Iqbal- the 20th Century Reformer

by Ali Shariati

  Intellectual, philosophical dryness does not deprive him of the beauty and subtly of poetry. Politics do not empty him of deep philosophical thought nor confine him to day to day life. His religious faith does not drive him to fanaticism. His open-mindedness does not drive faith from his heart. Mysticism (irfan), in the elevated heavens of the spirit and emotions, does not render him blind to the harsh realities of the destiny of his society and its politics.

  In short, he thinks like Bergson. He loves like Rumi. He plays the songs of his faith like Nasir Khusraw. He fights with colonialism for the liberation of Muslim nations as Sayyid Jamal had done. He endeavors to save his civilization as Tagore had tried to do from the tragedy of calculating reason and the pest of ambition. Like Carrel, he holds the hope and the aspiration to be able to revive love and the spirit in the harsh life of modern man. Like Luther and Calvin, he makes his goal the revival of his religious thought and an Islamic Renaissance in this age.

  Iqbal is a man of religion and a man of this world; a man of faith and knowledge, intellect and emotions, philosophy and literature, gnosis, and politics, God and the people, who worships and undertakes jihad, who has ideology and culture; a man of yesterday and today, ‘a devotee during the night and a lion during the day. He is a Muslim.

  It is clear how important and vital he is for our aimless, wondering intellectuals, for our numbed and dazed masses, for our new scholars and our old ‘ulama. It is no accident that when Iqbal’s name is mentioned and the possibility arises that our Muslims will come to know Muslim visages like his, fear grips those who live off the ignorance of the people, who are afraid of consciousness, who are the guardians of the darkness, sleep, and indifference of Muslim societies and who are responsible for maintaining the masses as herds of sheep, for it is they who are threatened.

  In order to show the full visage of Iqbal, the Husayniyah Irshad decides in 1970 to hold a Congress and invite Iranian and foreign specialists and thinkers so that each can introduce an aspect of the wondrous spirit of the man who bestows honor, thought, and consciousness to Muslims in our century, so that Iranians, who are obliged to continuously study Western personalities, can, this time, come to admire an illustrious visage of their own in this true and highly polished mirror and see an Iqbal in themselves, in their own culture, spirit, personality, and faith, and know that they, too, can ‘become’ as Iqbal and, by understanding him, regain their lost faith and faith in their ‘selfhood’.

  Author’s Introduction

  There are some schools of thought, works of art, and people about which one must speak. The world speaks about them, people have more or less heard about them, and they are continuously being brought to mind. They cannot be ignored or left to silence. Something must be said, because, in spite of everything that has supposedly been said, it is clear that none of it had any real value.

  But how? One can categorize things in multiple ways, speak about the virtues, good qualities, and good deeds of the Prophet, the Imam, the Quran, Islam, science, Shiism, ijtihad (endeavor to reason an issue), leadership (wilayat), the imamate, justice, right, equity, enjoining to good and preventing what is not, martyrdom, Ali, Husayn, and so forth for days, months, and even years and write page after page of book after book without actually saying anything, and, in doing so, even surpass the performance of poets, wishful thinkers, and orators. One can, with this method, devote lengthy chapters to any subject and, yet, not utter one word worth knowing.

  With all of these words—expressed in speech or by the pen—being used to come to know and to come to understand and, through accident or even negligence, one still not be able to come out from under it so that even a nation which devotes its day and night, its every week, month and year, its work, life, thought and faith to remembering and recalling ‘All, Fatima, Husayn, Zaynab, leadership, martyrdom, and anticipation (intezar), and when all of the power of its faith is put to use to come to know its Islamic culture and its responsibility towards it, yet it still does not know, does not understand, it becomes clear that nothing worth knowing is being said.

  Look at all the artists and intellectuals who remain ignorant in spite of all of the words written and spoken . Why is it easier for an aware and conscious reader of ours to come to know Charlie Chaplin than Ali? Why is it that books in Persian about the Buddha and Joan of Arc are far deeper, more scholarly, and more eloquent from that which he can find about the Prophet or Zaynab?

  There is no area in either the East nor the West which speaks to the extent we do about the virtues of knowledge and what area of the world is essentially more ignorant about the purpose of it? When we read a book about Hegel, Descartes, Sartre, or Russell we can, more or less, understand who each one is, what he has to say, what he does, what opinions he has and how his ideas differ from others.

  Throughout our lives, we have heard that we are followers of the Jafari sect. We have been told only the following:

  Imam Jafar Sadiq is the founder of Shiite jurisprudence. The knowledge of Imam Ja’ far is unequaled and exceptional. He trains 4000 students. He is erudite in all branches of science. He teaches many sciences other than the strictly religious ones. Even Jabir ibn Hayyan, the father of alchemy, is his student and he has no teacher other than the Imam. The Imam’s father is known as the ‘Cleaver of Knowledge’ (Baqir al-Ulum).

  We have been told all of this and, yet, who amongst us has ever heard of one new opinion in just one field or even one subject of the Imam’s—the Imam who was the compiler of our jurisprudence!

  In order to come to know Imam Sadiq, we, the only Jafari country in the world, must learn a foreign language to be able to read and become familiar with the work of the Strausbourg scholars, for instance, who write about the new and extraordinary scientific insights of the Imam. This, then, is the art of continuously and repeatedly speaking without saying anything !

  The second way is to show someone’s profile, that is, to write books about his thoughts and works while several pages are missing from the beginning, the middle, and the end. This is why we only know censured versions of the lives of these great people about whom we cannot remain silent and about whom we must speak.

  One of them is Muhammad Iqbal who, we are told, is a Persian-speaking poet of India, whose political visage belongs to the Pakistani Embassy, and whose name recalls warm and unforgettable gatherings called ‘An Evening with Iqbal’ which are held annually under the auspices of cultural exchange and the principle of good neighborliness. To describe Iqbal as a Persian-speaking poet is like describing a pioneering thinker and revolutionary like Luther as ‘a man who had a magnificent physique and good handwriting’ and introducing him as such to the Christian world.

  How can we, in truth, speak about Iqbal? We must first find our ‘self’? Jalal al-din Rumi once said: I put forth fourteen reasons to prove the existence of God to a group of people. Shams Tabrizi responded by thanking me on behalf of God and adding that I should, instead, prove my own existence as God needed no proof!

  Shams’ advice is a general and lasting rule. If we were first to understood our ‘self, and see, in truth, who we are and what we rightfully seek, it would not be simply mental preoccupations, games, useless knowledge, sterile information, fruitless struggles, purposeless efforts, spiritless and painless intuitions, trivial ostentation or pretense to humility and modesty to speak about God, religion, civilization, culture, ideology, knowledge, responsibility, ways, ideals, and rights as well as discussing the whys and wherefores of the great men and schools of our world and our history and how it effects the real needs of a generation.

  There was a learned man once who was very well-versed in literature and Arabic. He was forced by bad luck, in spite of his capabilities, to run a notary public. In addition to his knowledge of literature and Arabic, he was a poet in his own right. He greatly regretted that his talents were so wasted and his pen, unused. One day he decided to put his knowledge and art to use and to write poetry but no matter how hard he tried to find a subje
ct, he remained unsuccessful. Finally, what he did was to put all of the circulars issued by the State Registration Department to the Notary Public from 1931 to 1944 into Arabic poetry!

  We are not research fellows of the Faculty of Literature of Tehran University. We do not write scholarly treatises or articles about the life of one of our literary figures. We are also not so enamored of our mother-tongue that we have been drawn to Iqbal because of this. Not even our need for knowledge nor our religious feelings have sent us after Iqbal. It is essentially not our aim to ultimately know who Allameh Iqbal was and what he did, that is, knowledge for knowledge’s sake!

  We want to understand what we can from Iqbal to meet the needs of ‘self’ in this age. This is what is relevant. That is, knowledge for guidance, growth, and cultivation of the human being for the here and now and not, once again, for the universal, abstract, and general human being but for us: we who live in this region of the world, in this age, with this history, this anguish, this faith, and destiny particular to us, to recognize the difficulties that we as ‘self have and the corresponding responsibilities particular to us.

  Iqbal: The 20th Century Reformer

  “When we know a great man who has had a successful life, we tend to breathe his spirit into our bodies and live with him. This action grants us new life.”‘

  Through this very valuable and useful program initiated by the Husayniyah Irshad Research and Guidance Institute, it is, perhaps, the first time in the contemporary era that a scientific and scholarly study on the universal and human aspects of Islam has been embarked upon in modern times. This, in itself, is a sign that Muhammad Iqbal is an outstanding manifestation of an Islamic thinker in our era.

  During the period of their stagnation and decline, Muslims and their societies have been shoved into narrow, local confines. The Islamic world view has been forgotten. Islamic unity, founded upon a universal way of thinking, that is, not being restricted to a particular community or territory, has disintegrated. Muslims have, unfortunately, returned to a period of isolationism and seclusion. They are confined and imprisoned within a restricted framework made of tradition, history, and factors which are a composite of various beliefs of ignorance, of non-Islamic thoughts or of distorted Islamic beliefs.

  However, it is programs like this today which show that the intellectuals of Islamic societies have reached the stage where their aim is to breakup the restricted framework that time has imposed upon them. They are endeavoring to reassemble the body which has been dismembered in the course of time by oppressors. Their aim is to reconstruct the Islamic totality without which Islam can never be visualized as a living phenomenon. This is exactly the term used by Muhammad Iqbal in his masterpiece called The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.

  It is hoped that this marks a new beginning in Islamic research, in spiritual, intellectual, and scientific undertakings and in Islamology and that we shall witness further useful programs in this area. Above all, it is my hope that similar programs will be organized for the man who gave new life to the dying body of Muslims, namely, Sayyid Jamal. He was the man who first raised the voice of awareness in the dormant East. His very shadow still frightens those who have thoughts of doubt and smirched hands. His ideas still cause them fear.

  Let us discuss and get to know the man whose works have influenced not only Islamic and Iranian societies but, in the words of Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, as well. I do not want to simply see his life analyzed. Getting to know men such as Sayyid Jamal and Iqbal is not merely to become aware of individual personalities but, more than that, it is to become aware of an ideology and school of thought and action, as well as applying it to our own circumstances.

  Iqbal is one part. By coming to know him as well as Sayyid Jamal, we create a work, the title of which can be said to be their personalities. Our thoughts, difficulties, and solutions constitute its text. To understand Sayyid Jamal and Iqbal is tantamount to recognizing Islam and Muslims and our present and our future, as well.

  The Agonies and Questions of Muslims Like Myself in This Age

  I speak on behalf of a multitude of persons who ponder their own destiny, their present and future situation, and who are obliged to seek solutions and salvation. I want to tell my fellow sufferers that Iqbal is a sign to follow in this barren land, in this confusing desert, and in these stormy times. He is a thinker who turns, in thirst, to other schools of thought and religions to find solutions but remains dissatisfied.

  Even if he had found an answer, it would not have met all his anguishes and needs because I—as a type—as the generation of today—do not live solely in the framework of my own country, society, and history.

  From one point of view, I am dependent upon the 20th century. As I live in this century, the anguishes, difficulties, and 20th century currents of thought have an effect upon my emotions, my fate, and my society. I must live with this industrial, scientific, powerful, progressive, corrupt, revolutionary, generating, and corruptible giant called Western civilization. Therefore, I must determine my position in relation to this great storm, in relation to the kaleidoscope of colors, and in relation to all good and bad as well as whatever is a mixture of the two.

  And yet, I am a human being, a part of this nature and this great world. I must have answers: Who am I? How should I live? What is my future? What was my past? What is my nature? Why have I come? Why must I live? What is the meaning of creation? What does spirit mean? What is the power which rules over nature? What do I believe? What should the basis for my thoughts be in relation to life, in relation to being, in relation to my society and my time? Who should I be?

  Still, from another angle, I am connected to a region called the East with its history, its present, and its future, all three of which are debatable, tempting, and distressful. I am also connected to an ummah (Muslim society), which my fate, my emotions, and my education are dependent upon. This ummah is suffering from certain factors to which I cannot be indifferent. I do not know where I should rest my emotions. On the basis of which world philosophy should I view the world? In what should I believe?

  All these questions have been left unanswered. If religions, in the total sense of the word, do not adjust themselves to present attitudes and do not respond to the anguishes and afflictions of today, they will, undoubtedly, distance themselves from today’s humanity, as they have done.

  Science pretends to have answers. Today, in particular, it has come to a dead end after mechanization, bourgeoisie industrialization, and mercantilism. The present generation and even the scientists themselves no longer have any faith in science.

  These are some of my confusions in this existence. I do not know in what I should or should not believe as a human being in this universe. What is the solution? What is the universal truth of existence? Is there a purpose in nature or not?

  My 20th Century Anguish

  I have all the anguishes that a 20th century and civilized person experiences. Being an Easterner, I neither enjoy nor do I benefit from the advantages of modem civilization, yet I am made to suffer from all its corruption, anguishes, diseases, and misfortunes, even more than the modem Europeans of today do!

  Although we have not yet reached the stages of technocracy, bureaucracy, mechanization, and capitalism, we fully feel the conscious anguishes and ills peculiar to these stages as experienced in the West. These are in addition to the consequences and tragedies I suffer due to my being an Easterner and being subjected to material and spiritual assaults by this modem system. As an Easterner, I sense all of the confusions of the 20th century at the same time that I perceive the material and spiritual manifestations of the new civilization. I must bear witness to the misfortunes of hunger, ignorance and wretchedness of a held-back society. I find myself standing between two eras and I sense I am being held back. I sense degeneration, material weakness, cultural impoverishment, poverty, and illiteracy. At the same time, I suffer from psychic disorders, philosophical despair, loneliness, and var
ious other ills of the 20th century.

  What should I do? Who can answer these questions ? Let me ask someone who is conscious and responsible, at the same time, Muslim and an Easterner. While I consider Sayyid Jamal to be the great founder and initiator of the Islamic movement, yet I also believe that this great movement has reached Iqbal in its evolutionary path. Iqbal can answer my questions, not only with his thoughts, but with his very being.

  I shall say at the beginning what I should have saved for the end: When I think of Iqbal, I see a person like Ali but with qualitative and quantitative dimensions proportionate to the attitudes of a 20th century human being. Why? Because Ali is a person who responds to the sufferings and to the multi-needs of human beings in all ages, not only through his thoughts and words, but also through his being and life.

  Disintegrated Islam, Shattered Ali

  Due to various factors which cannot be described here, Ali and Islam were caused to disintegrate in the course of history. Islam did not disappear nor did Ali. The school of Islam still exists but it has lost its original revolutionary power or its vitality because its body has been made to disintegrate. For the first time in history, Islam brought the feeling and miraculous power of religion from heaven to the earth.