Pakistan 1953

A. J. Arberry was a renowned Orientalist from Cambridge who is best known for his English translation of the Quran. In 1953, he also translated the second part of Iqbal's Persian work Secrets and Mysteries as 'Mysteries of Selflessness'.

Arberry started his preface by drawing attention of his readers, especially the Western academics, to the significance of Pakistan as a flagbearer of democracy and freedom in the modern world. By comparison he  found the rest of the Muslim world to be in the grip of intolerant ideologies. 

Then should it not surprise us that in his final analysis in the same preface, Arberry did not suggest even remotely that Pakistan should be upheld as a role model and its ideology popularized in other Muslim countries. Quite the contrary, Arberry advocated that the worldview of Iqbal as well as the idea of Pakistan was based on a faulty premise and should be debunked. Was it prejudice or mere delusion? How does one resolve such contradiction in an esteemed scholar?

On these questions there can be a long debate but what I want to offer here today are two excerpts from Arberry's preface. The first is his portrayal of the young Pakistan (only 6-year-old at that time) and the second is his general perception of the Muslim world.

Pakistan

"...even the most indifferent reader of the newspapers must by now have begun to grasp something of the impact of Pakistan’s creation upon the main tendencies of world-politics. Pakistan’s spokesmen in the debates of the United Nations have attracted so much attention and respect, whether in their Kashmir arguments or in their championship of Moroccan or Tunisian aspirations, that it would be a singularly dull-witted observer of the international scene who would still fail to realize that this new country is destined to play a very leading part in the coming drama of world-history."

The Muslim World

"...it is impossible to live intelligently for a single day in any part of that large stretch of the earth’s surface extending from Morocco to Indonesia, without becoming uncomfortably aware that Islam and Europe stand poised against each other, and that the choice between peace and war may not be far off. Whether we like it or not, be we Europeans or Africans or Asians, we live in dangerous times, and may well be heading for the greatest collision since Richard fought Saladin. Are we justified in pretending that the facts are otherwise?"

We can clearly see the contrast between Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim World as it appeared to Arberry in 1953. It is besides the point whether these perceptions were true or not. The question is: if this is how Arberry saw the difference between Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim World, then why did he suggest in the rest of the preface that the idea of Pakistan needed to be debunked as effectively as possible?

What is Muslim Nationalism?

While writing the second part of Secrets and Mysteries (1915-18), Iqbal felt especially excited about expounding "the philosophy of Muslim nationalism in a manner it has never been stated before." What is this philosophy, then? Perhaps we owe it to Iqbal to at least know it.

In fact, apart from its association with Iqbal, there are two other reasons why it is important to be at least familiar with this concept (whether one agrees or not). Firstly, Iqbal's concept did not arrive in a vaccum but was merely the best articulation of various trends that had been developing in the Muslim world since the previous century. Secondly, the thought of Iqbal as well as those trends themselves had a deep impact on the masses in Muslim societies and it remains doubtful whether any subsequent movement has sufficiently replaced these concepts in the collective consciousness of the Muslim world — at least among the masses (the renowned Cambridge scholar A. J. Arberry also had to admit both these points in 1953, even when urging the Western academia to try making these concepts less popular among Muslims).

Iqbal's philosophy of Muslim nationalism can be divided into two sections: the "pillars of Muslim nation-hood" and "special features of the Muslim nation."

1. The Pillars of Muslim Nation-Hood

According to Iqbal, Unity of God and Prophet-hood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) are the two pillars of Muslim nationhood. The implication of the first is that there should be no fear or despair. The second implies liberty, equality and fraternity, since that was the mission of the Holy Prophet:

• Unity of God;
• No fear or despair
• Prophet-hood of Muhammad (peace be upon him)
• Liberty
• Equality
• Brotherhood

Special Features of the Muslim Nation

Iqbal goes on to list nine special features of the Muslim nation, elaborating each in a separate chapter:

• The Muslim nation is timeless, since its survival has been divinely promised
• A nation is organized only through a constitution, and the constitution of the Muslim nation is the Quran
• In times of decadence, conformity is better than speculation
• The national character acquires power by following the Divine Law
• The national character acquires beauty by following the manners of the Prophet
• A nation requires a physical center, and the center of the Muslim nation is the Holy Kabah
• True solidarity comes from adopting a common ideal, and that the ideal of the Muslim nation is preservation and propagation of Unity
• The expansion of national life depends upon controlling the forces of the universe
• The perfection of national life is when a nation becomes aware of its selfhood just like an individual, and that the propagation and perfecting of this awareness is only possible through preservation of national history

In a nutshell, this was the philosophy of Muslim nationalism as stated by Iqbal in Secrets and Mysteries (1915-18). Needless to say, it was further developed in subsequent writings, especially the famous Allahabad Address (1930) where he explained the concept of Pakistan, and his greatest masterpiece Javidnama (1932), which culminates on a grand definition of "nation" coming from "the Voice of Beauty": "A nation is a thousand eyes seeing together. Attain this unity of vision, so that you may possess authority in the world."

In the revised online version of The Republic of Rumi, the pillars of nationhood are presented in Chapter 23 and the special features of the Muslim nation in Chapter 26.

We need Goethe

Samri the magician created a golden calf which could produce sounds. Many started worshipping it and Moses asked one of them, "If it was a miracle that you required in order to believe, then I showed you so many but you defied me. Samri showed you only one and you came to believe. Why is that?"

The conversation is perhaps imaginary but it serves a purpose and Mawlana Rumi spells that out in his Masnavi. Souls tend to get impressed by what is according to their own condition.

In Pakistan, we often say that our education system has given too much importance to Western literature at the cost of our own, but saying that is rather like missing the whole point. Whether it is Western literature or our own, the educational and academic institutions have shown a tendency towards falling for the worst rather than the best - just like the worshipper of the golden calf who defied the miracles of Moses but bowed down to the magic of Samri.

One of the greatest names of the West which we have ignored is Goethe. Iqbal said about him, "It is not until I had realised the infinitude of Goethe’s mind that I discovered the narrow breadth of my own." Consequently he modelled his second book of poetry, A Message from the East (1923) after Goethe's Divan. After this, if we exclude Goethe from our sylabbuses we shall be cutting ourselves away not from German heritage but our own.

Still, we find that Goethe is not included anywhere in our syllabuses. Instead, we find the syllabuses to be filled with those degenerate Western writers who were catalysts to the fall of their own societies rather that contributors to its rise. Western writers representing trends that were described by Iqbal as "poison" for societies breathe that poison into our classrooms while those Western writers who had been strongly recommended for us by Iqbal have been ignored! So, it's not about East or West after all. It is rather about choosing good instead of bad even when the good can be more useful.

Recently, through some comments from a respected American reader of these blogs, I realized that Goethe has not been marginalized in Pakistan only. Connie L. Nash writes, "I don't remember him ever coming up as a student anytime during my many many years of study - even when I took lots of humanities, literature, philosophy and international writers as optional studies for my own interest."

I am inclined to conclude that we have been living in an age when the seats of authority in humanities and literature came to be occupied by trends that were diamterically opposed to the sense of life represented by the likes of Goethe and Iqbal. In this age, some lip service was done to these geniuses, since they had become too legendary to be ignored. However, their life and work was not approached according to how they would have liked it to be approached but instead it was interpreted from a point of view against which these benefactors had been warning the humanity.

One result was that most biographies of Goethe and Iqbal do not corroborate their works. The other result is that a modern reader does not know why to study these writers, or how. I hope to touch upon these issues in subsequent posts but perhaps at least for Pakistan it is time to rediscover that great connection with the German thinker which our own national poet established on such strong foundations and left behind for us as a lasting legacy.

Review of Shakespeare According to Iqbal

The following review of my book Shakespeare According to Iqbal: an Alternative Reading of The Tempest was published in Books & Authors, Dawn, on Sunday 25 April 2010. It is by Peerzada Salman.

The Bigger Picture

They say William Shakespeare created the most of God. The reference is to the myriad of (believable) characters that he created. Even when someone tries to criticise him, the best s/he can do is to suggest that Hamlet is an ‘artistic failure’. Notice the use of the word artistic. Shakespeare’s works can be less successful but they’re never less artistic. And art reflects life, if it isn’t life.

There must be a reason why literary giants like Allama Iqbal showered profuse praise on Shakespeare, for the playwright’s art was gleaned from life. Iqbal was no ordinary individual himself. His perceptions of, and outlook on, human existence is no secret. If Allama Iqbal praised Asadullah Ghalib, Mawlana Rumi or Shakespeare, the common thread was life. 

Shakespeare created characters that were flesh and blood, embodying all the human traits. Iqbal could see the bigger picture behind his ostensibly eccentric or plain dramatis personae. Kudos for Khurram Ali Shafique for offering an alternative reading of The Tempest, and that too according to Iqbal.

The book is divided into three parts (‘The Seven Stages of Potent Art’, ‘Twice Upon a Time’, ‘The Human Spirit’) which highlight the confluence, to a certain degree, of the Shakespearean play and the nearly two centuries’ old Persian poem Haft Payker (Seven Beauties) by the legendary poet Nezami Ganjavi. Rumi also features with his masterful Masnavi, which is the least surprising. 

The special thing about the book is the notes at the end that elaborate the allusions, references and events mentioned in the three sections. They elucidate the finer points of the text, even for those who know The Tempest (if not Shakespeare) and Iqbal (if not in entirety) like the back of their hand. 

An interesting aspect that the book highlights is the 14-line poem that the Allama wrote for William Shakespeare. The discussion in the section ‘The Human Spirit’ suggests that each couplet of the nazm traces the progress of one of The Tempest’s principal characters, and from Prospero’s art through to the major conflicts that appear in its chronological storyline of the play. It’s worth a careful read, and a cautious appraisal.

— Peerzada Salman

Shakespeare According to Iqbal: An alternative 
reading of The TempestBy Khurram Ali Shafique
Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore
ISBN 978-969-416-447-2
47pp. Rs70

Nietzsche and Rumi

Here are two interesting comments on the German thinker Nietzsche (seen in the picture below) by Allama Iqbal that were first published in New Era (Lucknow) in 1917.

Muslim Democracy

The Democracy of Europe – overshadowed by socialistic agitation and anarchical fear – originated mainly in the economic regeneration of European societies. Nietzsche, however, abhors this ‘rule of the herd’ and, hopeless of the plebeian, he bases all higher culture on the cultivation and growth of an Aristocracy of Supermen. But is the plebeian so absolutely hopeless? The Democracy of Islam did not grow out of the extension of economic opportunity, it is a spiritual principle based on the assumption that every human being is a centre of latent power, the possibilities of which can be developed by cultivating a certain type of character. Out of the plebeian material Islam has formed men of the noblest type of life and power. Is not, then, the Democracy of early Islam an experimental refutation of the ideas of Nietzsche?

Nietzsche and Jalaluddin Rumi

Comparisons, they say, are odious. I want, however, to draw your attention to a literary comparison which is exceedingly instructive and cannot be regarded as odious. Nietzsche and Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Rumi stand at the opposite poles of thought; but in the history of thought it is the points of contact and departure which constitute centres of special interest. In spite of the enormous intellectual distance that lies between them these two great poet-philosophers seem to be in perfect agreement with regard to the practical bearing of their thought on life. Nietzsche saw the decadence of the human type around ihim, disclosed the subtle forces that have been working for it, and finally attempts to adumbrate the type of life adequate to the task of our planet, “Not how man is preserved, but how man is surpassed,” was the keynote of Nietzsche’s thought. The superb Rumi—born to the Moslem world at a time when enervating modes of life and thought, and an outwardly beautiful but inwardly devitalising literature had almost completely sucked up the blood of Moslem Asia and paved the way for an easy victory for the Tartar—was not less keenly alive than Nietzsche to the poverty of life, incompetence, inadequacy and decay of the body social, of which he formed a part and parcel…