Muslims ‘Unveiled’

naqhbandi

have you ever visited `islamic republic of dewsbury`, i`ve been there couple of times. honestly i`ve seen more niqabs there than in pakistan.

Morse Code:193
Second Para:

``The issue is not ...........people are allowed to be muslim ........ we allow for this and donot start meetings a...... allowed t..........allowed to flourish.

No matter how much I rant against the Cantonement & Colony Kuttaa mentality..the desire to be leashed and petted & patted lovingly just never leaves the gene-pool.

``If the Mullah is allowed to prostrate in India*
The simpleton believes Islam has been freed.............................Iqbal

*(british India)

---

Third Para

What has troubled people here is that, despite all the facilities and freedoms, muslims think of themselves as seperate from the larger community in U.K. This has resulted in them taking to killing their country people........

So is there an inner walled city and cantonements & colony dwellings in Britain? Should muslims be living only far far away from the madding crowd...like the Britto Baboons did and now the Bruno-Baboons do? Not to mix with the ``natives`` the ``aborgines`` (celts, saxons etc)?

---

Fourth Para

...``at this exclusiveness is vocalised by a verbose set of people. That this vocalisation is not rejected by the majority of the muslims, comes across as silent acquiessence of these ideas -.........``

Intellectuals & academia, your & my kind of ``elite``, are ALWAYS in a minority anywhere & they are the ones most VERBOSE & LOUD..the rest of the world is as completely Jahil, ignorant, and evil as Blair & Bush

---

Fifth Para

.....us my reading of Straw`s article, Blair`s intervention, and Reids speech is precisely this, it is a warning across the bow........

Well the muslims are not there just to learn..they are there to teach as well...and all teaching always does not come from the pen and speech. THose who have become habitual to be served by slaves & colonised minds do not easily ALLOW their own brains to be operated upon easily.....Their brains need to be numbed & not necessarily by anaesthesia.

Thanks for the info on Zeb un Nisa Begum; but don`t make the mistake of interpreting her work and poetry as anti-Islamic. Such metaphors are rife in Islamic mysticism and not mean to be against Shariat. Also, her illustrious father was a great saint-king and she was his favourite.

my bengali friend made a statement which i think applies to all immigrants:

by coming here our parents (or grand-parents) made a choice: they would accept economic wellbeing at the expense of their own culture and traditions--if not for themselves or their children, certainly for their children`s children. a comfy lifestyle for cultural and religious suicide.

Recently on the DM Islamic Channel, Huzoor Qibla Pir Sayyid Naseeruddin Naseer, gaddinasheen of Golra Sharif and great-grandson of Huzoor Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah sahib, whilst on a visit to the UK was asked by a viewer that our children are becoming increasingly westernised and what can we do. His reply was direct and candid, he said (in Urdu): Why are you complaining? You have chosen to live here and it is inevitable. Even in our countries people are becoming westernised so why do you act surpised when it happens here?`

[BTW Pir Sahib would be my candidate for the role of Consitutional Caliph of pakistan but that is another essay and another topic].

Re: --_-- post # 193:

I agree with what you`ve written 100%. i think though that even when the silent majority make their point known it is not heard; the main reason being that they have no spokespeople for them. the so called representatives like the MCB are not representative--rather they have been shown to be overwhelmingly wahabis/tablighi/ikhwanis in ideology and as such don`t represent most muslims. i think there needs to be a single muslim body which represents the muslim mainstream. the problem is that the leaders of the mainstream muslims are mostly elders from indo-pak who have v little command of english, or are embroiled in their own petty tussles about mosque committees, chairmainships etc, and not `with it`. this creates a vacuum and a problem...

PM -- that is precisely my point: the niqab--NOT the headscarf (in Britain at least, so far)--is seen as being deliberately `obstrusive, in your face, expression of islam -the `we are different from you` and we don`t give a shit` syndrome made cloth if you like.

since not wearing it to work doesn`t make one a lesser muslim i really don`t see the point of
making it a big issue. others are using this issue for political purposes--to gather votes since many middle class and working class people feel that their country is being `over-run` and their culture attacked (even though the stats don`t back them up). what people perceive is more important than what the reality is since that influences their decisions. politicians have woken up to this latent feeling--fuelled, i might add by the UKs stupid easy immigration policy of the past where any tom dick and harry (or usually abdul, jaswinder and john ndoodo!) has been able to come here and then decide not to fit in. i think that british born muslims are just feeling the fall out from this. white people think their country is being taken over by darkies and they don`t like it. since stupidities like 9/11 and 7/7, the war on iraq and afghanistan and the media`s massive coverage of mad wahabis like abu hamza have made muslims in the spotlight continuously, this anti immigration feeling is manifested as predominantly anti muslim. however in between when no islamic stuff is on the news, the british press is full of horror stories of how the poles and the eastern europeans are flooding our country and taking all the white working classes jobs!

i was speaking to my bengali friend last night and we agreed that muslims are being gently coerced into becoming culturally British; the Brits are finally doing what the French have always insisted on: if you want to be a citizen de la Republic, you must become culturally Francophile. now the English, who used to pooh-pooh this French approach and champion multiculturalism, are following suit.

having said this, 99.9% of muslims here will never leave and will do whatever is necessary to fit in and be accepted. as a teacher, i see young muslim students every day and apart from the colour of their skins or their names, in their behaviour they are virtually indistinguishable from their peers. they most certainly do not act like those who come from a muslim country!

the problem is with the tiny percentage who refuse to fit in. they are usually clueless about islam when they go to uni and end up being easy prey, for a term or two, to extremists like hizb ut tahrir (whom i would ban) and other such dickheads. these tiny few are v. vocal and get all the media coverage which leads to fall out on muslims in general.

no doubt some politicians have seen that playing up the fear of the mad moslems is a vote winner so they use it.

i`ve rambled on for a bit. my conclusion is that muslims have to accept that this is not an islamic country, that they must respect local traditions and at the same time stick up for their legitimate rights as citizens where they are equal to any one else.

Re: # 191
I know Asif will answer this question himself. But as a Briton, let me add my tuppence worth here as well.

your quote:
``a deliberately obtrusive, in-your-face expression of Muslim differentness -- is the problem``

The issue is not one of deliberate in-your-face-expression of muslimness. That has never been a problem - for example if you go around the airports you will find special services/facilities available for muslims, a fair number of cafeterias in work place do offer halal food if required, people are allowed to be muslim - they can take time off for theirprayers etc (I know this since at my place of work we allow for this and donot start meetings around those times etc). Special Urdu and arabic pamphlets, translators etc - even for people having lived in thiscountry for more than 20 years.People are allowed to express themselves as the feel fit and are free to do what they feel and think is appropriate for themselves (short of causing actual physical harm to anybody). Walk around Bolton, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bradford, London etc you will see muslimness is not suppressed but allowed to flourish.

However, this also requires equal generosity from the muslim side. Whether this has been the case or not is something which needs thought.

What has troubled people here is that, despite all the facilities and freedoms, muslims think of themselves as seperate from the larger community in U.K. This has resulted in them taking to killing their country people in the name of some extra territorial loyalty. There are a lot of people agitated with lot of the palestinians, but you donot see them bombing the streets, but muslims have. You see a vast majority of people working and being political within the system, but you donot see them outright rejecting this system and asking for a revolution to replace it and not only that carrying out out activities which attempts to do it.
You might find people who say they are ashamed to be british, but the bottom line in the end they agree that they are british. They do not suggest that they are christian, animist r pagan first, second and last.

Again remember that this exclusiveness is vocalised by a verbose set of people. That this vocalisation is not rejected by the majority of the muslims, comes across as silent acquiessence of these ideas - this acquiessence could be a result of intellectual laziness or coersion. If it is due to coersion it is far more insidious and needs drastic and dramatic actions. If it is due to intellectual laziness, then it needs prodding to come out of its lull.

Thus my reading of Straw`s article, Blair`s intervention, and Reids speech is precisely this, it is a warning across the bows, the image coming across is not one which the majority feel comfortable with. If the intelligentia and the silent majority of muslims donot recognise this and carry on in their silent acquiessence, the result will be Asif bold statement, and I quote ``integrate or emigrate (or be terminated).``. And integration will no longer be free and will carry with it some real visible (tangible) giving up from the muslim side.

Anyway have written more than my quota for the day......

ballukhan: Thanks for the informative posts on the Taliban`s reported hypocrisy back @ #148-150.

Asif, you write:
[[#175 by Naqshbandi : I don`t like Blair or his policies but the operative sentence in that article was ``[The veil] makes people feel uncomfortable``
--That is the point. whether the wearer feels so or not, if this is how it is perceived by the majority then you`ve got to do something. in the long run there will be two options: integrate or emigrate (or be terminated). ]]]

That should not be the point. Discomfort is never a good measure of justice, esp. when the discomfort caused is not physical or ``direct``. Using this reasoning, one could have, in only the recent past, outlawed any expression of, say, gayness (including statements and political debate on the matter.)

I think you`d be on firmer ground taking the stance that what echo and some others here are advocating -- a deliberately obtrusive, in-your-face expression of Muslim differentness -- is the problem. And you are better suited than any of them to comment on whether you think its a problem and an example of overkill than any of them, being a Briton yourself.

Worth repeating:

[[[[#178 by arjun2 on October 17, 2006 5:39pm PT
It`s not about the veil.. It`s about the integration... If brit-pakis were well integrated into british society this wouldn`t even be an issue. Now you have Brit-Pakis who`re killing and planning to kill a whole bunch of british and non-british citizens because of what they perceive as an injustice against people who live in far away lands but happen to share their faith. ]]]]

(T) (T)

Why should we but in the assembly pray?
Only when friends are gathered call for wine?
Lo, I have done with this hypocrisy,
And ever pray and drink the cup divine.

The fountain of my spirit has run dry,
So that in tears no more my sorrow flows,
Mute is the heart that wailed continuously,
Silent the bulbul in the garden-close.

Here, as we tread the pilgrim`s way, we find
The torch of inspiration like a fire,
Men see it not, so dull they are and blind,
They yearn not for the garments of desire.

To each was given on the Creation-day
His fitting portion, his appointed share,
Why should`st thou then demand from destiny
More joy than others have, less pain to bear?

O Makhfi, for thy counsel all have come.
Their secrets thou has kept concealed, apart,
But why should`st thou, who for their sakes art dumb,
Tell shamelessly the secrets of thy heart? [p.82]

Zeb-un-Nissa was a true sufi - not a mullah loving literalist like Aurangzeb from the darbari sufi sects..........it is pity that she does not find any mention in Pakistan`s historiography because she revolts against the idea of a strong women who is not subservient to the mullah masochism!!

................

http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=22401010&ct=4

But the poems of Zeb-un-Nissa, in addition to what they share with other Sufic poetry, have a special Indian flavour of their own. She inherited the Akbar tradition of the unification of religions, and knew not only Islam, but Hin­duism and Zoroastrianism also. Her special triumph consists in that she weaves together the religious traditions and harmonizes them with Sufic practices. In some of her poems she hails the sun as the symbol of deity. Con­stantly she speaks of the mosque and the temple together or antithetically—saying that God is equally in both, or too great to be worshipped in either:—

No Muslim I,
But an idolater,
I bow before the image of my Love,
And worship her:

No Brahman I,
My sacred thread
I cast away, for round my neck I wear
Her plaited hair instead.

Sometimes she even combines the Hindu and Musulman idea:

In the mosque I seek my idol-shrine.

On the Day of Judgment we should have had much difficulty in proving that we were true believers, had we not brought with us our belovèd Kafir idol as a witness.

The glorification or adoration of the pir, or spiritual teacher, is also shown in her poems. He is the intermediary between God and man, and is sometimes symbolized as the Morning Breeze, bringing from the enclosed garden the fragrance to those, less privileged, who can only stand without the gate.

The Diwan-i-Makhfi is widely read in India, and is highly esteemed. Its verse is chanted in the ecstatic concourses which meet at festivals at the tombs of celebrated saints; so that, although her tomb has been despoiled of the splendour which befitted the resting-place of a Mogul princess, she has the immortality she perhaps would have desired. In one of her verses she says:—I am the daughter of a King, but I have taken the path of renunciation, and this is my glory, as my name Zeb-un-Nissa, being interpreted, means that I am the glory of womankind.

Re: # 176

Zeb-un-Nissa was the poor sufi daughter of that mullah emperor Aurangzeb.......her poetry shines through the dark period of Aurangzeb..........

She had been betrothed by the wish of Shah Jehan, her grandfather, to Suleiman Shikoh, who was her cousin and son of Dara Shikoh; but Aurungzebe, who hated and feared Dara, was unwilling that the marriage should take place, and caused the young prince to be poisoned. She had many other suitors for her hand, but she demanded that she should see the princes and test their attainments before a match was arranged. One of those who wished to marry her was Mirza Farukh, son of Shah Abbas II of Iran; she wrote to him to come to Delhi so that she might see what he was like. The record remains of how he came with a splendid retinue, and was feasted by Zeb-un-Nissa in a pleasure-house in her garden, while she waited on him with her veil upon her face. He asked for a certain sweetmeat in words which, by a play of language, also meant a kiss, and Zeb-un-Nissa, affronted, said: “Ask for what you want from our kitchen.” She told her father that, in spite of the prince’s beauty and rank, his bearing did not please her, and she refused the marriage. Mirza Farukh, however, sent her this verse: “I am determined never to leave this temple; here will I bow my head, here will I prostrate myself, here will I serve, and here alone is happiness.” Zeb-un-Nissa answered: “How light dost thou esteem this game of love, O child. Nothing dost thou know of the fever of longing, and the fire of separation, and the burning flame of love.” And so he returned to Persia without her.

She enjoyed a great deal of liberty in the palace: she wrote to many learned men of her time, and held discussions with them. She was a great favourite with her uncle Dara Shikoh, who was a scholar and wide-minded and enlightened. To him she modestly attributed her verses when first she began to write, and many of the ghazals in the Diwan of Dara Shikoh are by her. She came out in the court, and helped in her father’s councils, but always with the veil upon her face. Perhaps she liked the metaphor of the face hidden till the day when the Divine Belovèd should come; perhaps life behind carven lattices had a charm for her; for her pen-name is Makhfi, the hidden one. Once Nasir Ali said this verse: “O envy of the moon, lift up thy veil and let me enjoy the wonder of thy beauty.” She answered:—

I will not lift my veil,—
For, if I did, who knows?
The bulbul might forget the rose,
The Brahman worshipper
Adoring Lakshmi’s grace
Might turn, forsaking her,
To see my face;
My beauty might prevail.
Think how within the flower
Hidden as in a bower
Her fragrant soul must be,
And none can look on it;
So me the world can see
Only within the verses I have writ—
I will not lift the veil.

She was deeply religious, but she was a Sufi, and did not share her father’s cold and narrow orthodoxy. One day she was walking in the garden, and, moved by the beauty of the world around her, exclaimed, “Four things are necessary to make me happy—wine and flowers and a running stream and the face of the Belovèd.” Again and again she recited the couplet; suddenly she came upon Aurungzebe, on a marble platform under a tree close by, wrapt in meditation. She was seized with fear, thinking he might have heard her profane words; but, as if she had not noticed him, she went on chanting as before, but with the second line changed, “Four things are necessary for happiness—prayers and fasting and tears and repentance!”

She belonged, like her father, to the Sunni sect of Musulmans, and was well versed in con­troversial religious points. One of Aurungzebe’s sons, Muhammad Ma’uzam, was a Shiah, and when sectarian disputes took place in the court the prin­cess was often asked to settle them. Her decision in one dispute is famous, for it was copied and sent to Iran and Turan, and many scores of Begums are said to have been converted to the Sunni cause on that occasion. At first she took great pleasure in the Tazia celebrations, but gave them up at her father’s wish when he came to the throne, and adopted a simpler form of faith.

Much of her personal allowance of four lakhs a year she used in encouraging men of letters, in providing for widows and orphans, and in sending every year pilgrims to Mecca and Medina. She collected a fine library and employed skilled caligraphers to copy rare and valuable books for her; and, as Kashmir paper and Kashmir scribes were famous for their excellence, she had a scriptorium also in that province, where work went on constantly. Her personal interest in the work was great, and every morning she went over the copies that had been made on the previous day. She had contemporary fame as a poet, and literary men used to send their works for her approval or criticism, and she rewarded them according to their merits.

In personal appearance she is described as being tall and slim, her face round and fair in colour, with two moles, or beauty-spots, on her left cheek. Her eyes and abundant hair were very black, and she had thin lips and small teeth. In Lahore Museum is a contemporary portrait, which corresponds to this description. She did not use missia for blackening between the teeth, nor antimony for darkening her eye­lashes, though this was the fashion of her time. Her voice was so beautiful that when she read the Koran she moved her hearers to tears. In dress she was simple and austere; in later life she always wore white, and her only ornament was a string of pearls round her neck. She is held to have invented a woman’s garment, the angya kurti, a modification, to suit Indian conditions, of the dress of the women of Tur­kestan; it is now worn all over India. She was humble in her bearing, courteous, patient, and philosophic in enduring trouble; no one, it is said, ever saw her with a ruffled forehead. Her chief friend was a girl named Imami, a poet like herself. Zeb-un-Nissa was skilled in the use of arms, and several times took part in war.

In the beginning of 1662 Aurungzebe was taken ill, and, his physicians prescribing change of air, he took his family and court with him to Lahore. At that time Akil Khan, the son of his vizier, was governor of that city. He was famous for his beauty and bravery, and was also a poet. He had heard of Zeb-un-Nissa, and knew her verses, and was anxious to see her. On pretence of guarding the city, he used to ride round the walls of the palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. One day he was fortunate; he caught sight of her on the house­top at dawn, dressed in a robe of gulnar, the colour of the flower of the pomegranate. He said, “A vision in red appears on the roof of the palace.” She heard and answered, com­pleting the couplet: “Supplications nor force nor gold can win her.” She liked Lahore as a residence, and was laying out a garden there: one day Akil Khan heard that she had gone with her companions to see a marble pavilion which was being built in it. He disguised himself as a mason, and, carrying a hod, managed to pass the guards and enter. She was playing chausar with some of her girl friends, and he, passing near, said: “In my longing for thee I have become as the dust wandering round the earth.” She understood and answered imme­diately: “Even if thou hadst become as the wind, thou shouldst not touch a tress of my hair.” They met again and again, but some rumour reached the ears of Aurungzebe, who was at Delhi, and he hastened back. He wished to hush up the matter by hurrying her into marriage at once. Zeb-un-Nissa demanded free­dom of choice, and asked that portraits of her suitors should be sent to her; and chose naturally that of Akil Khan. Aurungzebe sent for him; but a disappointed rival wrote to him: “It is no child’s play to be the lover of a daughter of a king. Aurungzebe knows your doings; as soon as you come to Delhi, you will reap the fruit of your love.” Akil Khan thought the Emperor planned revenge. So, alas for poor Zeb-un-Nissa! at the critical moment her lover proved a coward; he declined the marriage, and wrote to the king resigning his service. Zeb-un-Nissa was scornful and disappointed, and wrote: “I hear that Akil Khan has left off paying homage to me”—or the words might also mean, “has resigned service”—“on account of some foolishness.” He answered, also in verse, “Why should a wise man do that which he knows he will regret?” (Akil also means, a wise man). But he came secretly to Delhi to see her again, perhaps regretting his fears. Again they met in her garden; the Emperor was told and came unexpectedly, and Zeb-un-Nissa, taken unawares, could think of no hiding-place for her lover but a deg, or large cooking-vessel. The Emperor asked, “What is in the deg?” and was answered, “Only water to be heated.” “Put it on the fire, then,” he ordered; and it was done. Zeb-un-Nissa at that moment thought more of her reputation than of her lover, and came near the deg and whispered, “Keep silence if you are my true lover, for the sake of my honour.” One of her verses says, “What is the fate of a lover? It is to be cruci­fied for the world’s pleasure.” One wonders if she thought of Akil Khan’s sacrifice of his life.

After this she was imprisoned in the fortress of Salimgarh, some say because her father dis­trusted her on account of her friendship with her brother, Prince Akbar, who had revolted against him; others say because of her sympathy with the Mahratta chieftain Sivaji. There she spent long years, and there she wrote much bitter poetry:—

So long these fetters cling to my feet! My friends have become enemies, my relations are strangers to me.

What more have I to do with being anxious to keep my name undishonoured when friends seek to disgrace me?

Seek not relief from the prison of grief, O Makhfi; thy release is not politic.

O Makhfi, no hope of release hast thou until the Day of Judgment come.

Even from the grave of Majnun the voice comes to my ears—“O Leila, there is no rest for the victim of love even in the grave.”

I have spent all my life, and I have won nothing but sorrow, repentance, and the tears of unfulfilled desire:—

Long is thine exile, Makhfi, long thy yearning,
Long shalt thou wait, thy heart within thee burning,
Looking thus forward to thy home-returning.
But now what home hast thou, unfortunate?
The years have passed and left it desolate,
The dust of ages blows across its gate.

If on the Day of Reckoning
God say, “In due proportion I will pay
And recompense thee for thy suffering,”
Lo, all the joys of heaven it would outweigh;
Were all God’s blessings poured upon me, yet
He would be in my debt.

When her memory was becoming dim in the hearts of her friends, Nasir Ali alone thought of her, and wrote a poem to her, saying that, now, the world could not delight in her presence, and he himself had to go about the earth unhappy, having no one but himself to appreciate his verses. But she sent no answering word.

When she was released she lived solitary in Delhi, and the verses she wrote there are very melancholy, telling of the faithlessness of the times:—

Why shouldst thou, O Makhfi, complain of friends, or even of enemies? Fate has frowned upon thee from the beginning of time.

Let no one know the secrets of thy love. On the way of love, O Makhfi, walk alone. Even if Jesus seek to be thy companion, tell him thou desirest not his comradeship.

Here is one of her saddest poems, expressing something of the tragedy of her life:—

O idle arms,
Never the lost Beloved have ye caressed:
Better that ye were broken than like this
Empty and cold eternally to rest.

O useless eyes,
Never the lost Beloved for all these years
Have ye beheld: better that ye were blind
Than dimmed thus by my unavailing tears.

O foolish springs,
That bring not the Beloved to my abode;
Yea, all the friends of youth have gone from me,
Each has set out on his appointed road.

O fading rose,
Dying unseen as hidden thou wert born;
So my heart’s blossom fallen in the dust
Was ne’er ordained His turban to adorn.

She died in 1689 after seven days’ illness, and was buried in her garden at Nawakot, near Lahore, according to the instructions she left. The tomb is desolate now, although once it was made of fine marbles, and had over its dome a pinnacle of gold; it was ruined in the troublous times of the dissolution of the Mogul Empire. The great gate still stands, large enough for an elephant with a howdah to enter, and within the enclosure is a tower with four minarets, roofed with turquoise and straw-yellow tiles. But the garden that was in its time very splendid, being held second only to that of the Shalimar of Shah Jehan, has dis­appeared; and the walls rise up now from the waving fields of grain.

24/7 focus on Islamisim on Fox, CNN and BBC is a free publicity campaign of Islam. More you talk of ban on Marijuana, more marijuana seekers will you find in the streets. ;)

Regardless of the religious, social, symbolical debate on the topic of veil and my opinion that largely deviates from traditional islamic view on viel, I will like to mention that these goras want to raise this topic (and similar topics like sanctity of prophethood, respect of Quran etc.) again and again to make muslim less sensitive about their religious beliefs. And there is no need to necome less sensitive on these issues. Even if All muslims convert to Christianity/Atheism and all Barhamans embrace each and every bit of western civilization, status quo in modern world will never allow them to be equal to goras in gora eyes.


So Muslims should keep on protesting against any unwanted advice from Goras, they should keep on burning KFCs (even if it seems stupid) and keep on showing that our religious beliefs are our issue and we are more than violent when someone makes an effort to change it for his own benefits.

Not that, I want muslims to remain semi cannibels as they are today. I want them to become civilized. But civilized doesn`t mean westernised. Neither is west civilized nor more human. Mongols used to do it with sword, Goras do it using cool words like UN, democracy and Human rights.

Muslims should define their own definition of being moderate and civilized (No Musharraf, Abdullah and Karzai are needed for that). Islamic movements of rationalism provide enough material for muslims scholars to define these terms. Once they define it, progress towards becoming modern should continue keeping in mind that respect for prophethood, quran and islam remains intact during the process.

Would like to Quote Iqbal for the change of taste here:

Azadi e Afkar say hay un ki tabahi
Rakhtay nahin jo fikr o tadabbur ka saleeqa

Ho fikr agar kham to azadi e afkar
Insan ko hivan bananay ka tareeqa


and:

Pukhta afkar kahan dhoondnay jayay koi
iss zamanay ki hava rakhti hay her cheez ko kham

Madarassa aql ko azad to karta hay
Chore daita hay khayalat ko bay rabt o nizam

Murda La deeni e afkar say afrang main ishq
Aql bay rabti e afkar say mashriq main ghulam.

#158 by VRV

He`s a scholar-politician. I read his speech as prez of 1930 AIML. He`s a diff breed altogether. In India he`s limited to Sare Jahan se achcha......song, unfortunately.

Below is what he said in that speech:

``At critical moments in their history, it is Islam that has saved Muslims and not vice versa``.

(Allama Iqbal, December 1930 Presidential address All India Muslim League.)