And We appointed the Qiblah to which you were used, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels. Indeed it was momentous, except to those guided by Allah. And never would Allah Make your faith of no effect. For Allah is to all people most surely full of kindness, the Merciful.”

8

Showing that the expansion of national life depends upon controlling the forces of the universe

Adam has been created just now. Many things are placed before angels for them to name. They cannot, but Adam does. God commands the angels to bow down to Adam.

9

Showing that the perfection of national life is when a nation becomes aware of its selfhood just like an individual, and that the propagation and perfecting of this awareness is only possible through preservation of national history

An infant recognizes its mother but as it grows up, it begins to recognize others too. Memory records the data and helps the child to become a personality: without memory, an individual would be someone different each moment and there would be no awareness of “I.” The same is the case with a nation.

In the Dedication, you saw a graceful figure lying asleep. That was not a metaphor. The Muslim nation is a personality, and it is real.

23. The Pillars of Nationhood

This is the 23rd chapter in the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality. This chapter defines the two basic "pillars" of Muslim nation, which also explain quite a few things about the Garden of Poetry which the reader is visiting.

The next chapter is ‘The Pillars of the Muslim Nation.’ There is no god except God, and Muhammad is His Messenger.This is the basic statement of Muslim faith, and the Poet derives two pillars of Muslim nationhood from this:

1. Unity of God (There is no god except God)
2. Prophet-hood (and Muhammad is His Messenger)

The First Pillar: Unity

“Despair, grief and fear are the mother of abominations and they destroy life,” the inscription on a small section near the first pillar tells you. “Belief in the Unity of God puts an end to these foul diseases.”

Quite a few things about the Garden come together in this heading. The Garden is based on the law of non-contradiction, which is an aspect of Unity. Despair, grief and fear are incompatible with Unity, and literature which promotes these values has been denounced in the Poetics of the Garden. The point is further elaborated through a couple of parables.

Emperor Alamgir and the tiger

The Mughal Emperor Alamgir is offering prayer in his camp. A tiger appears and attacks him. Rather than disrupting the prayer, Alamgir takes out his dagger and smites the beast.

“Fear of God is the only caption to faith whereas in every other fear there is the seed of contradiction and unbelief,” says the Poet. “Whatever evil lurks within your heart can be traced back to fear. Since it is weakened when zeal is high, it is most happy in disunion.”

Kings were usually held in contempt in ‘The Secrets of the Self’ but now Alamgir, a king, has been presented as a hero. This can provide a kind of symmetry between the two parts: if a king trembles before a mystic, or a saint dares call a king a beggar, then those are “the secrets of the self”. If a king humbles himself before the fear of God, then this is part of “the mysteries of selflessness”.

The Second Pillar: Prophet-hood

You move to the second pillar, which is prophet-hood. “The purpose of Muhammad’s mission was to found Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood among all human beings,” you are informed by an inscription nearby. “His sword answered Amen and extirpated the race of kings,” you may recall that about the Prophet from the other part of the enclave. “In his sight, high and low were equal.” That seems to fit with what the Poet is telling you now. “By his might he shattered every ancient privilege, and built new walls to fortify humankind. He breathed fresh life in Adam’s weary bones, redeemed the slave from bondage and set him free. His birth was mortal to the ancient world and freedom was born out of his holy heart. The world’s new age, its hundred lamps ablaze, opened its eyes upon his living breast. He drew on Being’s page the new design, brought into life a nation of conquerors, a people deaf to every voice but God’s, a moth devoted to Muhammad‘s flame.”

The inscription listed freedom, equality and brotherhood as aims of the Prophet’s mission, but the parables explaining them are appearing in the reverse order: brotherhood, equality and freedom. The inscription was the formation of ideals whereas the parables are bringing them to birth (“the life of the self comes from forming ideals and bringing them to birth,” you may remember). When ideals come genuinely from the self, the processes of their formation and birth may happen in opposite orders, as is the case with living things: a fetus in the mother’s womb develops a symbiotic relationship with the mother at initial stages and starts receiving nourishment from her body much before developing consciousness, but consciousness starts developing soon after birth while a symbiotic relationship with society, humanity, Nature or God may only be acquired at an advanced stage, and not without some effort.

Freedom, equality and brotherhood now appear in the reverse order, each embodied in a parable.

Bu Ubaydah and Jaban: the Islamic concept of brotherhood

The Arab army has overthrown the Persian Empire soon after the death of the Prophet. Jaban, Supreme Commander of the Persian armies, hides his true identity from his captor, a foot soldier, and seeks pardon for his life, which is granted until others find out who he is. The matter is brought before Bu Ubaydah, the Arab commander, and the generals are now asking for the blood of Jaban.

“Friends, we are Muslims,” says Bu Ubaidah. “We are strings upon one lute, and have a common melody. It is still the voice of the masters, even if it comes out of the throats of slaves. Each one of us is trustee to the whole community and is one with it in malice or in truce. Since the community becomes the substance of an individual’s soul, the promise given by an individual is as good as treaty signed by the entire nation. Though Jaban was an enemy to Islam, a Muslim has granted him immunity. O followers of the Holy Prophet, the blood of Jaban may not be spilled by any Muslim sword.”

Sultan Murad and the architect: the Islamic concept of equality

Sultan Murad, the Ottoman emperor has found fault in the work of a mason who was assigned to build a mosque. In a fit of rage, the emperor cuts the poor man’s hand.

The mason files suite, and the king is summoned. The judge recites from the Quran: “There is life for you in retribution.” Then he adds, “The emperor’s blood is not of a richer hue than the mason’s.”

Trembling before the grandeur of the Quran, the emperor folds back his sleeve, offering his hand. The plaintiff is overcome with commotion and recites another verse from the Holy Book: “God bids you to act with generosity as well as justice.” Then he adds, “I forgive in the name of God and the Prophet.”

The Islamic concept of freedom: the secret of the incident of Kerbala

Early Muslims chose their rulers through consensus, but now a caliph has died nominating his son to succeed him. Yazid, the successor, demands allegiance.

Husain, also known as Shabbir, is a grandson of the Prophet and the son of Ali. With only seventy-two companions including women and children, he sets out to take on the usurper but is ambushed in Kerbala, a place on the bank of the Euphrates in the Syrian Desert.

The hordes have been sent by Yazid, an incarnation of Pharaoh, the epitome of cold reasoning that cannot see beyond the chain of cause and effect, and therefore cannot build without intending to destroy.

Husain rises like Moses, an epitome of Love, which acts through the unknown potential of the soul and destroys only in order to reconstruct. Husain is slain along with all male descendents of the Prophet’s family except one, but he has managed to draw out the sword of No-god and write with its blade, on the sands of Time: “Except God.”

21. Selflessness

This is the 21st chapter in the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality.

Mawlana Rumi greets you again as you enter the second part, which is called ‘The Mysteries of Selflessness.’

"Strive,” says the Mawlana. “And find yourself in selflessness. This is the easy path, may God know better.”

His terse one-liner tells you that he has been watching over your progress, or is at least familiar with it since your initiation where he greeted you the last time. Still, his welcoming note to this part sounds ironic since you were just beginning to feel at home in the Garden through realizing the fact that you discovered your “self” here, and Rumi has shifted the emphasis from “self” to “selflessness” already.

In this part of the enclave, the prelude is preceded by a Dedication:

Dedication to the Muslim Nation

Instead of Naziri of Nishapur, who greeted you after Rumi in the other half, you see Urfi of Shiraz standing at the entrance. He was also a Persian poet but he died young and has an unusual youthfulness about him. “Question me not when I speak of love,” he says. “If I may not have tasted this wine, someone else must have.” Apparently he is referring to the relationship between an individual and the collective life.

Unlike the previous part, where the Poet seemed to have been waiting just for you, he seems to have forgotten you now. He is addressing the Muslim Nation the way Majnun would have addressed Layla (but then, that love tale was also an allegory about an individual and the collective ego). “You, who were made by God to be the Seal of all the peoples, so that all beginnings may end in you,” he is saying. “Your saints were like prophets, whose wounded hearts wove souls into unity. Why are you now fallen so far astray from the Holy Kabah, all bemused by the strange beauty of the Christian’s way? My fellow-minstrel sang the epiphany of alien loveliness, but I am enamored by your charm and beauty, for you are the beloved of our Prophet. Since love first dwelled upon my chest, by its flame my heart was molten to a mirror, which I now hang in your sight that you may gaze on your own beauty therein. See and you shall become a captive fettered in your tress’ chain!”

In the other stanza, the Poet speaks mainly about himself. “When God created me at Time’s first dawn,” he says. “A lamentation quivered on the strings of my melodious lute and Love’s secrets stood revealed in that note. Love, like the tulip, has one brand at heart and on its bosom wears a single rose.” He takes this rose, the only one that was ever his own, and pins it upon the turban of the Nation. He hopes that the Nation shall wake up from slumber and tulips shall blossom again from its earth, breathing the fragrance of the breeze of spring.

The next is the Prelude. Here, the Poet starts addressing you again. “The link that binds the individual to the society is Mercy,” he says. “The true self of an individual cannot achieve fulfillment without society. The individual holds a mirror to the community, and they to the individual, who is a drop that becomes an ocean through them. The community is strong and rich in ancient ways, a mirror to the past and the future. Like Eternity, it is the link between what is to come, and what has gone before.” This is clearly a reference to Time, the fifth clue about Joseph. In fact, the Poet’s concept of nation comes very close to what Joseph can possibly be: something connected to Rumi, Iqbal, power, love and a link between past and the future – Prophet, kings, Sufism and Time. Still, Joseph cannot be a metaphor for the Muslim nation, since it was present before everyone’s sight even when the Poet said, “My Joseph is not for this market.”

“You, who have not known self from selflessness, have lost yourself in illusions,” he says to you in the second stanza. “Within your dust there is an element of light, whose single shaft illuminates your whole perception, all your joy derives from its enjoyment, all your sorrow springs from its distress.” He is obviously referring to your “self”, of which you are becoming increasingly aware in the Garden, but there is a catch, as he points out now. “The constant change and turn of this inner light keeps you alive but it is one, and as such it brooks no duality. Due to its radiance, I am I, and you are you: nourishing pride in meek humility, this flame sets a fire alight. Its nature is to be both free and bonded. It is a part, but has the potential to seize the whole. I have studied it carefully and have named it selfhood and Life. Whenever it comes out of seclusion, its heart is impressed with the other. Then ‘I’ is dissolved and converts into “you”. It loses its freedom of choice to become rich in love. As long as the pride of self pulls its own way, humility is non-existent. Hold back pride, and humility will come into being. The self negates itself in the community, so that it may be a petal no more and become a rosary.”

Then he quotes from Rumi, “These subtleties are like a sword of steel. If they defeat your wit, be gone already!”