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Old Thursday, July 21, 2011
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Iqbal’s Conception of Khudi (Ego)



The conception of Khudi has been the most important contribution of Iqbal to the realm of political thought. It was not due to the fact that he was the first to treat the subject before him such eminent minds as Nietzsche, Fichte, Bergso and William James had dealt with the subject from the various angles of vision. Iqbal’s originality lay in the fact that the whole concept of Khudi underwent a radical change and assumed a realistic interpretation under his masterly pen. To Iqbal, Khudi or ego does not signify pride or arrogance, but the spirit of self affirmation of one’s potentialities and their proper utilization. Every object of the universe exhibits this spirit in some way or other. Even the Creator of this universe could not help expressing His ego and created this world in order to be known. One Hadith alludes to this fact in these words:

“I was a hidden treasure. I wished that I may be recognized, therefore I created the whole creature.”

Thus man being the highest creature, should have spirit of “I-am-ness” in its perfection, and should assimilate and absorb in himself the attributes of God and thus become His vicegerent (naib) on earth. This implies that a limited authority has been given to every man to fashion his life according to ego. Ego must then consist in creating desires and wishes and trying to realize them, by the authority vested in every man.

Iqbal said,

خویشتن را چوں خودی بیدار کرد
آشکارا عالم پندار کرد
صد جہاں پوشیدہ اندر ذات او
غیر او پیداست از اثبات او
در جہاں تخم خصومت کاشت است
خویشتن را غیر خود پنداشت است


When the Self awakened itself, it revealed the world of concepts.

A hundred worlds are hidden in its being; its not-self comes to being from its self-affirmation.

It has sown the seeds of hostility in the world by imagining itself to be other than itself.


Allama Iqbal believed that the philosophy of self-denial was developed by the weaker nations in their days of decline and degradation. The criticism of Nietzsche against Christianity was based on the fact that the Christians having a defeatist mentality believed that paradise was to be given to the weak and the humble few and not to the wealthy and the strong.


Iqbal and Nietzsche:

Despite the high price he bestowed upon Nietzsche and acceptance of his influence, the fact remains that Iqbal was never completely a follower of Nietzsche. Iqbal profited from many great thinkers and renowned Sufis, but in keeping with his own philosophy of Khudi he never completely became an imitator of any. The influence of Western thought apparent in Asrar-i-Khudi contains not only the philosophy of Nietzsche but also ideas of the German philosopher, Fichte, and of the French Jews, Bergson.


Allama Iqbal has delineated in his famous poem, Asrar-i-Khudi that there are three stages in the development of Khudi. The first stage is called Obedience, the second Self-Control and the third is called Divine Vicegerency. In the first stage the self is likened which is taken directly from Nietzsche, while the other tow are taken from Islamic philosophy and literature. Allama Iqbal states in his famous lecture entitled, “The Human Ego” that there is in the history of modern thought one positive view of immortality. This view deserves some consideration, not only because Nietzsche has maintained i.e. with prophetical fervor but also because it reveals a real tendency in the modern mind.


Allama Iqbal said, “The Quranic view of the testing of man is partly ethical, partly biological. I say partly biological because the Quran makes in this connection certain statements of a biological nature which we cannot understand without a deeper insight into the nature of life. It mentions, for instance, the fact of Barzakh, a state perhaps of some kind of suspense between Death and Resurrection. Resurrection appears to have been differently conceived. The Quran does not base its possibility, like Christianity, on the evidence of the actual resurrection of an historic person. It seems to take and argue resurrection as a universal phenomenon of life, in some sense true even of birds or animals.”

According to Quranic view:

1. That the ego has a beginning in time, and did not pre-exist its emergence in the spatio-temporal order.

2. There is no possibility of return to this earth. This is clear from the following verses: “When death overtook one of them, he said, Lord! Send me back again, that I may do the good that I have left undone. By no means, these are the very words which he shall speak. But behind them is a barrier (Barzakh), until the day when they shall be raised again. "(23, 101)

3. That infinite is not a misfortune: “Verily there is none in the Heavens and in the Earth but shall approach the God of Mercy as a servant. He has taken note of them and remembered them with exact numbering: and each of them shall come to Him on the day of resurrection as a single individual.”

This is a very important point and must be properly understood to have a clear insight into the Islamic theory of salvation. It is with the irreplaceable singleness of his individuality that finite ego will approach the infinite ego to see for himself the consequences of his past actions and to judge the possibility of his future.


Helpers of Ego:
Allama Iqbal maintains that stability, permanence and integrity are the essence of ego. A dew-drop vanishes with the sunlight; a drop of tear disappears after a while, because they took stability, while a drop which remains in a sea shell becomes a pearl. Similarly, an individual should subjugate and exploit to his benefit, the things external to him and save himself from being subjugated. It is true that as against God man is helpless, but as against other creatures, or natural objects, man is quite powerful, to harness them to his best advantage and benefit.

Mr. Justice Anwar-ul-Haq said, “According to Iqbal, life is a forward, assimilative process and in essence is the continuous creation of desires and ideas. The human ego has a definite mission on earth in the two main diversions. In the first place, it has to struggle with its environment and to conquer it. By this conquest it attains freedom and approaches God, Who is the freest entity. In the second place, the ego has to maintain a constant state of tension and thereby attain immortality. By attaining freedom and immortality the go conquers space on the one hand and time on the other. The ego has to help in the upward march of humanity by leading to the birth of a higher type of man, namely, the superman or the perfect man, who is the ideal to which all life aspires.”

According to Iqbal the following factors and forces fortify the human ego or personality:

1. Love:
Iqbal explained the word Love in a letter to Prof. Nicholson, “It means the desire to assimilate, to absorb. Its highest form is the creation of values and ideals and the endeavors to realize them. Love individualizes the lover as well as the beloved. The effort to realize the most unique individuality individualizes the seeker and implies individuality of the sought, for nothing else would satisfy the nature of the seeker.”


2. Faqr:
By Faqr, Iqbal means an attitude of mind which enables a man to endlessly strive spurning delights and rewards, except the attainment of worthy ends. In other words, it depicts selflessness and abnegation and ascendancy over one’s natural environment and a sense of complete detachment from worldly affairs and rewards. Once an individual is able to achieve this attitude of mind, there is no limit to what he might attain in the way of development of personality and spiritual strength. Allied with Faqr is the element of courage, both physical and moral.


3. Courage:
Both physical and moral courage means overcoming and combating all obstacles and hurdles with no failure of nerve, no submission to forces of evil or to desire to give in except to conviction. Iqbal calls upon the younger generation to live dangerously and courageously. He said,

آئین جواں مرداں حق گوئی و بے باکی
اللة کے شیروں کو آتی نھیں روباھی


The code for men of courage is spontaneous truth and fearlessness; Brave people knew nothing about cunningness.


4. Tolerance:
For other people’s views and manners represents the strength of the high order and its cultivation is greatly beneficial to human society. It also sustains and strengthens the human ego.


5. Kasb-e-Halal:
In a world where selfishness and aggrandizement are playing vital part in human life, insistence on kasb-e-halal is of the utmost significance. Iqbal insists that the individuals should constantly exert him to acquire things which he wants to enjoy. He even goes to the extent of deprecating inheritance of worldly good as he feels that it hurts the ego. Even in the field of ideas, Iqbal advices avoidance of borrowing. Succinctly, lawful and rightful acquisition, anything not obtained by foul means like cheating, fraud or theft, acquiring things or ideas through one’s personal efforts and struggles.


6. Creative and original activity:
Iqbal is opposed to mimicry and copying others slavishly. Blind imitation is of no avail and must be discouraged.

As against these positive factors there are certain negative forces which are constantly at work to weaken the ego and stultify the human personality. These are:

1. Fear:
Fear of persons and objects (except God) in all its different phases such as worry, anxiety, anger, jealousy and timidity is a positive danger for ego. It robs man of efficiency and happiness.


2. Beggary:
Not used in the limited sense but all that is achieved without personal effort and it is in every form inimical to ego development. All economic and social parasites which flourish on society under various high-sounding names are beggars.


3. Slavery:
It completely arrests the freedom of man, which retards the development of one’s ego. Enslavement and mental torture of man, who’s self prompts him for freedom. Every kind of slavery, whether physical or mental, distorts character and lowers man to the level of a beast and weakens the human ego. It stifles the growth of ego which needs freedom for its normal development.


4. Nasab-Parasti:
Races, nations, tribes, communities, castes and families take pride in their superior racial characters come to destroy the peace and tranquility of the world.

Iqbal is strongly opposed to all these weaknesses in human character. In fact these weaknesses develop due to the failure of the individual to practice or inculcate in him the positive elements for the development of character and personality.

Mr. Justice Anwar-ul-Haq says, “These basic elements in Iqbal’s concept of Khudi were explained to the younger generation of this country in which hope lies for the future. In fact humanity at large could benefit immensely by the adoption of these ideals. While man has made enormous strides in the development of scientific techniques and is on the verge of conquering space and outer space. I am not sure whether he has made progress in conquering the basic elements in his own nature. It is imperative for us, who are fortunate to have the stage of Iqbal’s philosophy, to understand this philosophy and to try to act upon it in our daily lives. Who knows that the salvation of the world may yet lie with those who imbibe the teachings of Iqbal and of the Quran which is the source of Iqbal’s inspiration?”
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