Muhammad Iqbal 1873-1938. The Ascension of the PoetAuthor(s): Annemarie SchimmelSource: Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 3, Issue 3/4 (1954), pp. 145-157Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1570162 .Accessed: 30/06/2011 17:00

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL 1873-1938 THE ASCENSION OF THE POET

BY

ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL Marburg (Lahn)

Commemorating the I5th anniversary of Sir Muhammad Iqbi's death (April 2I, I938), and, in the same year, his 8oth birthday, we may remember some lines from one of Jalaluddin Rumi's most beautiful poems:

Quoth some: Master Sana'i is dead! The death of such a master is no little thing. He was not chaff which flew on the wind, He was not water which froze in winter... The earthly frame he flung to the earth, Soul and intellect he bore to heaven...

These lines are - mutatis mutandis - to be applied on the great poet and philosopher of Pakistan too, this manysided personality who deeply admired Mevlana Rumi and choose him as his spiritual master.

During the last fifteen years many books and articles about Iqbal have been published both in Asia and in Europe. We are indepted especially to Pakistani scholars who have written and are still writing many a precious work concerning the spiritual father of their nation; for "the study of Iqbal is a social and political necessity for the Muslims of India" 2. We may call here the atten- tion upon an excellent study of Syed Abdul Vahid, the secretary of the Iqbal Society: Iqbal, His Art and Thought 3 - a book which deals with the different aspects of Iqbal's works, his poetical art as well as the main currents of his philosophical and political

1 Selected Poems from the Divdn-i Shams-i Tabriz, ed. by R. A. Nicholson, No. XXII, p. 86/87.

2 Iqbal as a Thinker, Publisher's note, p. VII. a Syed Abdul Vahid, Iqbal, His Art and Thought, Lahore, I944.

ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

theories, and which may be called the most comprehensive intro- duction into the study of this outstanding personality.

The Mohammad Ashraf Publishing House, Lahore, whose

activity the admirers of Iqbal's art are glad to acknowledge, has, beside the mentioned work, published in I944 a collection of 8 arti- cles, each of them treating a special aspect of Iqbal's philosophy 1: M. R. Siddiqi, Iqbal's Conception of Time and Space (p. I-40); K. G. Sayidain, Progressive Trends in Iqbal's Thought (p. 4I-105); M. M. Sharif, Iqbal's Conception of God (p. Io6-I27); Kh. A. Hakim, Rumi, Nietzsche and Iqbal (p. 128-202); Fazl-ur-Rah- man, Iqbal and Mysticism (p. 203-226); M. A. Ahmad, Iqbal's Political Theory (p. 227-264); K. Ahmad, Iqbal's Conception of Art (p. 265-284), and F. Mahmood, Iqbal's Attitude towards God

(p. 285-300).

Quite instructive is also the Journal of the Bezm-i Iqbal, entitled

"Iqbal ", whose first number appeared in July I952, edited by Prof. M. M. Sharif, the Principal of Islamia College, Lahore, and B. A. Dar; the former has contributed an excellent article on "The Genesis of Iqbal's Aesthetic" (p. I9-40), the latter a study on "The Idea of Satan in Iqbal and Milton" (p. 83-108), whereas

Jamilah Khatoon explains the problem of "Iqbal's Perfect Man" (p. 57-64) 2. "The primary aim of this Journal is to dis- semine Iqbal's message", for his countrymen "think he belonged to the galaxy of those sovereign spirits who transcended the limi- tations of age and clime, who knew no other native land than

Heaven, and whose golden hours could be counted not by the beat of time, but through the limitless flux of eternity" 3.

A very important subject is "The Metaphysics of Iqbal" which

1 Iqbal as a Thinker, A collection of essays on Iqbal by eight scholars of eminence pre- senting his diverse facets, Lahore, 1944. - We may add here the titles of two other books on different aspects of the great thinker's work: K. G. S a i y i d a i n, Iqbal's educational philosophy, Lahore, I945, 4. ed.; and Shuja N a m u s, A Discussion on Iqbal's Philosophy of Life, Lahore, I948.

2 "Iqbal", A Journal of the Bezm-i Iqbal, Lahore, Volume I, July I952, Nr. i. - B. A. D ar had already published in I944 A Study in Iqbal's Philosophy. In I950, at the anniver- sary of Iqbal's death, the Bezm-i Iqbal published a collection of articles under the title: Iqbal Studies, ed. by Zia ul-Islam, Karachi.

3 "Iqbal", I, i, II, p. I (Editorial); cf. Amir Shakib A r s 1 a n, quoted by Vahid, p. XVII: Iqbal was "the greatest thinker produced by the Muslim world during the last thousand years".

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL I873-1938

was treated by J. A. Enver in 1944 1): especially interesting be- cause the late philosopher himself had token his Dr. 's degree at Munich in I907 with a thesis on "The Development of Metaphysics in Persia".

Small wonder that Persian scholars and poets show a vivid inte- rest in the poet of Pakistan who used the Persian language in the most perfect manner and was gifted "with the extraordinary talent for that most delicate and delightful of all Persian styles, the ghazal" 2, and, we may add, for the methnewi-form too. Mujtaba Minovi published in I327/1948 at Teheran a small book, entitled

Iqbdl-i Lahorf, sha'ir-i fdrszgi-yi Pakistan which, besides a learned introduction, contains many poems from Iqbal's different works, and expresses the hope to publish all Persian works of this great poet. - The Iqbdlndme, published in I330/195I at Teheran as a commemoration-volume, does not only contain some scientific articles (e.g. the studies of Muhammad Mu'in, mi'rdj-i Iqbdl and Iqbdl i Irdn-i bcstdn, p. 50-63), but also a few poems written by Persian poets in memory of Iqbal. 3

The Embassy of Pakistan at Teheran edited in I952 a small Iqbal-Memorial with 6 poems of his, and at the same occasion the Embassy of Pakistan at Ankara published a book with the title Rumi ve Ikbal 4: here we read four discourses of the Ambassador of Pakistan concerning the relations between Iqbal and his spiritual guide, and the personality of Rumi; a speech of Omer Riza Do grul 5, messages of foreign nations at the occasion of the anniversary of Iqbal's death, and some articles published by the Turkish press at this occasion. "Iqbal's relations with Mevlana and by this means with Turkey and Turkish culture" was also the subject treated in the speeches made by Nurettin Artam and Kemal Edip at the commemoration-festival on April 2I, I953 at Ankara6.

1 J. A. Enver, The Metaphysics of Iqbal. With a foreword of J. Z. Hasan. Lahore, 1944, IX, 9I p.

2 J. J. Arberry, Persian Psalms, p. VI. 8 Al Khuda'i, dar jashn-' Iqbal; Dr. Qasim Rasa, be-ydd-i Muhammad Iqbdl-i

Ldhori; Rahi Mu'ayyiri, Iqbacl-i sukhun-pardiz; Sarmad $ adiq, qa.sde-yi Iqbdl; cf. the poem of the malik ash-shucard Bahar quoted in the book of M. Minovi.

Rumi ve Ikbal. Pakistan Sefareti Baslm Ataseliki, Ankara. Istanbul, 1952. 5 Principal of the Turkish delegation to the Islamic Congress at Karachi in I95I: W. I.,

N. S., II, 279. (G. J.). e Ulus, 22. 4. I953 (Information given by Prof. Jaschke, Miinster).

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ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

As to the translations of Iqbal's poetical works into European languages one has to remember the work done by R. A. Nicholson who made accessible some parts of the "Message of the East" 1

(a German translation of this work, prepared by the late Prof.

J. Hell, Erlangen, has not been printed), and the "Secrets of the Self" in English 2. In I948, A. J. Arberry published a skilful verse-translation of the Zdbur-i 'Ajam 3, and in I952, Alessandro Bausani rendered in Italian the famous JdvTdndme 4, the "ascen- sion to heaven", perhaps Iqbal's most interesting, "most ambitious and most complex" 5 poem which often is called to be his master-

piece. The Italian prose-version is made very carefully and written in a beautiful style, enlarging the dense and sometimes difficult sentences, so that the European reader can enjoy the subtle ideas

represented in this work. Many useful notes and a fine introduction

dealing with life and work of the poet-philosopher facilitate the

reading. It is evident, that it is almost impossible to translate the numerous conceits and allusions of this melodious oriental poems without charging the notes with innumerable explanations; this would be the duty of a scholar who devotes himself exclusively to the investigation of the sources of Iqbal's work - but such a scholar would have to remember the word of the poet himself, written in

I907: "... the human mind possesses an independent individuality, and, acting on its own initiative, can gradually evolve out of itself truths which may have been anticipated by other minds ages ago. No idea can seize a people's soul unless, in some sense, it is the

people's own" 6. The ascension to heaven as a literary subject (as it is treated in the

Jdvidndme) is not a new one neither in Oriental nor in Western

1 Islamica, I, II2 sqq.: Iqbal's Message of the East. 2 The "Secrets of the Self" (Asrr-i Khudi) by Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal. Translated by

Reynold A. Nicholson. i. ed., I920; 4. ed., I950. 3 Persian Psalms (Zadbir-i CAjam), Parts I and II. Translated into English verse from

the Persian of the late Sir Muhammad Iqbal by Arthur J. Arberry. Lahore, I948. 4 Muhammad Iqbal, II Poema Celeste. Traduzione dal Testo Persiano e note del Dr. Ales-

sandre B aus ani. Roma, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, I952. - Bausani translates the title Jdvidndme with "Heavenly Poem"; but in a note, he lays stress upon the ambiguity of this title: it means as well the "Book of Javid" (the son of the poet who is addressed in the closing poem, not translated by Bausani) as the "Book of Eternity". (Bausani, p. 23, note).

5 Iqbal and Mysticism: Thinker, p. 226. 6 Iqbal, The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, p. 96.

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL 1873-I938

tern literature 1. The Arda-Viraf-Name and the Divina Commedia are the most famous examples of this kind. In Islam, the mi'rdj of the Prophet has been, as R. Hartmann has shown, the proto- type of some interesting works of both mystics and poets 2 (the often discussed problem of the Islamic influences on Dante's immortal work has been recently treated in an extraordinarily useful work of E. Cerulli 3): the mystics sometimes realized in themselves the mystic ascension of the soul through the different spheres of heaven - e.g. Ibn 'Arabi and especially Abd ul-Karim Jill whose influence is to be felt in Iqbal's work 4: in the Javid- name, the poet wanders through the heaven of the Moon (Jili: created from the nature of spirit) where he meets the ,,Indian sage" (who is identified by Bausani with Vishvamitra), Sarosh and the tdwdsmn of the prophets; then he visits Mercury (Jill: created from the nature of reflection), the dwelling-place of Jamal ad-din al- Afghani and Sa'id Halim, then the sphere of Venus (Jili: created from the nature of phantasy), the home of the ancient Gods as well as the imperialists Pharao and Lord Kitchener; afterwards he reaches (not the heaven of the Sun, as Jill did, but) the heaven of Mars (presided according to Jill by Azra'il, but in Iqbal's work transformed in a world of ideals, inhabited by a people knowing neither capitalism nor communism); in the heaven of Jupiter (created from the light of meditation), the poem talks with the great ,,heretics" al-Hallaj, Tahira, and Ghilib; the last one is the heaven of Saturn, not, as in Jill's work, the lofty place created from the light of the First Intelligence, but the dark home of the traitors to their nations. Then, Iqbal leaves the pattern given by Jili and surpasses a mysterious sphere where Nietzsche is living, until he reaches Paradise and its pious inhabitants.

1 Cf. M. Mucin, micrdj-i Iqbdl (Iqbdlname, p. 47); Minovi, I.c., p. 57; cf. also the interest- ing study of J. J. L. D u y v e nd a k, A Chinese "Divina Commedia", in: T'oung Pao, XLI, 1952, pp. 255-316.

2 Die Himmelsreise Muhammeds und ihre Bedeutung in der Religion des Islam. Vortrage der Bibliothek Warburg VIII, Leipzig, 1930, p. 42 ff, esp. p. 6i f. Cf. Bousset, Die Himmels- reise der Seele, ARW 4; Bevan, Muhammad's Ascension to Heaven, Wellhausen- Festschrift (Beihefte zur ZAW, XXVII, 51); Schrieke, Die Himmelsreise Muhammeds, Isl., VI, i ff.); Tor Andrae, Die Person Muhammeds in Glauben und Lehre seiner Gemeinde, 19I7; and the different researches of Asin Palacios.

3 E. Cerulli, II ,,Libre della Scala" e la questione delle fonti arabo-spagnole della Divina Commedia. Studi e Testi, 150. Citta del Vaticano, I949.

Cf. R. A. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism, p. I22 f.

I49

ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

Besides the mystics, some poets used the symbol of a journey through heaven and hell in order to criticize religion and society, and to develop their own political or cultural thoughts: in a similar manner as Lucian did in the second century, al-Ma'arri tells his adventures in Paradise in the ingenious risalat al-ghufrdn 1, making "Paradise a glorified salon haunted by immortal but immoral Bohemians" 2 and in I932, Jamil Sidqi az-Zahawi wrote the

poignant satire "Revolution in Hell" 3. Muhammad Iqbal combines in his JdvTdndme the fiction of the

mystic ascension to heaven - though we find "nowhere in his

poetry the evidence of an actual mystic experience" 4- with the

exposition of his central ideas, his political 5 as well as theological conceptions, and his criticism of both Western rationalism and Russian bolshevism. Since, according to Iqbal, poetry is a surei

approach to reality than philosophy 6, his most important ideas are expressed by the medium of poetry; and in the Jdvidndme, almost each personality we meet with, teaches the central concep- tion of Iqbal's philosophy: the development of the Ego, the inner Self of man. And even more: the ascension of the poet is the apotheo- sis of the Perfect Man 7, for "if man realizes the significance and

power of his self, he can transcend time and space, and can shatter the Universe" 8. This is the leitmotif of the book. Such an ascension is, for the perfect believer, nothing but a change in consciousness 9; time and space are states of his soul, as Rilmi teaches his pupil Iqbal, and Zerwan, the genius of Time, shimmering in dual light, tells him the secret of heavenly time and human time, i.e. eternity and progression (this problem is discussed in a very instructive article of Prof. Siddiqi 10).

1 riSalat al-gufrin li-Abi-lCAld al- MaCarr4, Kairo, I950. 2 R. A. Nicholson, JRAS, I902, p. 857. 3 ad-Duhitr i, No. 6, p. 641-669 (Beirut, I93); cf. the article of G. W id m e r on Zahawi,

WI, XVII, 50. 4 Thinker, p. 209. 5 So, when he in Paradise treates the Kashmir problem and sings "0 morning breeze,

when you pass Geneve tell the League of Nations a word of mine!" (Jdvidndme, p. I89). 6 Thinker, p. I46. 7 Cf. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism, ch. 2; Affifi, Ibn Arabi, p. 82 ff; Thinker,

p. 225 (Iqbal and Mysticism); Iqbal's own statement in his thesis "The Development of Metaphysics in Persia", I907.

8 "Iqbal", I, 62: Jamilah Khatoon, Iqbal's Perfect Man. 9 Jay. p. 20; cf. Thinker, p. 25.

10 Iqbal's Conception of Time and Space, Thinker, I-40, esp. p. 25, 37.

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL I873-I938

Some facts might suggest the idea that the Jdvtdndme is - in spite of his political aspects - a mystical poem: the solution of the problem depends on how to define mysticism. It is well-known that Iqbal in the later period of his life disliked all pantheistic tendencies in Islam, exhibited for him in poets like Hafiz 1; this "pseudo-mysticism" seemed to him to be the cause for the decline of Muslim civilization during the last centuries; self-abandonment, annihilation is, in his eyes, the greatest sin 2. But, as M.M. Sharif has seen, the poet was in his youth, up to I908, "not only a Neopla- tonist, but also a full-fledged pantheist" 3, and though, in a beauti- ful passage of the Jdcvdndme, he lays stress upon the acknowled- gment of the two aspects of God (the Majesty and the Beauty) 4, he always calls the Lord in this poem the Supreme Beauty, probably a neoplatonic relic 5 (or may we interpret this name as an understanding of the mystery that man is not able to hear the voice of God's tremendous majesty, but only that of his fascin- ating love?).

The fact, that Iqbal adopted Rilmi as his master, might also suggest mystical ideas. But as well in the Jdvmdndme as in the Peydm-i Mashriq6, the Bal-i Jabrfl and the Asrdr-i Khdi 7,

wheresoever Rfimi appears as Iqbal's guide and ideal, the poet "ignores all those passages of his Methnewi which could be inter- preted pantheistically" 8; he only acknowledges the personalistic elements in his mysticism, and especially the conception of develop- ment which has found its most famous expression in Methnewi, III, 390I sqq. Many symbols used by Mevlana are to be found in Iqbal's work; even the beginning of the Jdvmdndme with the symbols of

1 Cf. the Introduction of the Asrar- i Khudi; Six Lectures on the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Preface (cf. the reviews in WI XV, 1933, p. I22, REI, I940, 87, and O M, XIV, 505); Vahid, p. I6 (interesting extract from one of Iqbal's letters), etc.

2 Cf. the words of Hallaj, Jdv. p. I54: ,,O voi che cercate il vostro scopo nell'annienta- mento, sappiate che il nulla non comprende l'essere!" (Bausani, II9/20).

3 The Genesis of Iqbal's Aesthetic: "Iqbal", I, I, p. 25; but he was "ready to change his ideas and judgments according to fresh advances in human knowledge" (Thinker, p. 2).

4 Jdv., p. 226. s Cf. The Genesis..., p. 27 ff. 6 Peydm, p. 246: the famous meeting of Mevlana and Goethe in Paradise. ? Cf. the introduction given by Nicholson to his translation of the Asrar, esp. p. XI. 8 The Genesis..., p. 31. The relations between Rumi and Iqbal are treated in most of

the articles mentioned here. Cf. also Bausani, II pensiero religioso di Maulana Gialal ad- Din Rfimi, Oriente Moderno, Aprile I953, p. I80-I98; and Vahid, p. 95 ff.

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music 1 reminds the reader the prooemium of Rfimi's great work, the "Song of the Reed". Since the modern poet uses the same metrum as Jalaluddin did, he easily can incorporate expressions from the Methnewl in the JdvTdndme. Here, however, the monotony of the methnewi-form is interrupted by ghazals of Iqbal's and other poets. Perhaps the most striking example showing the kind of relation between Iqbal and Riimi is the insertion of the charmful poem from the Dfvdn-i Shams-i Tabriz with the redif -m arzist, "is my desire" 2 which the poet is murmuring (one should like to say: as a kind of incantation) at the beginning of the Jdvidndme: the seeking, the longing for something "which is not to be found" is probably the joint between the great mystic of Konya and the poet of Pakistan. "To chose the street and to leave the dwelling-place" is the wish of Iqbal 3, and we at once remember Mevlana's famous ghazal:

If a tree might move by foot and wing, It would not suffer the pain of the saw or the blows of the axe 4.

Nothing but longing, desire and love is the creative power in this world - "What the rose cannot tell, the complaining bird tells it" 5. This idea is expressed by Hallaj with whom the poet discusses in the sphere of Jupiter, when the former sings:

When desire makes a night-attack on the world, It will turn the momentary ones into eternal beings 6.

And the voice of God addresses Iqbal, giving by this way the quintessence of the thinker's philosophy: "Thou art living? Be

longing, be a creator!" 7 Even in Paradise, the Perfect Man wishes a development, a progressive tendency: "If we shall be free from

seeking and desire, the tomb will be better than the Paradise of

1 Jav., p. i. 2 Selected Poems from the Divdn-i Shams-i Tabriz, No. XVI, p. 64 ff. 3 Jdv., p. 220 (at the end of Paradise). 4 Selected Poems..., No. XXVII, p. io8 ff.

The Genesis..., p. 33, 31: a very fine research on the rl6e of desire and love in Iqbal's art and philosophy.

6 Jdv., p. I40. The picture of Hallaj drawn in the Jdvidndme is worth to be studied in detail. The great mystic is described as a forerunner of the poet himself (Jdv., I43/4), and his "AruZl-Fhaqq... is only an emphatic assertion of Reality and the unique significance of man's self, and does not in any way imply his identity with God" ("Iqbal", I, I, p. 59). Some central ideas of his are not mentioned, so that on suffering.

7 Jdv., p. 225.

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL I873-I938

colours and fragrances"1 a,"very occidental" conception, as Bausani says 2 - and a quite unmystical attitude, because the mystic seeks, after the life-long wandering through this world, rest and stillness in the depths of God's heart: "There is no rest but in the solitary place of God", sings Mevlana (Methnewg, II, 59I).

The way towards God, in purifying and developing the Self, is sometimes symbolized by Iqbal by means of the shahdda: so in the most touching scene of the Jdvmdndme, the meeting with the "H1al- laj without the cross3", the intoxicated Nietzsche (to whose in- fluences the Muslim thinker is deeply indepted, though he does not accept the whole of his philosophy 4). Here, Rumi tells his disciple that the German philosopher "remained in the 'no' and did not go farther until the 'without'". The same expression occurs in the message delivered by Jamrl ad-din al-Afghani (in the sphere of Venus) to the Russian people who also is still living in the negation and has to progress with the aid of the Muslim peoples to the affirmation of God's existence 5. And in the Zdbur-i'Ajam we read:

Break down the old, and then Rebuild the world again; Who in "No God" remain'd Has ne'er "Except" attained 8.

Man underlies the law of seeking and creative evolution from weakness to strength, from the dull negation of God's existence to the affirmation of God as the greatest Ego and prototype of every human Ego 7.

Even Satan8 is, according to Iqbal, a necessary element in

1 Jdv., p. 30 in the sphere of the Moon. 2 Bausani, p. 47, note 35; and ibd., p. 143, note I8I concerning the transformation

of the Indian conception of karma into a eulogy on "action". We may compare with this idea of the Muslim poet the expositions of Tor Andrae in "Die letzten Dinge", p. 98 ff., or the verses of R. A. Schrbder:

Ich mochte dir nimmer so nah sein, Dass ich mich nicht nach dir sehnte.

3 Jdv., p. I76 f. 4 Cf. Thinker, ch. IV, p. 128-202: "Rumi, Nietzsche and Iqbal" by Dr. Khalifa Abdul

Hakim; almost every article on Iqbal contains a more or less detailed paragraph concer- ning this problem. A statement of Iqbal against the conception of the "Ewige Wiederkehr des Gleichen" may be seen in Jdv., p. 226. Cf. Bausani, p. 129, note I62.

6 Jdv., p. 88. The message of Afghani in this chapter is highly important for the under- standing of Iqbal's political theories.

* Persiam Psalms, II, No. 26, p. 82; cf. Thinker, p. I o. 7 M. M. Sharif, Iqbal's Conception of God; Thinker, p. 166 ff. 8 Cf. Minovi, p. 6o.

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man's development; he may be called the "active dynamism of life itself" 1. Without having been a disciple of Satan, man cannot learn how to strife and to develop his self-consciousness 2. In an

interesting part of the Jdv7dndme, Satan himself demands God to send him a better adversary, man in our time being too ready to listen to his seductive words 3. It is a fine idea to introduce Satan after the song of Hallaj whose system contains a justification of Iblis who is called the only true monotheist 4, a conception which is also to be found in 'Attar's work and in the system of Ibn 'Arabi 5.

If we, with Iqbal and the mystics, consider death as an evolutio-

nary process 6 we may proudly confess with the Indian sage in the

sphere of the Moon:

Though we are birds without feather and wing, We surpass God with regard to the knowledge of death 7

But God is, as well as man, seeking and longing: We are gone astray from God, He is searching upon the road, For like us, He is need entire And the prisoner of desire...

"This subtlety has not yet been solved: am I the prey or is it He?" asks the poet at the end of the Jdvidname 9. Likewise said Mevlana: "When the thirsty seek the water in the world, the water also seeks the thirsty" (Methnewz, I, I74I). The mystics of all times have taught that God seeks man and that His seeking and His love precedes the seeking of man; that God teaches man how to pray and then answers his prayers. In the same manner Iqbal proves the fact that God is an Ego by the experience of prayer, for "the real test of a self is whether it responds to the call of another

Cf. Dar, The conception of Satan...; "Iqbal", I, i, p. 83 ff. 2 Cf. the poem tashkr-i fitrat which is analyzed carefully by Vahid, p. I55 ff. 3 Jav., p. 157 ff, esp. p. I6I. 4 "Rend the garment of taqlid in order to learn from him the tauhid" addresses Hallaj

the poet in showing him Satan; Jav., p. 155. Cf. kitdb at-Tdwdsin, p. 50. 5 Affifi, Ibn Arabi, p. I6I. e Cf. the song of the martyr-king, Jdv., p. 217 ff., and the words of Hallaj, p. I35. 7 Verse of Vishvamitra, Jdv., p. 39. 8 Persian Psalms, II, No. 29, p. 84.

huiir: Jdv., p. 223.

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL I873-I938 I55

self" 1, and in prayer, "the complete individual can see God face to face without loosing his own self" 2, though "there is no room for Gabriel in his solitude" 3. But, according to Iqbal, the goal of prayer is not annihilation, not self-abandonment, on the contrary, "man can elevate himself even to that lofty height where God will consult his will before assigning him his destiny" 4. At last, man acknowledges the creative will of his Lord, His desire of creating, and, as Bausani expresses it very well, "la dedizione totale alla volonta di Dio e veramente creatrice ..." 5. Since Islam means the complete surrender under the ("creative") will of God, every believer, every Muslim is called to partake in the work of creation, to be a co- worker with God.

Therefore, the soundest basis of the world to-come is, as Iqbal often explains, the religion of the Koran, this "storehouse of dyna- mic ideas" 6 a religion which propagates monotheism and the restoration of the essential brotherhood of mankind 7. For, the complete development of the Ego does not lead to a cult of the "Ubermensch" or to exaggerated individualism and egotizm, but it is "merely the initial stage; the final aim of life is the building up of something impersonal" 8, i.e. the community of men, each of them loving, understanding, and tolerating the other - tolerance is

1 McTaggart's Philosophy, Journ. of the East Indian Soc., July 1937, quoted in Thinker, p. II5. A true mystic would say (as in the sentehce quoted by Sarr5j in the chapter on tau4id of the kitdb al- lumac): "None saith CI' except God, since the real personality belongs to God alone".

2 "Iqbal", I, i, p. 60. "Hence man's perfection can be determined in proposition to the degree of his self-possession in the presence of God" (Lectures, p. 28). Cf. the interesting criticism of Iqbal's Reconstruction of Religion "en terme de psychologie de laboratoire" by Victor Courtois S. J. (who lays stress upon Iqbal's pilgrimage to the country of Schleier- macher and his contacts with modem protestant theologians) in consequence of which he accentuates in his philosophical system the religious experience too much, and, though he is '"foncierement religieux, il n'a pas compris le vrai r6le de la matiere religieuse ..., mais on ne peut s'emp6cher d'admirer sa sinc6rite, son honnetete intellectuelle et son courage" (Sir Muhammad Iqbal, poete, philosophe et apologiste indien; En Terre d'Islam, 4. Trim. 1938, 3. s6rie, p. 327-56).

3 Cf. the similar expression in Mevlana's Fihi md fihf, p. I5. 4 Bal-i Jabril, p. 8i (cf. "Iqbal", I, i, p. 63).

Bausani, p. 112, note I75. 6 The expression is taken from an interesting (so far as I am aware, yet unpublished)

article "Iqbal: Philosophical Bridge for East and West", the manuscript of which the author, Dr. G. J. Candreva, New York, was kind enough to send me. - Concerning the funda- mentals of the "Coranic World" cf. Jdv., p. 73 if., Bausani, p. 74, note 82.

7 Vahid, p. 67 ff. 8 Thinker, p. 224.

ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

respect for the Ego of the fellow-citizen 1, and it is better to go the way of God with the carvan 2

From this religious point of view we must understand the rigo- rous and sometimes exaggerated critizism of the secularized Western world (especially in the discussion in the sphere of Mars) 3: the West, he thinks, has lost the force of creative love and glorifies the bare science which is something diabolic without the light of love, not creative, but destroying the very sources of life 4. Europe has, as Judas Ischarioth points out in his dialogue with the European maid, commited a greather sin as he did, for he only betrayed God's human nature, but she betrays his divine nature 5, neglecting and denying the creative principle of love.

Iqbal did not doubt that this creative power was hidden in the Muslim peoples, and through his poetry he tried to encouragethe sleeping nations; for "the poet is the heart in the breast of the na- tion" 6, and it is his duty "to quicken the dormant energies and potentialities of a people" 7. The highest art is "that which awakens our dormant willforce and nerves us to face the trials of life man- fully" 8.

Sir Muhammad Iqbal himself has succeeded in realizing this aim; he "can be called an architect of the destiny of a people" 9.

1 Vahid, p. 53 f. 2 Words of Zoroaster in the tdsin of the Prophets; Jdv., p. 54. 3 Cf. Bausani, Introduzione, p. 18, and p. 146, note I85; Iqbdlndme, p. 75; Persian

Psalms, II, I9, last verse: "Against Europe I protest..."; Nicholson, Islamica, I, II2. - The Jdv. contains a criticism of the laicistic movement in Turkey (cf. p. 72, 209) though, in other works Iqbal praised Turkey who had shaken off her slumber and attained to self- consciousness; he also was interested in the ideas of Ziya G6kalp (Islamic Culture, I949); cf. Bausani, notes 8I and I89.

4) Cf. the bitter attack on European feminism (Jdv., p. 126) in the sphere of Mars where the prophetess without love is preaching the new doctrine of emancipation. Bausani is right saying: "Ma mi sembra che abia compreso i lati positivi del femminismo europeo, che egli interpreta, alla luce di alcune sue esagerazioni forse, come negazione dell'amore" (p. I04, note I37). Concerning his conception of maternity, as the highest creative act, cf. Vahid, p. 74f.; Singh, pp. 8, 46.

5 Jdv., p. 57 8 Jdv., p. 45 7 Vahid, ch. V: ,,His Poetic Art.", 8 "Iqbal": "Our Prophet's criticism of contemporary Arabian poetry", The New Era

I916, p. 25I; cf. Secrets of Self, p. XV. 9 "Iqbal", I, i (Editorial), p. I.

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL I873-I938

ADDENDA

The manuscript of this article was written in summer, I953. Therefore we may add here some books and articles on Sir Muham- mad Iqbal whose existence we have learned during the last months:

J. Singh, The Ardent Pilgrim, London, I95I, 247 pp., tries to give a picture of Iqbal without the ,,legendary halo"; he shows his development and the contradictions of preaching and practizing in his life; but sometimes his statements are not very reliable.

On the other hand, the small "Introduction to Iqbal", which S. A. Vahid published at Karachi, in 1954, may be called a very useful work; we also call attention upon his article "Iqbal and his Poetry" in "The Islamic Review", April I954.

The best informations concerning the translations of Iqbal's works into both European and Asiatic languages gives the "Bulle- tin" of the Embassy of Pakistan, Bad Godesberg, Nr 31 (I5.4.I954): there exists a translation of Iqbal's verse by Victor G. Kiernan "Poems of Iqbal" (Bombay); A. J. Arberry has published, in I947, "The Tulip of Sinai" (Ashraf, Lahore); also some Pakistani poets were busy with translating some poems of their great com- patriote.

In the Arabic speaking world, we must notice the anthology "Gems of Iqbal", selected by Amira Nureddin (Bagdad), the prose-anthology "Iqbal's Philosophy", prepared by Hasan Azami and Saidi Ali Shalan. The Embassador of Egypt in Pakistan, Dr Abdulwahhad Azzam, has translated some of Muhammad Iqbal's poetical works and is still preparing new translations. In Turkey, there exists a translation of the Peyam-i Ma?riq by Dr Ali Genceli. Even in Indonesia, the works of Sir Muhammad Iqbal are well-known, thanks to the translations made by Bahram Rangbuti.

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