Allama Iqbal- Is he still relevant?

Iqbal`s ambivalence toward democracy is understandable. The 1920s and 30s were traumatic for the democracies because of the Great Depression. Dictatorial regimes especially Germany and Japan witnessed unprecedented growth in industrial and military power during this period.

It seems Iqbal couldn`t make up his mind whether he preferred the freedoms of democracy to the economic efficiency of dictatorship, or vice versa. Perhaps if he had lived to see the end of WW2, this choice would have been easier to make for him.

Yasser,

I think this discussion is incomplete without an analysis of Iqbal`s concept of Khudi. This concept is equally applicable to an individual as to a nation. In Asrar-e-Khudi, he has described the various stages of a person graduating to higher levels of self-realization and self-perfection. These stages suggest that the self-conscious and conscientious individual/nation is essentially an ``evolutionary`` creature.

This evolutionary nature of Khudi lends itself to application in democracy, governance, religious reconstruction. Because these are evolutionary in nature too.

Jahan-e-taaza ki afkar-e-taaza se hai namood,
Ke Sang-o-Khisht se hotay nahin jahan paida

Endurance and unity are essential for self-actualization because Iqbal believed the Khudi of one individual reinforces the Khudi of others in society. When one person defies a military general for the sake of his principles, others in society also follow suit and thereby validate the defiance of the first person.

more importantly, is jinnah relevant?

Reward for killing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani traders on Thursday announced a reward of Rs 10 million for anyone who beheads Salman Rushdie, following Britain’s decision to award the novelist a knighthood. The announcement came during a protest by 200 traders at Aabpara market, Islamabad, an AFP photographer said. “We will give Rs 10 million to anyone who beheads Rushdie,” the secretary general of the Islamabad traders association, Ajmal Baluch, told the cheering crowd. He also called on Islamic countries to boycott British products in protest at the honour to Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses. afp

New Rushdie protests after Britain defends award

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Muslim anger flared Thursday after Britain defended Salman Rushdie’s knighthood, with fresh protests against the novelist and Pakistani clerics bestowing a title on Osama bin Laden in response.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Indian Kashmir and Pakistan, while Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, criticised the timing of the honour. ...

The Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2,000 scholars, said it had given Al-Qaeda chief Bin Laden its “highest title for a Muslim warrior.”

“We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah (sword of Allah) to Osama bin Laden after the British government’s decision to bestow the title of ‘Sir’ on blasphemer Rushdie,” council chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi told AFP.

Bin Laden has been blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. He is widely believed to be hiding on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Later Afzal Sahi — the speaker of the Punjab province assembly and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League party that backs President Pervez Musharraf — said during a debate that he would obey his duty as a Muslim to murder Rushdie. “If this man comes in front of me I will definitely kill him,” he said.

Manto: a helpful tip...stay away from KFC tomorrow....

YLH:
This all that matters:



and


Lahore protestors burning the Danish flag after cartoons were published in Jyllands Posten

and


Protesters in Lahore burn the Union Jack.
Photo: AP

Iqbal`s poetry (lofty words, but mediocre ideas) is as irrelevant as the Constitution of Pakistan. Got my point?
Now, go and make your life a bit more useful
CIAO

Here are some additional pictures to add more context:




and

Pew,

U cant wait for a couple of days till the subjet/article is discussed? Are u a one-trick pony or an illiterate who cant read the text and context of the article?

Re: # 14 Folio
I like cutting to the chase. Thanks

Considering as Naqshi says the majority is satisfied with food, clothing & shelter & would be happy to be left alone, democracy doesnt have that much to recommend it (except for the alternative!) Heard a guy recently who has studied the wisdom of the collective on the internet & came to the conclusion that the collective is generally stupid.
Its not elitism to note this just realism.
Democracy certainly does not confer some magical moral authority on a people as many have come to believe.

Folio,

Thanks for your concern addressed to pew-research... Unlike yourself, Pew research suffers from deep seated insecurities about India. (A proud Indian would never take pride in 1 billion strong India over taking 80 million strong Germany in consumption in 2025). The best thing to do is ignore such people.

Srinagar...
I don`t care about the demo. Just see the background...



and compare that with the High court Bar Building in Multan...

Manto,

Balay sahib is irrelevant. The islamist tried to promote him against the progressives like Faiz and Jalib and failed.

Balay bhai was never consistent in his message. He suffered from drastic mode swings. He wrote letters to viceroys when he was promoting himself for the knighthood. Once he got that, he immersed himself in the another dream.

I am not sure his Persian was actually the modern Persian, even though someone posted some aetullah from Iran`s article here.

Dear all,

This article is muddled because this actually cobbled together from five (05) ilogs I wrote as part of a serious effort to address Sadna`s questions about Iqbal and democracy. Later I realised, as I have on several occasions, that the person in question had no interest in honest dialogue but was out to vent her own issues, whatever they may be. I think it is a shame that some poignant posts by echoboom have been blanked out. I have read them on his page and you may do the same.

Naqshbandi,

A perfect IQ or a perfect standard is impossible. Hence it is undesirable. My attempt was never to discuss whether democracy was good or bad... we`ve seen philosophers and intellectuals make a mess of things in the past. This discussion is precisely what I consider to be irrelevant from Iqbal. What is relevant... is his idea of Islamic reform. It is this idea - if it takes off- that will ultimately make Iqbalian thought relevant to Pakistanis...

You may be correct that Iqbal is higher than any nation state- his concern is man. But please note that this is precisely this kind of lofty idealism that I am always suspicious of... the approach should be: Your country/nation-state etc is your Bar council, where you enrolled to practise law. My concern is Iqbal`s relevance to Pakistan alone.

btw, what is the second line here

``Sultan-e-jumhoor ka ata hai zamana``

Jo something nazar aiy unhain gira do. or whatever. Maybe echo can help out here.

Now compare that with
Mohiudin`s

Lo surkh sawera aata hai azadi ka azadi
dekhoo purcham lehrata hai azad ka azad ka.

FromAyaz Amir Todays dawn the last line is important:

But is it right and proper that the interests of 160 million people, if not more, should be subordinated to the interests of one man? Is any individual greater than Pakistan? This is what makes the lawyers’ movement and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s petition before the Supreme Court so important. For on their outcome we will get an answer to the question whether in Pakistan, in Fakhruddin Ebrahim’s words, ``the rule of law will prevail or the rule of the gun?``

I mean does anyone think this statement to be true there is in my opinion no rule of gun (except bhatta and taliban kind) in Pak the army rule at best can be explained as acquisesence of the absence of rule of constitution. The army did not massacre thousands of people to take power who were protesting for democracy when Nawaz was overthrown.

When the majority condone this they have no moral right to say that they are for democracy rule of law and one man one vote.

Bulleya has written its is a crisis of incumbency and I think he is correct.

For Bharat if democracy means the army returns to the barracks and boardrooms it is a good thing but not if it returns to adveturism and Jihad.

Sanatani

Till the people of Pak to a gr8 extent and of India about 12.36% lesser want masihas and avataars to come and save them they are going to be disappointed.

BTW the messiah cult in Pak pales (and pales so badly that it would throw out its burqa and clothes to get a tan) in front of the Messiah cult of the Congress with the Nehru Gandhus as its deities.

Somebody get me a barf bag. I have not felt so sick in my life after drinking desi as I have
after spending time with some kangressi chamchas yesterday evening.

It is seriously not just embarassing but ashaming and damning so as to what kind of fkrs we have produced with this scum socialist system of the NG`s.

Vaise we try and tell the pakis to form a nationhood away from Anti India and Islam but behenchooooood I think for almost about an eight of this country (half the congresses vote share) the concept of this nation is the kangress the phamily and their gr8ness and NO not in that order. Add another eight for the commies and equal amounts for socialists, regionalists and casteists and I think we are getting a construct of a country in which a fairly sizeable peoples concept of the nation is not absolute but relative to the identity relentlessly propagated by the political party of choice, imposition or happenstance.

When I read this article I thought manto is spin doctoring but then I thought every country needs a philosophical bedrock to stand upon and maybe he is in favour of that construct being maybe Jinnah or Iqbal then dont think there is a problem.

Maybe Jinnah was an astrologer and he knew what kind of greater scum the kongressis would the congress become into it is no wonder that he wanted separation.

And I think I want concentration camps where to send these people to.

Sanatani

Manto mian,

(Iqbalian thought however has the promise and potential of giving Pakistan a higher purpose: that of unleashing an intellectual renaissance and reformation of the entire Islamic world. )

You will never give up the notion that Pakistan is the beacon of the Islamic world. You wud have made a great Indian Foreign Minister of th 1960s and 70s when India was making similar claims about its leadership position in the Third World.

(but only after guaranteeing that every citizen of Pakistan, regardless of religion, caste, creed or gender has equal rights and opportunities. Only when we`ve put our house in order)

Now that is wholeheartedly welcome.

Regards