Iqbal: a leading thinker of modern times
By Dr M.Yakub Mughul

THE decline of Muslim political power after the death of the last great Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb Alamgir (1658-1707 A.D.), created many political, social and religious problems for Indian Muslim society. Indian Muslims had enjoyed privileges during the Mughul rule in India, but with its decline, they gradually lost their special status.

According to Allama Iqbal, the year 1799 was extremely important in the history of the world of Islam. In this year fell Tipu Sultan and his defeat meant the shattering of Muslim hopes for political rejuvenation in India. In the same year was fought the Battle of Navarneo which saw the destruction of the Turkish naval fleet.

Prophetic were the words of the author of the chronogram of Tipu’s fall which visitors of Serangapatam find engraved on the wall of Tipu’s mausoleum “Gone is the glory of Hind as well as of Roum.” Thus in the year 1799, the political decay of Islam in Asia reached its climax. But just as out of the humiliation of Germany on the day of Jena arose the modern German nation, it may be said that out of the political humiliation of Islam in the year 1799 arose Modern Islam and its problems.

During the War of Independence of 1857, Muslims suffered heavily at the hands of the British and after their suppression began a period of systematic persecution and political annihilation of the Muslims all over the country. “By the end of the Mutiny” says Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, “The Mussalmans, high and low, were brought down by these series of events to the lowest depths of broken pride, black despair, and general penury. Without prestige, without education and without resources, the Muslims were left to compete with the Hindus. The British, who pledged neutrality, were indifferent to the result of this struggle between the two communities. The result was that the Mussalmans were completely worsened in the struggle.”

In times of crisis, nations somehow produce men to pull them through. Ability to do so is the evidence of the vitality of a nation. Indeed a reformer of outstanding merit with a breadth of vision, and insight into the true spirit of Islam was the need of the day. Mohammad Iqbal fulfilled this role to a remarkable degree. He possessed all these qualities and performed this duty quite successfully.

Like Rumi, Iqbal refused to be shaken by the pall of gloom which hung over the world of Islam. His stay in England and Germany in the first decade of the twentieth century made him painfully conscious of the ruthless materialism of the West on the one hand, and the lengthening shadows of imperialism on the other.

As a thinker, Iqbal deserves to be included among the greatest philosophers of the Islamic World. “If ever there was a Poet Philosopher, it was Iqbal” says Professor Arberry. It was Iqbal alone among all the contemporary thinkers who succeeded most in persuading Indian Muslims of getting rid of their apathy and pursuing the path of liberty and glory.

Endowed with the gift of poetry, Iqbal decided to put it to good use. He used his poetry as a vehicle to convey his message. The paramount question before him was how to approach the younger generation of Islam, which was not properly indoctrinated.

Iqbal thought that with the reawakening of Muslims, it was necessary to examine in an objective manner what Europe had debated and how far the conclusions reached by it would help in the revision and, if necessary, reconstruction of theological thought in Islam.

He wanted to convince all that Islam strived for promoting the advancement of science and technology and exploitation of nature in the service of mankind. He commented “in the past centuries, no difference had arisen in the principles enunciated by Islam. Due to the advancement of science in the present age and the knowledge gathered in different spheres of life as a result thereof it has become necessary to know the basic principles of Islam.”

Iqbal elaborated: “Islam in my opinion is the only positive system that the world possesses today, provided the Muslims apply themselves to it and rethink the whole thing in light of modern ideas. The Indian Muslim in my opinion is likely to play a very important role in the future of Islam. New Islam relies more on the younger generation which has received more education with necessary grounding in religion.

His conception of Islam was certainly different from the commonly accepted orthodox view. To Iqbal, Islam meant reverence for one’s higher self and a passion for socially useful and creative work. He totally refused to believe that a man who did not respect his ideal self or lacked the creative urge to enrich humanity could be called a Muslim.

Iqbal was opposed to the blind imitation of Western ideas, but he exhorted people to adopt its spirit of research and urged for harnessing the forces of nature. Iqbal sought to lead the Muslims back on the path of Islamic glory which would link them with the time of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the Pious Caliphs.

In fact, Iqbal combined in his teachings, the spirituality of the East and dynamism of the West and this to him was the real Islam. Giving a brief account of the expansion of Islam, Iqbal said. “The history of Islam tells us that the expansion of Islam as a religion is in no way related to the political power of its followers. The greatest spiritual conquests of Islam were made during the days of our political decrepitude. When the rude barbarians of Mongolia drowned in blood the civilization of Baghdad in 1258 A.D., when Muslim power fell in Spain, and the followers of Islam were mercilessly killed or driven out of Cordova by Ferdinand in 1236, Islam had just secured a footing in Sumatra and was about to work for the peaceful conversion of the Malay Archipelago.”

It is interesting to note that in the hours of its political degradation, Islam achieved some of its most brilliant conquests. On two great historical occasions, infidel barbarians set their foot on the neck of the followers of the Prophet: the Seljuk Turks in the eleventh and the Mongols in the thirteenth century, and in each case, the conquerors ended up accepting the religion of the conquered.

After the destruction of Baghdad in 1258, this advancement of knowledge was stagnated and the doors of ijtihad were closed, which ultimately left the Muslims behind. Allama Iqbal describes this in these words:

“During the last five hundred years, religious thought in Islam has been practically stationary. There was a time when European thought received inspiration from Islam. The most remarkable phenomenon of modern history, however, is the enormous rapidity with which the world of Islam is spiritually moving towards the West. There is nothing wrong in this movement, for European culture, on its intellectual side, is only a further development of some of most important phases of the culture of Islam. Our only fear is that the dazzling exterior of European culture may arrest our movement and we may fail to reach the true inwardness of that culture. During all the centuries of our intellectual stupor, Europe has been seriously thinking on the great problems in which the philosophers and scientists of Islam were so keenly interested.”

Allama Iqbal further states: “The political fall of Islam in Europe unfortunately took place, roughly speaking, at the moment when Muslim thinkers began to see the futility of deductive science and were fairly on the way to building inductive knowledge. It was practically at this time that Europe took up the task of research and discovery. Intellectual activity in the world of Islam practically eased from this time and Europe began to reap the fruits of the labours of Muslim thinkers.”

Describing the ignorance of the Muslims in the same letter, Iqbal says:

“The ignorance of the Mussalmans of today is so great that they consider thoroughly anti-Islamic what has in the main arisen out of the bosom of their culture.”

“In all the Muslim countries, Muslims are either fighting for their liberty or thinking about the Islamic laws (except in Iran and Afghanistan). But in these two countries also, sooner or later, this question is bound to come up. It is a matter of regret that the Muslim jurists are either ignorant of modern trends or stick to their conservation... In my view Islam is being tested by the modern age.”

We may say that Allama Iqbal was a prominent thinker of the modern Islamic world, who not only played a great role in reawakening the Muslims in India but at the same time contributed towards Islamic resurgence in the light of the modern philosophical concepts.

The writer is director of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy,Karachi.