Khudi ko kar buland itna ke har taqdeer se pehle / Khuda bande se khud poochhe bata teri raza kya hai. (Elevate the Self to such heights that, before issuing every decree of destiny, God Himself should ask (His) servant tell me what is your wish.)
Ae Tair-e-Lahooti! Us rizq se maut achchhi / Jis rizq se aati ho parwaz mein kotahi. (O bird who flies to the Throne of God, you must keep this truth in sight: To suffer death is far nobler than bread that clogs your upward flight.)
The above couplets in Urdu, the language of some 400 million people in the world, are from the poetry of Mohammed Iqbal, one of the most outstanding and influential poet-philosophers, Islamic thinkers and scholars of the 20th century.
The first couplet highlights the significance of Khudi (Self) in an individual as the source through which one can take oneself closest to the Ultimate (Allah Almighty), and the second couplet explains Iqbal’s philosophy of the purpose of life, which is effort and struggle, and not passive attitude like that of some mystics.
Both these couplets are from Bal-i-Jibril (Gabriel’s Wing), one of Iqbal’s three books of poetry in Urdu, published in 1935. The other two books are Bang-i-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell), published in 1924, and Zarb-i-Kalim (The Rod of Moses), published in 1936.
We would discuss here the twin subjects of Khudi and Tasawwuf (mysticism) and what Iqbal means by them.
But before that, it seems necessary to give a brief introduction of the poet and his work.
Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877, in Sialkot, a town of the Indian subcontinent that went to Pakistan after its partition in 1947. Educated initially by private tutors in languages and writing, history, poetry and religion, Iqbal became proficient in several languages and the skill of writing prose and poetry. Iqbal studied philosophy, English literature and Arabic at the Government College in Lahore (now in Pakistan) and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892, graduating cum laude.
While studying for his master’s, Iqbal came under the wings of Sir Thomas Arnold, a scholar of Islam and modern philosophy at the college. Sir Arnold exposed young Iqbal to Western culture and ideas, and served as a bridge for him between the ideas of East and West. At Sir Thomas’s encouragement, Iqbal travelled to and spent many years studying in Europe.
Iqbal obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at Cambridge in 1907, while simultaneously studying law at Lincoln’s Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister in 1908. The same year he returned to India. With doctorate in philosophy, Iqbal was knighted in 1922 by King George V, who gave him the title of “Sir”. Iqbal died in 1938.
The poetry of Iqbal, who is commonly known as Shayer-e-Mashriq (Poet of the East) and Hakeem-ul-Ummat (Sage of the global Muslim Community), in Urdu, Arabic and Persian is considered to be among the greatest of the modern era and his vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India inspired the creation of Pakistan.
Referred to as Allama (scholar), Iqbal’s thoughts in his work primarily focused on the spiritual direction and development of human society and centred on experiences from his travel to and stay in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Henri Bergson, and soon became a strong critic of Western society’s separation of religion from state and what he perceived as its obsession with materialistic pursuits.
SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL REVIVALISM
Iqbal was a strong proponent of the spiritual and political revival of Islamic civilisation and culture. The poetry and philosophy of Maulana Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi, bore the deepest influence on Iqbal’s mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal would begin intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilisation and its political future.
Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of a guide in many of his poems, and his works focused on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilisation, and delivering a message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and among Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the Ummah.
Explaining Khudi
In 1915, Iqbal published his first collection of poetry, Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of the Self), in Persian. The poems delve into the concepts of ego and emphasise the spirit and the Self from a religious and spiritual perspective. Iqbal has gone so deep into the ocean of the Self that it has become difficult for a common person to dive with him to that depth. Various prominent Islamic scholars have defined the complex and complicated concept of Khudi as enunciated by Iqbal in the light of the Quran, Hadith and certain incidents that occurred during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be to him).
To writer and academic Asif Iqbal Khan, the Self by Iqbal is taken to mean a sort of system or unity of psycho-physical experiences. He says: “We may analyse our mental states, at any moment of our life, into certain elementary experiences, which, however, never exist in a vacuum. These experiences are found as parts of an organic unity but this unity does not exist apart from its constituent states.”
Prof Muhammad Munawwar, a prominent Iqbal scholar, notes: “One must think of the highly negative significance in Persian of the word Khudiwith its implications of selfishness, egotism and similar objectionable meanings. Iqbal gives this word a new meaning as Self, Personality, Ego in an absolutely positive meaning.”
Asrar-i-Khudi, Iqbal’s first philosophical poetry book in Persian, deals mainly with the individual and is concerned with the philosophy of religion. The poems emphasise the spirit and the Self from a religious and spiritual perspective.
Rumuz-i-Bekhudi (The Secrets of Selflessness), his second book in Persian published in 1918, discusses the interaction between individual and society.
In Asrar-e-Khudi, considered to be his finest poetic work, Iqbal explains his philosophy of the Self. He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the Self. Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him the aim of life is self-realisation and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the Self has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the Self to become the vicegerent of Allah on earth.
Iqbal believes the answers to essential questions regarding the Self are important in determining morality for both the society and the individual. In Asrar-e-Khudi, he says the system of the universe originates in the Self and the continuation of the life of all individuals depends on strengthening the Self:
“The form of existence is an effect of the Self, / Whatsoever thou seest is a secret of the Self,
When the Self awoke to consciousness. / It revealed the universe of Thought.
A hundred words are hidden in its essence: / Self-affirmation brings not-self to light.”
To Iqbal, Khudi is strengthened by Love:
“The luminous point whose name is the Self / Is the life-spark beneath our dust.
By Love it is made more lasting, / More living, more burning, more glowing.
From Love proceeds the radiance of its being. /And the development of its unknown possibilities.”
Iqbal further says that when the Self is strengthened by Love, it gains dominion over the outward and inward forces of the universe:
“When the Self is made strong by Love / Its power rules the whole world.
The Heavenly Sage who adorned the sky with stars / Plucked these buds from the bough of the Self.
Its hand becomes God’s hand, / The moon is split by its fingers- / It is the arbitrator in all the quarrels of the world.”
Iqbal says that the purpose of the Muslim’s life is to exalt the Word of Allah and that the Jihad, if it be prompted by land-hunger, is unlawful in the sight of Islam:
“Imbue thine heart with the tincture of Allah, / Give honour and glory to Love!
The Muslim’s nature prevails by means of love: / The Muslim, if he be not loving, is an infidel.”
VIEW ON TASAWWUF
Looking at his book the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, a timeless intellectual challenge of the first rank, it appears that Iqbal is inclined to accept mysticism as an experience. It is the nature of mystic experience which has always been a point of discussion among the scholars and Sufis.
Pakistani Islamic scholar Dr Khalid Alavi says Iqbal’s treatment of mysticism is twofold. He accepts mystic experience as a source of knowledge and a useful way of approaching reality. Since his concept of Islam is not of a monastic order, and he perceives Islam as a unifying force between the spiritual and temporal world, so he does not accept a passive attitude. To him “the function of sufism in Islam has been to systematise mystic experience; though it must be admitted, that Ibn-i-Khaldun was the only Muslim who approached it in a thoroughly scientific spirit.”
Iqbal’s philosophy of the purpose of life is Sufi: he defines the human being as Tair-e-Lahooti (a traveller to the Realm of the Unknowable and Unlimited). Lahut is a Sufi term, and the purpose of our Creation is to know and draw near our Lord. This is pure Sufism.
Iqbal has a critical view of mysticism. His criticism is on two different bases. He believes that life is activity, and a person having communication with God cannot be a passive individual. A human being coming in touch with the Supreme Being is illuminated. He becomes a moving spirit in the society. It seems that such an individual is having a burning fire within him and he is part of God’s activity in this world. To him a Sufi is a creative and active agent of Divine will. He criticises those who cause passivity and create inactiveness among the Muslims. He says:
“If a devotee is free, his spiritual stations are self-restraint, self-respect and a shout of joy that “I am the creative truth”.
But if he is subjugated and enslaved, his pantheism shows that he is dead, he himself is a grave, and also a sudden death.”
Iqbal differentiates between Faqr and Rahibi, and condemns monasticism (rahbaniyat). He says:
“Your Islam is something else, because in your view Faqr and monasticism are the same things.
(The fact is) that Faqr is disgusted with monasticism’s love for peace and tranquillity. Faqir’s ship is always in the storms and commotion.”
Iqbal criticises those who favour passivity and create inactiveness among the Muslims. As he says in Armaghan-i-Hijaz:
“If a devotee is free, his spiritual stations are self-restraint, / Self-respect and a shout of joy that “I am the creative truth.
But if he is subjugated and enslaved, his pantheism show that he is dead, / He himself is a grave, and also a sudden death.”
His message to the sufis is very clear:
“Come out of the monasteries and follow the example of Shabbir (martyrdom); for the monastic life is just grief and affliction.
Your religion and morality show signs of monasticism. / This is the state of decay which is the symptom of every dying nation.”
[The writer is a senior journalist based in Singapore; he can be contacted at [email protected]]