The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam seems to be the most important lecture in the book. In fact the idea behind the whole book revolves around it. It is in this lecture where the author urges the need for innovation in Islamic thought. The principle of movement in the structure of Islam according to the author is ijtihad, which means to form an independent judgment on a legal question. The set of legal principles received from Qur’an has great capacity of expansion and development. Ever since the establishment of schools, the law of Islam was “reduced to a state of immobility” 10 by the rejection of ijtihad which had a number of reasons. Firstly there was fear that rationalism would destroy the foundation of Muslim society. Secondly the need of organization felt by the early scholars lead to the exclusions of innovation in the shari‘ah and took away the power of the individual. It is argued by the author that Qur’an is not a legal code; but its purpose is to awaken in man the higher consciousness of his relation with God and his creations. Similarly, the sunnah was meant for the people at that time and place, and therefore, according to the author, is specific to that people. The world of Islam according to Iqbal should proceed to the work of reconstruction before them.




IN THE WORDS OF DR. RIFFAT HASSAN:

In Iqbal’s view, “the ultimate spiritual basis of all life, as conceived by Islam, is eternal” and that a “society based on such a conception of reality must reconcile, in its life, the categories of permanence and change”.
While permanent principles are required to give society “a foothold in the world of perpetual change,” they must not be understood “to exclude all possibilities of change which according to the Holy Quran is one of the greatest ‘signs’ of God”. What is eternal and what is changeable is exemplified for Iqbal by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) who “seems to stand between the ancient and the modern world. In so far as the source of his revelation is concerned he belongs to the ancient world; in so far as the spirit of his revelation is concerned he belongs to the modern world”.
One of the major reasons for the decline of the Muslims in the past many centuries was due in Iqbal’s judgment to their inability or unwillingness to subject the legal system of Islam to intellectual scrutiny, particularly with reference to Ijtihad which is one of the acknowledged sources of Islamic Law.
Iqbal refers to Ijtihad which “literally means to exert” as “the principle of movement in the structure of Islam.” Seeking “the revaluation and re-codification of the Islamic Fiqh” and stressing the critical need for Ijtihad by contemporary Muslims, Iqbal said: “I know the ‘ulema of Islam claim finality for the popular schools of Muslim Law, though they never found it possible to deny the theoretical possibility of a complete Ijtihad…. For fear of … disintegration, the conservative thinkers of Islam focused all their efforts on the one point of preserving a uniform social life for the people by a jealous exclusion of all innovations in the law of Sharia as expounded by the early doctors of Islam.
Their leading idea was social order, and there is no doubt that they were partly right, because organisation does to a certain extent counteract the forces of decay. But they did not see, and our modern ‘Ulema do not see, that the ultimate fate of a people does not depend so much on organisation as on the worth and power of individual men.
The closing of the door of Ijtihad is pure fiction suggested partly by the crystallisation of legal thought in Islam, and partly by that intellectual laziness which, especially in a period of spiritual decay, turns great thinkers into idols… Modern Islam is not bound by this voluntary surrender of intellectual independence. The claim of the present generation of Muslim liberals to re-interpret the foundational legal principles in the light of their own experience and altered conditions of modern life is, in my opinion, perfectly justified.”
Here it is apt to observe that Iqbal regarded collective Ijtihad or “Ijma” as “perhaps the most important legal notion in Islam”. Elaborating on this, he said: “The transfer of the power of Ijtihad from individual representatives of schools to a Muslim legislative assembly which, in view of the growth of opposing sects, is the only possible form Ijma can take in modern times, will secure contributions to legal discussion from laymen who happen to possess a keen insight into affairs.”




IN THE WORDS OF ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER:

In all there are seven lectures in the book: (I). Knowledge and Religious Experience; (II) The Philosophical Test of The Revelations of Religious Experience; (III) The Conception of God and the Meaning of Prayer; (IV) The Human Ego – His Freedom and immortality; (V) The Spirit of Muslim Culture; (VI) The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam and (VII) Is Religion Possible?

From our point of view the sixth lecture i.e. “The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam” is quite important. It is in this lecture that Iqbal emphasises need for change and movement in Islamic thought as inherited. For Iqbal there is need to strike balance between permanence and change. There is something in religion, which is permanent. According to Iqbal “The ultimate spiritual basis of all life, as conceived by Islam, is eternal and reveals itself in variety and change. A society based on such a conception of Reality must reconcile, in its life, the categories of permanence and change.”[1]

This is real challenge for those who respond to the challenges of change. At times those who are committed to rationalism often ignore the inner urges of faith and the element of permanence in religious faith. No change can have direction without the strong foundation of permanence. Iqbal realises this and hence tends to be quite cautious in this respect. Some people overemphasises the element of permanence and ignore the necessity for change. For them change is sin. Whatever has been formulated by the theologians and jurists of classical period is ‘divine’ and hence permanent.
However, Iqbal, while cautious about the element of permanence in religion and religious thought does not deny the necessity for change. In fact he emphasizes it. Thus he says, “It must possess eternal principles to regulate its effective life, for the eternal gives us a foothold in the world of perpetual change. Thus one has to properly understand both the need for permanence and necessity for change”.

Faith by its very nature emphasizes permanence and robbed of permanence it would cease to provide inner certitude. Human beings living in the world of perpetual change do need a degree of inner certitude and it is religious faith, which responds to this need. But one also has to understand what is permanent and what could and should change. It is of course a matter of fine balance and struggle between quest for truth and inner certitude. Lesser minds can either opt for blind faith or for change without a proper base.
For Iqbal the immobility of Islam in last 500 years symbolises this fear of change and failure of Europe in political and social sciences represents this principle of eternity and lack of permanence. Both are quite essential for a satisfactory and balanced life. The immobility of Islam in last 500 years worries Iqbal and he makes an attempt to make Muslims aware of need for mobility and change. For Iqbal the earlier period of Islam (i.e. prior to sack of Baghdad and decline of the Abbasid Empire) Islam was quite mobile and creative whether in the field of jurisprudence or theology or philosophy or natural sciences.

Iqbal then raises the question “What then is the principle of movement in the nature of Islam? This is ijtihad.”[2] Thus according to Iqbal ijtihad (creative interpretation or attempt to exert oneself for comprehending new situation and reformulation) is principle of movement in Islam. There may have been reasons for closing the gates of ijtihad but they must be wide opened today.
It is important to note that ijtihad meets the need both for permanence and change. Ijtihad is rooted in certain basic principles of faith. It is a serious attempt to capture the original spirit of the Qur’anic injunctions which has been overlayed by traditions and customs to fulfil the then social needs. The jurists while attempting formulations centuries ago could not have ignored the social needs of their time. Qur’anic injunctions were applied by them as best as they could in their own times.

It is our religious duty in our own times to exert ourselves as our forefathers did to apply the Quranic injunctions as best as we can. This is real ijtihad. The holy Prophet also is reported to have said that one who does ijtihad and errs will get one reward and one who does ijtihad and succeeds will get two rewards. This hadith also shows that it is our duty to do ijtihad. However, out of fear that we will not succeed and that our desire will mislead us our ‘ulama forbade Muslims from attempting ijtihad.

Iqbal divides ijtihad in three categories on the lines of earlier ‘ulama: (1) complete authority in legislation which is practically confined to the founders of schools, (2) relative authority which is to be exercised within the limits of a particular school and (3) special authority which relates to the determining of the law applicable to a particular case left undetermined by the founders.[3]

However, Iqbal is advocate of complete authority in ijtihad and not conditional or limited one. He says that “theoretical possibility of this degree of ijtihad is admitted by the Sunnis, but in practice it has always been denied ever since the establishment of the schools, in as much as the idea of complete ijtihad is hedged round by conditions which are well nigh impossible of realization in a single individual. Such an attitude seems exceedingly strange in a system of Qur’an which embodies an essentially dynamic outlook on life.”[4]

Thus it will be seen that Iqbal is strongly in favour of ijtihad in our own times. In fact every generation of Muslims have this right to attempt ijtihad in keeping with the conditions of their time. The Qur’an itself, according to Iqbal, has dynamic outlook on life. He also examines the reasons why Islam has ceased to be dynamic. The static outlook of the Islamic world pains Iqbal very much and he thinks it is a false reverence for the past and goes on to say that “…a false reverence for past history and its artificial resurrection constitute no remedy for a people’s decay. ‘The verdict of history’, as a modern writer has happily put it, ‘is that worn-out ideas have never risen to power among a people who have worn them out.’”[5]
Thus according to Iqbal worn out ideas can never rise to power. Such ideas can only keep a community worn out and immobile. The community cannot become dynamic with those age-old ideas. It is important to make it clear here that no one is suggesting that the Qur’anic values and principles be tempered with; on the contrary, the Qur’anic values are most universal and eternal and their proper application would enhance the effect of these values. Also, it would infuse new life into the community.

Iqbal also says, “The tendency to over-organization by a false reverence of the past, as manifested in the legists of Islam in thirteenth century and later, was contrary to the inner impulse of Islam, and consequently invoked the powerful reaction of Ibn-I-Taymiyya, one of the most indefatigable writers and preachers of Islam, who was born in 1263, five years after the destruction of Baghdad.”[6]

Iqbal refers here to Ibn Taymiyya, one of the great jurists of Sunni Islam in thirteenth century who questioned many formulations of earlier jurists and suffered for it. He was imprisoned for his convictions and for his reformulations. Ibn Taymiyya was brought up in Hambalite School and was supporter of the concept of ijtihad. He rejected the idea of finality of schools and went back to the first principles in order to make fresh start. Ibn Taymiyya also rejected the Hanafite principle of reasoning by analogy (qiyas) and consensus (ijma) as practiced by older legists.

Iqbal endorses Ibn Taymiyya’s going to first principle and fresh formulations. And that was in thirteenth century and Iqbal was writing in 20th century and felt all the more need for change and reformulations. Iqbal’s imagination was fired by Kemalist revolution in Turkey. He welcomes the changes brought about by Mustafa Kemal. He considers these changes as an exercise of ijtihad.

Thus Iqbal maintains in his lectures, “Passing on to Turkey, we find that the idea of Ijtihad, has long been working in the religious and political thought of the Turkish nation. This is clear from Halim Sabit’s new theory of Mohammedan Law, grounded on modern sociological concepts. If the renaissance of Islam is a fact, and I believe it is a fact, we too one day, like the Turks, will have to re-evaluate our intellectual inheritance. And if we cannot make any original contribution to the general thought of Islam, we may, by healthy conservative criticism, serve at least as a check on the rapid movement of liberalism in the world of Islam.”[7]

Iqbal is keen to exercise ijtihad rather than allow liberal drift in the Islamic world. Though it did not happen as conservatism continues to occupy centre stage even today in the Islamic world and Iqbal’s fears did not come true but his emphasis on ijtihad still holds water. One may or may not agree with Iqbal that ijtihad is necessary to arrest trend of liberalism but ijtihad has not only great relevance but is an absolute need. The Islamic world today is faced with many external challenges and hence refuses to give any space for internal healthy criticism.

There is no doubt that internal peace and stability is absolutely necessary for channelling energies into internal problems and creative change. That is why Islamic civilisation flowered during the great periods of Abbasids, Fatimids and Safavids in West Asia and Umayyads in Spain and Moghuls in India. The colonial period posed great external challenge and shook many Muslim intellectuals to come out of stupor and begin to rethink many medieval formulations.
However, with decolonisation and independence new external and internal challenges have emerged in the Islamic world and Muslim intellectuals have not been able to do what Iqbal thought absolutely necessary in his own days. Iqbal emphasises complexity of forces and any attempt to grapple with this complexity is a spiritual act according to him. According to him, “An act is temporal or profane if it is done in a spirit of detachment from the infinite complexity of life behind it; it is spiritual if it is inspired by that complexity.” [8]

Thus Iqbal does not seem to favour detachment and neutrality but a spirit of commitment and dedication to the cause of religion. Life is complex and spiritualism lies in recognising this complexity. Thus he says “in Islam it is the same reality which appears as the Church looked at from one point of view and the State from another. It is not true to say that Church and State are two sides or facets of the same thing. Islam is a single unanalysable reality which is one or the other as your point of view varies.”[9]

Though we do not wish to go into philosophical question here it may suffice to say that Iqbal stands for integral relationship between state and religion. He even ventures to say that “state in Islam is theocracy” but also makes it clear that “not in the sense that it is headed by a representative of God on earth who can always screen his despotic will behind his supposed infallibility.”[10]

Iqbal’s views may be contentious on this matter, as no Islamic country has followed any one single pattern of Islamic state. Each country has a different system. Even Turkey whom he admired greatly opted for secular state and does not allow religion to be practiced in public life. Since Iqbal considers ultimate reality as ‘spiritual’ and life as lived on earth as temporal and the spirit finds its opportunities in the natural, the material, and the secular.[11]

This complexity of spiritual and material can be realised, according to Iqbal, only in a state whose ultimate goal is spiritual and hence he stands for some sort of integral relationship between the two. Iqbal, it also must be pointed out is an idealist and confines himself to philosophical exposition. He was not a practical system builder and though he endorses undertaking ijtihad and talks of ‘reconstruction of religious thought’, does not attempt any reconstruction in concrete terms.

The conservative ‘ulama of his time like Maulana Sulayman Nadvi were not happy even with these lectures and wished Iqbal had never written these lectures. Iqbal was too close to these ‘ulama to attempt any such concrete reconstruction. But even his emphasis on ijtihad is very significant one for the Islamic world today. Islamic world is faced with many serious social, economic and juridical challenges. There does not seem to be any great intellectual exercise for facing these challenges. The world of Islam is as stagnant as it was during the time of Iqbal. If Iqbal’s suggestion for meaningful ijtihad is seriously undertaken it would really usher in creative and meaningful change.


IN THE WORDS OF IQBAL:

http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/pro...ruction/06.htm