God, You created the night, I made the lamp
You created the earth, I made earthen pot out of it
It is me who created the mirror out of stone
It is me who made elixir out of poison
Today Pakistan celebrates Allama Iqbal’s birth anniversary with the usual lip-service. The key messages of Iqbal seem to have been lost in the maze of officialdom. This is further exacerbated by the hijacking of Islam and politics by vested interests, not to mention the recent events that have shook us all. Iqbal opposed exploitation, Mullahism, emphasised the principle of movement in Islamic thought; and highlighted “Ijtehad” (re-interpretation) of Islamic teachings through a modern parliamentary framework. Alas, all of that is nearly forgotten.
For instance he was clear about the layers of exploitation:
The world does not like tricks and
Of science and wit nor, their contests
This age does not like ancient thoughts,
From core of hearts their show detests.O wise economist, the books you write
Are quite devoid of useful aim:
They have twisted lines with orders strange
No warmth for labour, though they claim.The idol houses of the West,
Their schools and churches wide
The ravage caused for, greed of wealth
Their wily wit attempts to hide
The questions that Iqbal raises in his poetry are universal and deal with the larger issues of Man’s relationship with God and the Universe. This is why his poetry does not address any particular group, but the entire Muslim Ummah. He has inspired Muslims with the realization of life and urged them for self-reform and self-actualization by searching for their khudi or self.
After centuries of stagnation, Iqbal was a voice for reformation within Islam. Shah Walliullah had tried to open the debate but Iqbal represented the twentieth century consciousness of modern Muslims. Iqbal is therefore known across the Muslim world, widely read and quoted. Pity that in the homeland that he dreamt of talking of ijtehad threatens many a fatwa mongers. In Zarb-e-Kalim, he sings:
Your prayer cannot change the Order of the Universe,
But it is possible that praying will alter your being;
If there is a revolution in your inner Self
It will not be strange, then, if the whole world changes too
In the famous series of lectures – The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam – Iqbal held:
“….but since things have changed and the world of Islam is to-day confronted and affected by new forces set free by the extraordinary development of human thought in all its directions, I see no reason why this attitude (finality of legal schools) should be maintained any longer. Did the founders of our schools ever claim finality for their reasoning and interpretations? Never. …The teaching of the Qur’an that life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessor, should be permitted to solve its own problems.”
Maulana Rumi and Iqbal communicated a shared message: de’dan day’gar amuz, shan’idan day’gar amuz (learn to see and think in a new way). As Suroosh Irfani writes eloquently, this
“message sums up an outlook of life as a forward assimilative movement, even as one remains rooted in an Islamic heritage. Indeed, the message arose in a historical context when old certainties were crumbling and the new were struggling to be born: Rumi lived at a time when the Muslim world was traumatised by Mongol invasions, while Iqbal’s was a time of awakening of the colonised masses that eventually led to the independence of India and Pakistan.”
What Pakistan appears today is not the dream that Iqbal articulated for a separate homeland for Muslims of India. The extremists waving their flags on government buildings and propagating a version of Islam that Iqbal resisted, while the peaceful activists are behind bars. I digress: The vision of the Quaid for a modern, democratic Pakistan where rule of law was to prevail has also been undermined. Somehow, I have been thinking of Habib Jalib - wish he was alive today - here are a few verses by him from a poem entitled Youm-i-Iqbal:
Log uthte hain jab tere ghareebon ko jagane
Sab shehar ke zardar pahunch jaate hain thane
Kehte hain yeh daulat hamein bakhshi hai khuda ne
Farsudah bahane wahi afsaane purane
Ai shair-e mashriq! Yehi jhute yehi bad zaat
Peete hain laoo banda-e mazdoor ka din raat
When we arise to wake the poor, the have nots
A beeline to the police station they make, these wealthy sots
They say that God this wealth to them allots
Oh these trite excuses, oh these dusty plots
Night and day the working men’s blood they suck, o poet of the East
These congenital liars, with the vileness of a beast
(Translated by fowpe sharma and Urdu transliteration by Hasan Abdullah)
It is time to reclaim Iqbal and save him from the clutches of forces that have been attempting to maintain the status quo; and promote obscurantism. His vision starts from the self and then reaches for the society and the Universe.
References:
1. A Reader’s Words
2. Allama Iqbal dot com
3. Farzana Hassan
4. Revolutionary Democracy
5. Title Photo by Abro
Related ATP Post: Owning Mohammad Iqbal
@ Adnan…
Ayan Harsi Ali, Asra Nomani,Irshan Manji…these people that you peak off…I have followed them well…so my question to you is…what in the world do you find common between Ijtehad…and what they actually advocate…
I maybe wrong…but it seems to me that you wilfully confuse Ijtehad..a valid tool at the disposal or Muslims to further their understanding of a constant religious Idea in a life which is always in flux….with ‘doctoring’ of religion…
it may shock you..but most of us are not up at night thinking how best we can mould our religion to our own mindsets but just the opposite…
maybe it is you who…infact is looking at it in that manner….
I would put before you a question if you will be kind enough to answer it…
would you prefer a structured way through which Muslims understand their religion in times of social and moral changes…..and be guided by a layered process which has at its heart consensus and legitimacy….
or do you prefer every man with a beard pronouncing Fatwas to his liking…ala the proverbial ‘daidh eenth kee masjid’….
I know I would prefer the former.
Adnan,
Good
I thought, perhaps I went too far with my terminology
of Iqbalist, now you come with Ijtihadists, thats good
too. Well, have been thinking about ‘Iqbalians’, but its
too soft !!
Watan Aziz,
Very long “Sharia” to arrive at the destination slipped
out of our hands following all those piously misguided,
ignorant thekedar who have, very wrongly, passed over
their’profession’ to the present day piously, rightly
mis-guided, correctly- ignorant, secular-leftist ‘ advisors’.
( replacing ‘thekedar’).
Blind Taqleed, can only be convinced to mentaly blinds.
(Generally)
Talawat Bokhari,
“Deen-e-mullah, fi-sabilillah fassad ”
If my memory is good, this verse has its lineage to
Karl Marx, or a slogan of Communist Party of
Pakistan satelite of PPP.
Ayan Harsi Ali, Asra Nomani,Irshan Manji are IDEAL Ijtehadists for our enlightened class- LOL
Wasim Arif, bhai kaise beytukay sawal kartay ho?
If someone tells me that software methodologies must be defined by Doodhwala of my area then I would certainly feel sympathy for that poor chap.
Our liberals want to use Ijtehad in same manner like Christians of old times used the “tool” to alter their Bible. Cunning attempt that’s all I can say.
Sharia, fiqh, ijtehad, ijma are so fundamental to our body of thinking that you would believe that right after the concept of ‘no god, but The God’ they flow from Quran. In fact a closer look will surprise you. Even the word sharia does not hold the same meaning as being forced upon us.
In this process, we keep getting off the central message and meaning of Quran and the reasoning of Rasool through his words, deeds and guidance.
If we will discuss the schools of thought with the rules of these schools we will cut the same cloth again and again and make the same shirt again and again. Enough time has passed that today we need to get past these schools and go to the Guidance: “This is the Book, wherein there is no doubt”, Q:2:1.
We can all quote and misquote all the scholars of days near and far, but when we will approach the Kitab, and look at Rasool as the reflection of the Kitab, we will move closer to the centrality of the message and less likely to be in error. And mind you, an error is permissible.
There are many concepts that will never need interpretation. Like the requirements and the ritualistic order of namaz. But do I need to enter into a discussion and explain to the piously misguided and ignorant if I can pray in my pants? With my short sleeved shirt? With my shoes on? With my head uncovered? Can I have the length of my garment below my ankles? And let me not even raise the bolts of thunder question if I pray in same row and in company of women unknown to me if I am not in physical contact with them? Yet the microphone, what was an abhorrence to them as an instrument of shaytan when they knew it not, is now the most desired object for them. They would not allow it as part of prayer. And now you cannot take it away from them but on their life. I do not have the satisfaction of knowing they were historically correct.
It is clear to me that I do not need to rock their boat and shock their sensibilities as a matter of natural courtesy and common sense. I know, I show up at each Eid prayer when I know it was supposed to be on a different day. I have to pretend for the community spirit. However, I am still fascinated by vision of these pious ignorants who will wear scientifically corrected lens for their aged retinas, stand atop the tallest building they can find, hold a cell phone linked with microwave towers and declare they ‘cannot see the moon’. Even more fascinating are the flying pious ignorants chasing the moon. Evidently Surah Rahman, ayat 5 escapes them. Truth is what fits in their pious minds.
The same right they have to be piously wrong gives me the right to be to arrive at my own conclusions and be not held hostage to thinking of fourth Hijra scholars. There is a minor technicality. The great scholars of Islam are dead. And I am living. And I know we have been to moon and back. And I know they knew this not. And I know that what they reasoned of Rahman:5 is not the same as I know it today. And thus we need to develop great scholars of today.
Luckily, for me, the tie breaker is Quran. This is Islam. Here, I have the right to understand the Kitab as I can and then be prepared to answer to my Khaliq. If I need someone to tell me what I need to do or not to do, then there are plenty of other ‘ways’. Quran clarifies itself, explains itself and guides itself. But this does not mean it is a leisure stroll in the park. I have no basis to take it lightly or casually. And you have the right to point out my obvious error. The requirement of scholars is imposed by scholars. It is like the bar examination; if you cannot pass the bar, you cannot practice law. Yet if you pass the bar, it does not guarantee you know the law or are a good lawyer. But even this example is poor, for if the lawyer is bad, I will lose a case, and live another day. But if the scholar is wrong, I have no excuse to be ignorant before my Khlaiq. The doctrine of ‘blame it on the scholar’ does not exist in Quran. I know it has been conveniently used. It is a false truth.
Our biggest problem is that these piously misguided and ignorant ‘thakedars’ not only want to squelch you but also lynch you. And they want to take in their own hands what belongs exclusively to Khaliq. They are not satisfied to know that I may be wrong. They will take both Quran and law in their own hands and torment me. This is the point of my departure with them.
We need to enter into an understanding that as long as enough people can keep Quran central focus, know that Rasool has the last Message and can reason and explain themselves on their ‘way’, they should be left to the Khaliq to decide. Quran is natural and holistic and best people will never deviate from the core.
And, we are no way close this outcome. Education and acceptance remains the stumbling block. Once we will be in that zone, then this entire discussion on ijma and ijthehad will have a whole new meaning.
Our school is open to all, but talent there is none,
Where is that soil fertile to breed the human gems?
We reward the deserving folks with splendid meed,
We grant newer worlds to those who strive and seek.
Arms have been drained of strength, hearts have gone astray,
The Muslim race is a blot on the Prophet’s face.
(Iqbal: Jawab-e-Shikwa)
In the mean time, I know, Iqbal will be proud that we all came to different conclusions while clinging to his legacy.
And Khaliq knows best.
Salamalikum,
Is it extremely clear?! Of course, ijtehad mustcome from scholars, the muftis, the mujtahids. And, if you think they are also “Mullah”, as in most of the moulvis in your neighborhood mosques, then that is a mistake on your part.
I ask again: Do usul (principles of jurisprudence) mean anything to people? Wihtout ever undertaking a rigorous course of study in Islamic sciences can you ever sincerely believe that you have even an atom’s worth of ability to derive rulings. Can a lawyer without any study of law be trusted? Can a lawyer be trusted when he doesn’t even know the language of the constitution/law books he is supposed to use? And, I hope you know that jurisprudence means Islamic LAW!
Well, a rather interesting academic discussion is going on.
Thank You all for enlightening me. Although, am I then a
enlightened moderate….?!?!?! - just getting in the rhetoric
mood.
Have anybody read ,apropos, the discussion that is going on ;
The book of Tariq Ramadan, (grandson of Hassan al-Banna)
I think the name of the book is :
something like “To bee a European Muslim”
It created quite some fuororé here in Northern Europe due to some interpretators taking the consequence and forming the opinion of “Euro-Islam”. That the muslims in the Europe should develop their own and re-vived/reviewed interpretation of Islam.
Tariq Ramadan is a professor in Schwitzerland. I think in Bern.