Remembering Allama Iqbal

Kaal Babu,

Arz kia hai

Kahin pay nigahain, kahin pay nishana!


Even the ``best and the brightest`` eat the humble pie sometimes…

Re: # 108

I always had a slight suspicion that you had your connection with some good spirits. Do not spill the beans. Keep some for your Easter break :)

#109 nasah

nasha sahib

I will stand for my Khan Baba`s ideology. May be you disagree with Iqbal`s ideology. That you have every right to disagree.

My disagreement with Iqbal is , this man from Punjab(Sialkot/Lahore) fooled everyone about his ideology. His ideology was word to word copy of Khan Baba`s.........
What is Iqbal today is only and only because of Khushal Khan Khattak`s ideology. Allama Iqbal also admired Rumi,but never had his influence. Shaheen, mard-e-momin, ego(khudi), modernism all came from Khan Baba.

Sad thing is majority of NAIVE Pakistani b/c of their own prejudices and narrowmindedness do not want to admit this. But, the fact is fact, we can`t hide the sun with the palm of our hand....................

Majority of Punjabis b/c of their biasedness towards Pushtoons never give recognition to Khan Baba. They only project a Lahorie, called Iqbal who copied all his ideology word by word from Khan Baba`s ideology.

khushal Khan Khattak was born at Akora Khattak district Nowshera in 1613. He was an intelligent and bold person from childhood. His father Shahbaz Khan was killed in a tribal clash on 4th January, 1641. Mughal Emperor Shahjehan was the ruler of India during that period. Shahjehan had great regard for Khushal Khan Khattak due to the guts that he possessed. Khushal Khan Khattak was the ally of Mughals during many adventures and was awarded a Jagir and Lakhs of rupees.

The distances between the Aurangzeb Allamgir and Khushal Khan Khattak increased due to some misunderstandings and the latter was not remained a favorable person near the former personality.

Mahabat Khan who was the governor of Peshawar had tried to keep the relation between Khushal Khan Khattak and Aurangzeb Alamgir and was successful to a great extent. After Mahabat Khan, Syed Amir Khan was appointed as governor Peshawar then the tension increased between Khushal Khan Khattak and Syed Amir Khan, as a result Khushal Khan Khattak was arrested and put behind the bars. Khushal Khan Khattak was later on released and returned to homeland in 1668, but the relations between government and him remained tense. He was a good poet and religious scholar.

He is also called with the name of Baba-e-Pushto. His poetry consists of more than 45,000 poems. According to some historians the number of books written by him is more than 200. But the books, which enjoyed more fame, are Baz Nama, Fazal Nama, Distar Nama and Farrah Nama. The Mazar of Khushal Khan Khattak is situated near the Railway Station of Akora Khattak in Nowshera district.

From Encycolpedia(Khushal Khan Khattak and his poetry)

Inquirer - I partially agree with your desire to dissect certain concepts in Iqbal`s poetry and evaluate their validity and application today. A poet or a philosopher can be influenced by a number of factors: people(intellectuals, thinkers, leaders and poets) and places. All the influencing factors can be even contradictory to each other. He can come up with something completely new while expanding his horizons. In my opinion, his travels gave him new perspectives and insights. Without that, he could not have composed poetry to address a broader audience (Ummah). A lot of his poetry focuses on historical places and significant characters. There is subtle humor, irony and sarcasm in a lot of his poems where he addressed the Muslim youth all over the world.

I find it completely out of line to insult Iqbal by comparing him to Tagore or any other poet under the umbrella of this article. Without hurting your sentiments, I must mention that such comparisons do not qualify for any scholarship, but clearly delineate the insecurity and dementia among some Hindu interactors. On Chowk, majority of the Hindu interactors` scholarship is limited to dissing the significant or insignificant Muslim (with a glorious or humble Hindu/Arab background) characters. That is never going to assist anyone in gaining any understanding, but will definitely propagate the jahalut on board.

Lastly, I do believe that his words and verses were to influence a certain class and its mindset. I am not willing to buy that his language was easily understood by all and sundry. As a thought leader, he must/could have opened the eyes and minds of his audience, made them embrace what they believed in and reject what they didn`t and led them to various paths. I am sure his audience believed in exercising their prerogative.

Regarding his stance on women - As a reader, I`ve never felt that the poet is addressing the male audience. I guess I have never considered a man better or superior so that never became an issue. Let`s put it this way, anyone who thinks that a woman should know of her standing by a poet`s humor or a writer`s wise remark needs to get his head examined. I am sure a man would not determine his worth by Maureen Dowd`s ``Are men necessary?`` I must admit that I would never consult Iqbal to illuminate my mental faculties on feminism. On the contrary, I am not sure if his poetry instigated some kind of machismo among his male audience in our culture. That`s quite a possibility :)

On a serious note - Iqbal`s poetry has many subtle pointers and lessons that are reiterated by the spiritual and business leaders of today in their books. I find that very pleasing.

Regards.

This Punjabi poet, called Iqbal used Khushal Khan Khattak`s ideology and Islamic fundamental and fanatic theme. Khushal Khan Khattack`s Shaheen, khudi and mard-e-momin were never based on Islamic ideology. Khushal Khan Khattak never used or abused Islam as his shield. His own personality was his shield. Khushal Khan Baba was far sighted , he emphasised on modernism and modern day fighting skills.

Iqbal lacked his own ideology , all he was master of copying other`s ideology. Iqbal lacked originality of his thoughts, which Punjabis deny.

Iqbal commited the biggest crime of PALGIARISM. He was never a CREATIVE GENIUS himself. He stole Khan baba`s ideology with out even having a second thought that all he was doing was scholarly dishonesty.

I will openly say, Iqbal is the biggest PALGIARIST of this century. No doubt about it.

#107 by kaalchakra on April 14, 2006 1:20pm PT

It will be great if you or anyone else could summarize Iqbal`s major theoretical and philosophical contributions to advancing human understanding.

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You might find this {http://www.shariati.com/iqbal.html``} to be somewhat close to what you enquired about. A lot of material is out there & Iqbal`s own ``Reconstruction....`` is the most authoritative work , in prose & that too in english, but it is very pithy as well as profound. One has to ``read`` it over over & over again [like Ghalib or Bedil & others] to complement the osmosis-like process along with ones own mental/spiritual development & ``extra-curricula`` studies & readings.

The reference page & site I gave earlier would be sufficient for now. I, personally, believe that poetry is far more `logical` & effective than dry discourse--though it definitely depends on one`s disposition.

``khirad kee gthhiyaaN suljhhaa chukaa meiN
miray maula mujhhay sahib-junooN kar``--Iqbal

O I`ve unravelled the knotty-tentacles of the intellect-logic
My master! give me now the gift of an unbridled passion*

*meaning to become a wild risk-taker, the crazy one who takes the hitherto uncharted route rather than an analyser, an accountant, or a weigher of ``benefits/losses``{ in short you-know-which-type}

Ali Shariati writes:

........``The greatest advice of Iqbal to humanity is: Have a heart like Jesus, thought like Socrates, and a hand like the hand of a Caesar, but all in one human being, in one creature of humanity, based upon one spirit in order to attain one goal. That is, to be like Iqbal himself: A man who attains the height of political awareness in his time to the extent that some people believe him to be solely a political figure and a liberated, nationalist leader who is a 20th century anti-colonialist. A man who, in philosophical thought, rises to such a high level that he is considered to be a contemporary thinker and philosopher of the same rank as Bergson in the West today or of the same level as Ghazzali in Islamic history``
.......

Ali Shariati: on Iqbal

http://www.shariati.com/iqbal.html

It might interest you to know:
1) He was a calligraphist par-exellence. In fact better than the professional who composed his collection. He got them done under his personal supervision & reviewed each letter & emended & edited as well. This despite the fact that he only one of his eyes worked. The other was `false`, after a childhood illness.

2) He had a tremendous voice & was an amazing reciter with tarranuum.

3) He was the first poet who started public poetry reading. Before him poetry was only read among poets themselves. It was an considered an insult by the arts-pursuers to read, sing, or dance to entertain non-practioners.i.e general public. Iqbal, other than the mushairas of his forming years, never ever went for vah vah mushairas.[only once in Lucknow he was roped in & ridiculed thoroughly for his innovative `poetry`]. He also did not consider himself a poet & wanted to spend his time more ``actively``

4) He was failed on medical grounds for the civil service

5) He was awarded a doctorate for the work which he had already done before he left for higher studies. He also remarked later that that tract had lots of `loose-ends` & `mistakes` which he wanted to clear up later. That is why he discouraged those who wanted to translate it.

6) His first book, even when he was a student, was on economics. It was the standard elementary economics texbook at least in the undivided Panjab for a long time.

7) He was a bar-at-law & practised law--but he was ``lazy`` in that he had set himself a certain amount to earn a month. If that amount he would make in the first few days then he would not take any more assignment. He, despite a nagging wife called him alazy & good-for-nothing [she was college graduate--eeenglish-knowing ] enforced the rule.

8) His sense of humour & his ``popularity`` with women. Unlike our melodramatic poets who croon for the ones beyond their reach, Iqbal was always a Krishna among gopis. Yet he also was not a lecher or an exploiter. The poetry composed by a bevy of german girls who surrounded him on his farewell picnic showering him with flower-petals. Strangley, no men were invited. the poem he has written for the young daughter of some-singh, a raja--the girl later became India`s most famous painter then { I`m forgetting the name of the Raja & his two daughters--sometime when Dilip Singh returned from France]. the poem is ``Voh must naaz jo Gulshan meiN jaa nikaltee hai...``

9) He was a member of parliament: His debates there are a treat to read for their humour, law, history, culture & clarity.

10) His role for an independent home for muslims ( not necessarily partion--I stay away from these subjects) has been greater, behind the scenes, than that of Jinnah . It is important to not that throughout he was clean & clear with no ambigousness & mealy mouthedness of a barrister or politician...one visage for public & another one for ``intellectuals & PaRRhay-likhhays``.

11) He was very much involved in establishing the education system of Afghanistan.

12) His pro-active role in curbing & curtailing the Quadiani collaboration with Nehru is evident from his letters & missives.

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And all this was happening when his family life was never ever peaceful & his involvement in all those matters personally & still retain his sanity is truly mind-boggling.

Kalachakra:Further to #108

..........[the poem he has written for the young daughter of some-singh, a raja--the girl later became India`s most famous painter then { I`m forgetting the name of the Raja & his two daughters--sometime when Dilip Singh returned from France]. the poem is ``Voh must naaz jo Gulshan meiN jaa nikaltee hai.].........

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Here I found the sikh girl. Amrita shergil!, daughter of Umrao Singh. This link givers her picture as well.


http://hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/06/02/stories/2002060200280400.htm

Re: # 117

Zeena:

Why don`t you post some from Khushal Khan Khattak transliteration and Enlgish translations also?

I find Iqbal intriguing because of his Kashmiri Brahmin ancestory, and his ``Saare jahan se accha.... `` and then his turn around from Pakistan.

Anil

my dear Zeena -- you are a little too harsh on Iqbal --

an intellectual is not an island -- an intellectual without influencing intellects of others is a village idiot -- Iqbal was a man who took so much from both East and West -- yet was indeed a uniquely ORIGINAL poet --

he was influenced by many currents and counter currents during his life time. His poetic genius was that he clothed Urdu with a new language of poetry that poor Urdu prior to Iqbal had never experienced before...

for example -- now who could enclose an ocean of Darwin`s Evolution with added Mutation -- in one couplet in Urdu -- or in any language of any advanced or less advanced culture:

hazaaroN saal nargis apni bay noori pe rotee hai
kaheeN tub jaa kay hota hai chaman meiN deedawar paidaa.....

now we wouldn`t call Iqbal Plagiarizing Darwin`s concept of Evolution --

Iqbal was NOT --``the biggest plagiarist of the century`` --

Iqbal`s ``kum naseebi`` was that all his genius of poetic ``Nai-nawazi`` did him NO GOOD -- when he entered the gutters of MIXING Religion with Politics......

in his poetic naivety Iqbal wished if he could produce a Muslim `Murde Momin` -- in the mold of all powerful European Fascist `Superman` -- in other words a kind of an Islamic Mussolini.....that will once again conquer and rule the world from Sumatra to Spain.....for Islam.

in the process Iqbal messed himself up by tearing his Indian and Punjabi roots -- opted for Hijaz and Cordoba instead of Sialkot and Gujranewala -- messed himself politically and messed up his community into Aadha Teetar-Aadhi Batair Muslims -- jo ghar kay nu rahay ghat kay ........for decades to come.....

in other words -- in his poetic naivety Iqbal wished if he could produce a Muslim `Murde Momin` -- what Iqbal ended up producing was a ``Murderer-e Momin``.......

Dear Nasah, Rsridhar, BJKumar, NHK, Zeena etc

Guys,

I feel obliged to read your posts.

Thanks for making my day.

Ashwani

Hindus and Muslims of India and their unities and strifes are much like elephant in that children`s story in which five blind men are trying to figure out by groping different body parts of the pachyderm. The accident of which body part they happened to have access informed them and based on which people like Jinnah and Iqbal formed their ideas. These people were not supermen. They had limited lifespan and limited intellectual span. Once they became old they were incapable of revising their views which by that time had become solidified and which had at that time lions share of most recent influence they received.

Evolution will someday let men live more than 200 years and make them less averse to revisions of their views. But that is in future. When that future arrives it would be even more difficult to analyze as to what these people really stood for. If Iqbal was fickle then he would have changed more often in 200 years` lifespan. I guess in such circumstance the people to whom they provided leadership would be forced to discover what they ``really`` stood for from many twists and turns of their evolving ideas. So you we are back to where we were: that you have to think through with your own mind and separate wheat from chaff. Which anyways everyone should do. No matter how much you are in love with a thinker, accepting his ideas requires basic minimum thinking on your part. Noone can do the hard work of your thinking except you.

Re: # 117

With all due respect Zeena, Iqbal has had more research done on him by both desis and orientalists than any other Urdu poet by far; the literature on him is huge and, having read quite a bit of the literature on him, there has never been this ludicrous suggestion made by anyone that he plagiarised Khushal Khan Khattak`s ideas.

He was influenced more by Nietzsche than any Pushtun writer. As for his imagery it is taken from the classical Persian poetic tradition.

*rolls eyes*

echoboom

That rasik kanhaiya persona of Iqbal isn`t common knowledge. Who would have imagined him serenading Amrita Shergil!!

A very humanizing and wonderful facet of Iqbal`s life. Thanks for the info.

Kalachakra:126
Well maybe it is not so simple & ordinary

She & her sister were only in their early teens when Iqbal took them to show the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore. Umrao Singh had made a personal request. Umrao himself was an accomplished & acknowledged litterati (?) & a great afficiondo of Urdu farsi & particularly of Iqbal.

Amrita, in a rush of her love & admiration for Iqbal plucked a flower and presented it to him. Iqbal composed this poem right there, jotted it down , recited , and later presented itto her.

Those who understand urdu a bit above the average and are also familiar with the poetic urdu will surely notice the refrain of his transparently-innocuous love/passion.

re: echoboom # 127

Very interesting! As proof of my ignorance, I had placed Iqbal and Amrita Shergil in different eras!

Iqbal seemingly had the same kind of appeal to women as did Hemingway :)