IQBAL, ISLAMIC FAITH, AND ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

By

Walid Iqbal *

Presentation Made at

The First International Symposium

on

Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Zitouna University
Tunis, Tunisia

Tuesday, 26th February 2019.

*This presentation has been derived from and inspired by the biography of Allama Muhammad Iqbal

titled Iqbal by Mustansir Mir (Lahore: Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2008). The conclusions reached,
however, are the author’s own.
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Allama Muhammad Iqbal (born 9th November 1877), being a poet, philosopher,
intellectual, political thinker, and statesman, had keenly studied the Islamic religious
heritage, amplified the Prophet’s philosophy, and cultivated a highly refined literary
taste both in poetry and in prose.

The early years of Iqbal’s life (in the last two decades of the nineteenth century),
spent initially at a madrasa (religious school) and then at a mission school, together
with his parents’ training, gave Iqbal a deep religious and mystical orientation, which
he was to retain for the rest of his life. His love for the Islamic scripture, the Quran, is
well-known. Iqbal has himself claimed that his poetry is no more than an elucidation
of the Quranic message. His father once advised him to read the Quran as if it were
being revealed to him directly from God, for only then, he said, would Iqbal truly
understand it. This remark left an indelible impression on Iqbal’s mind. In one of his
verses, Iqbal pleads to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

If indeed there is anything in my words other than the Quran,

Then, O Prophet… … Disgrace me on the day of reckoning,
And do not allow me the honour of kissing your feet.

On the other hand, in his three years as a student in Europe (1905–1908), Iqbal
made close and critical study of Western civilization, on which he was to comment in
much of his later work. While he admired certain aspects of that civilization, he was
critical of its secular character and warned Muslims of blindly imitating the West. “The
storm from the West has transformed Muslims into real Muslims” wrote Iqbal in his
landmark poem Tulū-i Islam (The Rise of Islam), an observation that applied first and
foremost to Iqbal himself as he underwent a major change in his view and estimation
of nationalism.

Iqbal had previously championed the cause of Indian nationalism and had
worked to foster Hindu-Muslim unity. To him, loyalty to the country could co-exist
without any serious tension with one’s commitment to one’s religion. But here he
witnessed first-hand the deep discord that jingoistic nationalism had caused among
the major European powers and that, several years later, was to climax in World War I.
Iqbal’s dedication thus turned to the ideological universalism of Islam, and this
transformation had far-reaching consequences for his poetry and thought.
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In 1911, just three years after Iqbal returned from Europe to his homeland and
settled in Lahore, the British government under Hindu pressure reversed the 1905
partition of the Bengal province, which caused grave disappointment to the Muslims.
Also, the International scene was depressing from the Muslim perspective such that
Italy had occupied Libya, France annexed Morocco, and several Balkan states
attacked Turkey, divesting it of its East European possessions. And thus the
culminating local and international events had caused incredible despair and
helplessness in many sensitive Muslims, including Iqbal, whose life from this point on
is marked by a growing earnestness of purpose.

In both his poetry as well as his prose, Iqbal thus began to address the global
plight of Muslims, and, in this process, his philosophical and political ideas started to
create an enduring architecture. The global Muslim community – the Ummah –
became a major focus of Iqbal’s attention, and a part of his sense of mission, in the
post-Europe period. From being an Indian nationalist who had written “We are Indians
and India our country is the best in the whole world…” he now wrote the Islamic
Community Song, proclaiming, “We are Muslims, and the whole world is our country.”

Formerly a supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity, Iqbal eventually became doubtful

about the viability of the project – he stood for Hindu-Muslim rapprochement but did
not think Hindu-Muslim unity a practical proposition – concluding that the Muslims of
India must maintain their distinct religious and cultural identity as he spoke of the need
of a separate electoral system for Hindus and Muslims.

In December 1930, at the annual meeting of the All-India Muslim League held
at Allahabad, Iqbal delivered his famous presidential address in which he proposed
the creation of a separate homeland for at least the Muslims of northwest India. In
1931, he represented the Muslims of India at a meeting of the World Islamic Congress
held in Jerusalem. In 1931 and 1932, again representing India’s Muslims, Iqbal
participated in the London Round Table Conferences held to decide India’s political
future. In 1933, he travelled to Afghanistan at the invitation of Nadir Shah, who wished
to consult with Iqbal about Afghanistan’s political system.

Although he did not live to see the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he is revered
as its spiritual father and as its national poet. Iqbal died in Lahore at dawn on
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21st April 1938. His funeral, which was led by the Imam of the historic Badshahi
Mosque at Lahore, Maulana Ghulam Murshid, was attended by more than fifty
thousand people. He is buried beneath the high walls of the Badshahi Mosque,
Lahore, in a simple mausoleum designed by Nawab Zain Yar Jang of Hyderabad,
Deccan, the exterior of which is made of red stone imported from the city of Dholpur
in India and the white marble inside is gifted by Nadir Shah of Afghanistan.

Both as religion and as civilization, Islam occupies a central place in Iqbal’s

thought and poetry. The main focus of his work – particularly his poetry – unlike that
of a typical Muslim theologian, is Islam as a living faith and a lived reality.

Iqbal was a keen and appreciative student of early Islamic history. He firmly
believed in the validity of the Islamic Project initiated by the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) in seventh-century Arabia. Guided by Divine revelation, the Prophet aimed at
establishing a model community that would at once be religious and humane, spiritual
and egalitarian. But, in Iqbal’s view, while the Islamic Project under Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) and his immediate successors did produce the desired results, it
later went off course, with disastrous results – even though, from time to time, and
here and there, the project was revived in part, leading Muslims to make remarkable
achievements in diverse areas. As the political system degenerated from Caliphate
to kingship, justice-based Sharia was replaced with a system of treachery and palace
intrigues. The resultant decadence and barrenness of the Ummah thus became Iqbal’s
main pre-occupation.

Iqbal argues that the essence of Tawhid (Islamic monotheism), as a working

idea is equality, solidarity, and freedom. The state, from an Islamic standpoint, is an
endeavour to transform these ideal principles into a realization of definite human
organization. In a short poem in his first Urdu collection Bang-i-Dara, Iqbal refers to a
nation as a body and the individuals comprising it to its limbs: those in industry are the
nation’s hands and feet, those who help to administer the government are its beautiful
face, and those who cultivate arts – Iqbal mentions poets as representing this class –
are its eyes.

It follows that the failure of society’s leaders or representatives can have

disastrous consequences for the entire society. This understanding lies behind Iqbal’s
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scathing critique of the leaders of historical Muslim societies. Iqbal holds the following
three factors especially responsible for the general decadence of the Muslim world in
recent centuries:

(1) Mullaism. This is the name Iqbal gives to the hidebound attitude of the
mullas, the conventional ulema, or religious scholars. Always a source of strength to
Islam’, the ulema, ‘during the course of centuries, especially since the destruction of
Baghdad in 1258… became extremely conservative and would not allow any freedom
or ijtihad, i.e. the forming of independent judgment in matters of law.

(2) Mysticism. In the history of Muslim societies, mysticism used to be, in

the words of Iqbal, ‘a force of spiritual education’. In the later centuries it disintegrated,
cutting off Muslims from the actualities of life. Mystical practices increasingly became
a mere means of exploiting the ignorance and gullibility of people. He adds that this
created in Muslims the tendency to ignore the Law – the only force holding together
Muslim society, and replaced Muslim Democracy with Spiritual Aristocracy.

(3) Kingship. Protection of their ‘dynastic interests’ being their first priority,
Muslim kings did not hesitate to sell their countries to the highest bidder.

Iqbal’s criticism of mullaism, mysticism, and kingship as the main factors

responsible for the decadence of Muslim societies is not a blanket criticism of Muslim
legists, mystics, and rulers. Iqbal held that, in early Islamic history, the three
institutions of law, mysticism, and politics embodied, for varying lengths of time, the
dynamic Islamic spirit. In later periods, however the legists became prisoners of
formalism, the mystics were seduced by a false dichotomy of spirit and matter, and
the rulers sacrificed collective interest at the altar of personal gain.

Thus, all in all, the Muslim of Iqbal’s era is barely a shadow of his former self:
bereft of military as well as financial power, he is also totally disconnected with the
genuine nourishing roots of his tradition – the Book of God – as observed by Iqbal in
his last Persian work Armaghan-i-Hijaz:

His pure blood has lost its brilliance,

And tulips no longer grow in his wasteland.
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His scabbard is empty, just like his purse,

And his book is in the vault of a house in ruins.

Yet, Iqbal believes, that all is not lost. Just as Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was
the final Messenger, sent by God to direct humankind, so, according to Iqbal in his
early Persian work Rumuz-i-Bikhudi, the Muslims are the final community. The poet
conceives the name khatam-i-aqwam, the “seal of the nations” inspired by the
Quran (33:40), where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is called khatam al-nabiyyin,
the “seal of the prophets”, sent by God to promote truth and justice in this world. For
Iqbal, the Muslim community still has a spark of life: he observes in Armaghan-i-Hijaz,
“the old bough still has some moisture left in it” and in Payam-i-Mashriq, yet another
Persian work, “this wine-cup still has a few drops of drink left in it”.

Iqbal is certain that the Muslims are capable of creating a new world and
marshalling a new era – a Muslim believes in God and possesses some of His
attributes (Armaghan-i-Hijaz), and it was from the Muslim civilization that the modern
West drew its inspiration, with many of the furnishings and accessories adorning the
West’s mansion being borrowed from Muslims (Asrar-i-Khudi). Armed by this
optimism, Iqbal posits a program for the renewal of the internationalised Muslim
community.

Instead of calling for a wholesale rejection of tradition, Iqbal aims at

reinvigorating it – by subjecting it to a critical scrutiny, with a view to retaining its kernel
and discarding its husk. Iqbal emphasizes that the existence of competent leaders is
crucial to a society’s viability and progress, but so is the well-being – especially the
economic well-being – of the masses. “It is the masses who are the backbone of the
nation; they ought to be better fed, better housed, and properly educated” he wrote in
a letter, adding that “Muslim social organizations should realize that their main
obligation is to elevate the masses, not to exalt an individual’.

On the spiritual side, Iqbal is emphatic that Muslims must begin by renewing
their commitment to their religion, to emulate the Prophet in their lives, to hold fast to
their foremost source of guidance and inspiration, the Quran: by truly acting upon it,
they can, like their illustrious forefathers, bring about earth-shaking changes in the
world (Armaghan-i-Hijaz).
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Iqbal explains in detail what, to him, are the four basic pillars of the Islamic
community. First is Tawhid, being belief in one God, which is the source of all good,
all insight, and all power, which serves as the focal point for thought, feeling, and
action, which gives hope and courage, which cuts off fear and despair, and which
establishes equality and freedom among Muslims. Second is Prophecy, being the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who conveyed and explained the message of God to
Muslims, who practically established an egalitarian system of law and ethics, and who
unified the Ummah not on the narrow basis of territorial nationalism but on the basis
of the belief that the creatures of one God make one humanity. Third, the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) brought with him the Quran, a book that must serve as the
foundational text and eternal source of guidance for Muslims, setting out the Sharia
as the Islamic code of conduct. Fourth, the Ka’bah where Muslims from all over the
world come to perform the pilgrimage, serves as the real and living centre of Muslim
unity.

But Iqbal asserts in his Persian work Payam-i-Mashriq that commitment to

Islam will not by itself work miracles. Muslims must realize that life is a struggle and
not a set of rights to be claimed unconditionally. They should understand that the
particular community to which they belong requires them to sink their tribal, ethnic,
cultural, racial, and linguistic differences so that they might create a body politic that
is founded on Islam’s universal and inclusive principles; a Muslim’s first identity is as
a Muslim, and not as an Afghan, Turk, or Tartar. They must also learn the lesson of
self-reliance: they should be like the self-respecting Turkish sailor who sang as he
rowed his boat, saying that if he ran into trouble on the high seas, he would call upon
none other than the storm itself for help.

Iqbal’s analysis of the Muslim community and his program for its global renewal
conclude with the vision that Islam is an active and living source of inspiration, that
Muslims in their entire history were able to turn Islam into a world religion and a world
civilization on the totally valid assumption that life calls upon one to act – with vision
and mettle – and that barren speculation and dull formalism in a community are
guaranteed signs of death and decay.
 -8-

It must also be stated, in conclusion, and with relevance to contemporary times,

that Iqbal believes Islam shuns violence and promotes peace, that Islam encourages
the emancipation of women, and that Islam promotes fierce pursuit of higher education
and technical knowhow.

In a widely quoted paper of his, Iqbal posits that “Islam is essentially a religion
of peace…” and “…all forms of political and social disturbance are condemned by the
Quran in the most uncompromising terms.” He elaborates that all wars fought during
the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were defensive ones, and that even in
defensive wars the Prophet had prohibited unnecessary cruelty towards the defeated,
hastening to add, “I quote here the touching words which he [the Holy Prophet (PBUH)]
addresses to his followers when they were starting for the fight:

“In avenging the injuries inflicted upon us, disturb not the
harmless votaries of domestic seclusion, spare the weakness of the
female sex, injure not the infant at the breast, or those who are ill in bed.
Abstain from demolishing the dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants,
destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit trees, and
touch not the palm.”

Iqbal also believes that Muslim women have a key role in an ideal Islamic
society – to them nature has allocated different functions than men, which have to be
performed right, because they are equally essential for a human family to be healthy
and prosperous. He rejects the Western notion of emancipation of women as harmful
and one leading to complex social problems, and presents his own formula:

“The Muslim woman …is the principal depository of the religious

idea. In the interests of the continuous national life, therefore, it is
extremely necessary to give her, in the first place, a sound religious
education. That must, however, be supplemented by a general
knowledge of Muslim history, domestic economy, and hygiene. This will
enable her to give a degree of intellectual companionship to her
husband, and successfully to do the duties of motherhood… …All
subjects which have a tendency to de-womanise or de-muslimise her
must be carefully excluded from her education.”
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Lastly, Iqbal also asserts that a system of proper and well-grounded education
could truly bring about a renaissance of thought and action in the Muslim world, since,
to him, the value of education lies way beyond the sole purpose of securing
employability: it is a multi-faceted means of character-building through which a society
survives and continues. This, to Iqbal’s mind, necessitates the inculcation of the
social, ethical, and political ideals of Islam, because the “flame of life cannot be
borrowed from others; it must be kindled in the temple of one’s own soul. This requires
earnest preparation and a relatively permanent programme:”

He observes that it is “absolutely necessary to construct a fresh educational

ideal in which the elements of Muslim culture must find a prominent place, and past
and present come up in a happy union. The construction of such an ideal is not an
easy task; it requires a large imagination, a keen perception of the tendencies of
modern times, and a complete grasp of the meaning of Muslim history and religion”
and that “we must have a system of technical education which is, in my opinion, even
more important than higher education. The former touches the general economic
condition of the masses which form the backbone of a community, the latter only a few
individuals who happen to possess more than average intellectual energy.”

Iqbal undoubtedly comes across as a firm believer in submission to the

comprehensive, multifarious, unified vision, and a higher ethical or revelation-based
code furnished by Islam as guidance in all spheres of life:

“The faith which you represent recognizes the worth of the

individual, and disciplines him to give away all to the service of God and
man. Its possibilities are not yet exhausted. It can still create a new
world where the social rank of man is not determined by his caste or
colour, or the amount of dividend he earns, but by the kind of life he
lives; where the poor tax the rich, where human society is founded not
on the equality of stomachs but the equality of spirits, where an
untouchable can marry the daughter of a king, where private ownership
is a trust and where capital cannot be allowed to accumulate so as to
dominate the real producer of wealth. This superb idealism of your faith,
however, needs emancipation from the medieval fancies of theologians
and legists…”