The old fogey cannot write a word of English, before spilling venom against Pakistan and Pakistanis. It is as if his favorite goat was stolen by the bearded one, and Mr. Akbar will continue to harangue Pakistan every chance it gets. This time the old fart is talking about the inane statement by egotistically impaired General Kapoor. M.J. Akbar an apologist for everything Indian tried to justify the silly statement of the juvenile General. M.J. Akbar should fully know that it wasn’t the “sentence”, it was the thought behind the sentence, the mentality behind the thought and the doctrine behind the mentality that concerned the world. Even Mr. Holbrooke could not contain himself, and remarked that these insane comments about the ability to conduct limited warfare under a nuclear umbrella—must be private comments.
The doctrine of limited engagement with Pakistan is such an explosive subject that the Soviets and the Americans never considered it. The issue is not the statement the issue is the sanity of the person contemplating wars with both China and Pakistan at the same time. The egregious nature of the comment comes from the fact that General has no idea about the devastation possibly from Nuclear Weapons.
One of the more curious episodes in recent weeks is the indignation with which Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor’s statement that India’s forces were ready to face war on two fronts simultaneously, against China and Pakistan, was received. The Islamabad establishment has treated this as a virtual declaration of war. Our Obsession with Smoke and Smokescreens M.J. Akbar (Byline), 18 January 2010
General Mankshaw would have a good laugh over what M.J. Akbar has said about “Generals do not wage war”. The stupid statement shows the hubris and arrogance that resides in the man who only has contempt for Islamabad and Pakistanis. This level of hatred is rare in the world. Amazingly the Gulf newspaper employs this xenophobe.
The nightmare scenario for India is a concerted, coordinated offensive by China across the main Himalayas, and by Pakistan on its Kashmir wedge. This is, conversely, the dream scenario of General Headquarters in Pakistan. General Kapoor was doing his job when he made that statement.
Neither China nor Pakistan want to have a war with Bhrat (aka India). The wold knows it is the other way around. Bharati support for the Tibetan anarchists, the Xinjiang activists, LTTE terrorists, Baloch malcontents, and TTP mercanaries is well known around the planet. Who is Mr. Akbar trying to bluff?
American officers took their final orders from the White House, but they had plenty to say in-between. The most recent case was last year’s debate on a troop surge in Afghanistan. The Pentagon not only told the White House, which was dithering, what it wanted, but made sure the American voter and the citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan got the message as well. The infection has reached the stiff upper lips of Britain: generals there make demands for equipment through the media. Discipline cannot completely sanitize the military brass from the influences of the democratic spirit, and its institutions.
Mr. Akbar just contradicted himself. First he said that Generals do not declare war—then is proves that they do.
China did not react sharply to General Kapoor’s comment, although it can hold its own in any sparring match. It may be argued that it did not need to do anything but laugh. A little after General Kapoor’s claim, the Government of India admitted, formally, that China had eaten away vast amounts of (presumably unpatrolled, or sparsely visited) border territory. Even more interesting than the government’s admission was the fact that Indians seemed beyond caring. The opposition parties shrugged and concentrated on screaming at one another; television, which gets hysterical when a leaf flutters, had other things to do. Clearly, media reserves its visceral reactions only for its western rather than its northern border. This is maybe because the occupation of distant, barren land cannot compare, in televisual terms, with the throbbing drama of the heights and valleys of Kashmir.
Mr. Akbar diminishes the threat from Bharat to Pakistan. The purchase of Pakistan specific arms, the targeting of Pakistani cities by Bharati missiles, the development of “The Cold Start Strategy”, the placement of Bharat’s latest jets near the Pakistani border, the fact that 80% of Bharati forces are facing Pakistan—are all indications of Bharat’s ill intentions towards Pakistan.
Pakistan’s threat perception is a valid one. Pakistan has faced war from Delhi, and it continues to neutralize RAW machinations in Pakistan. This is not a schme for money—Pakistan takes its defense very seriously.
Islamabad’s reaction has nothing to do with any threat from India, because there is no threat from India. India does not desire an inch of land beyond the Ceasefire Line or the international border. Equally, it will not surrender an inch of what is under its control. Pakistan, however, has built a layered case before America which boils down to this: it cannot fight all of America’s enemies on the Frontier, or those who treat the Frontier as sanctuary for the conflict in Afghanistan, as long as Indian guns are pointed at its back. It needs relief in the east to fight in the west. Washington has bought this argument, and Delhi has obliged as unobtrusively as possible. Our two-front General Kapoor has quietly presided over the withdrawal of over 40,000 troops from the Kashmir valley, and their transfer to the eastern Himalayas under the cover of rising worry about China. It’s very neat actually: we use China, possibly with Beijing’s knowledge, to help out America in its Pakistan war.
Mr. Akbar again contradicts himself. He again reiterates the paranoia which we all have heard before.
As long as there is no change in ground realities, this game can be played to triangular, or even quadrangular, satisfaction. Alas, everyone is not playing the same game. The spurt in terrorist violence in Srinagar during the last fortnight could be aimed at disturbing this dainty strategic daisy chain. Specialists are warning of an impending attack on the Indian mainland.
The Geneal’s acolyte then begins issuing threats to both Pakistan and America
The delicate diplomatic balance could crumble if Pakistan and America push too hard, and believe that they can maneuver Delhi into a final settlement on Kashmir. There is very little space for negotiations on Kashmir itself, given that Pakistan is searching a major dilution of the status quo and India, at least at the moment, will agree on only the Ceasefire Line as the solution. Is the sudden talk of National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan being shifted to a powerless Governor’s bungalow indicative of a major change in Delhi’s Kashmir policy? He was a status quoist. Dr Manmohan Singh thinks, perhaps, that he can remobilise the constituency that cheered the nuclear deal with the United States. That may be easier in theory than practice. Pakistan, after all, is far more explosive than any number of nuclear plants. Khaleej Times. Was General Deepak Kapoor’s two-front statement part of the smoke or the smokescreen?
Every time we tray to get used to Mr. Akbar’s polemics, we are jarred to reality. Mr. Akbar’s job and future retirement depends to his continued belligerance towards Pakistan—that is the only way he can prove his bosses that he an OK INdian.
Fifty-two years ago, on Jan. 30, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. Godse and his friend Narayan Apte were hanged. His brother Gopal and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the conspiracy.
Gopal Godse remained in jail for 18 years and now, at 80, lives with his wife in a small apartment in Pune. He is still proud of his role in the murder. Although Godse is largely ignored in India and rarely talks to journalists, he agreed to speak with TIME Delhi correspondent Meenakshi Ganguly.
TIME: What happened in January 1948? Godse: On Jan. 20, Madanlal Pahwa exploded a bomb at Gandhi’s prayer meeting in Delhi. It was 50 m away from Gandhi. [The other conspirators] all ran away from the place. Madanlal was caught there. Then there was a tension in our minds that we had to finish the task before the police caught us. Then Nathuram [Gopal's brother] took it on himself to do the thing. We only wanted destiny to help us — meaning we should not be caught on the spot before he acted.
TIME: Why did you want to kill Gandhi? Godse: Gandhi was a hypocrite. Even after the massacre of the Hindus by the Muslims, he was happy. The more the massacres of the Hindus, the taller his flag of secularism.
TIME: Did you ever see Gandhi? Godse: Yes.
TIME: Did you attend his meetings? Godse: Yes.
TIME: Can you explain how he created his mass following? Godse: The credit goes to him for maneuvering the media. He captured the press. That was essential. How Gandhi walked, when he smiled, how he waved — all these minor details that the people did not require were imposed upon them to create an atmosphere around Gandhi. And the more ignorant the masses, the more popular was Gandhi. So they always tried to keep the masses ignorant.
TIME: But surely it takes more than good publicity to create a Gandhi? Godse: There is another thing. Generally in the Indian masses, people are attracted toward saintism. Gandhi was shrewd to use his saintdom for politics. After his death the government used him. The government knew that he was an enemy of Hindus, but they wanted to show that he was a staunch Hindu. So the first act they did was to put "Hey Ram" into Gandhi’s dead mouth.
TIME: You mean that he did not say "Hey Ram" as he died? Godse: No, he did not say it. You see, it was an automatic pistol. It had a magazine for nine bullets but there were actually seven at that time. And once you pull the trigger, within a second, all the seven bullets had passed. When these bullets pass through crucial points like the heart, consciousness is finished. You have no strength.
When Nathuram saw Gandhi was coming, he took out the pistol and folded his hands with the pistol inside it. There was one girl very close to Gandhi. He feared that he would hurt the girl. So he went forward and with his left hand pushed her aside and shot. It happened within one second. You see, there was a film and some Kingsley fellow had acted as Gandhi. Someone asked me whether Gandhi said, "Hey Ram." I said Kingsley did say it. But Gandhi did not. Because that was not a drama.
TIME: Many people think Gandhi deserved to be nominated TIME’s Person of the Century. [He was one of two runners-up, after Albert Einstein.] Godse: I name him the most cruel person for Hindus in India. The most cruel person! That is how I term him.
TIME: Is there anything that you admire about Gandhi? Godse: Firstly, the mass awakening that Gandhi did. In our school days Gandhi was our idol. Secondly, he removed the fear of prison. He said it is different to go into prison for a theft and different to go in for satyagraha (civil disobedience). As youngsters, we had our enthusiasm, but we needed some channel. We took Gandhi to be our channel. We don’t repent for that.
TIME: Did you not admire his principles of non-violence? Godse: Non-violence is not a principle at all. He did not follow it. In politics you cannot follow non-violence. You cannot follow honesty. Every moment, you have to give a lie. Every moment you have to take a bullet in hand and kill someone. Why was he proved to be a hypocrite? Because he was in politics with his so-called principles. Is his non-violence followed anywhere? Not in the least. Nowhere.
TIME: What was the most difficult thing about killing Gandhi? Godse: The greatest hurdle before us was not that of giving up our lives or going to the gallows. It was that we would be condemned both by the government and by the public. Because the public had been kept in the dark about what harm Gandhi had done to the nation. How he had fooled them!
TIME: Did the people condemn you? Godse: Yes. People in general did. Because they had been kept ignorant.
TIME (FEBRUARY 14, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 6)
W E B – O N L Y I N T E R V I E W "His Principle of Peace Was Bogus" Gopal Godse, co-conspirator in Gandhi’s assassination and brother of the assassin, looks back in anger–and without regret
‘Gandhi used to systematically fool people. So we killed him’
The lights go off as you reach the dilapidated building in Santa Cruz, in Bombay’s western suburbs. With great difficulty you navigate the stairs and knock on a first-floor door.
"What do you want," asks the lady who opened the door.
You tell her you have come to meetGopal Godse.
"Yes, I’m here," a voice comes from a corner of the dark room. The lady brings a lighted candle and you see the 76-year-old man who underwent 18 years imprisonment for conspiring in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
"I’m sorry the lights are off," Nathuram Godse’s brother says, "You know, this is India and even after 50 years of Independence we have not improved.
"Since Independence our people are accustomed to forget history. Today no one is bothered about the Partition. And no one wants to reunite India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
"Gandhi systematically fooled the people by saying, ‘I’ll accept the Partition of the country over my dead body.’ But still he partitioned India. So we killed him…"
Godse, in an exclusive interview withFirdaus Syed Ashraf:
Do you ever regret Mahatma Gandhi’s killing?
No, never. Gandhi used to claim the Partition would be over his dead body. So after Partition when he didn’t die, we killed him. Usually an assassination of a leader is either for personal benefit or to acquire power. We killed Gandhi because he was harmful to India. And it was a selfless act. No one paid us a single penny for it. Our love for the motherland made us do it. We are not ashamed of it. Gandhi should have been honest to admit that his life was a failure.
You see, right from Pakistan and Bangladesh every Muslim is a converted Hindu. Gandhi’s appeasement attitude (towards the Muslims) went far too much. That was why we killed him. Two hundred and fifty thousand Hindus were killed in Noakhali in October 1946. Hindu women were forced to remove their sindhoor and do Muslim rituals. And Gandhi said, ‘Hindus must bow their heads if Muslims want to kill them. We should follow the principle of ahimsa (non-violence).’ How can any sensible person tolerate this? Our action was not for a handful of people — it was for all the refugees who came from Pakistan.
So, till this day, I have never regreted being one of the conspirators in Gandhi’s assassination. In fact, many of Nathuram’s friends told me after my release, ‘Nathuram ni gadhav pana kela, tyani majha chance ghalavla‘ (Nathuram did you an injustice. He made you miss your chance to kill Gandhi).
Did your family undergo any social pressure after the assassination?
Yes, very much. No one used to be ready to marry girls from my family. So we decided that the first thing we should put across to the bridegroom was that we are related to Nathuram Godse. It is only now that people appreciate our honesty. Now they are ready for marriage (into my family).
If the Muslim League could influence the Muslims in 1947, why was it that the Hindu Mahasabha could not influence Hindus?
(That was) because I don’t have any leadership quality. My talent is to write. And I have convinced my readers with my writing.
Unfortunately, the so-called secular Hindu leaders from the Congress have been ruling the masses since 1885. And they have ruled the country for another 50 years. It is only now that Hindus have become conscious (about the Congress). They have thrown the party out from Maharashtra and all over India.
You cannot gauge a nation in merely five decades. It took 500 years for the Christians to drive away Muslims from Europe. Muslims ruled right up to Spain and Portugal. I don’t know how many years it will take for Hindus to rule the entire Bharat. It may be a decade, or it may be a century.
Did you ever contest elections?
Yes, I contested from Ranchi in Bihar. People asked me why I was contesting there. I said my slogan is ‘Ab ke bar Ranchi se agli bar Karachi se‘. (This election I will contest from Ranchi and the next from Karachi). I was able to secure only 7,000 votes because I did not have any mass support.
According to Nathuram the Sindhu was the only river which was pure as Gandhi’s ashes were not immersed there’
What is the national mainstream?
I can give you an example: There was some inauguration of a dam in Kerala. A Muslim minister was asked to light the lamp. He refused, saying his religion does not permit him to do that! That’s hypocrisy. Whenever you find benefits you keep your Islam away. And when you are asked to light a lamp you say it’s against your religion! That’s why I say Muslims in a mob are not in the mainstream.
Veer Savarkar once said, "If a Vithal is worshipped by a Harijan and you say that he is polluted, then he is no Vithal at all."
How can there be a mainstream in India when there are so many castes? A Maharashtrian has a different caste and culture from that of his counterpart in West Bengal.
Britishers created this caste system. Even in Maharashtra they wanted to create a split between the brahmins and the others. Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav are from the same caste. But still they quarrel. Why? Because they are hungry for power. What has tied them and every Indian together is the common culture. That is what we call Hindutva. For example, a marriage between a Mahar in Maharashtra and a brahmin in West Bengal. They come from the same mantras. That is what we call culture and Hindutva.
The most essential thing is why we are together. Because of language? No. Because of our common culture. And that is why from north to south people are going to attend the Amarnath Yatra. Once you forget your culture, the mere existence of the geographical boundary which is termed India will be of no use.
What were your experiences in jail?
When we took the step, we were sure of the consequences. We took it because we loved our nation. Bhagat Singh did not want to liberate his ancestral land. He wanted to liberate Lahore, Pune and the entire nation. So he sacrificed his life. Revolution is integrated with its leader. A man who sacrifices his life is not bothered about petty things. We knew Gandhi’s leadership was not good for the nation. Someone had to jump in the fire. So we did it.
Veer Savarkar was made to do the work which bullocks did in an oil mill. And he did it. Why? Because he was dedicated to the nation. All revolutionaries have to make personal sacrifice. Luckily for us, all the jailers knew we were simple men. They knew our cause. So they never troubled us. And I never violated the prison rules. I studied about life imprisonment and wrote about it.
Can you tell me about your last meeting with Nathuram Godse?
I met him on November 13, 1948 in Ambala jail. It was the day before his execution and there were 20 others with me. Both he and Narayan Apte were jolly.
Nathuram told us that his ashes must not be immersed in any river in India — it must be scattered only in the Sindhu in Pakistan. His explanation was that Gandhi’s ashes have been immersed in all the rivers of the world — even in the Nile, Volga and Thames. But the Pakistan government refused to immerse his ashes in the Sindhu, saying they didn’t want to pollute it with the ashes of a kafir. According to Nathuram the Sindhu was the only river which was pure as Gandhi’s ashes were not immersed there.
How do you see India’s future?
(Laughs) You make me the prime minister and half the problem of this country will be solved. But I think we will improve only if our leaders adopt a selfless attitude. Take for example the education policy. We must set up a target: in 15 years we will educate so many people. And only those people who can read and write will be allowed to vote. In such an eventuality, politicians will get busy educating the masses in order to get votes.
Another problem is the large number of candidates. And many of them are uneducated. We must make some norms to prevent this. Only then we will improve. To date, nobody has any thought of the nation. Otherwise you would never have heard of recovering more than Rs 30 million from a politician’s flat. They don’t have any integration with the nation. They are only integrated with their family and sons-in-law.
What is your opinion about secularism in India?
All these 50 years we practised a mockery of secularism. The magistrate has to ask about the religion of a person before giving a judgment. If a man is a Hindu he gets one kind of justice and if he is a Muslim he gets another. Can you call this secularism? This is what is happening in our country. Even in the Property Act you have different rules for Muslims.
What about poverty in India?
Poverty has increased because resources have not increased. On one side you want to increase the life of a person. On the other, you don’t want to increase the resources. If you have noticed, during the advertisement of family planning on television you never see a Muslim woman saying ‘Hum do Hamare do‘ (We are two, ours two). And these secularists say that family planning is applicable to all of us! I don’t understand why former prime minister Narasimha Rao says ‘If there is a Common Civil Code riots will start all over the country’.
Which do you prefer — the BJP or Shiv Sena?
The Shiv Sena. The BJP is more hesitant to stand by Hinduism. The Shiv Sena supports the killing of Gandhi. People accept them as a Hindu party. When I was honoured, the BJP kept away from it. In Maharashtra the Sena has more respect than the BJP.
Mumbai: The reason why Raj Thackeray admires both Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi is "the way they shook up societies and created uproar," according to the official website of MNS.
However, on Monday, it was the admiration for the Fuehrer which was on display in the Maharashtra Assembly as MNS MLAs bashed up another Legislator in the House. The MNS website has an interesting conversation with the enfant terrible of Maharashtra politics. Excerpts:
"Question: You say you admire Gandhi, who preached non-violence. Then why do your followers heed to violence? The answer: You need to communicate with your opponent in a language they understand, a language they can comprehend."
Beating up SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi for not taking oath in Marathi as he could only understand the language of violence was the message given by Raj and his men, who were mute spectators when some other MLAs did not take oath in the language and instead opted for English.
Hitler’s stormtroopers persecuted Jews and people who opposed the Fuehrer. Raj and Azmi have been at loggerheads since the MNS chief launched his anti-north Indian stir.
Raj told PTI in 2005, "When it comes to organisational skills, there are few who can rival Hitler. Leave aside his negative aspects like the barbaric annihilation of millions of Jews. There are several other things about Hitler, which any leader would. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_raj-thackeray-admires-hitler-mahatma-gandhi-mns-website_1310381
Quaid’s message first delivered on 24th of October 1947, still inspirational, motivational and thought-provoking for the Pakistani Nation
“God often tests and tries those whom he loves. He called upon Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice the object he loved most. Ibrahim answered the call and offered to sacrifice his son. Today too, God is testing and trying the Muslims of Pakistan and India. He has demanded great sacrifices from us. Our new-born State is bleeding from wounds inflicted by our enemies. Our Muslim brethren in India are being victimized and oppressed as Muslims for their help and sympathy for the establishment of Pakistan. Dark clouds surround us on all sides for the moment but we are not daunted, for I am sure, if we show the same spirit of sacrifice as was shown by Ibrahim, God would rend the clouds and shower on us His blessing as He did on Ibrahim. Let us, therefore, on the day of Eid-ul-Azha which symbolizes the spirit of sacrifice enjoined by Islam, resolve that we shall not be deterred from our objective of creating a State of our own concept by any amount of sacrifice, trials or tribulations which may lie ahead of us and that we shall bend all our energies and resources to achieve our goal. I am confident that in spite of its magnitude, we shall overcome this grave crisis as we have in our long history surmounted many others and notwithstanding the efforts of our enemies, we shall emerge triumphant and strong from the dark night of suffering and show the world that the State exists not for life but for good life.
On this sacred day, I send greetings to our Muslim brethren all over the world both on behalf of myself and the people of Pakistan. For us Pakistan, on this day of thanksgiving and rejoicing, has been overshadowed by the suffering and sorrow of 5 million Muslims in East Punjab and its neighborhood. I hope that, wherever Muslim men and women foregather on this solemn day. They will remember in their prayers these unfortunate men, women and children who have lost their dear ones, homes and hearths and are undergoing an agony and suffering as great hand cruel as any yet inflicted on humanity. In the name of this mass of suffering humanity I renew my appeal to Muslims wherever they may be, to extend to us in this hour of our danger and need, their hand of brotherly sympathy, support and co-operation. Nothing on earth now can undo Pakistan.
The greater the sacrifices are made the purer and more chastened shall we emerge like gold from fire.
So my message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence. Let us mobilize all our resources in a systematic and organized way and tackle the grave issues that confront us with grim determination and discipline worthy of a great nation.
Shair-e-Mashriq, Hakeem-e-Ummat Sir Dr. Alama Mohammed Iqbal
THREE PHASES OF A VISIONARY by Moin Ansari
(Note from author: I started this in 1997 and it remains “a work in progress”. I have included the unformatted discussion and feedback from our readers at the bottom of this article. As we move forward, all feedback will be included in the article.)
“Iqbal, that immortal poet of Islam, whose poetry served as a beaconlight in the darkest period of our history and whose message will ever help us on the way to our destiny” Choudhary Rahmat Ali (1947, ‘Pakistan’).
It was the best of times. Ras Tofari became the emperor of Ethiopia. The planet Pluto was discovered by C.W. Tombaugh. All’s quiet on the Western front was playing in the theaters.
It was the worst of times in the New World. In Germany, Nazis were gaining power. D.H. Lawrence the English novelist had died. The U.S. population was 122 million, and in the land of the Dollar the bottom had fallen out of the financial markets. Wall Street was is total disarray. The stock had crashed. Savings accounts had been wiped out. People had given up hope. Many Millionaires had lost their fortunes and flung themselves out of their windows to their death. Conspicuous consumption had taken its toll. America was in the midst of a depression. It was the year 1930.
And in the old world, in the Subcontinent a dreamer, was making a speech in the city of Allahbad. He was speaking at the session of the All India Muslim League.
“It cannot be denied that Islam regarded as an ethical ideal plus certain kind of polity by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical idea has been chief formative factor in the life history of the Muslims of India.”
Would you like me to see Islam as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the e world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe ” Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as polity in favor of national politics in which religious attitude is not permitted to play its part ?”
Iqbal was philosophizing about separating religion form politics. He maintained that one could not put Islam in a separate compartment, and deal with the political realities of the time. Iqbal maintained that Islam had to be part and parcel of everything a Muslim did. He refuted the secular claim that one could practice religion in the mosque and live in a United India. K. Ali a noted Pakistani historian states that “the construction of a polity on national lines, if it means the displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim.”
Iqbal, speaking as the President of the All Indian Muslim League was saying “Islam is in jeopardy“, and we must save it by creating a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Perhaps he was saying that Islam is in jeopardy in India, and we must provide it a nurturing ground, in certain parts of India, where it can grow and prosper, and influence. Iqbal went on to announce his thoughts at the Allahbad session and I quote Iqbal
” India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages and professing different religions …. To base a constitution on the conception of a homogeneous India …. is to prepare for a civil war.
The formation of a consolidated North West Indian State appears to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India”.
K. Ali writes, that “of a separate Muslim state in India appeared to a be a dream of a the poet Iqbal at that time, and it was bitterly criticized. Since 1930, the idea of a separate State was gaining ground in the hearts of the Muslims of India“
Iqbals’s idea was given the moniker of P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N by one Chaudry Rehmat Ali, an Indian Muslim student studying in England. Iqbal had been propagating the idea for a separate homeland for the Muslims. He had been writing to Jinnah, asking him to be the lawyer to defend the cause of the Muslims of India. Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah took the challenge, and the rest as they say is history.
It is clear that earlier statements by Iqbal when the creation of Pakistan was still in the embryonic stage cannot be taken as his true endorsement of a united India. In the thirties almost the entire Muslim population was not entertaining the idea of separatism, and even the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah and others were working for the unity of India.
Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said that:
” the differences in India, between the two major nations, the Hindus and the Muslims are a thousand times greater when compared with the continent of Europe.
India is not a national state, India is not a country, but a sub-continent composed of nationalities, the two nations being Hindus and Muslims whose culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, name and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, laws and jurisprudence, social and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, outlook on life and of life are fundamentally different nay in many respects antagonistic”.
Any discussion of Iqbal becomes a discussion of Pakistan. That is a tribute to the poet dreamer. The discussion of Pakistan is incomplete without bringing up Iqbal, and the biography of Pakistanis is never complete without discussing the philosophy of ” The poet of the East “. FAIZ AHMAD FAIZ: Salute to a great Punjabi a fantastic Urdu poet and a giant Pakistani
The two nation theory was initially enunciated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was this enunciation of the two nation theory that appealed to the hearts and minds of Mussalmans all over the subcontinent. They in one voice voted for the Muslim League and Jinnah. Muslims from the Southern tip of Tamiland, to the Central India, to Eastern India accepted and fought for the Two nation Theory. It is incredible that the Pakistan movement began in the United Provinces of India (U.P, a conglomeration of independent princely states, that were railroaded into a province by the British) , and was led by Muslims of Northern India from Aligarh, Lucknow, and Delhi, Muslims who never had any hope of becoming part of Pakistan. Muslims all over the subcontinent voted, worked and died for the ideals dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Jinnah.
Who was Iqbal? One of the first to advocate a separate homeland in India, Iqbal
(1876-1938) was the second crucial link in our independence struggle, the factor that took Sir Syed’s (1817-1898) ideals and passed the torch to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
The Freedom Struggle Torch carried through generations:
Goals: To awaken the Muslims of India so that they could regain their lost glory and greatness. To wake up the Muslims and be more practical. To show the Muslim youth of India the path of truth and progress
Biography
Name: Mohammed Iqbal
Other names (Alaises) : Poet of the East, The Poet Thinker, The Poet who dreamt Pakistan, The poet who awakened the Muslims of India. Spiritual father of Pakistan.
Born: November, 1876 in Sialkot
Profession: Taught Philosophy and Law. Barrister at Law. Member Punjab Legislative Council 1926-1930. President of Muslim League 1930. Knighted by the British in 1992 for poetry
Hobbies and Passion, and claim to fame: Poetry in Urdu and Persian
Greatest influence:Surah e Nafas: Nietzsche and other German nation constructors
Publications:
Asrar-e-Khudi translated as the Secrets of Self, 1920, 1940
Piyam -e Mashriq. Message of the East 1930
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam 1930
Education: M.A. Government College Lahore, Barrister at law England ,Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908
Experience: Khilafat Movement: Alama Iqbal took part in the brief but important struggle that was carried out by the Muslims of the subcontinent for the restoration of the Khilifat headquartered in Turkey. In WW1 Turkey had allied itself with Germany against Britain. When Germany and Turkey were defeated in 1918 the British had abolished the Muslim caliphate at the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. The Muslims of the subcontinent (led by Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali, and Abul Kalam Azad ) were outraged, and led a nationwide campaign of agitation to protest the abolition of the Ottoman Empire Caliphate. To this day young Turks remember this movement, and think of Pakistanis as the natural successors of that movement.
All India Muslim league: He expressed great satisfaction at the formation of the Muslim League in 1906.
MPA Lahore: In 1926 Iqbal contested the election from Lahore, and won by a large majority
Nehru Report: In 1928 when the Nehru report came out, Iqbal was disappointed by the he Hindu attitude. At this juncture he made up his mind to form a separate homeland for the Muslims of India
Vision for Pakistan: In 1930 as President of the All India Muslim League, he enunciated the Two nation Theory. ” The Muslims wish to lead a life of freedom and honor. They want to live as a nation and this can be achieved if they have a separate Islamic state”.
AIML session 1936
Struggle for Pakistan: To his last day, Alama Iqbal was a sincere friend of Quaid-e-Azam, assisting him in putting together a coalition of Muslims together. Iqbal was coaxing the slumbering masses to wake up and demand a homeland. Iqbal was criticized by the orthodox religious right for his “shikwah” and “jawab-shiwah”.
1) HUM BULBULAIN HAIN IS CHAMAN KI , YEH WATAN HAI HUMARA. HINDUSTAN HUMARA
“Saare Jahan se Aachha/ Hindusthan Hamara“
The first phase of Iqbal was as an Indian nationalist. He believed that both the Hindus and the Muslims could live together to return the subcontinent of India to its pre-British Moghul glory. This belief was made under the hypothesis that the two-century British period was an aberration in the thousand year history of South Asia. Iqbal believed that after the British left, South Asians (‘Indians’) could live together in peace and harmony and make the country great again. In the Forties, the Muslims made up about 40% of the population of South Asia (‘India’) and Hindus were in slight majority. However the cultural and social centers of South Asia were in the hands of the Muslims. During this phase of his life Iqbal believed that South Asia is as big as Western Europe could compete as a great nation against Europe, America and China. Jinnah at the time also experimented with unity and was called “The ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity “.
Here is Iqbal clearly disassociating himself from the scheme of Pakistan though he still defends his Allahbad speech made four years earlier
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt. M. A., Ph.D. Barrister-at-Law, Lahore
4th March 1934 My dear Mr. Thompson
I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I am grateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But youhave made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider itrather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called‘ Pakistan’. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggestedin my address is the creation of a Muslims Province–i.e. a province having an overwhelming population of Muslims–in the North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,a part of the proposed Indian Federation.
Pakistan scheme proposes a separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related to England as a separate dominion. This scheme originated in Cambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu orso called Indian Nationalism
Yours sincerely,
Mohammad Iqbal
SECOND PHASE OF IQBAL: PAN ISLAMISM
2) CHEEN – O ARAB HUMARA, HINDUSTAAN HUMARA, MUSLIM HAIN HUM, WATAN HAI SARA JAHAN HUMARA
Disappointed by the Hindu attitudes, Iqbal began to think himself as a Muslim first, and an ‘Indian’ second. During this stage of his thinking, Alama Iqbal began believing in Pan-Islamism. Iqbal worked with Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali and Abul Kalaam Azad. He actively wrote poems on his belief that all Muslims should think of themselves as Muslims first. Caste and Creed were to be given up, and nationalism was shunned for the crescent and star.
Cheen-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan hamara
Muslim main hum, watan hai sara jahan hamara
Tauheed ki amanat senon main hai hamarey
Asan nahin mitana naam-o-nishaan hamara
Duniya kay bu’t kadon main, wo pehla ghar Khuda ka
Hum uss kay pasban hain, wo pasban hamara
Baatil say dabney waley, aey Asman! nahin hum
Sou baar ker chuka hai Tu imtihan hamara
Salar-e-Karwan hai Meer-e-Hijaaz (PBUH) apna
Iss naam say hai baaqi, aaram-e-jahan hamara
Iqbal ka tarana baang-e-dara hai goya
Hota hai jada paima, phir karwan hamara
(Meanings: Cheen-o-Arab = China and Arabia; Hindustan = India; watan = homeland; jahan = world; Tauheed ki amanat = Islam; Senon = Insight; asan = easy; mitana = eliminate; naam-o-nishan = survival; bu’t kadon = idol temples; pehla ghar Khuda ka = Referring to Khana Kaaba; pasban = Protector; Baatil = Oppression; Dabney waley = Oppressed; Asman = Nature; Salar-e-Karwan = Leader of Caravan; Meer-e-Hijaaz (PBUH) = Muhammad (PBUH); Aaram-e-jahan = satisfaction; Tarana = Anthem; bang-e-dara = Voice of bell; jada paima = reactivate)
THE CONCEPT OF KHUDI (self)
Iqbal wrote on the concept of self.
” Khoodi ko kur bulund itna kai khuda bundai say khood poochay, buta teri ruzaa kiya hai “.
This concept of self asked the Muslims to improve their lot by themselves, and not be at the mercy of any other person or nationality.
THIRD PHASE OF IQBAL:PAKISTANI SEPARATISM
3) KHANJAR HILAL KA HAI QAUMI NITAAN HAMARAH
باطل سے دبنے والے اسماں نھیں سو بار کت چکا ھي امتھاں ھمارا
توشاھیں ھے بسيرا کر پھاڑوں کي چٹانوںپر
پلٹنا چھپٹنا چھپٹ کے پلٹنا
لھو گرمانے کا ھے بھانا
“Tu shaaheen hai, basaira kar pharaon kee chatanon pur”..
“Jhapatna palatna, palat kar jhapatna;
Lahu garm rakhne ka hai ik bahana”…..Alama Iqbal
This is the third and final stage of Iqbal’s’ thinking patterns. Influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan writings, Iqbal changed his thinking. During this phase of his life, Iqbal worked for the All India Muslim League, whose sole purpose was the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Subcontinent
Of his different phases Iqbal himself wrote:
” I have myself been of he view hat religious differences should disappear from this country, and even now act on the principle, in my private life. But now I think that the preservation of their national identities is desirable for both the Hindus and the Muslims. The vision of a common nationhood for India is a beautiful idea, and has a poetic appeal, but looking to the present conditions and the unconscious trends of the two communities, appears incapable of fulfillment”.
By the year 1941 He was indeed a firm believer in Pakistan and the Two Nation Theory
” Cant you see that a Muslim, when he was converted more than a thousand years ago, bulk of them, then according to your hindureligion and philosophy, he becomes an outcast and he becomes aMalecha (an untouchable) and the Hindus ceased to have anythingto do with him socially , religiously , culturaly or in any otherway? He, therefore belongs to a different order not merely religiousbut social and he has lived in that distinctly separate and antagonostic social order, religiously, socially and culturally…can you posibally compare this with that nonsensical talk thatmere change of faith is no ground for a demand for Pakistan? Cantyou see the fundamantle difference ? “2 march 1941. Pres. address toPunjab Muslim Students Fed.
As can be seen from the above that the entire Muslim nation of India did not actually believe in “Pakistan” untill after the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan. It was after the failure of the CMP that Quaid-e-Azam and the Muslim League had accepted that the MOVEMENT TOWARDS Pakistan or an independent Muslim state began. Earlier writings from Iqbal DO NOT DETRACT anything from Iqbal becasue as early as 1930 he WAS propogating a SEPERATE identity of the Muslims of India.Iqbal’s vs Goethe’s: Deja Vu in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Nikal kay sehra say jis nay Roma ki saltanat ko ulat diya tha
Suna hai qudsiyon say main nay, wo sher phir hoshyar ho ga
Khuda kay bandey tou hain hazaron, banon main phirtey hain marey marey
Main uss ka banda banon ga jis ko Khuda kay bandon say pyar ho ga
(Meanings: saltanat = State; ulat = to conquer; Qudsiyon = fortune tellers; sher = lion (referring to Sultan Salah ud Din Ayubi and other brave Muslims); hoshyar = Attention; banon = forests)
CRITICISM OF IQBAL
Any good writing on Iqbal must discuss his criticism. Here is an Indian author trying to shred the Pakistan ideaology:
Much is made of Iqbal as the philospher of Partition. In this connection his address to the Allahabad Muslim League Session 1930 is lavishly quoted. The reader is never informed that the British had split the League into Shafi Leag-ue and Jinnah League, after League president Jinnah had decided to boycott the Simon Commission.
Iqbal was only presiding over the pro-British Shafi League, attended by less than a hundred delegates. Nor is the reader told that, in his later years, Iqbal thought better of Jawaharlal than of Jinnah and that he wrote to Edward Thomson (vide ‘Enlist India for Freedom’, p. 58) that “the Pakistan Plan would be disastrous to the British Government, disastrous to the Hindu community, disastrous to the Muslim community. But I am the President of the (Shafi) Muslim League and it is, therefore, my duty to support it”.
This is what Sanjeev Sharma says about Iqbal:
“Iqbal never was for a total separate state for Muslimsof India, he wanted them to have a self-determinationin federal republic of India, and even until hedied nowhere in his poems or anywhere we have anyevidence of his support for the dominion of a Pakistan outside of India, matter of the fact is thatonly after he died in 1938, Muslim league passeda resolution in 1940 at Lahore for a seperate stateof Pakistan, at that Jinnah was its leader.Iqbal, was a great poet no doubt about it, buta politician! no way, and Jinnah ,not only he failed to realized what will happen 40 years down but alsohe was directly responsible of 4-10 million murders,and largest migration of this history on earth. Again Iqbal, was never for this blood shed and migration, he insisted on the federal states ofindia, unlike Jinnah, who wanted to have a statefor him”.Criticism from the Religious Right Mualvi establishment
Iqbal was severely criticized for attacking the establishment. His book Zarb-e-Kaleem was titled “Declaration of War against the establishment of Today“. His articles, poems and anthologies attacked the status quo and asked the Muslims to raise their lot. His poems “Shikwah” and “Jawab-e-Shikwah” were severely criticized by the maulvis of his day. In “Shikwah” Iqbal complains to god about the poor lot of the Muslims, and in “Jawab Shikwah” Iqbal plays God and answers man. Many orthodox Muslims called Iqbal a “kafir” for this innovation in his poetry.
I consider “shikwah” good poetry. I wouldn’t have had it memorized otherwise. For the firebrand ideologue Shikwah has great inspirational power. But “shikwah” (together with most of Iqbal’s excellent poetry) has limited ideological appeal. If you are a Hindu, you’ll be disgusted by “shikwah”. (Remember the “muNh ke bal gir kay hua Allah aHad kehtay thay” part.) In a larger context I see this as a conflict between the classic ghazal and what they call “maqsadi sha’iri”.
German influence in Iqbal’s writings (Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908)
Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German philosophers of his time, Soren Kierkegaard, Fredrick Wilhelm Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. During his stay in Germany the ‘country’ (the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Prussia) was going though its great nationalistic binge. …..The Nazis used Nietzsche for building a nation that was defeated in war, was disarmed, was occupied and was split up into small portions. German states were trying to come together as a nation.
Iqbal’s response was that his inspiration was “Surah Hashar” of the Quran and not any other.
Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German’s nation attempt to re-construct itself. He thought he could transfer the concept to his homeland India. Iqbal is said to have been particularly affected by the German philosopher Nietzsche. Some have even accused him of plagiarizing German concepts. In Nietzsche’s famous Thus Spake Zaratustra (1883-85) Nietzsche “introduced in eloquent poetic prose the concepts of the superman and the will to power …. such a heroic man of merit has the courage … to rise above the masses. Some scholars compare Iqbal’s concepts of Mard-e-Momin to the Nietzsche ‘superman’, and Iqbal’s Khudi to Nietzsche’s will to power. There is no denying the influence of Nietzsche on Iqbal poetry. Iqbal was intelligent enough to use the German concepts for a positive purpose for his own people.
Comparison with Ghalib and Profoundness of Poetry
American research scholars like Marcus and Vonetta Franda have called Iqbal “One of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent “. However some researches have compared Iqbal to other great Indian poets like Ghalib, and have found Iqbal’s’ poems trite in comparison. The depth of Ghalib can not be found in Iqbal’s poetry. One Pakistani poet said “Iqbal’s poetry conveys a profound message but is not profound.”Perhaps Iqbal was writing for the common man, and did not want to complicate the message. Iqbal was on a mission. Ghalib, like Wordsworth, and Tennyson and others were poets without missions.
IQBAL AS FOUNDER OF PAKISTAN
Awami National Party leader Wali Khan waved a document at a teachers’s function to prove that poet Mohammad Iqbal had not conceived the idea of Pakistan. The document was a letter from the late poet in which he said he had never provided any idea about the creation of Pakistan.
The same letter reveals that it was Sir Zafarullah Khan who originally mooted the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
Source: UNI, June 1, 1996
Iqbal was one of the greatest sons of the subcontinent. He was born in the social, and political backwaters of the subcontinent, Sialkot, and acheived greatness in spite of his humble beginings. He galvanized a subdued and defeated nation who were under the yoke of British colonialism. The Muslims of the subcontinent of had lost their Mughal empire to the British, and and lost the economic and educational battle against the Hindus. The Hindus had gained a status in India that was of greater importance. The Muslims were truly third class citizens of India. Iqbal attempted and succeeded in combining the Muslims of different creeds, castes, and nd linguistic groups into a concept of nationhood based on Islam. Pakistan was but the inevitable result of his efforts.
IHSAN IBN ASLAM says about Iqbal:
I promised recently that I’d deal separately with this subject. So here it is! Lovely, juicy myths. Contrary to a widely held belief, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930.That was the demand of Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. I make my point by reference to original sources, including a vital letter of Iqbal dated 1934 in which he disowned and disassociated himself from the Pakistan scheme.-Ihsan
IQBAL’S 1930 ADDRESS:
1. INTRODUCTION
All people have a tendency to exaggerate and to create myths around their heroes and historical events. One such myth is that which surrounds Allama Iqbal’s address in 1930. In this address, Iqbal is widely quoted as proposing the creation of an independent Muslim State. Renowned historians such as Prof. S. Wolpert and Dr Ishtiaq H. Qureshi, as well as writers such as Rajmohan Gandhi and almost every Pakistani commenting on this address is of this view. However, this view is NOT based on fact and is not supported either by the full and original text or by other statements by Iqbal himself. The view is based on *misquotes* from the address and unsupported *interpretations*. Here I look at the original text of the address and provide other relevant sources, particularly a vital, but little-known (ignored?), letter of Iqbal dated 1934. Iqbal was a brilliant poet, but politics was not his strength.
2. IQBAL’S ALLAHABAD ADDRESS
a) OVERVIEW
The article concerns Iqbal’s presidential address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Allahabad on December 29, 1930. The text of the address stretches just over 19 pages and is
divided into the following sections:
Islam and Nationalism
Muslim India within India
Federal States
The Simon Report
Hindu Machinations
The Problem of Defence
The Alternative
The Conclusion
The famous (mis)quote is from the section “Muslim India within India”, which speaks for itself. Had people even made a cursory glance at this address they would have seen that Iqbal is talking throughout about Muslims *within* India, ie. a part of the country India.
b) IQBAL’S MUSLIM INDIA WITHIN INDIA: THE 1930 QUOTE
“…Personally I would go further than the demands embodied in it[resolution of All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi in 1928concerning Muslim India within India]. I would like to see thePunjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan*amalgamated* into a *single state*. Self-Government within theBritish Empire, or without the British Empire, and the formation ofa consolidated North-West Indian *Muslim state* appears to me to bethe final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.The proposal was put forward before the Nehru Committee. Theyrejected it on the ground that, if, carried into effect, it wouldgive a very *unwieldy state*…Thus, possessing full opportunity ofdevelopment *within* the body-politic of India, the North-WestIndian Muslims will prove the best defenders of *India*…Nor shouldthe Hindus fear that the creation of *autonomous Muslim states*… I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim state inthe best interests of India and Islam…For India it meanssecurity and peace resulting from an *internal balance* of power…
c) COMMENTS BASED DIRECTLY UPON THE ADDRESS
The highlights in the quote above (*) have been added. Some points to bear in mind are the following:
(i) Though this was Iqbal’s presidential address to the Muslim League, he was not speaking *officially* for he prefixed his suggestion by “Personally I would…”. His personal proposal was not binding on the Muslim League, who never passed any resolution in support of it and did not adopt Iqbal’s idea as a policy.
(ii) The crucial misquote turns Iqbal’s “state” (small ‘s’) into “State” (capital ‘s’). Iqbal is using “state” as a synonym for “province” and not referring to State, as in an independent country. Note that he is speaking of “amalgamating” the four provinces for the “formation” of a larger “consolidated” “single state” within India.
(iii) In the proper context of the whole address the the “Self-Government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire” refers to India, of which Iqbal’s large Muslim province/state was an integral part of.
(iv) That he is talking of this province/state *within* India is quite obvious from the quote. Also, as noted above, this quote is headed “Muslim India within India”. Iqbal is speaking of Muslims “within the body-politic of India” and speaks of them defending India and the large Muslim province/state providing “internal balance of power”. It can only be “internal” if it was a part of India. The Nehru Committee rejecting this suggestion as an “unwieldy state”, obviously means a large, cumbersome province difficult to administer as a unit of India. A reading of the whole address bears this out. The section following this one is entitled “Federal States”, for example, which puts the proposal of the “redistribution of territory” for the formation large Muslim province/state into context: it’s a federal unit of India. In “Hindu Machinations” he mentions the Round Table Conference proposal for an “All-India Federation” for India.
3. IQBAL’S LETTER TO EDWARD THOMPSON
Crucial evidence clarifying Iqbal’s 1930 address came to light in 1979 with the publication of Iqbal’s letters to Edward Thompson of Oxford (Ahmad 1979). Almost all historians and writers have failed to refer to this vital source of information. Of the letters, one dated March 4, 1934 is the most important, since it deals directly with the issue. Without much ado, I’ll now let Iqbal speak for himself.
a) TEXT OF IQBAL’S LETTER OF 1934
—————————————————————-
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt. M. A., Ph.D.
Barrister-at-Law, Lahore
4th March 1934
My dear Mr. Thompson
I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I amgrateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But youhave made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider itrather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called ‘Pakistan’. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggested in my address is the creation of a Muslims Province–i.e. aprovince having an overwhelming population of Muslims–in the North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,a part of the proposed Indian Federation. Pakistan scheme proposesa separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related toEngland as a separate dominion. This scheme originated inCambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu orso called Indian Nationalism
Yours sincerely,
Mohammad Iqbal
—————————————————————-
b) COMMENTS ON IQBAL’S LETTER OF 1934
(i) Note that he disassociates himself from the “serious” “mistake” of attributing the Pakistan idea to him.
(ii) This is the earliest evidence of Iqbal using the term “Pakistan”, which speaks of its wide and popular usage within a year of its invention (1933).
(iii) Iqbal clearly states that his 1930 proposal was to do with the “creation of a Muslim Province” as a “part of the proposed [Round Table Conference] Indian Federation“, i.e. not a separate Muslim State.
(iv) The Pakistan scheme “originated in Cambridge” and proposed a separate Muslim Federation of Muslim provinces. This proposal orginated in the Pakistan Declaration issued on January 28, 1933 from Cambridge and the movement launched by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (the only signatory of the Declaration from Cambridge). Iqbal must have read the Declaration. His last statement on the “Muslim Round Tablers“, of whom Iqbal was a *member*, comes from the Declaration, which condemned the Muslim members in no uncertain terms. Incidentally, Iqbal and Rahmat Ali met during Iqbal’s attendance of the Round Table Conferences in 1931 and 1932 (the Iqbal/Rahmat Ali relationship merits a separate post).
4. PAKISTAN DECLARATION (1933) ON IQBAL’S ADDRESS
In the letter above Iqbal comments on the 1933 Pakistan Declaration. Here is a relevant quote from the Declaration on Iqbal’s Address:
“This demand [for Pakistan, which included Kashmir] is basicallydifferent from the suggestion put forward by Doctor Sir MohammedIqbal in his Presidential address to the All-India Muslim League in1930. While he proposed the amalgamation of these Provinces into asingle state forming a unit of the All-India Federation, we proposethat these Provinces should have a separate Federation of theirown.” Self-explantory. 5. CONCLUSIONThere are other relevant sources which help understand Iqbal’s 1930 Address in the correct light (Ahmad 1942, Ali 1947, and see Aziz 1987 for detailed discussion). However, I think the above should be sufficient to dispel the myth that Iqbal proposed a separate Muslim State in his address. An explanation as to why the myth continues to be perpetrated lies party with the “founding party of Pakistan”, the All-India Muslim League, and partly with historians and other writers. Here is my interpretation, but first a list of important dates:
December 29, 1930: Iqbal’s Allahabad address
January 28, 1933: Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan Declaration
March 24, 1940: A-I Muslim League adopts Lahore Res.
August 14, 1947: Independence Day of Pakistan
After passing the Lahore (“Pakistan”) resolution in 1940, the League tried to find some sort of historical base for their decision after seven years of opposing Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan scheme.
Instead of acknowledging the 1933 Pakistan Declaration, which essentially remains unknown to this date, they jumped to Iqbal’s 1930 Allahabad address. Here, from their political perspective, they had two plus points: first, the address was by a renowned Muslim poet, who was later to be adopted officially as the “Poet of Pakistan”, and, second, the address was at the annual session of their party. As for their opposition to, and non-acknowledgement of, Rahmat Ali and his Movement, that is outside the scope of this article.The Allahabad myth is partly also due to poor scholarship, where reference is not made to original sources, and misquotes have led to misinterpretations or interpretations are made which are contrary to other relevant sources, including Iqbal’s own works. Iqbal did not “convert” to the idea of Pakistan until about 1937 when he wrote letters to the then President of the All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It is said that about this time Iqbal expressed an interest to join Rahmat Ali’s Movement, but he died soon thereafter (Wasti 1982). In conclusion, then, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930. That is the stuff of the myth-makers.
REFERENCES
ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1933, “Now or Never: Are we to Live or Perish for Ever?”, Cambridge.
ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1947, “Pakistan: Fatherland of the Pak Nation”, Pakistan National Movement, Cambridge
AHMAD, KHAN A., 1942, “The Founder of Pakistan: From Trial to Triumph”, London. (The “Founder” referred to is Rahmat Ali.) AHMAD, S. HASAN, 1979, “Iqbal: His Political Ideas at the
Crossroads: A Commentary on Unpublished Letters to Professor Thompson”, Aligarh.
AZIZ, K.K., 1987, “A History of the Idea of Pakistan”, Vol.1, p.184-327, Vanguard, Lahore.
IQBAL, M., 1930, “Presidential Address”, _in_ RAIS AHMAD JAFRI (NADVI), (ed.), “Rare Documents”.
IQBAL, M., 1934, “Letter to E. Thompson dated March 4, 1934″ _in_Ahmad 1979, see above.
WASTI, S.M., 1982, “My Reminiscences of Choudhary Rahmat Ali”, Royal Book Co., Karachi, 175pp.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Cambridge University: The libraries of Emmanuel College, Centre of South Asian Studies, and the University. Shahid Karim
“The Muslims of India are suffering from two evils.The first is the want of personalities…By leadersI mean men who, by Divine gift or experience, possessa keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam,long with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history. Such men are really the driving forces of a people, but they are God’s gift and cannot be made to order. The second evil from which the Muslims of India are suffering is that the ommunity is fast losing what is called the herd instinct.”
Source: Allama’s presidential address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Allahabad in 1930. Full text in “Rare Documents”.
POETRY OF IQBAL
From: abbas@seas.gwu.edu (Ali Abbas)
THE SlGNIFlCANCE OF ISLAMIC FREEDOM and SECRET OF THE KARBALA EVENT
Dr Mohammad Iqbal, the Poet of the East.
Whoever makes a covenant with the Omnipresent,
Is freed from the bondage of all (false) gods.
A believer’s existence is dependent on Love,
While Love, for its manifestation, is dependent on the believer,
What is impossible for mortals is rendered possible through Love.
Reason is ruthlessly sharp, but Love is sharper;
It is chaster, more shrewd, more daring.
Reason is lost in the maze of cause and effect;
Love is the champion in the field of action.
Love captures its prey through sheer strength;
While Reason captures through deceit by laying a snare.
Doubt and fear are the assets of Reason;
Self-Confidence and firmness of puryose are the integral
parts of Love.
Reason builds to destroy,
While Love destroys to re-create.
Reason has a little value like the air in this World,
Love is highly inestimable.
Reason is absorbed in questioss of how and how much;
Love in its purity transcends them.
Reason advises self-assertion,
While Love counsels self-examination.
Reason is indebted to other things for knowledge.
Love originates in grace (of God) and is contended with self
knowledge.
Reason says, Be happy and prosper,
While Love advises, Surrender thyself and be free.
Love finds both comfort and consolation in freedom,
Freedom is its source of guidance.
Have’nt you heard how summarily, on the occasion of the great conflict,
Love dealt with conceited Reason.
That Imam (Chief) of all lovers, the son of Fatima,
That cypress in the Prophet’s garden.
What a marvellous phenomenon ! (Husains) great
grand-father (Ishmael) set the first example of self sacrifice,
Whose meaning and significance became fully explicit
in him (Husain) the great grand-son.
For that Prince of ideal character (Husain),
The last Prophet offered his own shoulder as a substitute for
a camel’s back.
Love’s majestic visage glowing with pride because of
the blood of the martyred Husain,
The colourfulness of this line is due to the theme of martyrdom.
Husain’s unique position in the muslim community,
Is like the honoured place Occupied by the verse (Qul ho-Allah)
in the Quran.
Moses and Pharoah, Husain and Yazeed,
They are, but the conflicting forces of life.
Truth survives and triumphs because of Husain.
Falsehood is destined to meet with failure and grief.
At the moment when the leadership of the faithful broke the link with
the Quran,
Human freedom was poisoned in the blood.
There arose a man, the best of the best among nations,
Like a rain-laden eastern cloud, bringing water to a parched,
rocky soil.
This cloud rained for a moment on Karbala,
Causing the desert to bloom and passed on.
He (Husain) exterminated tyranny for ever,
From his martyred blood, there rose a new garden (of human values)
in the wilderness.
Writhing in dust and blood for defending truth,
He became the corner stone of “La Ilah”
Had Power been his objective,
He would have not set forth so ill-equipped.
His enemies were in multitude just like the sands of the desert,
While the number of his companions was equal to the numerical
value of the word Yezdan (72).
In him (Husain), the mystery of Abraham and Ishmael unfolds and expounds
itself.
He is the illustration of their faith.
His will was firm as a rock;
Swift and triumphant (like a river).
The sword was for him a weapon meant solely for the defence of the faith;
And the protection of the Divine Law.
The muslim owes allegiance to none but Allah.
His head never bows before a tyrant.
This was the secret that Husain unveiled with his blood.
And roused his people from slumber.
When he (Husain) unsheathed the sword of denial of false gods;
He caused the blood to flow from the veins of their supporters.
He inscribed the words Illallah on the desert sands of Karbala,
Thus, he imprinted the first line of the charter of our salvation.
It is from Husain that we have learnt the hidden meaning of the
Holy word (Quran).
The flames of burning faith we borrowed from his fire.
The splendour that was once Syria and Baghdad;
And the glory of Granada are all now a forgotten tale.
At the touch of Husain’s plectrum the strings of our being still vibrate;
His cry of Allah o Akbar still keeps our Faith alive.
O Wind! Thou messenger of far-flung people !
Present our tears to the sacred dust that covers Husain’s remains.
Shikwa-Jawab Shikwa Complaint and Answer Translated by:A.J. Arberry
This is what Khalid Muhammed Shahzad says about the poet of the East
The ‘Shikwa‘ and the ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’, are among the most popular of Iqbal’s poems; they are deservedly celebrated, for they are among the first to bring their author fame as an advocate of Islamic reform and rebirth. The date of their compsition can be fixed very accurately by a reference to contemporary events contained in the second of them; when Iqbal wrote -
‘Now the onslaught of the Bulgars sounds the trumpet of alarm’ he was commemorating the invasion of Turkey by Bulgaria in the late autumn of 1912, an attack which threatened at one time to penetrate as far as Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the last home of the Caliphate.
These poems were therefore composed four years after Iqbal’s return from Europe. They mark the beginning of that remarkable career as philosopher and poet which brought Iqbal ever-increasing renown, until he was recognized as the leading thinker of ISLAM in India and the greatest figure in Urdu literature. It is all the more interesting to find him adumbrating in these early pieces that theory of Selfhood (Khudi) and Selflessness (Bekhudi) which later played such an important part in his religious and political philosophy.
The central theme of both poems is the decay of Islam from its former greatness, and the measures to be adopted if it was to re-establish its authority and regain its vitality. The subject was, of course, not a new one; ever since the decline and final extinction of the Moghul Empire, Muslims in India had been searching their minds and their consciences for the explanation of so lamentable a disaster. Nor were Indian Muslims alone in deploring the seeming collapse of Islamic civilization; their co-religionists further West, from Persia to Morocco, had been occupied with the same self-examination. But in these two poems Iqbal stated the problem in singularly arresting directness; the literary form chosen for its exposition, a dialogue between the poet, as a spokesman for Muslims the world over, and God – this dramatic presentation of the common dilemma made an immediate and compelling appeal to Iqbal’s public, an appeal moreover which has lost nothing of its force in the intervening years.
To make a worthy translation of these poems into English is certainly no easy task. To begin wuth, the translator ( A.J. Arberry) has to confess to a very inadequate knowledge of Urdu, the language used by Iqbal on this occasion. Left to his own devices, he would been obliged to abandon the attempt; but the publisher, Sh. M. Ashraf, procured for him a literal rendering of the originals into English prose, ably executed by Mazheruddin Siddiqi, to whom the grateful and cordial thanks of the writer are hereby expressed. But that is by no means the end of the matter; Iqbal naturally illustrated his discourse with metaphors and references familiar enough to those accustomed to read Urdu poetry, but in many instances utterly strange, indeed outlandish, to an English audience. Rather than impose on the poet transformations, of which he would certainly and justly have disapproved, the translator has preferred to reproduce his model as closely and as faithfully as he could, appending notes to his version to light up the dark passages wherever they are found.
Kiyu* ziya’ kar banu* sood framosh rahu* ?
(Why must I forever suffer loss, oblivious to gain ?)
Fikr-e-farda na karu* mehv-e-gham-edosh rahu*?
(Why think not upon the morrow, drowned in grief for yesterday ?)
Naale bubul ke sunu* aur hama tan gosh rahu*
(Why must I attentive heed the nightingale’s lament of pain ?)
Ham navaa! mai* bhi koi gul hoo* ke khamosh rahu* ?
(Fellow-bard! am I rose, dondemned to silence all the way?)
Jur’at aamoze miri taab-e-sukhan mujh ko
No; the burning power of song bids me be bold and not to faint;
Shikwa Allah(s.w.t.) se “khakam badahan” hai muhj ko Dust be in my mouth, but God – He is the theme of my complaint.
—————————————————————
The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for
henna to be put on her
And also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote a poem “Taariq ke Duaa”.
“The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain”. One verse
in that poem reads
KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se
The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs
“Khitaab ba jawaanaan e Islam” in which he says to the young Muslim.
You have been reared by a nation
that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia
i.e. the home of the camel herders
How dare Iqbal also says in one of his poems
I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn’t our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad
It is getting outrageous on part of Iqbal. Iqbal also said
If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don’t then the Arabs have a right over Spain
Iqbal said in one of his poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family.
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat
Note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.
Here he talks about his Hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family.
So even though Iqbal’s ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple
hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there
is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.
That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.In the world of people who are wrapped up in a shell of fake and hollow pride one human being cannot learn from another human being. In their world there are unpassable barriers to cultural interaction and social inter-course. But their fake world will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the true spirit of human civilization. If we would not be so blind to read our own histories of how our cultures have been formed. Culture is not something static. It is the most dynamic phenomenon known to man. If you come in the way of cultural intermingling you will only destroy yourself.Going back to Iqbal. Iqbal talked about ants, flowers, women, Turks, Arabs, Indians, Europeans, cows, goats, sqirrels, camels, mountains, rivers, Lenin, Mussolini and thousands of other things. And so has every other poet befor him and after him done the same, talk about things.I could talk about all the poets that have existed and because of their spirit of love and their preacing of cultural interaction their names (and message) will last till the end of the world. I could talk about Sachal Sarmast, Amir Khusro, Shah AbdulLatif Bhitai, Amir Karore, Bhulley Shah, Waaris Shah, Bahadur Shah. The message of all these people is the same. They use different words and different styles but they teach us the same message. That message is the brotherhood of mankind.I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude
BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay
Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain allthat tawheed to you
This is what Nadeem Jamali says
Jang-e-yarmook… the poem is specifically about a certain warTariq bin Ziad… this is about what a particular person saidKhitab ba jawanaan….. here Iqbal is addressing MuslimsHindu…. Iqbal is expressing his feelingsPalestine… again Iqbal’s own feelingsIn the poem about the “Wise Baloch”, Iqbal is pretending to know how a wise Baloch thinks. He is not writing about one particular person… he’s trying to make a statement about the Baloch way of thinking in general. Unless he has based the poem on something, it is logical to raise the question. And mind you, I only asked if anyone knows the background.
This is what Khurram has contributed on Iqbal:
Majnun nay shehar chora tu sehra bhi chor dayNazaray ki havas ho to Laila bhi chor dayWa’iz kamal-i-tarak say milti hai ya’n muradDunya jo chor dee hai to Uqba bhi chor day
TRANSLATION:Majnun left the cities for the wilderness of the deserts, but you (O dervish) also renounce the latterIf you deire for ‘Mushahidas’ also give up your LailaO Preacher! Renunciation leads one to the goal on this path. Now that you have given up dunya also renounce the Hereafter
The essence of these verses is:
When a passionate desire (for his Lord) surges in the heart of a man
Then this wingless person gives birth to a Ruh-ul Amin within him
There’s a punjabi quadruplet on the same topic:
Zahid zuhd kamanday thakay rozay nafal namazaan HuAashiq gharq huay vich Wahdat fillah nal Muhabat razaan HuMakhi qaid shehad vich phati ki ur’si naal Shebazaan HuJinhan majlis naal Nabi Sarwar day Bahu O sahib raaz niazan HuThe ascetic died of rigorous prayers and attained paradise The Lover, in love for Allah, drowned in the ocean of Oneness and attained his LordA bee so caught in honey’s snares, how can it accompany the hawkBahu, those who attend the Holy Majlis of the Last messenger, they are the possessors of Divine knowledge
This is what Altaf Bhimji contibutes on Iqbal:
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness
A Philosophical Poem by Muhammad Iqbal
Translated, with Introduction and Notes by
Professor A.J.Arberry (First Edition 1953 –out of print)
Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938) was not only the leading Urdu poet of his generation, but is considered by many as the spiritual founder of Pakistan. His writings were certainly most influential in preparing the way for the independence of Pakistan. As a philosopher and a thinker he is one of the greatest figures in modern Islam. In the Mysteries of Selflessness Iqbal puts forward his views on the relationship between the Individual and the State, of course from the Muslim standpoint, using the language and rich imagery of Persian poetry.
Dedication to the Muslim Community
You, who were made by God to be the Seal (i)Of all the peoples dwelling upon earthThat all beginnings might in you find end;Whose saints were prophetlike, whose wounded heartsWove into unity the soul of men;Why are you fallen now so far astrayFrom Mecca’s holy Kabba, all bemusedBy the strange beauty of the Christian’s way?The very skies are but a gatheringOf your street’s dust, yourselves the cynosureOf all men’s eyes; whither in restless hasteDo you now hurry like a storm-tossed wave,What new diversion seeking? No, but learn The mystery of ardor from the mothAnd make your lodgment in the burning flame;Lay Love’s foundation-stone in your own soul, And to the Prophet pledge anew your troth.My mind was weary of Christian company,When suddenly your beauty stood unveiled,My fellow-minstrel sang the epiphany (ii)Of alien loveliness, the lovelorn themeOf tresses and soft cheeks, and rubbed his browAgainst the saki’s door, rehearsed the chantOf Magian wenches. I would martyr beTo your brow’s scimitar, am fain to restLike dust upon your street. Too proud am ITo mouth base panegyrics, or to bowMy stubborn head to every tyrant’s courtTrained up to fashion mirrors out of words, I need not Alexander’s magic glass (iii)My neck endures not men’s munificence; Where roses bloom, I gather close the skirt Of my soul’s bud. Hard as the dagger’s steelI labor in life, my luster winFrom the tough granite. Though I am a sea,Not restless is my billow; in my handI hold no whirlpool bowl. A painted veilAm I, no blossom’s perfume-scattering, No prey to every billowing breeze that blows.I am a glowing coal within Life’s fire.And wrap me in my embers for a cloak.An now my soul comes suppliant to your doorBringing a gift of ardor passionate.A mighty water out of heaven’s deepMomently trickles o’er my burning breast,The which I channel narrower than a brookThat I may fling it in your garden’s dish.Because you are beloved by him I loveI fold you to me closely as my heart.Since Love first made the breast an instrumentOf fierce lamenting, by its flame my heartWas molten to a mirror; like a roseI pluck my breast apart, that I may hangThis mirror in your sight. Gaze you thereinOn your own beauty, and you shall becomeA captive fettered in your tresses’ chain.I chant again the tale of long ago,To be your bosom’s old wounds bleed anew. So for a people no more intimateWith its own soul I supplicated God,That He might grant to them a firm-knit life.In the mid watch of night, when all the worldWas hushed in slumber, I made loud lament;My spirit robbed of patience and repose,Unto the Living and Omnipotent GodI made my litany; my yearning heartSurged, till its blood streamed from my weeping eyes“How long, O Lord, how long the tulip-glow,The begging of cool dewdrops from the dawn?Lo, like a candle wrestling with the nightO’er my own self I pour my flooding tears.”I spend my self, that there might be more light,More loveliness, more joy for other men.Not for one moment takes my ardent breastRepose from burning; Friday does not shame (iv)My restless week of unremitting toil.Wasted is now my spirit’s envelope;My glowing sigh is sullied all with dust.When God created me at Time’s first dawnA lamentation quivered on the stringsOf my melodious lute, and in that noteLove’s secrets stood revealed, the ransom-priceOf the long sadness of the tale of Love;Which music even to sapless straw impartsThe ardency of fire, and on dull clayBestows the daring of the reckless moth.Love, like the tulip, has one brand at heart, And on its bosom wears a single rose;And so my solitary rose I pinUpon your turban, and cry havoc loudAgainst your drunken slumber, hoping yetTulips may blossom from your earth anewBreathing the fragrance of the breeze of Spring.
Notes:
(i) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) being commonly called the Seal of the Prophets because in him God concluded His series of revelations to manking. Iqbal borrows the term and refers to the
Islamic community as the Seal of the Peoples.
(ii) The reference is to the continuing fashion among Urdu poets to imitate the conventional love-lyrics of Persia in which the images mentioned are very common.
(iii) Alexander the Great is said in Persian legend to have possessed a magic mirror in which he saw the whole world at a glance.
(iv) Friday being the day for Muslim congregational prayer.
ADDITION TO IQBAL
“Jang-e-yarmook ka aik waaqiah”.
The first verse of that poem can be translated as:
The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for henna to be put on her
“The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain”. One verse in that poem reads
KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se
The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs
“Khitaab ba jawaanaan e Islam” in which he says to the young Muslim.
You have been reared by a nation that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia i.e. the home of the camel herders
Iqbal also says in one of his poems
I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn’t our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad
Iqbal. Iqbal also said
If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don’t then the Arabs have a right over Spain
The people who ask such questions about who was who should first come out of their shell of fake ethnic pride and unfouded sense of superiortity.
Iqbal was a poet and a sensitive human being. You donot have to be a flower to talk about a flower. You donot have to be an ant to talk about an ant.
You donot have to be a horse to talk about a horse. You do not have to be god to talk about god.
A poet uses everyday things to convey his message to us. That is why Iqbal used the “Wise Baloch” to teach us the wise stuff.
Going back to Iqbal being an Arab for a moment. Iqbal said in one of his
poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat
note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.
Here he talks about his Hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family. So even though Iqbal’s ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.
That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.
So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.
TAWHID
I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude
BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay
Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain all that tawheed to you
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness By Muhammad Iqbal
Translated by A. J. Arberry.
The story of Bu Ubaid and Jaban, in Illustration of Muslim Brotherhood
A certain general of King Yazdajird
(i) Became a Muslim’s captive in the wars;A Guebre he was, inured to every trickOf fortune, crafty, cunning, full of guile.He kept his captor ignorant of his rankNor told him who he was, or what his name,But said, ” I beg that you will spare my lifeAnd grant to me the quarter of Muslims gain.”The Muslim sheathed his sword. “To shed thy blood”,He cried, “were impious and forbidden sin.”When Kaveh’s banner had been rent to shreds,
(ii)The fire of Sasan’s sons turned all to dust
(iii)It was disclosed the captive Jaban was,Supreme commander of the Persian host.Then was his fraud reported, and his bloodPetitioned of the Arab general;Bu Ubaid, famed leader of the ranksFrom far Hejaz, who needed not the aidOf armies to assist his bold resolveIn battletide, thus answered their request.“Friends, we are Muslims, strings upon one luteAnd of one concord. Ali’s voice attunes With Abu Dharr’s, although the throat be that of Qanbar or Bilal. Each one of us
(iv)Is trustee to the whole CommunityAnd one with it, in malice or in truce.As the Community is the sure baseOn which the individual rests secure,So is its covenant his sacred bond.Though Jaban was a foeman to Islam,A Muslim granted him immunity;His blood, O followers of the best of men,May not be spilled by any Muslim sword.”____
i) Yazdajird was the last Sassanian king of Persia
ii)Kaveh, a smith of Isphan, raised the standard of revolt against the usurping tyrant Zahhak and established Feridun on the throne of Persia.iii)Sasan was the eponymous founder of the Sassanian dynasty,overthrown at the Arab conquest of Persia.iv)Qanbar, formerly a slave, was manumitted by caliph Ali. Bilal, formerlyan Abyssinan slave, was taken by the Prophet at the muezzin.
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness By Muhammad Iqbal Translated by A. J. Arberry.
The story of Sultan Murad and the Architect, in Illustration of Muslim Equality
An architect there was, that in Khojand Was born, a famous craftsman of his kindWorthy to be an offspring of Farhad.Sultan Murad commanded him to buildA mosque, that which pleased not his majesty,So that he waxed right furious at his faults.The baleful fire flared in the ruler’s eyes;Drawing his dagger, he cut off the handOf that poor wretch, so that the spurting bloodGushed from his forearm. In such hapless plightHe came before the cadi, and retoldThe tyrant’s felony, that had destroyedThe cunning hand which shaped the granite rock.‘O thou whose words a message are of Truth”He cried, “whose toil it is to keep aliveMuhammad’s Law, I am no ear-bored slavePatient to wear the ring of monarchs’ might.Determine my appeal by the Quran!”The upright cadi bit his lips in ireAnd summoned to his court the unjust kingWho, hearing the Quran invoked, turned paleWith awe, and came like any criminalBefore the judge, his eyes cast down in shame,His cheeks as crimson as the tulip’s glow.On one side stood the appellant, and on oneThe high exalted emperor, who spoke.“I am ashamed of this that I have wroughtAnd make confession of my grievous crime.”“In retribution”, quoth the judge, “is life,And by the law life finds stability.The Muslim slave no less is than free menNor is the emperor’s blood of richer hueThan the poor builder’s.” Listening to these words Of Holy Writ, Murad shook off his sleeveAnd bared his hand. The plaintiff thereuponNo longer could keep silence. “God commandsJustice and kindliness,” recited he.“For God’s sake, and Muhammad’s,” he declared,“I do forgive him.” Note the majestyOf the Apostle’s Law, and how an antTriumphantly outfought a Solomon!Before the tribunal of the QuranMaster and slave are one, the mat of reedsCoequal with the throne of rich brocade.QUAID
>*16 November: Choudhary Rahmat Ali Day*
Munir M. Pervaiz contributions on Iqbal’s humor:
Shaikh sahib bhi to pardey kay ko’i haami naheeN
Muft meiN college kay larkey unn say bad zan ho gaey
Wa’az meiN farma diya kal aap nay yeh saaf saaf“
Parda aakhir kiss say ho jab mard hi zan ho gaey”
*******Woh miss boli iraada khood kushi ka jab kiya meiN nay
Mohazzab hay to ay aashiq, qadam bahar na dhhar had say
Na jur’at hay na khanjar hay,to qasd e khood kuushi kaisa
Yeh maana dard e naa kaami gaya tera guzar had say
Kaha meiN kay” ay jan e jahaaN kuchh naqd dilwa do
Kiraaey par manga loonga ko’i afghaan sarhad say”
****************Takraar thhi mazaar’e o maalik meiN aik rauz
Dono yeh keh rahey thhey mera maal hay zameeN
Kehta thha woh, karey jo zaraa’at ussi ka khait
Kehta thha yeh, kay aql thikaaney teri naheeN
Pochha zameeN say meiN kay , hay kiss ka maal too
Boli mujhhey to hay faqat iss baat ka yaqeeN
Maalik hay ya mazaar’a e shoreeda haal hayJ
o zeir e aasmaaN hay woh dharti ka maal hay —-Ta abad aadmi ko dunya meiN
Zindigi ka khiraaj deina hayTifl e nau za’ida ko kal say mujhhey
Zehr e rasm o riwaaj deina hay
Another poem from Allama Iqbal’s Baal e jibra’eel for lovers of great Urdu poetry:
PANJAB KAY PEER ZAADON SAY
Hazir hua meiN sheikh e mujaddid ki lehd par
Woh khaak kay hay zeir e falak matla e anwaar
Iss khaak kay zarroN say heiN sharminda sitaarey
Iss khaak meiN posheeda hay woh sahib e israr
Gardan na jhukee jiss ki jahaangir kay aagey
Jiss kay nafas e garm say hay garmi e ahraar
Woh hind meiN sarmaya e millat ka nigehbaaN
Allah nay bar waqt kiya jiss ko khabardaar
Ki arz yeh meiN nay kay ata faqr ho mujhh ko
AankheiN meri beena heiN wa lekin naheeN baidaar
Aaee yeh sada silsila e faqr hua bandHei
N ahl e nazar kishwar e punjaab say baizaar
Aarif ka thikaana naheeN woh khitta kay jiss meiN
Paida kulah e faqr say ho turra e dastaar
Baqi kulah e faqr say thha walwala e haq
TurroN nay charhaya nasha e khidmat e sarkaar
Merey jism o rooh to kab kay, dhoop meiN jal kar raakh huey
Tuum jinn say miltey rehtey ho, woh to merey saaey heiN
PUNJABI MUSSALMAN
Mazhab meiN bohat taaza pasand iss ki tabi’atKar lay kahiN manzil to guzarta hay bohat jaldTahqeeq ki baazi ho to shirkat nahiN kartaHo khail mureedi ka to harta hay bohat jald !Taaweel ka phanda koi sayyad lagaa dayYeh shaakh e nasheman say utarta hay bohat jald !
GADAAI
Maikaday meiN aik din ik rind e zeerak nay kahaHay hamaaray shehr ka waali gadaa e bay hayaTaaj pehnaya hay kiss ki bay kulaahi nay ussayKiss ki uryaani nay bakhshi hay ussay zarreeN qabaUss kay aab e laala gooN ki khoon e dehqaaN say kasheedTerey merey khait ki matti hay uss ki keemyaUss aky nemat khaaney ki har cheez hay maangi hoeeDeney waala kaun hay ? mard e ghareeb o bay nawaMaangnay waala gada hay sadqa maangey ya khiraajKoi maaney yaa na maaney meer o sultaN sab gada
The following is a reproduction in toto of a letter written by Iqbal to the editor of the London Times, dated October 15, 1931. //
NORTH-WEST INDIA- MOSLEM PROVINCES
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir,-Writing in your issue of October 3 last, Dr. E. Thompson has torn the following passage from its context in my presidential address to the All-India Moslem League of last December, in order to serve as evidence of “Pan-Islamic plotting”:- /
I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Moslem State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Moslems, at least of North-West India./
May I tell Dr. Thompson that in this passage I do not put forward a “demand” for a Moslem State outside the British Empire, but only a guess at the possible outcome in the dim future of the mighty forces now shaping the destiny of the Indian sub-continent. No Indian Moslem with any pretence to sanity contemplates a Moslem State or series of States in North-West India outside the British Commonwealth of Nations as a plan of practical politics.
Although I would oppose the creation of another cockpit ofcommunal strife in the Central Punjab, as suggested by some enthusiasts, Iam all for a redistribution of India into provinces with effective majorities of one community or another on lines advocated by the Nehru and the Simon reports. Indeed, my suggestion regarding Moslem provinces merelycarries forward this idea. A series of contented and well-organized Moslem provinces on the North-West Frontier of India would be the bulwark of India and the British Empire against the hungry generations of the Asiatic highlands.
Yours faithfully,
MUHAMMED IQBAL.
St. James’s court, S.W.1, Oct. 10.//
The delegation is led by Khalid Jaffar, Press Assistant to the Malaysian Deputy Prime MinisterAnwar Ibrahim,Raja Rajaratnam,N.V.Raman and Anwar Tahir who are all members of theResearch Institute. Briefing the newsmen on Saturday, Rajaratnam said the Conference will be the second of the seriesdesigned to highlight the accomplishments of the Asian scholars and intellectuals. He said the title of the upcoming conference is ‘Muhammad Iqbal and the Asian Renaissance.’ Rajaratnam said experts drawn from various countries will read papers on Iqbal and hisworks.Some of the topics are Iqbal:Worldview,Metaphysics and Mysticism,Iqbal onReform,Justice,Polity & Ethnic Relations, Iqbal and the Muslim World,Iqbal:East,West and the Renaissance.
Malaysia organising conference on Iqbal LAHORE (APP) — The Institute for Policy Research, Malaysia,is organising an internationalconference on poet philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Selangor from June 3 to 5. The three-day conference will highlight the works and achievements of the poet of the East . A four-member delegation of the Institute for Policy Research is currently visiting Pakistan to seekthe Government’s help in procuring various works of Iqbal for display during the conference.
He said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been invited to deliver keynote address on the openingday of the conference. The Malaysian scholar disclosed that an exhibition will also be organised on the occasion, displayingAllama Iqbal’s publications, books, manuscripts and photographs. Rajaratnam said Iqbal was a well known figure in his country especially among the Muslims and theconference has been designed to project him as an Asian thinker in the East Asia. ‘ The occasion will provide an excellent opportunity for scholars from other countries to exchange
Guftaar-e-syasat main watan aur hi kuch hai
Irshaad-e-Naboo’at (PBUH) main watan aur hi kuch hai
(Meanings: Guftaar-e-syasat = inpolitical terms; Irshad-e-Naboo’at (PBUH) = Sayings of Muhammad (PBUH))
*. Apney parwanon ko phir zoq-e-khud afrozi dey
Barq-e-daireena ko farman-e-jigar sozi dey
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Parwanon = Believers; zoq-e-khud afrozi = sense of self respect; Barq-e-daireena = Strength of old times; farman-e-jigar sozi = Faith)
*. Aankh ko baydaar ker dey wada-e-deedar say
Zinda ker dey dil ko soz-e-johar-e-guftaar say
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Aankh = vision; baydaar = conscious; wada-e-deedar = Promise of keeping true Faith; soz-e-johar-e-guftar = Faith)
*. Shab guraizan ho gi aakhir jalwa-e-khursheed say
Ye chaman mamoor ho ga naghma-e-Tauheed say
(Meanings: Shab guraizan ho gi aakhir jalwa-e-khursheed say = Sunshine will dominate the darkness of night eventually; chaman = referring to Islam; mamoor = blessed; naghma-e-tauheed = Islam)
*. Dilon ko markez-e-mehr-o-wafa ker
Hareem-e-Kibriya say aashna ker
Jissey nan-e-jaween bakhshi hai Tu nay
Ussey bazo-e-Haider bhi ata ker
(praying to God) (Meanings: Dilon = Hearts/insights/thoughts; markaz-e-mehr-o-wafa = Center of love and loyalty; Hareem-e-Kibriya = God; aashna = Familiar; Nan-e-jaween = determination; Bazu-e-Haider = Strength and faith of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him))
*. Zameer-e-lala main roshan chiragh-e-aarzu ker dey
Chamman kay zarrey zarrey ko shaheed-e-justaju ker dey
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Zameer-e-lala = Insight of Muslims; roshan = enlighten; chiragh-e-aazru = Lamp of hopes; zarrey = each part; shaheed-e-justaju = strive to be stronger)
*. Bazu tera Tauheed ki quat say qawi hai
Islam tera des hai, tu Mustafawi hai
Nizara-e-daireena zamaney ko dikha dey
Aey Mustafawi! khaak main iss bu’t ko mila dey
(Meanings: Qawi = strong; des = country; Mustafawi = Referring to Muslims here; Nizara-e-daireena = Old times when Muslims used to be the most united and strong power)
*. Phir dilon ko yaad aa jayey ga paigham-e-sajood
Phir jabeen khaak-e-Haram say aashna ho jayey gi
Aankh jo kuch dekhti hai, lab pay aa sakta nahin
Mehw-e-hairat hon kay duniya kya say kya ho jayey gi
(Meanings: paigham-e-sajood = Message of Muhammad (PBUH); jabeen = foreheads; khak-e-Haram = referring to worship of Allah; lab = lips; mehw-e-hairat = amazed)
CONCEPT OF KHUDI
Nigah-e-faqr main shaan-e-sikandari kya hai?
Khiraaj ki jo gada ho, wo qaiseri kya hai?
Falaq nay ki hai ata un ko khaajgi kay jinhain
Khabar nahin rawish-e-banda parwari kya hai?
Kissey nahin hai tamanna-e-sarwari lekin
Khudi ki mout ho jis main, wo sarwari kya hai?
Buton say tujh ko umeedain, Khuda say no meedi
Mujhey bata tou sahi aur kaafri kya hai?
(Meanings: Nigah-e-Faqr main shan-e-sikandari kya hai = What is the worth of kingdom in eyes of a saint?; Khiraj ki jo gada ho, wo qeseri kya hai = Such a rule in which ruler is always worried about keeping it secure, is worthless; Falaq = Nature; Khaajgi = Ruling class; Khabar nahin = Ignored; rawish-e-banda parwari = Sense of serving humanity; tamanna-e-sarwari = Desires to rule; Khudi ki mout ho jis main wo sarwari kya hai = Such rule is insulting to gain which, self respect is required to be sacrificed; Buton = Idols (referring to fellow human beings here); umeedain = Expectations; no meedi = Disappointment; Kaafri = Non Muslim who donot believe in Oneness of God)
*. Aey Tair-e-Lahooti, uss rizq say mout achi
Jis rizq say aati ho, parwaz main kotahi
Aain-e-jawanmardi, haq goi-o-bay baaqi
Allah kay sheron ko, aati nahin rubaahi
(Meanings: Tair-e-Lahooti = Simile, addressing to Muslim youth; Rizq = food/income; Kotahi = Laziness, denotatively and connotatively referring to slavery here; Aain-e-Jawanmardi = Conditions to live with dignity; Haq goi = Honesty; Bay Baaqi = Bravery; Rubaahi = cunningness, hypocrisy)
*. Hai Fikr mujhey misra-e-saani ki zyada
Allah karey tujh ko ata Fuqr ki talwaar
Jo haath main ye talwaar bhi aa jayey tou Momin
Ya Khalid-e-Janbaaz hai, Ya Haider-e-Karrar
(Meanings: misra-e-saani = proceeding verse; Fuqr ki talwar = Strong Faith; Khalid-e-Janbaaz = Khalid Bin Waleed (May Allah be pleased with him); Haider-e-Karrar= Ali Ibn-e-Abu Talib (May Allah be pleased with him))
*. Wo kal kay gham-o-aish per kuch Haq nahin rakhta
Jo aaj khud afroz-o-jigar soz nahin hai
Wo qaum nahin laiq-e-hangama-e-farda
Jis qaum ki taqdeer main imroz nahin hai
(Meanings: gham-o-aish = thick n’ thin; khud afroz-o-jigar soz = A person with motivation and determination; Laiq-e-hangama-e-farda = worthy to survive anymore; imroz = Present)
*. Paani paani ho gaya sun ker Qalander ki ye baat
Tu jhuka jab ghair key aagey, na tann tera na mann
Apney mann main dub kay pa ja suragh-e-zindagi
Tu agar mera nahi banta, na ban, apna tou bann
(Meanings: paani paani ho gaya = ashamed of oneself; Qalander = Saint; Ghair = Stranger (British here); tann and mann = Body and Soul; suragh-e-zindagi = Connotatively referring to secrets to live prestigious life)
(Meanings: Khana-e-sheesha-e-farang = Referring to British here; Sifaal-e-Hind = Referring to former united India (sub contient) here; Meena-o-jaam = Referring to necessities of life here; Chasshmey = Denotatively means fountains but connotative meanings here, referring to obstacles; Sang-e-rah = Track/path; Phootey = Emergence; Zarb-e-Kaleem = Powerful Strike)
*. Nahin tera nash-e-mann kasr-e-sultani kay gumband per
Tu Shaheen hai basera ker paharon ki chatanon per
(Meanings: nash-e-mann = home; kasr-e-sultani = denotatively, it stands for royal palace but here, it means ease and laziness; Basera = Shelter; Chatanon = Rocks)
*. Aghyaar kay ufkaar-o-takhayyul ki gadai
Kya tujh ko nahin apni khudi tak bhi rasai?
(Meanings: Aghyaar = Referring to British; Ufkaar = Policies; Takhayyul = Theories; Gadai= to beg; rasai = access)
*. Khudi ko ker buland itna kay her taqdeer say pehley
Khuda bandey say khud poochey bata teri raza kya hai
*. Ghulami main na kaam aati hain shamsheerain, na tadbeerain
Jo ho shok-e-yaqeen paida tou cut jaati hain zanjeerain
Koi andaza ker sakta hai iss kay zor-e-bazu ka?
Nigha-e-mard-e-momin say badal jati hain taqdeerain
(Meanings: Ghulami = Slavery; Shamsheerain = Swords; Tadbeerain = Plannings; Shok-e-yaqeen = Sense of self respect; Zanjeerain = restraints; Andaza= Guess; Zor-e-Bazu= Strength; Nigah-e-Mard-e-Momin = Glare of a Muslim (connotatively referring to strength of a strong faith Muslim); Taqdeerain = Destiny)
MESSAGE FOR MUSLIMS
Quran main ho ghota zan, aey mard-e-Msualman
Allah karey tujh ko ata jiddat-e-kirdaar
Jo harf-e-Qul il afw main posheeda hai ab tak
Iss dour main shayad wo haqeeqat ho namudaar
(Meanings: ghota zan = Referring to read, consult and understand; Jiddat-e-Kirdaar = Strong faith/strong character; Harf-e-Qul il afw = Words of Quran; Posheeda = Hidden; Namudar = To expose)
*. Aashna apni Haqeeqat say ho, aey dehqan zara
Dana tu, kheti bhi tu, baran bhi tu, haasil bhi tu
Khauf-e-batil kya hai, kay hai ghaarat-e-batil bhi tu
(Meanings: Aashna = Familiarity; Dehqan = Hard worker/ ploughman; Dana = Fruit; Kheti = Final product; Baran = Blessed rain; Haasil = Reward; Justaju = Struggle denotatively but referring to “wait” here; awara = useless; Rah = Passage; Rahru = Passenger; Rehber = Guide; Manzil = Destination; Kanpta = To shiver; Andesha-e-tufan = Fear of thunder; Nakhuda = Sailor; Beher = Ocean; Kashti = Ship; Sahil = Bank of ocean; Shola = Flame; phoonk dey = Eliminate; Khashak-e-ghair Allah = Enemies of God; Khauf-e-batil = Fear of Oppression; Ghaarat-e-Batil = One who eliminates oppressor and oppression)
*. Aaj bhi ho jo Baraheem ka Imaan paida
Aag ker sakti hai andaz-e-gulistan paida
(Meanings: Baraheem = Abraham (PBUH); Imaan = Faith; Andaz-e-gulistan = Referring to miracle of Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham PBUH), who was thrown in fire and fire was converted into the roses)
*. Baykhatar kood para aatish-e-namrood main Ishq
Aqal hai mehw-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam abhi
Shewa-e-Ishq hai Azadi-o-deher aashubi
Tu hai zannari-e-bu’t khana-e-ayyam abhi
(Meanings: Baykhatar = Fearlessly; Kood para = Jumped in; Aatish-e-Namrood = Referring to fire of Namrood in which, prophet Abraham (PBUH) was thrown; Ishq = Referring to strong Faith and devotion of Prophet Abraham (PBUH); Aqal = Wisdom; Mehw-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam = Stunned/shocked/in state of disbelief; Shewa-e-Ishq = Strong Faith; Azadi = Freedom; Deher Aashubi = To get rid of slavery; Zannari-e-bu’t khana-e-ayyam = Under influence of idol worshipers)
*. Dekh ker rang-e-chamman ho na pareshan maali
Kaukab-e-ghuncha say kirnain hai chamakney wali
Khas-o-khashaak say hota hai gulistan khali
Gul ber andaz hai khoon-e-shuhda ki lali
Rang gardun ka zara dekh tou, unnabi hai
Ye nikaltey huey Suraj ki ufuk taabi hai
(Meanings: Rang-e-chamman = Referring to downtrodden enslaved Muslim nation; Pareshan = Worried, Maali = Referring to worried Muslims; Kaukab-e-ghuncha = Referring to new buds; Kirnain = Ray of shining light; Chamakney = Brightness; Khas-o-Khashaak = Trash/garbage; Gulistan = Referring to Muslim circle here; Gul ber Andaz = About to blossom; Khoon-e-Shuhda ki lali = Blood/sacrifices of martyrs; Gardun = Sky; Unnabi = Golden/colour of rising dawn; Nikaltey huey Suraj = Rising dawn; Ufuk taabi = Signs)
*. Hai jo hangama bapa yorish-e-balghari ka
Ghafilon kay liyey paigham hai baydari ka
Tu samjhta hai, ye saman hai dil azaari ka
Imtihan hai terey eesaar ka, khuddari ka
Kyon hirasan hai saheel-e-fars-e-aada sey?
Noor-e-Haq bujh na sakey ka nafs-e-aada sey
(Meanings: Hangama bapa yorish-e-balghari ka = Inclination of world towards atheist culture; Ghafilon kay liyey paigham hai baydari ka = Message to get up from slumber for ignored ones; Saman = Matter; Dil Azaari = To offend, to hurt; Imtihan = Test; Eesaar = Sacrifice; Khuddari = Self Respect; Hirasan = Scared of; Saheel-e-fars-e-ada = Oppressor; Noor-e-Haq = Ligh of Truth; Nafs-e-aada = Struggle of oppressor)
*. Misl-e-bu qaid hai ghncey main, pareshan ho ja
Rakht ber dosh hawa-e-chaminstan ho ja
Hai tinak maya, tu zarrey say byabaan ho ja
Naghma-e-moj say hangama-e-tufan ho ja
Quat-e-Ishq say her past ko bala ker dey
Deher main Ism-e-Muhammad (PBUH) say ujala ker dey
(Meanings: Misl-e-bu = Referring to true faith here; Qaid= Bound; Ghunchey= Bud; Rakht ber dosh hawa-e-chamnistan = Advising to start making efforts against oppressor; zarrey say bayaban = From zero to hero; Naghma-e-moj = Unity; Hangama-e-tufan = Revolutionary strength; Quat-e-Ishq = Referring to strong faith; past = Low/slave; Bala = Respected; Deher = Times of slavery; Ism-e-Muhammad (PBUH) = Advising to follow teachings of Muhammad (PBUH); Ujala = End of oppression)
*. Aqal hai teri saper, Ishq hai shamsheer teri
Merey derwesh! khilafat hai Jahangir teri
Ma siwa Allah kay liyey aag hai takbeer teri
Tu Musalman ho tou taqdeer hai tadbeer teri
Ki Muhammad (PBUH) say wafa tu nay, tou Hum terey hain
Ye Jahan cheez hai kya, loh-o-qalam terey hain
(Meanings: Aqal = Wisdom; Ishq = Faith; Shamsheer = Strength/tool/sword; Derwesh = Innocent man; Khilafat = System of Pious Caliphs of Islam; Jahangir = Way out; Ma siwa = Except; aag hai takbeer teri = Your destiny is hell fire; Taqdeer = Luck; Tadbeer = Policy; Wafa = Sincerity/loyalty; Hum = Referring to Allah as Dr. Iqbal is assuming that Allah is addressing His creature; Jahan = World; Loh-o-Qalam = Universe)
*. Uth kay ab bazm-e-jahan ka aur hi andaaz hai
Mashriq-o-maghrib main terey dour ka aghaaz hai
(Meanings: bazm-e-jahan = Present era; Mashriq-o-Maghrib = Across the globe; Aaghaz = Beginning)
*. Yaqeen muhkam; amal paiham, mohabbat fath-e-alam
Jihad-e-zindagani main hain ye mardon ki shamshirain
(Meanings: Yaqeen muhkam= Confidence; Amal paiham = Hard work with strong motivation; Mohabbat fath-e-Alam= Strive for excellence; Jihad-e-zindagani = Life; Mardon = Men; Shamshirain = Tools)
*. Fard Qaim Rabt-e-Millat say hai, tanha kuch nahin
Moj hai darya main, aur berun-e-darya kuch nahin
(Meanings: Fard = Individual; Qaim = to survive; Rabt-e-Millat = Unity of a nation; tanha = Alone; Moj hai darya main aur berun-e-darya kuch nahin = Simile, giving example of a wave which can’t survive out of ocean. Similarly, individual is strong as long as he is part of a nation. Together we stand, divided we fall)
*. Baykhabar! Tu johar-e-aina-e-ayyam hai
Tu zamaney main Khuda ka aakhri paighaam hai
(Meanings: Baykhabar = Ignored; Johar-e-aina-e-ayyam = Jewel of the time)
*. Nahin hai na umeed Iqbal apni kasht-e-weeran say
Zara namm ho tou ye mitti bari zerkhaiz hai saaqi
(Meanings: Na umeed = Disppointed; Kasht-e-weeran = Muslim youth; namm = Soft; mitti = referring to Muslim youth; zerkhaiz = productive)
*. Jo naghma zan thay khalwat-e-oraaq main tayyur
Rukhsat huey wo terey shajr-e-saya daar say
Shaakh-e-barida say sabaq andoz ho kay tu
Na-aashna hai qaida-e-rozgaar say
Millat kay saath rabta-e-ustawar rakh
Paiwasta reh shajar say, umeed-e-bahar rakh
(Meanings: Naghma zan = Singers; Khalwat-e-oraaq= referring to glory of ancestors; tayyur = birds; Rukhsat = to leave; shajr-e-sayadaar = Shady tree; Shaakh-e-barida = Ancestors; Sabaq andoz = To Learn lesson; Qaida-e-rozgar = Formula of success; Rabta-e-Ustawar = Being continuously in touch; Paiwasta = Hopeful; Shajar = Fruit (outcomes); Umeed-e-bahar = Good time)
*. Agar manzur ho tujh ko khizan na-aashna rehna
Jahan-e-rang-o-bu say pehley qata-e-aarzu ker ley
issi main dekh, muzmir hai kamal-e-zindagi tera
Jo tuj ko zeenat-e-daman koi aina ru ker ley
(Meanings: Khizan na aashna = Not familiar with downfall; Jahan-e-rang-o-bu = World; qata-e-aarzu = To be determined to achieve something; mizmir = hidden; kamal-e-zindagi = formula of success)
*. Bandagi main ghut kay reh jaati hai ik ju-e-kam aab
Aur azadi main behr-e-baykaran hain zindagi
Kulzam-e-hasti say tu ubhra hai manind-e-hibab
Iss zayan khaaney main tera imtihan hai zindagi
(Meanings: Bandagi = Slavery; ghut = Exploitation; ju-e-kam aab = large amount of water; behr-e-baykaran = powerful strength; Kulzam-e-hasti = Humanity; Ubhra = Emerged; Manind-e-Hibab = Like a saviour; zayan khaaney = Referring to world)
*. Ye ghari mehsher ki hai, tu arsa-e-mehsher main hai
Paish ker ghaafil, amal koi agar daftar main hai
(Meanings: ghari = Time; mehsher = Day of resurrection; arsa-e-mehsher = Era of destruction; paish = to present; ghaafil = ignored; amal = something on one’s credit)
*. Rabt-o-zabt-e-millat-e-baiza hai mashriq ki nijaat
Asia waley hain iss nuktey say ab tak baykhabar
Phir syasat chor ker daakhil hisaar-e-deen main ho
Mulk-o-dolat hai faqat hifz-e-haram ka ik samar
Nas’l Muslim ki agar mazhab per muqaddam ho gayi
Urr gaya duniya say tu manind-e-khaak-e-reh guzar
Aik hon Muslim, Haram ki paasbani kay liyey
Neel kay saahil say ley ker ta-ba-khaak-e-Kashghar
Ta Khilafat ki bina duniya main ho phir ustawaar
La kaheen say dhoond ker islaaf ka qalb-o-jigar
Aey kay nashnasi khafi ra az jali, hoshyaar baash
Aey giraftar-e-Abu Bakar-o-Ali, hoshyaar baash
(Meanings: Rabt-e-zabt-e-millat-e-baiza = unity of Muslim nation; nijaat = freedom; nuktey = point; baykhabar = ignored; syasat = politics; hisaar-e-deen = Islam; hifz-e-haram = by product of religion; Nas’l = Race; muqaddam = priority; manind-e-khaak-e-reh guzar = Like dust of the road/being worthless; pasbanai = protection; Ta ba khak-e- Kashghar = Land of Kashghar; Ta Khilafat ki bina = Referring to Pious Caliphs and their system; ustawaar = reactivation; Islaaf = Ancestors; qalb-o-jigar = Strength and Faith; giraftar-e-Abu Bakar-o-Ali = Referring to those Muslims who always praise Abu Bakar and Ali for their bravery, but never follow them; hoshyar baash = Attention)
*. Kitaab-e-millat-e-baiza ki phir shiraza bandi hai
Ye shakh-e-Haashmi kerney ko hai phir barg-o-ber paida
Agar Usmanion pay toota koh-e-gham, tou kya gham hai?
Kay khoon-e-sad hazaar anjum say hoti hai seher paida
(Meanings: Kitaab-e-millat-e-baiza = Holy Quran; Shiraza bandi = Unity, integrity; Shaakh-e-Hashmi = Muslim Nation; Barg-o-ber = Roses and Jewels; paida = to produce; Koh-e-gham = Bundle of troubles; khoon-e-sad hazar anjum = Lots of sacrifices; Seher = Rising of Dawn)
*. Sabaq perh phir sadaqat ka, adalat ka, shujaat ka
*. Butan-e-rang-o-khoon ko torr ker millat main guum ho ja
Na turani rahey baaqi, na Irani, na Afghani
Mitaya qaiser-o-kisra kay istabdad ko kis nay?
Wo kya tha? zor-e-Haider, Faqr-e-Bu Zar, Siqd-e-Salmani
(Meanings: Butan-e-ran-o-khoon = those traditions or practices which are forbidden in Islam; Turani/Irani/Afghani = Regional status of Muslims; Mitaya = To eliminate; Qaiser-o-Kisra = Curel rulers who had been hard on Muslims; Istabdad = Cruelty; Zor-e-Haider = Strength of Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Faqr-e-Abu Zar = Faith of Abu Zar (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Sidq-e-Salmani= Truth of Salman (m.Allah.b.p.w.him))
*. Jab iss angara-e-khaaki main hota hai yaqeen paida
Tou ker leta hai ye baal-o-per-e-rooh ul Amin paida
(Meanings: Angara-e-Khaaki = Human being; Yaqeen = Faith; baal-o-per = Qualities; Rooh ul Amin = Angel Gabriel (Jibraeel))
(Meanings; Narm ru qasid = Muhammad (PBUH); payam-e-zindagi = Guide to live life in correct manner; Khabar deti thin jin ko bijliyan = Those who claimed that they are gods or most poweful; baykhabar = ignored; Ahl-e-Imaan = People of Faith (Muslims))
*. Yaqeen Afrad ka sarmaya-e-tameer-e-millat hai
Yahi qu’at hai jo surat-e-ger taqdeer-e-millat hai
(Meanings:Yaqeen = Faith; Afrad = People; sarmaya-e-tameer-e-millat = Assets of a nation; Qu’at = Strength/tool; surat-e-gar taqdeer-e-millat = fortune of Muslim nation)
*. Amal say zindagi banti hai Jannat bhi, Jahannum bhi
Ye Khaaki apni fitrat main na noori hai, na naari hai
Khrosh amoz-e-bulbul ho girah ghunchey ki wa ker dey
Kay tu iss gulsitan ka wastey baad-e-behari hai
(Meanings: Amal = Deeds; Khaaki = Human bening; fitrat = Nature; noori = saint; naari = evil)
*. Hawas nay ker diya hai tukrey tukrey no-e-insan ko
Akhu’at ka bayan ho ja, mohabbat ki zuban ho ja
Ye Hindi, wo Khurasani, ye Afghani, wo Turaani
Tu, aey sharminda-e-saahil! uchal ker baykaran ho ja
Khudi main doob ja ghaafil, ye sirr-e-zindagani hai
Nikal kay halqa-e-shaam-o-seher say Jawadan ho ja
(Meanings: Hawas = Lust; tukrey = pieces; no-e-insan = Human race; Akhu’at = Integrity; bayan = Advocate; Hindi/Khursani/Afghani/Turaani = Referring to regionalism and racism; sharminda-e-saahil = Muslim; uchal ker baykaran = getting united disregard of race/colour/region; Khudi = Self respect; sirr-e-zindagani = Secret of success; Halqa-e-shaam-o-seher = thick n’ thin; Jawadan = Ever living on the basis of some unique work)
DILEMA OF MUSLIM WORLD AND ITS CAUSES
(Meanings: Shorida = Desperately in love; Khab gah-e-Nabi (PBUH) = Tomb of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Misr-o-Hindustan = Egypt and India; Banay-e-Millat = Unity of Muslim nation; Mita = To eliminate; Un say wasta = Concern with British; na-ashna= Not Familiar; Anjuman = System/thoughts; Nayey Zamaney = Modern Era (Connotatively, referring to secular thoughts); Purani = Old, outdated (Connotatively, a taunt on Muslims who ignored Islamic teachings and followed British traditions due to inferiority complex of being slave of British)
*. kal aik shorida khab gah-e-Nabi (PBUH) per ro ro kay keh raha tha
Kay Misr-o-Hindustan kau Muslim banay-e-Milat mita rahey hain
Ye zairan-e-hareem-e-maghrib hazar rehber banain hamarey
Hamain bhala un say wasta kya, jo tujh(PBUH) say na-ashna rahey hain
Suney ga Iqbal, koun in ko, ye anjuman hi badal gayi hai
Nayey zamaney main hum ko purani batain suna rahey hain
* Masjid tou bana di shab bhar main, Iman ki hararat walon nay
Mann apna purana papi hai, barson main Namazi ban na saka
Kya khoob ameer-e-faisal ko sanawasi nay paigham diya
Tu naam-o-nasab ka Hijazi hai, per dil ka Hijazi ban na saka
Iqbal bara updeshak hai, mann baton main mo leta hai
Guftar ka ye ghazi tou bana, kirdar ka ghazi ban na saka
(Meanings: Masjid = Mosque; Shab bhar = Within a night; Iman ki hararat walon = Men with strong Faith; Papi = Sinner; Barson = Years; Namazi = Worshiper (referring to man of strong faith here); Ameer-e-Faisal = Leader of Muslims; Sanawwasi = Air; Paigham = Message; Naam-o-nasab = Race and Culture; Hijaazi = Muslim; Updeshak = Man with speaking power; mann mo lena = To impress; Guftar = Speeches Kirdar = Character)
*. Mata-e-Aql-o-Danish lutt gayi Allah walon ki
Ye kis Kafir ada ka ghamza-e-khunrez hai Saaqi
(Meanings: Mata-e-Aql-o-Danish = Creative thoughts and wisdom; Lutt = Robbed; Allah Walon = referring to Muslims here; Kafir = non Muslim; ghamza-e-khunrez = Evil planning; Saaqi = Friend)
*. Mujhey Tehzeeb-e-Hazir nay ata ki hai wo azadi
Kay zaahir main tou azaadi hai, baatin main giraftari
Tu, aey Maula-e-Yasrab (PBUH)! aap meri chara sazi ker
Meri Daanish hai afrangi, mera Imaan hai zannari
(Meanings: Tehzeeb-e-Hazir = Present Civilisation; Azadi = Freedom; Zaahir = Physical existence or denotation; Baatin = In reality or connotation; Giraftari = Bondage; Maula-e-Yasrab (PBUH) = Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Chara Sazi = Treatment of ailments; Daanish = Wisdom; Afrangi = Inspired by British; Zannari = Adulterate)
*. Azab-e-Daanish-e-Hazir say ba khabar hon main
Kay main iss aag main phainka gaya hon misl-e-Khalil (PBUH)
(Meanings: Azab-e-Danish-e-Hazir = So called present civilisation; ba khabar = Informed, updated; phainka = Thrown; Misl-e-Khalil (PBUH) = Like Abraham (PBUH))
*. Barh kay Khyber say hai ye marka-e-deen-o-watan
Iss zamaney main koi Haider-e-Karrar bhi hai?
Manzil-e-rehrawan dur bhi dushwaar bhi hai
Iss kaafley main koi kaafla salaar bhi hai?
(Meanings: Barh kay = More than; Khyber = A place where Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him) won a historical fight; Marka-e-deen-o-watan = Challenge of raising the flag of Islam; Haider-e-Karrar = Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Manzil-e-Rehrawan = Destination; Dushwar = Tough; Kaafley = Caravan; Kaafla Salaar = Leader of Caravan)
*. Ye Dour apney Baraheem ki Talash main hai
Sanam Kada hai Jahan La ILa ha IL Allah
Kiya hai tu nay Mata-e-gharoor ka soda
Fareb-e-sod-o-ziyan La ILa ha IL Allah
Agarchey Bu’t hai Jamat ki aastino main
Mujhey hai Hukm-e-Azan La ILa ha IL Allah
(Meanings: Dour = Era; Baraheem = Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him); Talash = Search; Sanam Kada = Temple where idols are placed; Mata-e-gharoor = Referring to Faith here; Fareb-e-sod-o-ziyan = An agreement of loss; Agarchey = Although; Bu’t = Idol; Jamat = Group of worshipers who say prayers in Mosque; Aastino = Referring to insight faith here; Hukam-e-Azan = Command (from Allah) to speak truth)
*. Kiya gaya hai ghulami main mubtala tujh ko
Kay tujh say ho na saki Fuqr ki nighebani
Misaal-e-maah chamakta tha jis ka daagh-e-sajood
Khareed li hai farangi nay wo Musalmani
(Meanings: Mubtala = Imposition; Fuqr = Faith; Nighebani = Protection; Misaal-e-Mah = As graceful as crescent; Daagh-e-Sajood = A graceful mark on the forehead of worshipers; Khareed = Purchased; Farangi = British)
*. Sheeraza hua millat-e-merhoom ka abtar
Ab tu hi bata tera Musalman kidhar jayey?
Iss raaz ko ab faash ker, aey Rooh-e-Muhammad (PBUH)!
Ayaat-e-ILahi ka nigheban kidher jayey?
(Meanings: Sheeraza = Organisation; Millat-e-Merhoom = Referring to downtrodden Muslim nation here; Abtar = Worst; Faash = Expose; Rooh = Soul; Ayaat-e-ILahi = One who believes and follow Quran; Nigheban = Protector)
*. wo faqa kash kay mout say derta nahin zara
Rooh-e-Muhammad (PBUH) uss kay badan say nikal dou
Fikr-e-Arab ko dey key farangi takhayyulaat
Islam ko Hijaz-o-Yaman say nikaal dou
Afghanion ki ghairat-e-deen ka hai ye ILaaj
Mullah ko un kay koh-o-daman say nikaal dou
Ahl-e-Haram say un ki riwayaat cheen lo
Aahu ko murghzar-e-hatan say nikaal dou
Iqbal kay nafs say hai laaley ki aag tez
Aisey ghazal sira ko chamman say nikaal dou
Dr. Iqbal is assuming here that Satan is addressing to his followers.
(Meanings: Faqa kash = Poor man but of strong Faith; derta = Scared of; Badan = Body; Fikr = Thoughts; Takhayyulat= Concepts; Ghairat-e-deen = Strong Faith; ILaaj = Cure; Mullah = Referring to strong faith Muslim here; Koh-o-daman = Country (Afghanistan here); Ahl-e-Haram = Muslims; Riwayaat = Traditions; Aahu = Deer; Murghzar-e-Hatan= Land of Faith and peace; Nafs = Thoughts; Laley = Garden; Ghazal Sira = Reformer here)
*. Kabhi aey haqeeqat-e-muntazir, nazar aa libas-e-majaz main
kay hazar sajdey tarap rahey hain, meri jabeen-e-nyaz main
Jo main sir basajda hua kabhi, tou zameen say aney lagi sada
Tera dil tou hai sanam aashna, tujhey kya miley ga namaz main
(Meanings: Haqeeqat-e-Muntazir = Referring to God Almighty here; Libas-e-Majaz = Being Visible; Sajdey = To prostrate; Jabeen-e-nayaz= Forehead; sir basajda = ToProstate; Sada = Voice; Sanam Aashna = Beloved of idols)
*. Tamaddun, tasawwuf, shariat, kalaam
Butaan-e-Ajam kay pujari tamam
Haqeeqat khurafaat main kho gayi
Ye ummat riwayaat main kho gayi
(Meanings: Tamaddun = Traditions; Tasawwuf = Mysticism; Shariat = Islamic Law (referring to fake Islamic law created by so called scholars in self interest, in name of Islam); Kalam = To praise (referring to hypocrisy of such Muslims, whose worship is to impress people instead of pleasing God. Those for whom, last three verses of Surah Maa’on in Noble Quran have been revealed); Butaan-e-Ajam = gods of other religions; Pujari = Worshipers; Haqeeqat = Truth (referring to original teachings of Islam); Khurafaat = Senseless things; Ummat = (Muslim) Nation; Riwayaat = Traditions)
*. Haath bayzor hain, ILhaad say dil khugar hain
Ummati bais-e-ruswai-e-paighambar (PBUH) hain
Bu’t shikan uth gayye, baqi jo rahey Bu’t ger hain
Tha Baraheem Pidr, aur ye Pisr-e-Aazr hain
Koi qabil ho tou HUM shan-e-kai detey hain
Dhoondney waley ko duniya bhi nayi detey hain
(This verse is taken from poem “Jawab-e-Shikwa” and Dr. Iqbal is assuming that Allah Himself is addressing to Muslims)
(Meanings: Bayzor = Weak; ILhaad = Apostasy; Khugar = Convinced; Ummati = Muslims; Bais-e-ruswai-e-paighambar (PBUH) = Matter of depression for Prophet (PBUH); Bu’t Shikan = True and determined Muslims; Bu’t ger = Lovers of idols; pisr-e-aazar = Followers of Aazar, an idol maker; Qabil = Competant; Shan-e-Kai = Success; Dhoondney = Search)
*. Kis qadar tum pay garan subha ki baydari hai
Hum say kab pyar hai, haan neend tumhain pyari hai
Taba-e-azad per qaid-e-ramzan bhaari hai
Tumhi keh dou, yahi aain-e-wafadari hai?
Qaum Mazhab say hai, Mazhab jo nahin tum bhi nahin
Jazb-e-baham jo nahin, mehfil-e-anjum bhi nahin
(Meanings: Qadar = Extent; Garan = Tough; Subha ki baydari = Referring to get up for morning prayers; Hum = Referring to God here as Dr. Iqbal is assuming that God is addressing Muslims; Neend = Referring to preferring other things over prayers by Muslims; Taba-e-Azad = Written in taunting way, referring to careless nature of Muslims; Qaid-e-Ramzan = Taunting again, referring to Muslims who take holy month of Ramadan as a burden or liability to be released unwillingly; Ain-e-wafadari = Rule of submission and sincerity; Mazhab = Religion; Jazb-e-baham = Joint efforts; Mehfil-e-Anjum = Success and fruitful results)
*. Jin ko aata nahin duniya main kli fun, tum ho
Nahin jis qaum ko parwa-e-nash-e-mann, tum ho
Bijliyan jis main hon aasuda wo khurmen, tum ho
Baich khaatey hain jo Islaaf kay madfan, tum ho
Thay tou A’ba wo tumharey hi magar tum kya ho?
Haath per haath dharey muntazir-e-farda ho?
(Meanings: Funn = Skill; Parwa-e-nash-e-mann = Strive for excellence and prosperity; Bijliyan = Referring to creative and constructive ideas; Islaaf = Forefather; Madfan = Coffins; A’ba = Ancestors; Muntazir-e-Farda = Waiting for some help)
*. Manfia’t aik hai iss qaum ki nuqsaan bhi aik
Aik hi sab ka Nabi (PBUH), Deen bhi, Imaan bhi aik
Harm-e-Pak bhi, Allah bhi, Quran bhi aik
Kuch bari baat thi hotey jo Musalmaan bhi aik?
Firqa bandi hai kahin, aur kahin zaatain hain
Kya zamaaney main pinapnay ki yahi batain hain?
(Meanings: Manfia’t = Profit; Nuqsaan = Loss; Harm-e-Pak = Referring to Khana-e-Kaba; Firqa bandi = Sectarian culture; Zaatain = Caste System; Pinapney = To progress)
*. Koun hai tarak-e-Aain-e-Rasool-e-Mukhtar (PBUH)?
Maslehet waqt ki hai kis kay amal ka mayaar?
Kis ki aankhon main samaya hai sha’ar-e-aghyaar
Ho gayi kis ki nigah tarz-e-salaf say bayzaar
Qalb main soz nahin, rooh main ihsaas nahin
Kuch bhi paighan-e-Muhammad (PBUH) ka tumhain pass nahin
(Meanings: Tarak-e-Aain-e-Rasool-e-Mukhtar (PBUH) = Those who have rejected/ignored teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Maslehet = Compromise; Sha’ar-e-aghyaar = Impressed by non Muslims; Nigah = Vision; Tarz-e-Salaf = Practices of Ancestors; bayzaar = tired of/ fed up; Qalb = Heart; Soz = sense of responsibility; Rooh = Soul; Ihsaas = sensibility; Paigham-e-Muhammad (PBUH) = Message of Muhammad (PBUH); pass = care)
*. Shor hai ho gayey duniya say Musalman nabood
Hum yeh kehtey hain kay thay bhi kahin Muslim mojud?
(Meanings: Zoq-e-may-e-mast-e-tan aasani = Lazy/ dull/ leisure minded; Andaz-e-Musalmani = Ways of Muslims; HaideriFuqr = Spiritual values of Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Dolat-e-Usmani = Wealth of Usman (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Islaaf = Ancestors; Nisbat-e-rohani = Spirutual inheritance; Wo = Referring to companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Mo’aziz = Respected; Khawar = Insulted; Tarak-e-Quran = Those who rejected/ignored Quran)
Inspite of Allama Iqbal being the most influential Muslim scholar of the 20th century throughout the Muslim World, his true message and ideas have never before been brought out as strongly and clearly as Zaid Hamid has.
BT-72 Iqbal The Mysterious 1: Google
BT-74 Iqbal the Mysterious 2: YouTube-1
BT-75 Iqbal The Mysterious 3: YouTube-1
BT-76 Iqbal The Mysterious 4: YouTube-1
BT-77 Iqbal The Mysterious 5: BlipTV-2
BT-91 Iqbal The Mysterious 5: BlipTV-2
BT-93 Iqbal The Mysterious 6: BlipTV-2
BT-94 Iqbal The Mysterious 7: BlipTV-2
BT-106 Iqbal The Mysterious 8: BlipTV-2
BT-107 Iqbal The Mysterious 9: BlipTV-2
BT-109 Iqbal The Mysterious 10: BlipTV-2
BT-112 Iqbal The Mysterious 11:
BT-113 Iqbal The Mysterious 12: YouTube-1YouTube-2
BT-114 Iqbal The Mysterious 13: YouTube-1
BT-115 Iqbal The Mysterious 14: YouTube-1
BT-117 Iqbal The Mysterious (Future) 15: YouTube-1
BT-119 Iqbal The Mysterious (Last) 16: YouTube-1
Shair-e-Mashriq, Hakeem-e-Ummat Sir Dr. Alama Mohammed Iqbal
THREE PHASES OF A VISIONARY by Moin Ansari
(Note from author: I started this in 1997 and it remains “a work in progress”. I have included the unformatted discussion and feedback from our readers at the bottom of this article. As we move forward, all feedback will be included in the article.)
“Iqbal, that immortal poet of Islam, whose poetry served as a beaconlight in the darkest period of our history and whose message will ever help us on the way to our destiny” Choudhary Rahmat Ali (1947, ‘Pakistan’).
It was the best of times. Ras Tofari became the emperor of Ethiopia. The planet Pluto was discovered by C.W. Tombaugh. All’s quiet on the Western front was playing in the theaters.
It was the worst of times in the New World. In Germany, Nazis were gaining power. D.H. Lawrence the English novelist had died. The U.S. population was 122 million, and in the land of the Dollar the bottom had fallen out of the financial markets. Wall Street was is total disarray. The stock had crashed. Savings accounts had been wiped out. People had given up hope. Many Millionaires had lost their fortunes and flung themselves out of their windows to their death. Conspicuous consumption had taken its toll. America was in the midst of a depression. It was the year 1930.
And in the old world, in the Subcontinent a dreamer, was making a speech in the city of Allahbad. He was speaking at the session of the All India Muslim League.
“It cannot be denied that Islam regarded as an ethical ideal plus certain kind of polity by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical idea has been chief formative factor in the life history of the Muslims of India.”
Would you like me to see Islam as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the e world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe ” Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as polity in favor of national politics in which religious attitude is not permitted to play its part ?”
Iqbal was philosophizing about separating religion form politics. He maintained that one could not put Islam in a separate compartment, and deal with the political realities of the time. Iqbal maintained that Islam had to be part and parcel of everything a Muslim did. He refuted the secular claim that one could practice religion in the mosque and live in a United India. K. Ali a noted Pakistani historian states that “the construction of a polity on national lines, if it means the displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim.”
Iqbal, speaking as the President of the All Indian Muslim League was saying “Islam is in jeopardy“, and we must save it by creating a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Perhaps he was saying that Islam is in jeopardy in India, and we must provide it a nurturing ground, in certain parts of India, where it can grow and prosper, and influence. Iqbal went on to announce his thoughts at the Allahbad session and I quote Iqbal
” India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages and professing different religions …. To base a constitution on the conception of a homogeneous India …. is to prepare for a civil war.
The formation of a consolidated North West Indian State appears to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India”.
K. Ali writes, that “of a separate Muslim state in India appeared to a be a dream of a the poet Iqbal at that time, and it was bitterly criticized. Since 1930, the idea of a separate State was gaining ground in the hearts of the Muslims of India“
Iqbals’s idea was given the moniker of P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N by one Chaudry Rehmat Ali, an Indian Muslim student studying in England. Iqbal had been propagating the idea for a separate homeland for the Muslims. He had been writing to Jinnah, asking him to be the lawyer to defend the cause of the Muslims of India. Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah took the challenge, and the rest as they say is history.
It is clear that earlier statements by Iqbal when the creation of Pakistan was still in the embryonic stage cannot be taken as his true endorsement of a united India. In the thirties almost the entire Muslim population was not entertaining the idea of separatism, and even the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah and others were working for the unity of India.
Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said that:
” the differences in India, between the two major nations, the Hindus and the Muslims are a thousand times greater when compared with the continent of Europe.
India is not a national state, India is not a country, but a sub-continent composed of nationalities, the two nations being Hindus and Muslims whose culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, name and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, laws and jurisprudence, social and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, outlook on life and of life are fundamentally different nay in many respects antagonistic”.
Any discussion of Iqbal becomes a discussion of Pakistan. That is a tribute to the poet dreamer. The discussion of Pakistan is incomplete without bringing up Iqbal, and the biography of Pakistanis is never complete without discussing the philosophy of ” The poet of the East “. FAIZ AHMAD FAIZ: Salute to a great Punjabi a fantastic Urdu poet and a giant Pakistani
The two nation theory was initially enunciated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was this enunciation of the two nation theory that appealed to the hearts and minds of Mussalmans all over the subcontinent. They in one voice voted for the Muslim League and Jinnah. Muslims from the Southern tip of Tamiland, to the Central India, to Eastern India accepted and fought for the Two nation Theory. It is incredible that the Pakistan movement began in the United Provinces of India (U.P, a conglomeration of independent princely states, that were railroaded into a province by the British) , and was led by Muslims of Northern India from Aligarh, Lucknow, and Delhi, Muslims who never had any hope of becoming part of Pakistan. Muslims all over the subcontinent voted, worked and died for the ideals dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Jinnah.
Who was Iqbal? One of the first to advocate a separate homeland in India, Iqbal
(1876-1938) was the second crucial link in our independence struggle, the factor that took Sir Syed’s (1817-1898) ideals and passed the torch to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
The Freedom Struggle Torch carried through generations:
Goals: To awaken the Muslims of India so that they could regain their lost glory and greatness. To wake up the Muslims and be more practical. To show the Muslim youth of India the path of truth and progress
Biography
Name: Mohammed Iqbal
Other names (Alaises) : Poet of the East, The Poet Thinker, The Poet who dreamt Pakistan, The poet who awakened the Muslims of India. Spiritual father of Pakistan.
Born: November, 1876 in Sialkot
Profession: Taught Philosophy and Law. Barrister at Law. Member Punjab Legislative Council 1926-1930. President of Muslim League 1930. Knighted by the British in 1992 for poetry
Hobbies and Passion, and claim to fame: Poetry in Urdu and Persian
Greatest influence:Surah e Nafas: Nietzsche and other German nation constructors
Publications:
Asrar-e-Khudi translated as the Secrets of Self, 1920, 1940
Piyam -e Mashriq. Message of the East 1930
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam 1930
Education: M.A. Government College Lahore, Barrister at law England ,Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908
Experience: Khilafat Movement: Alama Iqbal took part in the brief but important struggle that was carried out by the Muslims of the subcontinent for the restoration of the Khilifat headquartered in Turkey. In WW1 Turkey had allied itself with Germany against Britain. When Germany and Turkey were defeated in 1918 the British had abolished the Muslim caliphate at the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. The Muslims of the subcontinent (led by Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali, and Abul Kalam Azad ) were outraged, and led a nationwide campaign of agitation to protest the abolition of the Ottoman Empire Caliphate. To this day young Turks remember this movement, and think of Pakistanis as the natural successors of that movement.
All India Muslim league: He expressed great satisfaction at the formation of the Muslim League in 1906.
MPA Lahore: In 1926 Iqbal contested the election from Lahore, and won by a large majority
Nehru Report: In 1928 when the Nehru report came out, Iqbal was disappointed by the he Hindu attitude. At this juncture he made up his mind to form a separate homeland for the Muslims of India
Vision for Pakistan: In 1930 as President of the All India Muslim League, he enunciated the Two nation Theory. ” The Muslims wish to lead a life of freedom and honor. They want to live as a nation and this can be achieved if they have a separate Islamic state”.
AIML session 1936
Struggle for Pakistan: To his last day, Alama Iqbal was a sincere friend of Quaid-e-Azam, assisting him in putting together a coalition of Muslims together. Iqbal was coaxing the slumbering masses to wake up and demand a homeland. Iqbal was criticized by the orthodox religious right for his “shikwah” and “jawab-shiwah”.
1) HUM BULBULAIN HAIN IS CHAMAN KI , YEH WATAN HAI HUMARA. HINDUSTAN HUMARA
“Saare Jahan se Aachha/ Hindusthan Hamara“
The first phase of Iqbal was as an Indian nationalist. He believed that both the Hindus and the Muslims could live together to return the subcontinent of India to its pre-British Moghul glory. This belief was made under the hypothesis that the two-century British period was an aberration in the thousand year history of South Asia. Iqbal believed that after the British left, South Asians (‘Indians’) could live together in peace and harmony and make the country great again. In the Forties, the Muslims made up about 40% of the population of South Asia (‘India’) and Hindus were in slight majority. However the cultural and social centers of South Asia were in the hands of the Muslims. During this phase of his life Iqbal believed that South Asia is as big as Western Europe could compete as a great nation against Europe, America and China. Jinnah at the time also experimented with unity and was called “The ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity “.
Here is Iqbal clearly disassociating himself from the scheme of Pakistan though he still defends his Allahbad speech made four years earlier
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt. M. A., Ph.D. Barrister-at-Law, Lahore
4th March 1934 My dear Mr. Thompson
I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I am grateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But youhave made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider itrather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called‘ Pakistan’. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggestedin my address is the creation of a Muslims Province–i.e. a province having an overwhelming population of Muslims–in the North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,a part of the proposed Indian Federation.
Pakistan scheme proposes a separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related to England as a separate dominion. This scheme originated in Cambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu orso called Indian Nationalism
Yours sincerely,
Mohammad Iqbal
SECOND PHASE OF IQBAL: PAN ISLAMISM
2) CHEEN – O ARAB HUMARA, HINDUSTAAN HUMARA, MUSLIM HAIN HUM, WATAN HAI SARA JAHAN HUMARA
Disappointed by the Hindu attitudes, Iqbal began to think himself as a Muslim first, and an ‘Indian’ second. During this stage of his thinking, Alama Iqbal began believing in Pan-Islamism. Iqbal worked with Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali and Abul Kalaam Azad. He actively wrote poems on his belief that all Muslims should think of themselves as Muslims first. Caste and Creed were to be given up, and nationalism was shunned for the crescent and star.
Cheen-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan hamara
Muslim main hum, watan hai sara jahan hamara
Tauheed ki amanat senon main hai hamarey
Asan nahin mitana naam-o-nishaan hamara
Duniya kay bu’t kadon main, wo pehla ghar Khuda ka
Hum uss kay pasban hain, wo pasban hamara
Baatil say dabney waley, aey Asman! nahin hum
Sou baar ker chuka hai Tu imtihan hamara
Salar-e-Karwan hai Meer-e-Hijaaz (PBUH) apna
Iss naam say hai baaqi, aaram-e-jahan hamara
Iqbal ka tarana baang-e-dara hai goya
Hota hai jada paima, phir karwan hamara
(Meanings: Cheen-o-Arab = China and Arabia; Hindustan = India; watan = homeland; jahan = world; Tauheed ki amanat = Islam; Senon = Insight; asan = easy; mitana = eliminate; naam-o-nishan = survival; bu’t kadon = idol temples; pehla ghar Khuda ka = Referring to Khana Kaaba; pasban = Protector; Baatil = Oppression; Dabney waley = Oppressed; Asman = Nature; Salar-e-Karwan = Leader of Caravan; Meer-e-Hijaaz (PBUH) = Muhammad (PBUH); Aaram-e-jahan = satisfaction; Tarana = Anthem; bang-e-dara = Voice of bell; jada paima = reactivate)
THE CONCEPT OF KHUDI (self)
Iqbal wrote on the concept of self.
” Khoodi ko kur bulund itna kai khuda bundai say khood poochay, buta teri ruzaa kiya hai “.
This concept of self asked the Muslims to improve their lot by themselves, and not be at the mercy of any other person or nationality.
THIRD PHASE OF IQBAL:PAKISTANI SEPARATISM
3) KHANJAR HILAL KA HAI QAUMI NITAAN HAMARAH
باطل سے دبنے والے اسماں نھیں سو بار کت چکا ھي امتھاں ھمارا
توشاھیں ھے بسيرا کر پھاڑوں کي چٹانوںپر
پلٹنا چھپٹنا چھپٹ کے پلٹنا
لھو گرمانے کا ھے بھانا
“Tu shaaheen hai, basaira kar pharaon kee chatanon pur”..
“Jhapatna palatna, palat kar jhapatna;
Lahu garm rakhne ka hai ik bahana”…..Alama Iqbal
This is the third and final stage of Iqbal’s’ thinking patterns. Influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan writings, Iqbal changed his thinking. During this phase of his life, Iqbal worked for the All India Muslim League, whose sole purpose was the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Subcontinent
Of his different phases Iqbal himself wrote:
” I have myself been of he view hat religious differences should disappear from this country, and even now act on the principle, in my private life. But now I think that the preservation of their national identities is desirable for both the Hindus and the Muslims. The vision of a common nationhood for India is a beautiful idea, and has a poetic appeal, but looking to the present conditions and the unconscious trends of the two communities, appears incapable of fulfillment”.
By the year 1941 He was indeed a firm believer in Pakistan and the Two Nation Theory
” Cant you see that a Muslim, when he was converted more than a thousand years ago, bulk of them, then according to your hindureligion and philosophy, he becomes an outcast and he becomes aMalecha (an untouchable) and the Hindus ceased to have anythingto do with him socially , religiously , culturaly or in any otherway? He, therefore belongs to a different order not merely religiousbut social and he has lived in that distinctly separate and antagonostic social order, religiously, socially and culturally…can you posibally compare this with that nonsensical talk thatmere change of faith is no ground for a demand for Pakistan? Cantyou see the fundamantle difference ? “2 march 1941. Pres. address toPunjab Muslim Students Fed.
As can be seen from the above that the entire Muslim nation of India did not actually believe in “Pakistan” untill after the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan. It was after the failure of the CMP that Quaid-e-Azam and the Muslim League had accepted that the MOVEMENT TOWARDS Pakistan or an independent Muslim state began. Earlier writings from Iqbal DO NOT DETRACT anything from Iqbal becasue as early as 1930 he WAS propogating a SEPERATE identity of the Muslims of India.Iqbal’s vs Goethe’s: Deja Vu in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Nikal kay sehra say jis nay Roma ki saltanat ko ulat diya tha
Suna hai qudsiyon say main nay, wo sher phir hoshyar ho ga
Khuda kay bandey tou hain hazaron, banon main phirtey hain marey marey
Main uss ka banda banon ga jis ko Khuda kay bandon say pyar ho ga
(Meanings: saltanat = State; ulat = to conquer; Qudsiyon = fortune tellers; sher = lion (referring to Sultan Salah ud Din Ayubi and other brave Muslims); hoshyar = Attention; banon = forests)
CRITICISM OF IQBAL
Any good writing on Iqbal must discuss his criticism. Here is an Indian author trying to shred the Pakistan ideaology:
Much is made of Iqbal as the philospher of Partition. In this connection his address to the Allahabad Muslim League Session 1930 is lavishly quoted. The reader is never informed that the British had split the League into Shafi Leag-ue and Jinnah League, after League president Jinnah had decided to boycott the Simon Commission.
Iqbal was only presiding over the pro-British Shafi League, attended by less than a hundred delegates. Nor is the reader told that, in his later years, Iqbal thought better of Jawaharlal than of Jinnah and that he wrote to Edward Thomson (vide ‘Enlist India for Freedom’, p. 58) that “the Pakistan Plan would be disastrous to the British Government, disastrous to the Hindu community, disastrous to the Muslim community. But I am the President of the (Shafi) Muslim League and it is, therefore, my duty to support it”.
This is what Sanjeev Sharma says about Iqbal:
“Iqbal never was for a total separate state for Muslimsof India, he wanted them to have a self-determinationin federal republic of India, and even until hedied nowhere in his poems or anywhere we have anyevidence of his support for the dominion of a Pakistan outside of India, matter of the fact is thatonly after he died in 1938, Muslim league passeda resolution in 1940 at Lahore for a seperate stateof Pakistan, at that Jinnah was its leader.Iqbal, was a great poet no doubt about it, buta politician! no way, and Jinnah ,not only he failed to realized what will happen 40 years down but alsohe was directly responsible of 4-10 million murders,and largest migration of this history on earth. Again Iqbal, was never for this blood shed and migration, he insisted on the federal states ofindia, unlike Jinnah, who wanted to have a statefor him”.Criticism from the Religious Right Mualvi establishment
Iqbal was severely criticized for attacking the establishment. His book Zarb-e-Kaleem was titled “Declaration of War against the establishment of Today“. His articles, poems and anthologies attacked the status quo and asked the Muslims to raise their lot. His poems “Shikwah” and “Jawab-e-Shikwah” were severely criticized by the maulvis of his day. In “Shikwah” Iqbal complains to god about the poor lot of the Muslims, and in “Jawab Shikwah” Iqbal plays God and answers man. Many orthodox Muslims called Iqbal a “kafir” for this innovation in his poetry.
I consider “shikwah” good poetry. I wouldn’t have had it memorized otherwise. For the firebrand ideologue Shikwah has great inspirational power. But “shikwah” (together with most of Iqbal’s excellent poetry) has limited ideological appeal. If you are a Hindu, you’ll be disgusted by “shikwah”. (Remember the “muNh ke bal gir kay hua Allah aHad kehtay thay” part.) In a larger context I see this as a conflict between the classic ghazal and what they call “maqsadi sha’iri”.
German influence in Iqbal’s writings (Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908)
Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German philosophers of his time, Soren Kierkegaard, Fredrick Wilhelm Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. During his stay in Germany the ‘country’ (the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Prussia) was going though its great nationalistic binge. …..The Nazis used Nietzsche for building a nation that was defeated in war, was disarmed, was occupied and was split up into small portions. German states were trying to come together as a nation.
Iqbal’s response was that his inspiration was “Surah Hashar” of the Quran and not any other.
Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German’s nation attempt to re-construct itself. He thought he could transfer the concept to his homeland India. Iqbal is said to have been particularly affected by the German philosopher Nietzsche. Some have even accused him of plagiarizing German concepts. In Nietzsche’s famous Thus Spake Zaratustra (1883-85) Nietzsche “introduced in eloquent poetic prose the concepts of the superman and the will to power …. such a heroic man of merit has the courage … to rise above the masses. Some scholars compare Iqbal’s concepts of Mard-e-Momin to the Nietzsche ‘superman’, and Iqbal’s Khudi to Nietzsche’s will to power. There is no denying the influence of Nietzsche on Iqbal poetry. Iqbal was intelligent enough to use the German concepts for a positive purpose for his own people.
Comparison with Ghalib and Profoundness of Poetry
American research scholars like Marcus and Vonetta Franda have called Iqbal “One of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent “. However some researches have compared Iqbal to other great Indian poets like Ghalib, and have found Iqbal’s’ poems trite in comparison. The depth of Ghalib can not be found in Iqbal’s poetry. One Pakistani poet said “Iqbal’s poetry conveys a profound message but is not profound.”Perhaps Iqbal was writing for the common man, and did not want to complicate the message. Iqbal was on a mission. Ghalib, like Wordsworth, and Tennyson and others were poets without missions.
IQBAL AS FOUNDER OF PAKISTAN
Awami National Party leader Wali Khan waved a document at a teachers’s function to prove that poet Mohammad Iqbal had not conceived the idea of Pakistan. The document was a letter from the late poet in which he said he had never provided any idea about the creation of Pakistan.
The same letter reveals that it was Sir Zafarullah Khan who originally mooted the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
Source: UNI, June 1, 1996
Iqbal was one of the greatest sons of the subcontinent. He was born in the social, and political backwaters of the subcontinent, Sialkot, and acheived greatness in spite of his humble beginings. He galvanized a subdued and defeated nation who were under the yoke of British colonialism. The Muslims of the subcontinent of had lost their Mughal empire to the British, and and lost the economic and educational battle against the Hindus. The Hindus had gained a status in India that was of greater importance. The Muslims were truly third class citizens of India. Iqbal attempted and succeeded in combining the Muslims of different creeds, castes, and nd linguistic groups into a concept of nationhood based on Islam. Pakistan was but the inevitable result of his efforts.
IHSAN IBN ASLAM says about Iqbal:
I promised recently that I’d deal separately with this subject. So here it is! Lovely, juicy myths. Contrary to a widely held belief, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930.That was the demand of Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. I make my point by reference to original sources, including a vital letter of Iqbal dated 1934 in which he disowned and disassociated himself from the Pakistan scheme.-Ihsan
IQBAL’S 1930 ADDRESS:
1. INTRODUCTION
All people have a tendency to exaggerate and to create myths around their heroes and historical events. One such myth is that which surrounds Allama Iqbal’s address in 1930. In this address, Iqbal is widely quoted as proposing the creation of an independent Muslim State. Renowned historians such as Prof. S. Wolpert and Dr Ishtiaq H. Qureshi, as well as writers such as Rajmohan Gandhi and almost every Pakistani commenting on this address is of this view. However, this view is NOT based on fact and is not supported either by the full and original text or by other statements by Iqbal himself. The view is based on *misquotes* from the address and unsupported *interpretations*. Here I look at the original text of the address and provide other relevant sources, particularly a vital, but little-known (ignored?), letter of Iqbal dated 1934. Iqbal was a brilliant poet, but politics was not his strength.
2. IQBAL’S ALLAHABAD ADDRESS
a) OVERVIEW
The article concerns Iqbal’s presidential address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Allahabad on December 29, 1930. The text of the address stretches just over 19 pages and is
divided into the following sections:
Islam and Nationalism
Muslim India within India
Federal States
The Simon Report
Hindu Machinations
The Problem of Defence
The Alternative
The Conclusion
The famous (mis)quote is from the section “Muslim India within India”, which speaks for itself. Had people even made a cursory glance at this address they would have seen that Iqbal is talking throughout about Muslims *within* India, ie. a part of the country India.
b) IQBAL’S MUSLIM INDIA WITHIN INDIA: THE 1930 QUOTE
“…Personally I would go further than the demands embodied in it[resolution of All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi in 1928concerning Muslim India within India]. I would like to see thePunjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan*amalgamated* into a *single state*. Self-Government within theBritish Empire, or without the British Empire, and the formation ofa consolidated North-West Indian *Muslim state* appears to me to bethe final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.The proposal was put forward before the Nehru Committee. Theyrejected it on the ground that, if, carried into effect, it wouldgive a very *unwieldy state*…Thus, possessing full opportunity ofdevelopment *within* the body-politic of India, the North-WestIndian Muslims will prove the best defenders of *India*…Nor shouldthe Hindus fear that the creation of *autonomous Muslim states*… I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim state inthe best interests of India and Islam…For India it meanssecurity and peace resulting from an *internal balance* of power…
c) COMMENTS BASED DIRECTLY UPON THE ADDRESS
The highlights in the quote above (*) have been added. Some points to bear in mind are the following:
(i) Though this was Iqbal’s presidential address to the Muslim League, he was not speaking *officially* for he prefixed his suggestion by “Personally I would…”. His personal proposal was not binding on the Muslim League, who never passed any resolution in support of it and did not adopt Iqbal’s idea as a policy.
(ii) The crucial misquote turns Iqbal’s “state” (small ‘s’) into “State” (capital ‘s’). Iqbal is using “state” as a synonym for “province” and not referring to State, as in an independent country. Note that he is speaking of “amalgamating” the four provinces for the “formation” of a larger “consolidated” “single state” within India.
(iii) In the proper context of the whole address the the “Self-Government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire” refers to India, of which Iqbal’s large Muslim province/state was an integral part of.
(iv) That he is talking of this province/state *within* India is quite obvious from the quote. Also, as noted above, this quote is headed “Muslim India within India”. Iqbal is speaking of Muslims “within the body-politic of India” and speaks of them defending India and the large Muslim province/state providing “internal balance of power”. It can only be “internal” if it was a part of India. The Nehru Committee rejecting this suggestion as an “unwieldy state”, obviously means a large, cumbersome province difficult to administer as a unit of India. A reading of the whole address bears this out. The section following this one is entitled “Federal States”, for example, which puts the proposal of the “redistribution of territory” for the formation large Muslim province/state into context: it’s a federal unit of India. In “Hindu Machinations” he mentions the Round Table Conference proposal for an “All-India Federation” for India.
3. IQBAL’S LETTER TO EDWARD THOMPSON
Crucial evidence clarifying Iqbal’s 1930 address came to light in 1979 with the publication of Iqbal’s letters to Edward Thompson of Oxford (Ahmad 1979). Almost all historians and writers have failed to refer to this vital source of information. Of the letters, one dated March 4, 1934 is the most important, since it deals directly with the issue. Without much ado, I’ll now let Iqbal speak for himself.
a) TEXT OF IQBAL’S LETTER OF 1934
—————————————————————-
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt. M. A., Ph.D.
Barrister-at-Law, Lahore
4th March 1934
My dear Mr. Thompson
I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I amgrateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But youhave made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider itrather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called ‘Pakistan’. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggested in my address is the creation of a Muslims Province–i.e. aprovince having an overwhelming population of Muslims–in the North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,a part of the proposed Indian Federation. Pakistan scheme proposesa separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related toEngland as a separate dominion. This scheme originated inCambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu orso called Indian Nationalism
Yours sincerely,
Mohammad Iqbal
—————————————————————-
b) COMMENTS ON IQBAL’S LETTER OF 1934
(i) Note that he disassociates himself from the “serious” “mistake” of attributing the Pakistan idea to him.
(ii) This is the earliest evidence of Iqbal using the term “Pakistan”, which speaks of its wide and popular usage within a year of its invention (1933).
(iii) Iqbal clearly states that his 1930 proposal was to do with the “creation of a Muslim Province” as a “part of the proposed [Round Table Conference] Indian Federation“, i.e. not a separate Muslim State.
(iv) The Pakistan scheme “originated in Cambridge” and proposed a separate Muslim Federation of Muslim provinces. This proposal orginated in the Pakistan Declaration issued on January 28, 1933 from Cambridge and the movement launched by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (the only signatory of the Declaration from Cambridge). Iqbal must have read the Declaration. His last statement on the “Muslim Round Tablers“, of whom Iqbal was a *member*, comes from the Declaration, which condemned the Muslim members in no uncertain terms. Incidentally, Iqbal and Rahmat Ali met during Iqbal’s attendance of the Round Table Conferences in 1931 and 1932 (the Iqbal/Rahmat Ali relationship merits a separate post).
4. PAKISTAN DECLARATION (1933) ON IQBAL’S ADDRESS
In the letter above Iqbal comments on the 1933 Pakistan Declaration. Here is a relevant quote from the Declaration on Iqbal’s Address:
“This demand [for Pakistan, which included Kashmir] is basicallydifferent from the suggestion put forward by Doctor Sir MohammedIqbal in his Presidential address to the All-India Muslim League in1930. While he proposed the amalgamation of these Provinces into asingle state forming a unit of the All-India Federation, we proposethat these Provinces should have a separate Federation of theirown.” Self-explantory. 5. CONCLUSIONThere are other relevant sources which help understand Iqbal’s 1930 Address in the correct light (Ahmad 1942, Ali 1947, and see Aziz 1987 for detailed discussion). However, I think the above should be sufficient to dispel the myth that Iqbal proposed a separate Muslim State in his address. An explanation as to why the myth continues to be perpetrated lies party with the “founding party of Pakistan”, the All-India Muslim League, and partly with historians and other writers. Here is my interpretation, but first a list of important dates:
December 29, 1930: Iqbal’s Allahabad address
January 28, 1933: Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan Declaration
March 24, 1940: A-I Muslim League adopts Lahore Res.
August 14, 1947: Independence Day of Pakistan
After passing the Lahore (“Pakistan”) resolution in 1940, the League tried to find some sort of historical base for their decision after seven years of opposing Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan scheme.
Instead of acknowledging the 1933 Pakistan Declaration, which essentially remains unknown to this date, they jumped to Iqbal’s 1930 Allahabad address. Here, from their political perspective, they had two plus points: first, the address was by a renowned Muslim poet, who was later to be adopted officially as the “Poet of Pakistan”, and, second, the address was at the annual session of their party. As for their opposition to, and non-acknowledgement of, Rahmat Ali and his Movement, that is outside the scope of this article.The Allahabad myth is partly also due to poor scholarship, where reference is not made to original sources, and misquotes have led to misinterpretations or interpretations are made which are contrary to other relevant sources, including Iqbal’s own works. Iqbal did not “convert” to the idea of Pakistan until about 1937 when he wrote letters to the then President of the All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It is said that about this time Iqbal expressed an interest to join Rahmat Ali’s Movement, but he died soon thereafter (Wasti 1982). In conclusion, then, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930. That is the stuff of the myth-makers.
REFERENCES
ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1933, “Now or Never: Are we to Live or Perish for Ever?”, Cambridge.
ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1947, “Pakistan: Fatherland of the Pak Nation”, Pakistan National Movement, Cambridge
AHMAD, KHAN A., 1942, “The Founder of Pakistan: From Trial to Triumph”, London. (The “Founder” referred to is Rahmat Ali.) AHMAD, S. HASAN, 1979, “Iqbal: His Political Ideas at the
Crossroads: A Commentary on Unpublished Letters to Professor Thompson”, Aligarh.
AZIZ, K.K., 1987, “A History of the Idea of Pakistan”, Vol.1, p.184-327, Vanguard, Lahore.
IQBAL, M., 1930, “Presidential Address”, _in_ RAIS AHMAD JAFRI (NADVI), (ed.), “Rare Documents”.
IQBAL, M., 1934, “Letter to E. Thompson dated March 4, 1934″ _in_Ahmad 1979, see above.
WASTI, S.M., 1982, “My Reminiscences of Choudhary Rahmat Ali”, Royal Book Co., Karachi, 175pp.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Cambridge University: The libraries of Emmanuel College, Centre of South Asian Studies, and the University. Shahid Karim
“The Muslims of India are suffering from two evils.The first is the want of personalities…By leadersI mean men who, by Divine gift or experience, possessa keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam,long with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history. Such men are really the driving forces of a people, but they are God’s gift and cannot be made to order. The second evil from which the Muslims of India are suffering is that the ommunity is fast losing what is called the herd instinct.”
Source: Allama’s presidential address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Allahabad in 1930. Full text in “Rare Documents”.
POETRY OF IQBAL
From: abbas@seas.gwu.edu (Ali Abbas)
THE SlGNIFlCANCE OF ISLAMIC FREEDOM and SECRET OF THE KARBALA EVENT
Dr Mohammad Iqbal, the Poet of the East.
Whoever makes a covenant with the Omnipresent,
Is freed from the bondage of all (false) gods.
A believer’s existence is dependent on Love,
While Love, for its manifestation, is dependent on the believer,
What is impossible for mortals is rendered possible through Love.
Reason is ruthlessly sharp, but Love is sharper;
It is chaster, more shrewd, more daring.
Reason is lost in the maze of cause and effect;
Love is the champion in the field of action.
Love captures its prey through sheer strength;
While Reason captures through deceit by laying a snare.
Doubt and fear are the assets of Reason;
Self-Confidence and firmness of puryose are the integral
parts of Love.
Reason builds to destroy,
While Love destroys to re-create.
Reason has a little value like the air in this World,
Love is highly inestimable.
Reason is absorbed in questioss of how and how much;
Love in its purity transcends them.
Reason advises self-assertion,
While Love counsels self-examination.
Reason is indebted to other things for knowledge.
Love originates in grace (of God) and is contended with self
knowledge.
Reason says, Be happy and prosper,
While Love advises, Surrender thyself and be free.
Love finds both comfort and consolation in freedom,
Freedom is its source of guidance.
Have’nt you heard how summarily, on the occasion of the great conflict,
Love dealt with conceited Reason.
That Imam (Chief) of all lovers, the son of Fatima,
That cypress in the Prophet’s garden.
What a marvellous phenomenon ! (Husains) great
grand-father (Ishmael) set the first example of self sacrifice,
Whose meaning and significance became fully explicit
in him (Husain) the great grand-son.
For that Prince of ideal character (Husain),
The last Prophet offered his own shoulder as a substitute for
a camel’s back.
Love’s majestic visage glowing with pride because of
the blood of the martyred Husain,
The colourfulness of this line is due to the theme of martyrdom.
Husain’s unique position in the muslim community,
Is like the honoured place Occupied by the verse (Qul ho-Allah)
in the Quran.
Moses and Pharoah, Husain and Yazeed,
They are, but the conflicting forces of life.
Truth survives and triumphs because of Husain.
Falsehood is destined to meet with failure and grief.
At the moment when the leadership of the faithful broke the link with
the Quran,
Human freedom was poisoned in the blood.
There arose a man, the best of the best among nations,
Like a rain-laden eastern cloud, bringing water to a parched,
rocky soil.
This cloud rained for a moment on Karbala,
Causing the desert to bloom and passed on.
He (Husain) exterminated tyranny for ever,
From his martyred blood, there rose a new garden (of human values)
in the wilderness.
Writhing in dust and blood for defending truth,
He became the corner stone of “La Ilah”
Had Power been his objective,
He would have not set forth so ill-equipped.
His enemies were in multitude just like the sands of the desert,
While the number of his companions was equal to the numerical
value of the word Yezdan (72).
In him (Husain), the mystery of Abraham and Ishmael unfolds and expounds
itself.
He is the illustration of their faith.
His will was firm as a rock;
Swift and triumphant (like a river).
The sword was for him a weapon meant solely for the defence of the faith;
And the protection of the Divine Law.
The muslim owes allegiance to none but Allah.
His head never bows before a tyrant.
This was the secret that Husain unveiled with his blood.
And roused his people from slumber.
When he (Husain) unsheathed the sword of denial of false gods;
He caused the blood to flow from the veins of their supporters.
He inscribed the words Illallah on the desert sands of Karbala,
Thus, he imprinted the first line of the charter of our salvation.
It is from Husain that we have learnt the hidden meaning of the
Holy word (Quran).
The flames of burning faith we borrowed from his fire.
The splendour that was once Syria and Baghdad;
And the glory of Granada are all now a forgotten tale.
At the touch of Husain’s plectrum the strings of our being still vibrate;
His cry of Allah o Akbar still keeps our Faith alive.
O Wind! Thou messenger of far-flung people !
Present our tears to the sacred dust that covers Husain’s remains.
Shikwa-Jawab Shikwa Complaint and Answer Translated by:A.J. Arberry
This is what Khalid Muhammed Shahzad says about the poet of the East
The ‘Shikwa‘ and the ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’, are among the most popular of Iqbal’s poems; they are deservedly celebrated, for they are among the first to bring their author fame as an advocate of Islamic reform and rebirth. The date of their compsition can be fixed very accurately by a reference to contemporary events contained in the second of them; when Iqbal wrote -
‘Now the onslaught of the Bulgars sounds the trumpet of alarm’ he was commemorating the invasion of Turkey by Bulgaria in the late autumn of 1912, an attack which threatened at one time to penetrate as far as Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the last home of the Caliphate.
These poems were therefore composed four years after Iqbal’s return from Europe. They mark the beginning of that remarkable career as philosopher and poet which brought Iqbal ever-increasing renown, until he was recognized as the leading thinker of ISLAM in India and the greatest figure in Urdu literature. It is all the more interesting to find him adumbrating in these early pieces that theory of Selfhood (Khudi) and Selflessness (Bekhudi) which later played such an important part in his religious and political philosophy.
The central theme of both poems is the decay of Islam from its former greatness, and the measures to be adopted if it was to re-establish its authority and regain its vitality. The subject was, of course, not a new one; ever since the decline and final extinction of the Moghul Empire, Muslims in India had been searching their minds and their consciences for the explanation of so lamentable a disaster. Nor were Indian Muslims alone in deploring the seeming collapse of Islamic civilization; their co-religionists further West, from Persia to Morocco, had been occupied with the same self-examination. But in these two poems Iqbal stated the problem in singularly arresting directness; the literary form chosen for its exposition, a dialogue between the poet, as a spokesman for Muslims the world over, and God – this dramatic presentation of the common dilemma made an immediate and compelling appeal to Iqbal’s public, an appeal moreover which has lost nothing of its force in the intervening years.
To make a worthy translation of these poems into English is certainly no easy task. To begin wuth, the translator ( A.J. Arberry) has to confess to a very inadequate knowledge of Urdu, the language used by Iqbal on this occasion. Left to his own devices, he would been obliged to abandon the attempt; but the publisher, Sh. M. Ashraf, procured for him a literal rendering of the originals into English prose, ably executed by Mazheruddin Siddiqi, to whom the grateful and cordial thanks of the writer are hereby expressed. But that is by no means the end of the matter; Iqbal naturally illustrated his discourse with metaphors and references familiar enough to those accustomed to read Urdu poetry, but in many instances utterly strange, indeed outlandish, to an English audience. Rather than impose on the poet transformations, of which he would certainly and justly have disapproved, the translator has preferred to reproduce his model as closely and as faithfully as he could, appending notes to his version to light up the dark passages wherever they are found.
Kiyu* ziya’ kar banu* sood framosh rahu* ?
(Why must I forever suffer loss, oblivious to gain ?)
Fikr-e-farda na karu* mehv-e-gham-edosh rahu*?
(Why think not upon the morrow, drowned in grief for yesterday ?)
Naale bubul ke sunu* aur hama tan gosh rahu*
(Why must I attentive heed the nightingale’s lament of pain ?)
Ham navaa! mai* bhi koi gul hoo* ke khamosh rahu* ?
(Fellow-bard! am I rose, dondemned to silence all the way?)
Jur’at aamoze miri taab-e-sukhan mujh ko
No; the burning power of song bids me be bold and not to faint;
Shikwa Allah(s.w.t.) se “khakam badahan” hai muhj ko Dust be in my mouth, but God – He is the theme of my complaint.
—————————————————————
The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for
henna to be put on her
And also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote a poem “Taariq ke Duaa”.
“The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain”. One verse
in that poem reads
KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se
The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs
“Khitaab ba jawaanaan e Islam” in which he says to the young Muslim.
You have been reared by a nation
that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia
i.e. the home of the camel herders
How dare Iqbal also says in one of his poems
I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn’t our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad
It is getting outrageous on part of Iqbal. Iqbal also said
If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don’t then the Arabs have a right over Spain
Iqbal said in one of his poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family.
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat
Note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.
Here he talks about his Hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family.
So even though Iqbal’s ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple
hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there
is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.
That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.In the world of people who are wrapped up in a shell of fake and hollow pride one human being cannot learn from another human being. In their world there are unpassable barriers to cultural interaction and social inter-course. But their fake world will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the true spirit of human civilization. If we would not be so blind to read our own histories of how our cultures have been formed. Culture is not something static. It is the most dynamic phenomenon known to man. If you come in the way of cultural intermingling you will only destroy yourself.Going back to Iqbal. Iqbal talked about ants, flowers, women, Turks, Arabs, Indians, Europeans, cows, goats, sqirrels, camels, mountains, rivers, Lenin, Mussolini and thousands of other things. And so has every other poet befor him and after him done the same, talk about things.I could talk about all the poets that have existed and because of their spirit of love and their preacing of cultural interaction their names (and message) will last till the end of the world. I could talk about Sachal Sarmast, Amir Khusro, Shah AbdulLatif Bhitai, Amir Karore, Bhulley Shah, Waaris Shah, Bahadur Shah. The message of all these people is the same. They use different words and different styles but they teach us the same message. That message is the brotherhood of mankind.I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude
BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay
Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain allthat tawheed to you
This is what Nadeem Jamali says
Jang-e-yarmook… the poem is specifically about a certain warTariq bin Ziad… this is about what a particular person saidKhitab ba jawanaan….. here Iqbal is addressing MuslimsHindu…. Iqbal is expressing his feelingsPalestine… again Iqbal’s own feelingsIn the poem about the “Wise Baloch”, Iqbal is pretending to know how a wise Baloch thinks. He is not writing about one particular person… he’s trying to make a statement about the Baloch way of thinking in general. Unless he has based the poem on something, it is logical to raise the question. And mind you, I only asked if anyone knows the background.
This is what Khurram has contributed on Iqbal:
Majnun nay shehar chora tu sehra bhi chor dayNazaray ki havas ho to Laila bhi chor dayWa’iz kamal-i-tarak say milti hai ya’n muradDunya jo chor dee hai to Uqba bhi chor day
TRANSLATION:Majnun left the cities for the wilderness of the deserts, but you (O dervish) also renounce the latterIf you deire for ‘Mushahidas’ also give up your LailaO Preacher! Renunciation leads one to the goal on this path. Now that you have given up dunya also renounce the Hereafter
The essence of these verses is:
When a passionate desire (for his Lord) surges in the heart of a man
Then this wingless person gives birth to a Ruh-ul Amin within him
There’s a punjabi quadruplet on the same topic:
Zahid zuhd kamanday thakay rozay nafal namazaan HuAashiq gharq huay vich Wahdat fillah nal Muhabat razaan HuMakhi qaid shehad vich phati ki ur’si naal Shebazaan HuJinhan majlis naal Nabi Sarwar day Bahu O sahib raaz niazan HuThe ascetic died of rigorous prayers and attained paradise The Lover, in love for Allah, drowned in the ocean of Oneness and attained his LordA bee so caught in honey’s snares, how can it accompany the hawkBahu, those who attend the Holy Majlis of the Last messenger, they are the possessors of Divine knowledge
This is what Altaf Bhimji contibutes on Iqbal:
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness
A Philosophical Poem by Muhammad Iqbal
Translated, with Introduction and Notes by
Professor A.J.Arberry (First Edition 1953 –out of print)
Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938) was not only the leading Urdu poet of his generation, but is considered by many as the spiritual founder of Pakistan. His writings were certainly most influential in preparing the way for the independence of Pakistan. As a philosopher and a thinker he is one of the greatest figures in modern Islam. In the Mysteries of Selflessness Iqbal puts forward his views on the relationship between the Individual and the State, of course from the Muslim standpoint, using the language and rich imagery of Persian poetry.
Dedication to the Muslim Community
You, who were made by God to be the Seal (i)Of all the peoples dwelling upon earthThat all beginnings might in you find end;Whose saints were prophetlike, whose wounded heartsWove into unity the soul of men;Why are you fallen now so far astrayFrom Mecca’s holy Kabba, all bemusedBy the strange beauty of the Christian’s way?The very skies are but a gatheringOf your street’s dust, yourselves the cynosureOf all men’s eyes; whither in restless hasteDo you now hurry like a storm-tossed wave,What new diversion seeking? No, but learn The mystery of ardor from the mothAnd make your lodgment in the burning flame;Lay Love’s foundation-stone in your own soul, And to the Prophet pledge anew your troth.My mind was weary of Christian company,When suddenly your beauty stood unveiled,My fellow-minstrel sang the epiphany (ii)Of alien loveliness, the lovelorn themeOf tresses and soft cheeks, and rubbed his browAgainst the saki’s door, rehearsed the chantOf Magian wenches. I would martyr beTo your brow’s scimitar, am fain to restLike dust upon your street. Too proud am ITo mouth base panegyrics, or to bowMy stubborn head to every tyrant’s courtTrained up to fashion mirrors out of words, I need not Alexander’s magic glass (iii)My neck endures not men’s munificence; Where roses bloom, I gather close the skirt Of my soul’s bud. Hard as the dagger’s steelI labor in life, my luster winFrom the tough granite. Though I am a sea,Not restless is my billow; in my handI hold no whirlpool bowl. A painted veilAm I, no blossom’s perfume-scattering, No prey to every billowing breeze that blows.I am a glowing coal within Life’s fire.And wrap me in my embers for a cloak.An now my soul comes suppliant to your doorBringing a gift of ardor passionate.A mighty water out of heaven’s deepMomently trickles o’er my burning breast,The which I channel narrower than a brookThat I may fling it in your garden’s dish.Because you are beloved by him I loveI fold you to me closely as my heart.Since Love first made the breast an instrumentOf fierce lamenting, by its flame my heartWas molten to a mirror; like a roseI pluck my breast apart, that I may hangThis mirror in your sight. Gaze you thereinOn your own beauty, and you shall becomeA captive fettered in your tresses’ chain.I chant again the tale of long ago,To be your bosom’s old wounds bleed anew. So for a people no more intimateWith its own soul I supplicated God,That He might grant to them a firm-knit life.In the mid watch of night, when all the worldWas hushed in slumber, I made loud lament;My spirit robbed of patience and repose,Unto the Living and Omnipotent GodI made my litany; my yearning heartSurged, till its blood streamed from my weeping eyes“How long, O Lord, how long the tulip-glow,The begging of cool dewdrops from the dawn?Lo, like a candle wrestling with the nightO’er my own self I pour my flooding tears.”I spend my self, that there might be more light,More loveliness, more joy for other men.Not for one moment takes my ardent breastRepose from burning; Friday does not shame (iv)My restless week of unremitting toil.Wasted is now my spirit’s envelope;My glowing sigh is sullied all with dust.When God created me at Time’s first dawnA lamentation quivered on the stringsOf my melodious lute, and in that noteLove’s secrets stood revealed, the ransom-priceOf the long sadness of the tale of Love;Which music even to sapless straw impartsThe ardency of fire, and on dull clayBestows the daring of the reckless moth.Love, like the tulip, has one brand at heart, And on its bosom wears a single rose;And so my solitary rose I pinUpon your turban, and cry havoc loudAgainst your drunken slumber, hoping yetTulips may blossom from your earth anewBreathing the fragrance of the breeze of Spring.
Notes:
(i) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) being commonly called the Seal of the Prophets because in him God concluded His series of revelations to manking. Iqbal borrows the term and refers to the
Islamic community as the Seal of the Peoples.
(ii) The reference is to the continuing fashion among Urdu poets to imitate the conventional love-lyrics of Persia in which the images mentioned are very common.
(iii) Alexander the Great is said in Persian legend to have possessed a magic mirror in which he saw the whole world at a glance.
(iv) Friday being the day for Muslim congregational prayer.
ADDITION TO IQBAL
“Jang-e-yarmook ka aik waaqiah”.
The first verse of that poem can be translated as:
The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for henna to be put on her
“The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain”. One verse in that poem reads
KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se
The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs
“Khitaab ba jawaanaan e Islam” in which he says to the young Muslim.
You have been reared by a nation that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia i.e. the home of the camel herders
Iqbal also says in one of his poems
I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn’t our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad
Iqbal. Iqbal also said
If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don’t then the Arabs have a right over Spain
The people who ask such questions about who was who should first come out of their shell of fake ethnic pride and unfouded sense of superiortity.
Iqbal was a poet and a sensitive human being. You donot have to be a flower to talk about a flower. You donot have to be an ant to talk about an ant.
You donot have to be a horse to talk about a horse. You do not have to be god to talk about god.
A poet uses everyday things to convey his message to us. That is why Iqbal used the “Wise Baloch” to teach us the wise stuff.
Going back to Iqbal being an Arab for a moment. Iqbal said in one of his
poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat
note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.
Here he talks about his Hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family. So even though Iqbal’s ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.
That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.
So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.
TAWHID
I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude
BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay
Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain all that tawheed to you
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness By Muhammad Iqbal
Translated by A. J. Arberry.
The story of Bu Ubaid and Jaban, in Illustration of Muslim Brotherhood
A certain general of King Yazdajird
(i) Became a Muslim’s captive in the wars;A Guebre he was, inured to every trickOf fortune, crafty, cunning, full of guile.He kept his captor ignorant of his rankNor told him who he was, or what his name,But said, ” I beg that you will spare my lifeAnd grant to me the quarter of Muslims gain.”The Muslim sheathed his sword. “To shed thy blood”,He cried, “were impious and forbidden sin.”When Kaveh’s banner had been rent to shreds,
(ii)The fire of Sasan’s sons turned all to dust
(iii)It was disclosed the captive Jaban was,Supreme commander of the Persian host.Then was his fraud reported, and his bloodPetitioned of the Arab general;Bu Ubaid, famed leader of the ranksFrom far Hejaz, who needed not the aidOf armies to assist his bold resolveIn battletide, thus answered their request.“Friends, we are Muslims, strings upon one luteAnd of one concord. Ali’s voice attunes With Abu Dharr’s, although the throat be that of Qanbar or Bilal. Each one of us
(iv)Is trustee to the whole CommunityAnd one with it, in malice or in truce.As the Community is the sure baseOn which the individual rests secure,So is its covenant his sacred bond.Though Jaban was a foeman to Islam,A Muslim granted him immunity;His blood, O followers of the best of men,May not be spilled by any Muslim sword.”____
i) Yazdajird was the last Sassanian king of Persia
ii)Kaveh, a smith of Isphan, raised the standard of revolt against the usurping tyrant Zahhak and established Feridun on the throne of Persia.iii)Sasan was the eponymous founder of the Sassanian dynasty,overthrown at the Arab conquest of Persia.iv)Qanbar, formerly a slave, was manumitted by caliph Ali. Bilal, formerlyan Abyssinan slave, was taken by the Prophet at the muezzin.
Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness By Muhammad Iqbal Translated by A. J. Arberry.
The story of Sultan Murad and the Architect, in Illustration of Muslim Equality
An architect there was, that in Khojand Was born, a famous craftsman of his kindWorthy to be an offspring of Farhad.Sultan Murad commanded him to buildA mosque, that which pleased not his majesty,So that he waxed right furious at his faults.The baleful fire flared in the ruler’s eyes;Drawing his dagger, he cut off the handOf that poor wretch, so that the spurting bloodGushed from his forearm. In such hapless plightHe came before the cadi, and retoldThe tyrant’s felony, that had destroyedThe cunning hand which shaped the granite rock.‘O thou whose words a message are of Truth”He cried, “whose toil it is to keep aliveMuhammad’s Law, I am no ear-bored slavePatient to wear the ring of monarchs’ might.Determine my appeal by the Quran!”The upright cadi bit his lips in ireAnd summoned to his court the unjust kingWho, hearing the Quran invoked, turned paleWith awe, and came like any criminalBefore the judge, his eyes cast down in shame,His cheeks as crimson as the tulip’s glow.On one side stood the appellant, and on oneThe high exalted emperor, who spoke.“I am ashamed of this that I have wroughtAnd make confession of my grievous crime.”“In retribution”, quoth the judge, “is life,And by the law life finds stability.The Muslim slave no less is than free menNor is the emperor’s blood of richer hueThan the poor builder’s.” Listening to these words Of Holy Writ, Murad shook off his sleeveAnd bared his hand. The plaintiff thereuponNo longer could keep silence. “God commandsJustice and kindliness,” recited he.“For God’s sake, and Muhammad’s,” he declared,“I do forgive him.” Note the majestyOf the Apostle’s Law, and how an antTriumphantly outfought a Solomon!Before the tribunal of the QuranMaster and slave are one, the mat of reedsCoequal with the throne of rich brocade.QUAID
>*16 November: Choudhary Rahmat Ali Day*
Munir M. Pervaiz contributions on Iqbal’s humor:
Shaikh sahib bhi to pardey kay ko’i haami naheeN
Muft meiN college kay larkey unn say bad zan ho gaey
Wa’az meiN farma diya kal aap nay yeh saaf saaf“
Parda aakhir kiss say ho jab mard hi zan ho gaey”
*******Woh miss boli iraada khood kushi ka jab kiya meiN nay
Mohazzab hay to ay aashiq, qadam bahar na dhhar had say
Na jur’at hay na khanjar hay,to qasd e khood kuushi kaisa
Yeh maana dard e naa kaami gaya tera guzar had say
Kaha meiN kay” ay jan e jahaaN kuchh naqd dilwa do
Kiraaey par manga loonga ko’i afghaan sarhad say”
****************Takraar thhi mazaar’e o maalik meiN aik rauz
Dono yeh keh rahey thhey mera maal hay zameeN
Kehta thha woh, karey jo zaraa’at ussi ka khait
Kehta thha yeh, kay aql thikaaney teri naheeN
Pochha zameeN say meiN kay , hay kiss ka maal too
Boli mujhhey to hay faqat iss baat ka yaqeeN
Maalik hay ya mazaar’a e shoreeda haal hayJ
o zeir e aasmaaN hay woh dharti ka maal hay —-Ta abad aadmi ko dunya meiN
Zindigi ka khiraaj deina hayTifl e nau za’ida ko kal say mujhhey
Zehr e rasm o riwaaj deina hay
Another poem from Allama Iqbal’s Baal e jibra’eel for lovers of great Urdu poetry:
PANJAB KAY PEER ZAADON SAY
Hazir hua meiN sheikh e mujaddid ki lehd par
Woh khaak kay hay zeir e falak matla e anwaar
Iss khaak kay zarroN say heiN sharminda sitaarey
Iss khaak meiN posheeda hay woh sahib e israr
Gardan na jhukee jiss ki jahaangir kay aagey
Jiss kay nafas e garm say hay garmi e ahraar
Woh hind meiN sarmaya e millat ka nigehbaaN
Allah nay bar waqt kiya jiss ko khabardaar
Ki arz yeh meiN nay kay ata faqr ho mujhh ko
AankheiN meri beena heiN wa lekin naheeN baidaar
Aaee yeh sada silsila e faqr hua bandHei
N ahl e nazar kishwar e punjaab say baizaar
Aarif ka thikaana naheeN woh khitta kay jiss meiN
Paida kulah e faqr say ho turra e dastaar
Baqi kulah e faqr say thha walwala e haq
TurroN nay charhaya nasha e khidmat e sarkaar
Merey jism o rooh to kab kay, dhoop meiN jal kar raakh huey
Tuum jinn say miltey rehtey ho, woh to merey saaey heiN
PUNJABI MUSSALMAN
Mazhab meiN bohat taaza pasand iss ki tabi’atKar lay kahiN manzil to guzarta hay bohat jaldTahqeeq ki baazi ho to shirkat nahiN kartaHo khail mureedi ka to harta hay bohat jald !Taaweel ka phanda koi sayyad lagaa dayYeh shaakh e nasheman say utarta hay bohat jald !
GADAAI
Maikaday meiN aik din ik rind e zeerak nay kahaHay hamaaray shehr ka waali gadaa e bay hayaTaaj pehnaya hay kiss ki bay kulaahi nay ussayKiss ki uryaani nay bakhshi hay ussay zarreeN qabaUss kay aab e laala gooN ki khoon e dehqaaN say kasheedTerey merey khait ki matti hay uss ki keemyaUss aky nemat khaaney ki har cheez hay maangi hoeeDeney waala kaun hay ? mard e ghareeb o bay nawaMaangnay waala gada hay sadqa maangey ya khiraajKoi maaney yaa na maaney meer o sultaN sab gada
The following is a reproduction in toto of a letter written by Iqbal to the editor of the London Times, dated October 15, 1931. //
NORTH-WEST INDIA- MOSLEM PROVINCES
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir,-Writing in your issue of October 3 last, Dr. E. Thompson has torn the following passage from its context in my presidential address to the All-India Moslem League of last December, in order to serve as evidence of “Pan-Islamic plotting”:- /
I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Moslem State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Moslems, at least of North-West India./
May I tell Dr. Thompson that in this passage I do not put forward a “demand” for a Moslem State outside the British Empire, but only a guess at the possible outcome in the dim future of the mighty forces now shaping the destiny of the Indian sub-continent. No Indian Moslem with any pretence to sanity contemplates a Moslem State or series of States in North-West India outside the British Commonwealth of Nations as a plan of practical politics.
Although I would oppose the creation of another cockpit ofcommunal strife in the Central Punjab, as suggested by some enthusiasts, Iam all for a redistribution of India into provinces with effective majorities of one community or another on lines advocated by the Nehru and the Simon reports. Indeed, my suggestion regarding Moslem provinces merelycarries forward this idea. A series of contented and well-organized Moslem provinces on the North-West Frontier of India would be the bulwark of India and the British Empire against the hungry generations of the Asiatic highlands.
Yours faithfully,
MUHAMMED IQBAL.
St. James’s court, S.W.1, Oct. 10.//
The delegation is led by Khalid Jaffar, Press Assistant to the Malaysian Deputy Prime MinisterAnwar Ibrahim,Raja Rajaratnam,N.V.Raman and Anwar Tahir who are all members of theResearch Institute. Briefing the newsmen on Saturday, Rajaratnam said the Conference will be the second of the seriesdesigned to highlight the accomplishments of the Asian scholars and intellectuals. He said the title of the upcoming conference is ‘Muhammad Iqbal and the Asian Renaissance.’ Rajaratnam said experts drawn from various countries will read papers on Iqbal and hisworks.Some of the topics are Iqbal:Worldview,Metaphysics and Mysticism,Iqbal onReform,Justice,Polity & Ethnic Relations, Iqbal and the Muslim World,Iqbal:East,West and the Renaissance.
Malaysia organising conference on Iqbal LAHORE (APP) — The Institute for Policy Research, Malaysia,is organising an internationalconference on poet philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Selangor from June 3 to 5. The three-day conference will highlight the works and achievements of the poet of the East . A four-member delegation of the Institute for Policy Research is currently visiting Pakistan to seekthe Government’s help in procuring various works of Iqbal for display during the conference.
He said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been invited to deliver keynote address on the openingday of the conference. The Malaysian scholar disclosed that an exhibition will also be organised on the occasion, displayingAllama Iqbal’s publications, books, manuscripts and photographs. Rajaratnam said Iqbal was a well known figure in his country especially among the Muslims and theconference has been designed to project him as an Asian thinker in the East Asia. ‘ The occasion will provide an excellent opportunity for scholars from other countries to exchange
Guftaar-e-syasat main watan aur hi kuch hai
Irshaad-e-Naboo’at (PBUH) main watan aur hi kuch hai
(Meanings: Guftaar-e-syasat = inpolitical terms; Irshad-e-Naboo’at (PBUH) = Sayings of Muhammad (PBUH))
*. Apney parwanon ko phir zoq-e-khud afrozi dey
Barq-e-daireena ko farman-e-jigar sozi dey
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Parwanon = Believers; zoq-e-khud afrozi = sense of self respect; Barq-e-daireena = Strength of old times; farman-e-jigar sozi = Faith)
*. Aankh ko baydaar ker dey wada-e-deedar say
Zinda ker dey dil ko soz-e-johar-e-guftaar say
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Aankh = vision; baydaar = conscious; wada-e-deedar = Promise of keeping true Faith; soz-e-johar-e-guftar = Faith)
*. Shab guraizan ho gi aakhir jalwa-e-khursheed say
Ye chaman mamoor ho ga naghma-e-Tauheed say
(Meanings: Shab guraizan ho gi aakhir jalwa-e-khursheed say = Sunshine will dominate the darkness of night eventually; chaman = referring to Islam; mamoor = blessed; naghma-e-tauheed = Islam)
*. Dilon ko markez-e-mehr-o-wafa ker
Hareem-e-Kibriya say aashna ker
Jissey nan-e-jaween bakhshi hai Tu nay
Ussey bazo-e-Haider bhi ata ker
(praying to God) (Meanings: Dilon = Hearts/insights/thoughts; markaz-e-mehr-o-wafa = Center of love and loyalty; Hareem-e-Kibriya = God; aashna = Familiar; Nan-e-jaween = determination; Bazu-e-Haider = Strength and faith of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him))
*. Zameer-e-lala main roshan chiragh-e-aarzu ker dey
Chamman kay zarrey zarrey ko shaheed-e-justaju ker dey
(Praying to God) (Meanings: Zameer-e-lala = Insight of Muslims; roshan = enlighten; chiragh-e-aazru = Lamp of hopes; zarrey = each part; shaheed-e-justaju = strive to be stronger)
*. Bazu tera Tauheed ki quat say qawi hai
Islam tera des hai, tu Mustafawi hai
Nizara-e-daireena zamaney ko dikha dey
Aey Mustafawi! khaak main iss bu’t ko mila dey
(Meanings: Qawi = strong; des = country; Mustafawi = Referring to Muslims here; Nizara-e-daireena = Old times when Muslims used to be the most united and strong power)
*. Phir dilon ko yaad aa jayey ga paigham-e-sajood
Phir jabeen khaak-e-Haram say aashna ho jayey gi
Aankh jo kuch dekhti hai, lab pay aa sakta nahin
Mehw-e-hairat hon kay duniya kya say kya ho jayey gi
(Meanings: paigham-e-sajood = Message of Muhammad (PBUH); jabeen = foreheads; khak-e-Haram = referring to worship of Allah; lab = lips; mehw-e-hairat = amazed)
CONCEPT OF KHUDI
Nigah-e-faqr main shaan-e-sikandari kya hai?
Khiraaj ki jo gada ho, wo qaiseri kya hai?
Falaq nay ki hai ata un ko khaajgi kay jinhain
Khabar nahin rawish-e-banda parwari kya hai?
Kissey nahin hai tamanna-e-sarwari lekin
Khudi ki mout ho jis main, wo sarwari kya hai?
Buton say tujh ko umeedain, Khuda say no meedi
Mujhey bata tou sahi aur kaafri kya hai?
(Meanings: Nigah-e-Faqr main shan-e-sikandari kya hai = What is the worth of kingdom in eyes of a saint?; Khiraj ki jo gada ho, wo qeseri kya hai = Such a rule in which ruler is always worried about keeping it secure, is worthless; Falaq = Nature; Khaajgi = Ruling class; Khabar nahin = Ignored; rawish-e-banda parwari = Sense of serving humanity; tamanna-e-sarwari = Desires to rule; Khudi ki mout ho jis main wo sarwari kya hai = Such rule is insulting to gain which, self respect is required to be sacrificed; Buton = Idols (referring to fellow human beings here); umeedain = Expectations; no meedi = Disappointment; Kaafri = Non Muslim who donot believe in Oneness of God)
*. Aey Tair-e-Lahooti, uss rizq say mout achi
Jis rizq say aati ho, parwaz main kotahi
Aain-e-jawanmardi, haq goi-o-bay baaqi
Allah kay sheron ko, aati nahin rubaahi
(Meanings: Tair-e-Lahooti = Simile, addressing to Muslim youth; Rizq = food/income; Kotahi = Laziness, denotatively and connotatively referring to slavery here; Aain-e-Jawanmardi = Conditions to live with dignity; Haq goi = Honesty; Bay Baaqi = Bravery; Rubaahi = cunningness, hypocrisy)
*. Hai Fikr mujhey misra-e-saani ki zyada
Allah karey tujh ko ata Fuqr ki talwaar
Jo haath main ye talwaar bhi aa jayey tou Momin
Ya Khalid-e-Janbaaz hai, Ya Haider-e-Karrar
(Meanings: misra-e-saani = proceeding verse; Fuqr ki talwar = Strong Faith; Khalid-e-Janbaaz = Khalid Bin Waleed (May Allah be pleased with him); Haider-e-Karrar= Ali Ibn-e-Abu Talib (May Allah be pleased with him))
*. Wo kal kay gham-o-aish per kuch Haq nahin rakhta
Jo aaj khud afroz-o-jigar soz nahin hai
Wo qaum nahin laiq-e-hangama-e-farda
Jis qaum ki taqdeer main imroz nahin hai
(Meanings: gham-o-aish = thick n’ thin; khud afroz-o-jigar soz = A person with motivation and determination; Laiq-e-hangama-e-farda = worthy to survive anymore; imroz = Present)
*. Paani paani ho gaya sun ker Qalander ki ye baat
Tu jhuka jab ghair key aagey, na tann tera na mann
Apney mann main dub kay pa ja suragh-e-zindagi
Tu agar mera nahi banta, na ban, apna tou bann
(Meanings: paani paani ho gaya = ashamed of oneself; Qalander = Saint; Ghair = Stranger (British here); tann and mann = Body and Soul; suragh-e-zindagi = Connotatively referring to secrets to live prestigious life)
(Meanings: Khana-e-sheesha-e-farang = Referring to British here; Sifaal-e-Hind = Referring to former united India (sub contient) here; Meena-o-jaam = Referring to necessities of life here; Chasshmey = Denotatively means fountains but connotative meanings here, referring to obstacles; Sang-e-rah = Track/path; Phootey = Emergence; Zarb-e-Kaleem = Powerful Strike)
*. Nahin tera nash-e-mann kasr-e-sultani kay gumband per
Tu Shaheen hai basera ker paharon ki chatanon per
(Meanings: nash-e-mann = home; kasr-e-sultani = denotatively, it stands for royal palace but here, it means ease and laziness; Basera = Shelter; Chatanon = Rocks)
*. Aghyaar kay ufkaar-o-takhayyul ki gadai
Kya tujh ko nahin apni khudi tak bhi rasai?
(Meanings: Aghyaar = Referring to British; Ufkaar = Policies; Takhayyul = Theories; Gadai= to beg; rasai = access)
*. Khudi ko ker buland itna kay her taqdeer say pehley
Khuda bandey say khud poochey bata teri raza kya hai
*. Ghulami main na kaam aati hain shamsheerain, na tadbeerain
Jo ho shok-e-yaqeen paida tou cut jaati hain zanjeerain
Koi andaza ker sakta hai iss kay zor-e-bazu ka?
Nigha-e-mard-e-momin say badal jati hain taqdeerain
(Meanings: Ghulami = Slavery; Shamsheerain = Swords; Tadbeerain = Plannings; Shok-e-yaqeen = Sense of self respect; Zanjeerain = restraints; Andaza= Guess; Zor-e-Bazu= Strength; Nigah-e-Mard-e-Momin = Glare of a Muslim (connotatively referring to strength of a strong faith Muslim); Taqdeerain = Destiny)
MESSAGE FOR MUSLIMS
Quran main ho ghota zan, aey mard-e-Msualman
Allah karey tujh ko ata jiddat-e-kirdaar
Jo harf-e-Qul il afw main posheeda hai ab tak
Iss dour main shayad wo haqeeqat ho namudaar
(Meanings: ghota zan = Referring to read, consult and understand; Jiddat-e-Kirdaar = Strong faith/strong character; Harf-e-Qul il afw = Words of Quran; Posheeda = Hidden; Namudar = To expose)
*. Aashna apni Haqeeqat say ho, aey dehqan zara
Dana tu, kheti bhi tu, baran bhi tu, haasil bhi tu
Khauf-e-batil kya hai, kay hai ghaarat-e-batil bhi tu
(Meanings: Aashna = Familiarity; Dehqan = Hard worker/ ploughman; Dana = Fruit; Kheti = Final product; Baran = Blessed rain; Haasil = Reward; Justaju = Struggle denotatively but referring to “wait” here; awara = useless; Rah = Passage; Rahru = Passenger; Rehber = Guide; Manzil = Destination; Kanpta = To shiver; Andesha-e-tufan = Fear of thunder; Nakhuda = Sailor; Beher = Ocean; Kashti = Ship; Sahil = Bank of ocean; Shola = Flame; phoonk dey = Eliminate; Khashak-e-ghair Allah = Enemies of God; Khauf-e-batil = Fear of Oppression; Ghaarat-e-Batil = One who eliminates oppressor and oppression)
*. Aaj bhi ho jo Baraheem ka Imaan paida
Aag ker sakti hai andaz-e-gulistan paida
(Meanings: Baraheem = Abraham (PBUH); Imaan = Faith; Andaz-e-gulistan = Referring to miracle of Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham PBUH), who was thrown in fire and fire was converted into the roses)
*. Baykhatar kood para aatish-e-namrood main Ishq
Aqal hai mehw-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam abhi
Shewa-e-Ishq hai Azadi-o-deher aashubi
Tu hai zannari-e-bu’t khana-e-ayyam abhi
(Meanings: Baykhatar = Fearlessly; Kood para = Jumped in; Aatish-e-Namrood = Referring to fire of Namrood in which, prophet Abraham (PBUH) was thrown; Ishq = Referring to strong Faith and devotion of Prophet Abraham (PBUH); Aqal = Wisdom; Mehw-e-tamasha-e-lab-e-baam = Stunned/shocked/in state of disbelief; Shewa-e-Ishq = Strong Faith; Azadi = Freedom; Deher Aashubi = To get rid of slavery; Zannari-e-bu’t khana-e-ayyam = Under influence of idol worshipers)
*. Dekh ker rang-e-chamman ho na pareshan maali
Kaukab-e-ghuncha say kirnain hai chamakney wali
Khas-o-khashaak say hota hai gulistan khali
Gul ber andaz hai khoon-e-shuhda ki lali
Rang gardun ka zara dekh tou, unnabi hai
Ye nikaltey huey Suraj ki ufuk taabi hai
(Meanings: Rang-e-chamman = Referring to downtrodden enslaved Muslim nation; Pareshan = Worried, Maali = Referring to worried Muslims; Kaukab-e-ghuncha = Referring to new buds; Kirnain = Ray of shining light; Chamakney = Brightness; Khas-o-Khashaak = Trash/garbage; Gulistan = Referring to Muslim circle here; Gul ber Andaz = About to blossom; Khoon-e-Shuhda ki lali = Blood/sacrifices of martyrs; Gardun = Sky; Unnabi = Golden/colour of rising dawn; Nikaltey huey Suraj = Rising dawn; Ufuk taabi = Signs)
*. Hai jo hangama bapa yorish-e-balghari ka
Ghafilon kay liyey paigham hai baydari ka
Tu samjhta hai, ye saman hai dil azaari ka
Imtihan hai terey eesaar ka, khuddari ka
Kyon hirasan hai saheel-e-fars-e-aada sey?
Noor-e-Haq bujh na sakey ka nafs-e-aada sey
(Meanings: Hangama bapa yorish-e-balghari ka = Inclination of world towards atheist culture; Ghafilon kay liyey paigham hai baydari ka = Message to get up from slumber for ignored ones; Saman = Matter; Dil Azaari = To offend, to hurt; Imtihan = Test; Eesaar = Sacrifice; Khuddari = Self Respect; Hirasan = Scared of; Saheel-e-fars-e-ada = Oppressor; Noor-e-Haq = Ligh of Truth; Nafs-e-aada = Struggle of oppressor)
*. Misl-e-bu qaid hai ghncey main, pareshan ho ja
Rakht ber dosh hawa-e-chaminstan ho ja
Hai tinak maya, tu zarrey say byabaan ho ja
Naghma-e-moj say hangama-e-tufan ho ja
Quat-e-Ishq say her past ko bala ker dey
Deher main Ism-e-Muhammad (PBUH) say ujala ker dey
(Meanings: Misl-e-bu = Referring to true faith here; Qaid= Bound; Ghunchey= Bud; Rakht ber dosh hawa-e-chamnistan = Advising to start making efforts against oppressor; zarrey say bayaban = From zero to hero; Naghma-e-moj = Unity; Hangama-e-tufan = Revolutionary strength; Quat-e-Ishq = Referring to strong faith; past = Low/slave; Bala = Respected; Deher = Times of slavery; Ism-e-Muhammad (PBUH) = Advising to follow teachings of Muhammad (PBUH); Ujala = End of oppression)
*. Aqal hai teri saper, Ishq hai shamsheer teri
Merey derwesh! khilafat hai Jahangir teri
Ma siwa Allah kay liyey aag hai takbeer teri
Tu Musalman ho tou taqdeer hai tadbeer teri
Ki Muhammad (PBUH) say wafa tu nay, tou Hum terey hain
Ye Jahan cheez hai kya, loh-o-qalam terey hain
(Meanings: Aqal = Wisdom; Ishq = Faith; Shamsheer = Strength/tool/sword; Derwesh = Innocent man; Khilafat = System of Pious Caliphs of Islam; Jahangir = Way out; Ma siwa = Except; aag hai takbeer teri = Your destiny is hell fire; Taqdeer = Luck; Tadbeer = Policy; Wafa = Sincerity/loyalty; Hum = Referring to Allah as Dr. Iqbal is assuming that Allah is addressing His creature; Jahan = World; Loh-o-Qalam = Universe)
*. Uth kay ab bazm-e-jahan ka aur hi andaaz hai
Mashriq-o-maghrib main terey dour ka aghaaz hai
(Meanings: bazm-e-jahan = Present era; Mashriq-o-Maghrib = Across the globe; Aaghaz = Beginning)
*. Yaqeen muhkam; amal paiham, mohabbat fath-e-alam
Jihad-e-zindagani main hain ye mardon ki shamshirain
(Meanings: Yaqeen muhkam= Confidence; Amal paiham = Hard work with strong motivation; Mohabbat fath-e-Alam= Strive for excellence; Jihad-e-zindagani = Life; Mardon = Men; Shamshirain = Tools)
*. Fard Qaim Rabt-e-Millat say hai, tanha kuch nahin
Moj hai darya main, aur berun-e-darya kuch nahin
(Meanings: Fard = Individual; Qaim = to survive; Rabt-e-Millat = Unity of a nation; tanha = Alone; Moj hai darya main aur berun-e-darya kuch nahin = Simile, giving example of a wave which can’t survive out of ocean. Similarly, individual is strong as long as he is part of a nation. Together we stand, divided we fall)
*. Baykhabar! Tu johar-e-aina-e-ayyam hai
Tu zamaney main Khuda ka aakhri paighaam hai
(Meanings: Baykhabar = Ignored; Johar-e-aina-e-ayyam = Jewel of the time)
*. Nahin hai na umeed Iqbal apni kasht-e-weeran say
Zara namm ho tou ye mitti bari zerkhaiz hai saaqi
(Meanings: Na umeed = Disppointed; Kasht-e-weeran = Muslim youth; namm = Soft; mitti = referring to Muslim youth; zerkhaiz = productive)
*. Jo naghma zan thay khalwat-e-oraaq main tayyur
Rukhsat huey wo terey shajr-e-saya daar say
Shaakh-e-barida say sabaq andoz ho kay tu
Na-aashna hai qaida-e-rozgaar say
Millat kay saath rabta-e-ustawar rakh
Paiwasta reh shajar say, umeed-e-bahar rakh
(Meanings: Naghma zan = Singers; Khalwat-e-oraaq= referring to glory of ancestors; tayyur = birds; Rukhsat = to leave; shajr-e-sayadaar = Shady tree; Shaakh-e-barida = Ancestors; Sabaq andoz = To Learn lesson; Qaida-e-rozgar = Formula of success; Rabta-e-Ustawar = Being continuously in touch; Paiwasta = Hopeful; Shajar = Fruit (outcomes); Umeed-e-bahar = Good time)
*. Agar manzur ho tujh ko khizan na-aashna rehna
Jahan-e-rang-o-bu say pehley qata-e-aarzu ker ley
issi main dekh, muzmir hai kamal-e-zindagi tera
Jo tuj ko zeenat-e-daman koi aina ru ker ley
(Meanings: Khizan na aashna = Not familiar with downfall; Jahan-e-rang-o-bu = World; qata-e-aarzu = To be determined to achieve something; mizmir = hidden; kamal-e-zindagi = formula of success)
*. Bandagi main ghut kay reh jaati hai ik ju-e-kam aab
Aur azadi main behr-e-baykaran hain zindagi
Kulzam-e-hasti say tu ubhra hai manind-e-hibab
Iss zayan khaaney main tera imtihan hai zindagi
(Meanings: Bandagi = Slavery; ghut = Exploitation; ju-e-kam aab = large amount of water; behr-e-baykaran = powerful strength; Kulzam-e-hasti = Humanity; Ubhra = Emerged; Manind-e-Hibab = Like a saviour; zayan khaaney = Referring to world)
*. Ye ghari mehsher ki hai, tu arsa-e-mehsher main hai
Paish ker ghaafil, amal koi agar daftar main hai
(Meanings: ghari = Time; mehsher = Day of resurrection; arsa-e-mehsher = Era of destruction; paish = to present; ghaafil = ignored; amal = something on one’s credit)
*. Rabt-o-zabt-e-millat-e-baiza hai mashriq ki nijaat
Asia waley hain iss nuktey say ab tak baykhabar
Phir syasat chor ker daakhil hisaar-e-deen main ho
Mulk-o-dolat hai faqat hifz-e-haram ka ik samar
Nas’l Muslim ki agar mazhab per muqaddam ho gayi
Urr gaya duniya say tu manind-e-khaak-e-reh guzar
Aik hon Muslim, Haram ki paasbani kay liyey
Neel kay saahil say ley ker ta-ba-khaak-e-Kashghar
Ta Khilafat ki bina duniya main ho phir ustawaar
La kaheen say dhoond ker islaaf ka qalb-o-jigar
Aey kay nashnasi khafi ra az jali, hoshyaar baash
Aey giraftar-e-Abu Bakar-o-Ali, hoshyaar baash
(Meanings: Rabt-e-zabt-e-millat-e-baiza = unity of Muslim nation; nijaat = freedom; nuktey = point; baykhabar = ignored; syasat = politics; hisaar-e-deen = Islam; hifz-e-haram = by product of religion; Nas’l = Race; muqaddam = priority; manind-e-khaak-e-reh guzar = Like dust of the road/being worthless; pasbanai = protection; Ta ba khak-e- Kashghar = Land of Kashghar; Ta Khilafat ki bina = Referring to Pious Caliphs and their system; ustawaar = reactivation; Islaaf = Ancestors; qalb-o-jigar = Strength and Faith; giraftar-e-Abu Bakar-o-Ali = Referring to those Muslims who always praise Abu Bakar and Ali for their bravery, but never follow them; hoshyar baash = Attention)
*. Kitaab-e-millat-e-baiza ki phir shiraza bandi hai
Ye shakh-e-Haashmi kerney ko hai phir barg-o-ber paida
Agar Usmanion pay toota koh-e-gham, tou kya gham hai?
Kay khoon-e-sad hazaar anjum say hoti hai seher paida
(Meanings: Kitaab-e-millat-e-baiza = Holy Quran; Shiraza bandi = Unity, integrity; Shaakh-e-Hashmi = Muslim Nation; Barg-o-ber = Roses and Jewels; paida = to produce; Koh-e-gham = Bundle of troubles; khoon-e-sad hazar anjum = Lots of sacrifices; Seher = Rising of Dawn)
*. Sabaq perh phir sadaqat ka, adalat ka, shujaat ka
*. Butan-e-rang-o-khoon ko torr ker millat main guum ho ja
Na turani rahey baaqi, na Irani, na Afghani
Mitaya qaiser-o-kisra kay istabdad ko kis nay?
Wo kya tha? zor-e-Haider, Faqr-e-Bu Zar, Siqd-e-Salmani
(Meanings: Butan-e-ran-o-khoon = those traditions or practices which are forbidden in Islam; Turani/Irani/Afghani = Regional status of Muslims; Mitaya = To eliminate; Qaiser-o-Kisra = Curel rulers who had been hard on Muslims; Istabdad = Cruelty; Zor-e-Haider = Strength of Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Faqr-e-Abu Zar = Faith of Abu Zar (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Sidq-e-Salmani= Truth of Salman (m.Allah.b.p.w.him))
*. Jab iss angara-e-khaaki main hota hai yaqeen paida
Tou ker leta hai ye baal-o-per-e-rooh ul Amin paida
(Meanings: Angara-e-Khaaki = Human being; Yaqeen = Faith; baal-o-per = Qualities; Rooh ul Amin = Angel Gabriel (Jibraeel))
(Meanings; Narm ru qasid = Muhammad (PBUH); payam-e-zindagi = Guide to live life in correct manner; Khabar deti thin jin ko bijliyan = Those who claimed that they are gods or most poweful; baykhabar = ignored; Ahl-e-Imaan = People of Faith (Muslims))
*. Yaqeen Afrad ka sarmaya-e-tameer-e-millat hai
Yahi qu’at hai jo surat-e-ger taqdeer-e-millat hai
(Meanings:Yaqeen = Faith; Afrad = People; sarmaya-e-tameer-e-millat = Assets of a nation; Qu’at = Strength/tool; surat-e-gar taqdeer-e-millat = fortune of Muslim nation)
*. Amal say zindagi banti hai Jannat bhi, Jahannum bhi
Ye Khaaki apni fitrat main na noori hai, na naari hai
Khrosh amoz-e-bulbul ho girah ghunchey ki wa ker dey
Kay tu iss gulsitan ka wastey baad-e-behari hai
(Meanings: Amal = Deeds; Khaaki = Human bening; fitrat = Nature; noori = saint; naari = evil)
*. Hawas nay ker diya hai tukrey tukrey no-e-insan ko
Akhu’at ka bayan ho ja, mohabbat ki zuban ho ja
Ye Hindi, wo Khurasani, ye Afghani, wo Turaani
Tu, aey sharminda-e-saahil! uchal ker baykaran ho ja
Khudi main doob ja ghaafil, ye sirr-e-zindagani hai
Nikal kay halqa-e-shaam-o-seher say Jawadan ho ja
(Meanings: Hawas = Lust; tukrey = pieces; no-e-insan = Human race; Akhu’at = Integrity; bayan = Advocate; Hindi/Khursani/Afghani/Turaani = Referring to regionalism and racism; sharminda-e-saahil = Muslim; uchal ker baykaran = getting united disregard of race/colour/region; Khudi = Self respect; sirr-e-zindagani = Secret of success; Halqa-e-shaam-o-seher = thick n’ thin; Jawadan = Ever living on the basis of some unique work)
DILEMA OF MUSLIM WORLD AND ITS CAUSES
(Meanings: Shorida = Desperately in love; Khab gah-e-Nabi (PBUH) = Tomb of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Misr-o-Hindustan = Egypt and India; Banay-e-Millat = Unity of Muslim nation; Mita = To eliminate; Un say wasta = Concern with British; na-ashna= Not Familiar; Anjuman = System/thoughts; Nayey Zamaney = Modern Era (Connotatively, referring to secular thoughts); Purani = Old, outdated (Connotatively, a taunt on Muslims who ignored Islamic teachings and followed British traditions due to inferiority complex of being slave of British)
*. kal aik shorida khab gah-e-Nabi (PBUH) per ro ro kay keh raha tha
Kay Misr-o-Hindustan kau Muslim banay-e-Milat mita rahey hain
Ye zairan-e-hareem-e-maghrib hazar rehber banain hamarey
Hamain bhala un say wasta kya, jo tujh(PBUH) say na-ashna rahey hain
Suney ga Iqbal, koun in ko, ye anjuman hi badal gayi hai
Nayey zamaney main hum ko purani batain suna rahey hain
* Masjid tou bana di shab bhar main, Iman ki hararat walon nay
Mann apna purana papi hai, barson main Namazi ban na saka
Kya khoob ameer-e-faisal ko sanawasi nay paigham diya
Tu naam-o-nasab ka Hijazi hai, per dil ka Hijazi ban na saka
Iqbal bara updeshak hai, mann baton main mo leta hai
Guftar ka ye ghazi tou bana, kirdar ka ghazi ban na saka
(Meanings: Masjid = Mosque; Shab bhar = Within a night; Iman ki hararat walon = Men with strong Faith; Papi = Sinner; Barson = Years; Namazi = Worshiper (referring to man of strong faith here); Ameer-e-Faisal = Leader of Muslims; Sanawwasi = Air; Paigham = Message; Naam-o-nasab = Race and Culture; Hijaazi = Muslim; Updeshak = Man with speaking power; mann mo lena = To impress; Guftar = Speeches Kirdar = Character)
*. Mata-e-Aql-o-Danish lutt gayi Allah walon ki
Ye kis Kafir ada ka ghamza-e-khunrez hai Saaqi
(Meanings: Mata-e-Aql-o-Danish = Creative thoughts and wisdom; Lutt = Robbed; Allah Walon = referring to Muslims here; Kafir = non Muslim; ghamza-e-khunrez = Evil planning; Saaqi = Friend)
*. Mujhey Tehzeeb-e-Hazir nay ata ki hai wo azadi
Kay zaahir main tou azaadi hai, baatin main giraftari
Tu, aey Maula-e-Yasrab (PBUH)! aap meri chara sazi ker
Meri Daanish hai afrangi, mera Imaan hai zannari
(Meanings: Tehzeeb-e-Hazir = Present Civilisation; Azadi = Freedom; Zaahir = Physical existence or denotation; Baatin = In reality or connotation; Giraftari = Bondage; Maula-e-Yasrab (PBUH) = Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Chara Sazi = Treatment of ailments; Daanish = Wisdom; Afrangi = Inspired by British; Zannari = Adulterate)
*. Azab-e-Daanish-e-Hazir say ba khabar hon main
Kay main iss aag main phainka gaya hon misl-e-Khalil (PBUH)
(Meanings: Azab-e-Danish-e-Hazir = So called present civilisation; ba khabar = Informed, updated; phainka = Thrown; Misl-e-Khalil (PBUH) = Like Abraham (PBUH))
*. Barh kay Khyber say hai ye marka-e-deen-o-watan
Iss zamaney main koi Haider-e-Karrar bhi hai?
Manzil-e-rehrawan dur bhi dushwaar bhi hai
Iss kaafley main koi kaafla salaar bhi hai?
(Meanings: Barh kay = More than; Khyber = A place where Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him) won a historical fight; Marka-e-deen-o-watan = Challenge of raising the flag of Islam; Haider-e-Karrar = Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Manzil-e-Rehrawan = Destination; Dushwar = Tough; Kaafley = Caravan; Kaafla Salaar = Leader of Caravan)
*. Ye Dour apney Baraheem ki Talash main hai
Sanam Kada hai Jahan La ILa ha IL Allah
Kiya hai tu nay Mata-e-gharoor ka soda
Fareb-e-sod-o-ziyan La ILa ha IL Allah
Agarchey Bu’t hai Jamat ki aastino main
Mujhey hai Hukm-e-Azan La ILa ha IL Allah
(Meanings: Dour = Era; Baraheem = Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him); Talash = Search; Sanam Kada = Temple where idols are placed; Mata-e-gharoor = Referring to Faith here; Fareb-e-sod-o-ziyan = An agreement of loss; Agarchey = Although; Bu’t = Idol; Jamat = Group of worshipers who say prayers in Mosque; Aastino = Referring to insight faith here; Hukam-e-Azan = Command (from Allah) to speak truth)
*. Kiya gaya hai ghulami main mubtala tujh ko
Kay tujh say ho na saki Fuqr ki nighebani
Misaal-e-maah chamakta tha jis ka daagh-e-sajood
Khareed li hai farangi nay wo Musalmani
(Meanings: Mubtala = Imposition; Fuqr = Faith; Nighebani = Protection; Misaal-e-Mah = As graceful as crescent; Daagh-e-Sajood = A graceful mark on the forehead of worshipers; Khareed = Purchased; Farangi = British)
*. Sheeraza hua millat-e-merhoom ka abtar
Ab tu hi bata tera Musalman kidhar jayey?
Iss raaz ko ab faash ker, aey Rooh-e-Muhammad (PBUH)!
Ayaat-e-ILahi ka nigheban kidher jayey?
(Meanings: Sheeraza = Organisation; Millat-e-Merhoom = Referring to downtrodden Muslim nation here; Abtar = Worst; Faash = Expose; Rooh = Soul; Ayaat-e-ILahi = One who believes and follow Quran; Nigheban = Protector)
*. wo faqa kash kay mout say derta nahin zara
Rooh-e-Muhammad (PBUH) uss kay badan say nikal dou
Fikr-e-Arab ko dey key farangi takhayyulaat
Islam ko Hijaz-o-Yaman say nikaal dou
Afghanion ki ghairat-e-deen ka hai ye ILaaj
Mullah ko un kay koh-o-daman say nikaal dou
Ahl-e-Haram say un ki riwayaat cheen lo
Aahu ko murghzar-e-hatan say nikaal dou
Iqbal kay nafs say hai laaley ki aag tez
Aisey ghazal sira ko chamman say nikaal dou
Dr. Iqbal is assuming here that Satan is addressing to his followers.
(Meanings: Faqa kash = Poor man but of strong Faith; derta = Scared of; Badan = Body; Fikr = Thoughts; Takhayyulat= Concepts; Ghairat-e-deen = Strong Faith; ILaaj = Cure; Mullah = Referring to strong faith Muslim here; Koh-o-daman = Country (Afghanistan here); Ahl-e-Haram = Muslims; Riwayaat = Traditions; Aahu = Deer; Murghzar-e-Hatan= Land of Faith and peace; Nafs = Thoughts; Laley = Garden; Ghazal Sira = Reformer here)
*. Kabhi aey haqeeqat-e-muntazir, nazar aa libas-e-majaz main
kay hazar sajdey tarap rahey hain, meri jabeen-e-nyaz main
Jo main sir basajda hua kabhi, tou zameen say aney lagi sada
Tera dil tou hai sanam aashna, tujhey kya miley ga namaz main
(Meanings: Haqeeqat-e-Muntazir = Referring to God Almighty here; Libas-e-Majaz = Being Visible; Sajdey = To prostrate; Jabeen-e-nayaz= Forehead; sir basajda = ToProstate; Sada = Voice; Sanam Aashna = Beloved of idols)
*. Tamaddun, tasawwuf, shariat, kalaam
Butaan-e-Ajam kay pujari tamam
Haqeeqat khurafaat main kho gayi
Ye ummat riwayaat main kho gayi
(Meanings: Tamaddun = Traditions; Tasawwuf = Mysticism; Shariat = Islamic Law (referring to fake Islamic law created by so called scholars in self interest, in name of Islam); Kalam = To praise (referring to hypocrisy of such Muslims, whose worship is to impress people instead of pleasing God. Those for whom, last three verses of Surah Maa’on in Noble Quran have been revealed); Butaan-e-Ajam = gods of other religions; Pujari = Worshipers; Haqeeqat = Truth (referring to original teachings of Islam); Khurafaat = Senseless things; Ummat = (Muslim) Nation; Riwayaat = Traditions)
*. Haath bayzor hain, ILhaad say dil khugar hain
Ummati bais-e-ruswai-e-paighambar (PBUH) hain
Bu’t shikan uth gayye, baqi jo rahey Bu’t ger hain
Tha Baraheem Pidr, aur ye Pisr-e-Aazr hain
Koi qabil ho tou HUM shan-e-kai detey hain
Dhoondney waley ko duniya bhi nayi detey hain
(This verse is taken from poem “Jawab-e-Shikwa” and Dr. Iqbal is assuming that Allah Himself is addressing to Muslims)
(Meanings: Bayzor = Weak; ILhaad = Apostasy; Khugar = Convinced; Ummati = Muslims; Bais-e-ruswai-e-paighambar (PBUH) = Matter of depression for Prophet (PBUH); Bu’t Shikan = True and determined Muslims; Bu’t ger = Lovers of idols; pisr-e-aazar = Followers of Aazar, an idol maker; Qabil = Competant; Shan-e-Kai = Success; Dhoondney = Search)
*. Kis qadar tum pay garan subha ki baydari hai
Hum say kab pyar hai, haan neend tumhain pyari hai
Taba-e-azad per qaid-e-ramzan bhaari hai
Tumhi keh dou, yahi aain-e-wafadari hai?
Qaum Mazhab say hai, Mazhab jo nahin tum bhi nahin
Jazb-e-baham jo nahin, mehfil-e-anjum bhi nahin
(Meanings: Qadar = Extent; Garan = Tough; Subha ki baydari = Referring to get up for morning prayers; Hum = Referring to God here as Dr. Iqbal is assuming that God is addressing Muslims; Neend = Referring to preferring other things over prayers by Muslims; Taba-e-Azad = Written in taunting way, referring to careless nature of Muslims; Qaid-e-Ramzan = Taunting again, referring to Muslims who take holy month of Ramadan as a burden or liability to be released unwillingly; Ain-e-wafadari = Rule of submission and sincerity; Mazhab = Religion; Jazb-e-baham = Joint efforts; Mehfil-e-Anjum = Success and fruitful results)
*. Jin ko aata nahin duniya main kli fun, tum ho
Nahin jis qaum ko parwa-e-nash-e-mann, tum ho
Bijliyan jis main hon aasuda wo khurmen, tum ho
Baich khaatey hain jo Islaaf kay madfan, tum ho
Thay tou A’ba wo tumharey hi magar tum kya ho?
Haath per haath dharey muntazir-e-farda ho?
(Meanings: Funn = Skill; Parwa-e-nash-e-mann = Strive for excellence and prosperity; Bijliyan = Referring to creative and constructive ideas; Islaaf = Forefather; Madfan = Coffins; A’ba = Ancestors; Muntazir-e-Farda = Waiting for some help)
*. Manfia’t aik hai iss qaum ki nuqsaan bhi aik
Aik hi sab ka Nabi (PBUH), Deen bhi, Imaan bhi aik
Harm-e-Pak bhi, Allah bhi, Quran bhi aik
Kuch bari baat thi hotey jo Musalmaan bhi aik?
Firqa bandi hai kahin, aur kahin zaatain hain
Kya zamaaney main pinapnay ki yahi batain hain?
(Meanings: Manfia’t = Profit; Nuqsaan = Loss; Harm-e-Pak = Referring to Khana-e-Kaba; Firqa bandi = Sectarian culture; Zaatain = Caste System; Pinapney = To progress)
*. Koun hai tarak-e-Aain-e-Rasool-e-Mukhtar (PBUH)?
Maslehet waqt ki hai kis kay amal ka mayaar?
Kis ki aankhon main samaya hai sha’ar-e-aghyaar
Ho gayi kis ki nigah tarz-e-salaf say bayzaar
Qalb main soz nahin, rooh main ihsaas nahin
Kuch bhi paighan-e-Muhammad (PBUH) ka tumhain pass nahin
(Meanings: Tarak-e-Aain-e-Rasool-e-Mukhtar (PBUH) = Those who have rejected/ignored teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Maslehet = Compromise; Sha’ar-e-aghyaar = Impressed by non Muslims; Nigah = Vision; Tarz-e-Salaf = Practices of Ancestors; bayzaar = tired of/ fed up; Qalb = Heart; Soz = sense of responsibility; Rooh = Soul; Ihsaas = sensibility; Paigham-e-Muhammad (PBUH) = Message of Muhammad (PBUH); pass = care)
*. Shor hai ho gayey duniya say Musalman nabood
Hum yeh kehtey hain kay thay bhi kahin Muslim mojud?
(Meanings: Zoq-e-may-e-mast-e-tan aasani = Lazy/ dull/ leisure minded; Andaz-e-Musalmani = Ways of Muslims; HaideriFuqr = Spiritual values of Ali (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Dolat-e-Usmani = Wealth of Usman (m.Allah.b.p.w.him); Islaaf = Ancestors; Nisbat-e-rohani = Spirutual inheritance; Wo = Referring to companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); Mo’aziz = Respected; Khawar = Insulted; Tarak-e-Quran = Those who rejected/ignored Quran)
Inspite of Allama Iqbal being the most influential Muslim scholar of the 20th century throughout the Muslim World, his true message and ideas have never before been brought out as strongly and clearly as Zaid Hamid has.
BT-72 Iqbal The Mysterious 1: Google
BT-74 Iqbal the Mysterious 2: YouTube-1
BT-75 Iqbal The Mysterious 3: YouTube-1
BT-76 Iqbal The Mysterious 4: YouTube-1
BT-77 Iqbal The Mysterious 5: BlipTV-2
BT-91 Iqbal The Mysterious 5: BlipTV-2
BT-93 Iqbal The Mysterious 6: BlipTV-2
BT-94 Iqbal The Mysterious 7: BlipTV-2
BT-106 Iqbal The Mysterious 8: BlipTV-2
BT-107 Iqbal The Mysterious 9: BlipTV-2
BT-109 Iqbal The Mysterious 10: BlipTV-2
BT-112 Iqbal The Mysterious 11:
BT-113 Iqbal The Mysterious 12: YouTube-1YouTube-2
BT-114 Iqbal The Mysterious 13: YouTube-1
BT-115 Iqbal The Mysterious 14: YouTube-1
BT-117 Iqbal The Mysterious (Future) 15: YouTube-1
BT-119 Iqbal The Mysterious (Last) 16: YouTube-1
Communal riots in 1947: Who were the architects & why?
Tracing the roots of the 1947 riots:The roots of the riots in 1947 date back to 1906:
At the request of the Muslims of Bengal, in 1905, Lord Curzon announced the partition of Bengal. It was the beginning of of the Muslim awakening from the long slumber of self-pity and “reveling in the glory of yester year“. The British wanted to divide Bengal, to allow the Muslims some sense of self rule. Partition of Bengal’s implications for Bangladesh & Pakistan then and now
Map of Bengal 1906: THe partition of Bengal and the riots
The Muslims formed a majority in all of Bengal (which included Bengal, Bihar and Orissa). East Bengal, present day Bangladesh was a Muslim Majority area and West Bengal at that time included both present day Orissa and Bihar where also Bengalis would become minorities. Bengal was the epi-centre of Indian Nationalism. Bengali ideas influenced whole of India. The Muslim Bengalis Waqar ul Mulk, Mohsin ul Mulk had led a campaign for Muslim rights.
According to the 1941 census 53.4 per cent of the Bengalis were Muslims and the rest Hindus, with a minuscule proportion of Buddhists and Christians thrown in. The province was divided into five administrative divisions, which were further subdivided into districts, as follows : Presidency division, consisting of the districts of 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Jessore and Khulna and the Presidency town of Calcutta ; Burdwan division, with the districts of Howrah, Hooghly, Midnapore, Bankura, Burdwan and Birbhum ; Rajshahi division, with the districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Malda, Dinajpur, Bogra, Rangpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling ; Dacca division, with the districts of Dacca, Faridpur, Barisal and Mymensingh (the largest district in British India) ; and Chittagong division with the districts of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Noakhali and Tipperah. Apart from these districts of Bengal, the people of Sylhet district of Assam, adjoining the Tipperah and Mymensingh districts of Bengal, those of the princely state of Cooch Behar adjoining Jalpaiguri and Rangpur, and a large number among the people of the princely state of Tripura, and among those of the districts of Manbhum nad Singhbhum in Bihar also largely spoke Bangla, and therefore were Bengalis. A map of the erstwhile province of Bengal, as it existed till the midnight of 14th August 1947 is at Fig. 1. The Bangla-speaking areas outside Bengal are also shown in the same map.
There was a vague and unofficial division of the province into three parts : East, West and North. West included the Presidency and Burdwan divisions ; North, the Rajshahi division ; and East, the Dacca and Chittagong divisions. There were substantial differences in the geography and the culture of the three parts. The West, particularly Burdwan division, had no navigable rivers, and some parts of the division were semi-arid ; however, the division had very large reserves of coal in its Ranigunge coalfields which had sired a large number of heavy industries in the region, including an integrated steel plant at Burnpur. The North was bounded by two great rivers, Padma and Jamuna (different from the Jumna or Yamuna which flows by Delhi and Agra ; this Jamuna is the Bengali incarnation of the mighty Brahmaputra of Assam). The region was criss-crossed by a number of swift-flowing tributaries of the two rivers. The East, as opposed to the two, was a low-lying flood plain, being a delta created by three huge rivers : Ganga, a snow-fed river, rechristened after entering Bengal as Padma; Brahmaputra, ditto, Jamuna ; and Meghna, a short but wide river fed only by rain, but from some of the rainiest places in the world, including Cherrapunjee. Certainly the major rivers, and practically all their tributaries and distributaries were navigable right through the year. In fact the usual means of locomotion in British East Bengal used to be the country boat, the nouka.
To oppose the partition in 1906, Swadeshi movement came into action. The RSS already mobilized used this as an excuse to create mayhem. Under presrrue of the Swadeshi movement and Hindu mahasaba Lord Curzon cancelled the partition of Bengal.
Communal riots in 1947: Who were the architects & why? Mohammad Zainal Abedinnoazabd@gmail.com
I had the opportunity to go through the write-up of Tilak R. Sikri in the Washington Post captioned “”India’s Survivors of Partition Begin to Break Long Silence” that referred to the untold sufferings of the people who were the victims of communal riots that made millions of people homeless and hundreds of thousands of
them killed. In recalling the fateful scar of communal riot he mentioned how the Hindus suffered, but he did not mention what happened to the Muslims who suffered more tragically, as they (Muslims) were minority and the victims of the Hindus and their Sikh allies in Punjab. Tilkar failed to mention who were the
masterminds of that communal riot that made the partition of the subcontinent inevitable.
Muslims, even their leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah, could be happy if the subcontinent remained undivided. They opted for a separate homeland for the Muslims when Hindu leaders denied to provide equitable rights to Muslims in independent India.
Hindu leaders agreed on partition of the subcontinent, as they thought and hoped that the dismemberment of India would be a temporary arrangement and reunification of India was a matter of time. History says that the riot of 1947 was masterminded to divide Bengal and Punjab, which were Muslim majority provinces at that time. Riots would not have occurred if they were not politically motivated. Neither innocent people would have been displaced or massacred; if Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister and his preceptor Gandhi would not had set a pre-condition that division of India “must mean a division also of Bengal and Punjab.” (See Nehru’s letter written on May 23, 1947, to Ashraffuddin Ahmad Chowdhury, the Congress President of Tripura, now Comilla, and district.) Nehru also did not keep secret the goal of his demand.
He in the same letter informed Ashraffuddin, “That is the only way to have a United India soon after. If we have a United India straightway, without such division that will, of course be very welcome.”
It is known to all that the Sikhs of Punjab and the Bengalees of Bengal wanted to have independent Punjab and Bengal. Sikhs of the Punjab were incited to stand against the Muslims and they were instigated that they would become the slaves of the Muslims if they would side with the Muslims for an independent sovereign Punjab, as the Muslims were slightly Majority over the Sikh in Punjab. Hindus joined hand with the Sikhs in anti-Muslim riot in Punjab. In this way division of Punjab was made inevitable.
When a joint movement of the Bengalee Hindus and Muslims in favour of United Independent Bengal got momentum, both Gandhi and Nehru vehemently opposed the idea. To break the unity of the Bengalee
Muslims and the Hindus Nehru and his disciples warned that Muslims would dominate the Hindus, if Bengal remained undivided. They demanded that Hindu majority region of Bengal Must merge with
India. Nehru publicly declared, each village, even each house of Bengal would have to be divided on communal line. To disunite the Bengalee Muslims and the Hindus and deter the emergence of United
Independent Bengal communal riots were masterminded.
It is easily understandable who were behind the riots of 1947. There were originated due to anti-Muslim communal feelings of the anti-Muslim cliques. Hundreds of thousands of anti-Muslim riots that occurred in India since 1947 unequivocally justify who were and are communal and terrorists. Tilak though in his write-up condemned communal riot, utterly failed to rise above his communal feelings, which was amply exposed in his writing.
As an ardent fan of the Professor Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani’s concept of Pakistani history and a protagonist of the Indus people philosophy of Ahtizaz Ahsan, it is always a joy to hear about another book about the ‘Melluhas’ of the Pakistani Civilization.
The Melhulans were the Indus people who lived on the River Indus. They were the early ancestors of the present day Pakistanis. the DNA results from the remains of the people in the graves show a 98% congruence with the Baluch, Punjabis, Pakhtuns and Sindhis of the current era. This is why Professor Dani, Ahtizaz Ahsan and this author want to refer to the “Indus Valley Civilization” as the Pakistani Civilization. The temple education from across the border notwithstanding. the facts remain that the people of the Indus is spectacularly different than the people of the Ganges. It is the stupidity of the leaders of the Ganges to refer to themselves as Indusians or “Indians”. The could call themselves Ganians or the rural people or whatever. They were certainly not the urban people of the Pakistani Civilization.
The temple education in Bharat teaches them that their land extends from Kabul to Raj Kalhani (mythical island East of Hindu Bali in Indonesia). Thus this temple education prohibits them from accepting any of the countries in their borders–Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, Lanka, Mayanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Pakistani Mehergarh civilizition preceded Pakistani Indus Valley Civilization
Any intellectual capital that can refute this irredentist, revanchist “Akhand Bharat” type of thinking. The book is not available on Amazon.com. Here is a review by Naeem Tahir.
This maps looks like the map of Pakistan. It is. It is the map of Indu Valley 3500 years ago. This is the map of the Indus Valley Civilization which existed 5000 years ago on the banks of the Indus. This represent the Indus Pakistanis (see Indus Saga by Ahtizaz Ahsan, and Professor Dani's prolific writings). The IVC was not Hindu. They buried their dead, wrote a non-Sanskirt pictographic language, ate beef, did not know the horse, wre not vegetarian, wrote right to left, did not know the horse (No Arjun), and did not worship any of the Hindu pantheon (Arjun, Agni, Mithra, Nag). This map shows the Indus Valley Civilization which traded with the Muslim Moses in Mesopotamia. Pakistan is the latst Muslim incarnation of the IVC. The Indus people banded together to live togther as they had lived together for thousands of years. This was the contract once the Britain left. Bharat never existed as a united country--WHAT PARTITION?. This map shows the later stages of the IVC in Lothala and part sof Gujerat. The original IVC thrived only on the banks of the Indus (http://moinansari.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/pakistan-existed-5000-years-ago-as-ivc.gif)
Books on ancient history and research are usually read by those who are interested in the subject or those who are working on the subject themselves, but they have no attraction for the average reader. So it is a pleasant surprise to read Naeem Tahir’s book, ‘Melluhas of the Indus Valley 8000 BC — 500 BC’, which is comparatively less ‘heavy’ than the average tome on the subject. A beautifully produced book of two hundred and fifty pages, it features reproductions of the art work of that era and tells in simple, easy to understand language about the life and times of our ancestors who are part of our heritage and ancient civilization. For history lovers it provides an absorbing read of our historical and ancestral past.
In his interesting prelude, Naeem Tahir has stated that he began by wanting to know more about his own ancestors and build up a family tree, but the search for a credible lineage soon turned into a search for roots and he ended up delving deeper into the fascinating history, archaeology, anthropology and civilisations of South East Asia and in particular the Indus Valley. Thus his search developed a stronger focus, which ultimately led to the writing of the book after a decade of reading and research since his first foray into finding his lineage. He concludes with the question, “Have I reached the truth?” and answered it with a quote by Greek philosopher Xenophanes, ‘No man knows or ever will know the truth, for even if one happened by chance to say the complete truth, nevertheless one would not know it.’
The introductory note has been written by the late Professor Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani, who said, “This study for the first time, speaks about the people who were instrumental in building our great past. Full of engrossing illustrations, maps photographs and little known facts about the ancient Indus people, this book is both valuable reference material and a readable book of general interest for all those who take pride in their national heritage.”
Archaeology and Museums Department Director General Dr Fazal Dad Kakar said, “The great value of this book lies in creating a comprehensive profile of the people who developed one of the greatest civilizations of humanity. His ten years of study have ended with the production of a remarkable document.”
Professor Emeritus, Dr Anwar Dil has written a detailed review essay on the book, which will be helpful for those who want to know and understand the contents of the book to the fullest. He has taken it chapter by chapter using many references by other scholars and an updated bibliography and ends his review with the question, “Is it possible that the Melluhas that Naeem Tahir holds up in his book with such devoted affection as his ancestors had become ossified and their social and economic life weakened or was it a natural disaster like the one that struck Harappa where several hundred unburied dead bodies were discovered lying scattered in a street? A full length study is needed to approach these and related questions from the perspective of the rise and fall of civilizations.” The book has been designed and produced by Ayesha Taslim. — Ishrat Hyatt. ‘Melluhas of the Indus Valley’:An interesting addition to history books. Wednesday, September 09, 2009 By Naeem Tahir Publisher: PNCA Price: Rs2,000
Pakistani Mehergarh civilizition preceded Pakistani Indus Valley Civilization: Pakistan is the home of several Civilizations. As we navigate the corridors of time and look into the seeds of time we discover the seven thousand year old Mehergarh Civilization that encompassed much of Pakistan. After the demise of the Mehergarh Civilization the Indus Valley Civilization came to its zenith around 3500 BC.
If one looks at the map of the Indus Valley Civilization one is astonished that the civilization was within the borders of current day Pakistan. The Mehergarh and the Indus Valley Civilizations were not “Hindu“. The Indus Valley Civilization for example buried their dead, used a pictographic language, read right to left, did not use horses and did not worship the Hindu pantheon. Similarly the Mehergarh Civilization was similar in character.
4 Ancient Superpowers: China (Yangtze valley), Egypt (Nile Valley), Iraq (Tigris Valley), Pakistan (Indus Valley)
THE FOUR SUPERPOWERS OF PROTO-HISTORY: China, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan. The Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates delta, the Yangtze Delta, and the Indus, are the wombs of all civilizations on our earth. These river valley spawned and nurtured humanity. Imagine a world with four superpowers at peace with each other. Imagine a planet where each civilization was immersed in humongous construction projects, urban edification and trade. . How did these proto-world powers interact with each other? Imagine a civilization without any implements of war. Let us look into pre-history and peek into the “seeds” of time. Let us look at the valleys of the world that engendered the Superpowers of the ancient world..
The IVC was on the banks of the Indus which is present day Pakistan
PAKISTAN 5000 YEARS AGO:-The Indus Valley Civilization of South Asia was one of the inceptive civilizations on the planet. It was contemporaneous with the Chinese, Egyptian, and Sumerian civilizations. These were the times when the Egyptians were building huge monuments to their God-kings,the pyramids and the Sphinx. These were the centuries when the Chinese were building palaces for the Shun dynasty. These were exciting eons in the Holy lands too.
These were the centuries when Moses was battling the pharaohs, Abraham was building the Kaaba, David was ruling the kingdom, and Solomon was building the Temple of Yahweh. It was during these centuries that the Indus Valley Civilization flourished and reached its zenith in South Asia.
The IVC built well planned municipalities for its citizens. While the Egyptians spent three generations of their labor force (estimated between 20,000-10000) building useless mausoleum-pyramids to bury the God-kings, the Harappans were successful in eradicating, disease, hunger, and malnutrition.
The Harappans of the IVC did not build huge commemorative, deifying, dedicatory, cenotaphs. The Harappans of Meluhha-IVC built the finest cities of the third millennium.
Mehergarh situated strategically near the Bolan Pass, is located at the foot of the Balochistan hills on the Katchi plain southeast of Quetta. A 9000 year old site of settlement, Neolithic Mehergarh consists of four mounds. Supported by the Pakistan Department of Archeology, French archeologists have been carrying out extensive excavations there for some years. These excavations, studies and research have led to pushing back these settlements to some 9000 years.
Accessibility: Mehargarh is well connected by road, air and by train with the rest of the country by Quetta
The 5000 yeard old Pakistan as it interacted with the other 3 superpwoers
The Pakistani civilization interacted with many regions of the world
The history of Baluchistan is fascinating. Mehergarh is the oldest agricultural site in the Subcontinent. The artifacts found there go back 7000 years. The people of Mehargarh have been living peacfully with the Indus Valley Civilization for tousands of years. During the British colonial rule no such province existed. It is a merger of many independent states. At the end of the colonial era the Provinces of West India decided to band together and form Pakistan.
Bangladesh is a land rich in culture, heritage and resources. Its people are hard working and energetic. The land of the Brahmaputra is known as Sonar Bengal. The feroucious tigers of Bengal and the delicious fish are known internationally. Bengalis have produced the best literature in the world-its poetry is lyrical and the “Sanwala Bangali jadoo”–the mystical, mysterious attraction of Bengali women has enticed men from all over the world. The beauty of Bengali women flies in the face of the Brahman imposed “fair skin worship”. Bengalis, when working overseas have produced a prodigious elite in America and Europe. The treasures of the Sundarbans has been a magnet for foreigners. Let us first trace the history of Bengal in maps
This is Lord Clive British Empire in the Subcontinent. At the time Bengal was one of the richest places on earth. Lord Clive could not have imagined the affluence he found in Bengal–when London and paris were but a shanty town.
Company rule in India (sometimes, Company Raj, (“Raj,” literally. “rule” in Urdu/Hindi) refers to the rule or dominion of the British East India Company on the South Asia Subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawabof Bengal surrendered his dominions to the Company, in 1765, when the Company was granted the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar. In 1772 the Company established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance. The rule lasted until 1858, when, consequent to the Government of India Act 1858, the British government assumed the task of directly administering India. Wikipedia
This is a map of Bengal 1760, the richest state in Asia–and indeed Sonar Bangal. The British destroyed the local factories producing Muslin (very fine cloth), and totally annhilated the industry, civil live, social structures, court system language and education system of Bengal. Cheap import of “khaddar” (inexpensive cotton) made in Manchester flooded the market. Bengal –Sonar Bangla the most affluent part of the Subcontinent and a rich oasis of wealth and affluence in the world was truncated into small pieces.
Immediately after the Battle of Plassy the Muslims of Bengal lost their position of privilege and prosperity. The Nawabs of Bengal were tolerant and magnanimous rulers who treated all their subjects with kindness. Bengal was the land of milk and honey–ShangriLa of the Subcontinent. Bengal was Camelot. The Bengalis of the time spoke Urdu and Farsi. The British banned Urdu anf Farsi in the courts and enforced the Devanagari script.
By eliminating Urdu and Farsi as the language of the court, administration, the British left all the Muslims totally illiterate. Only a few decades later the center of Bengal shifted to the Hindu areas of Calcutta. The Muslim were discriminated and became second class citizens. Muslim Bengalis faced the wrath of the British, but also the indignation of being 2nd class citizens in their own land. Hindu Bengalis created the caste system, and considered the Bengalis from Dhaka and Nawakali and Sylhyt as uncouth uncivilized and untouchables. There was massive support for the partition of Muslim Bengal from Hindu Bengal. The amazing thing about this was, that the Mussalmans from all over the Subcontinent supported Muslim Bengal. The movement of Muslim Bengalis became the movement of all Muslims, from Aligarh, to Delhi to Hydrabad–and yes also from Lahore, Sialkot, and Peshawar. In 1906 when Bengali Muslims wanted to separate from the Hindu domination of Calcutta that partition was cancelled. Muslims from all over the Subcontinent rioted against the cancellation of the partition of Bengal–which have allowed a nursery for the Bengalis to develop their institutions and revert back to Nawab’s Bengal.
This is a map of British Empire 1700-1792
This is a map of Bengal 1700-1792
This is the map of Bengal in 1853
Inevitable Greater Bangladesh
All of Bengalis bound to revert to the status quo of Nawab Shiraj ud Daulah
The Muslims of the Subcontinent struggled for the Muslim majority areas to be independent of Brahman domination. Chaudhry Rehmat Ali proposed the plan as listed below. The Northeast of the Subcontinent belongs to Bangladesh (originally named Bangistan in 1940).
In 1947 the Radcliff commission did not do justice to Muslim Bengal. Muslims were robbed of Muslim majority areas. The struggle to achieve the dream of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali goes on by peaceful means. Under the banner of secularism in 1971 Bangladesh tried to appeal to the Bengalis of East Bengal. They should not have been surprised that their appeal to Bengali nationalism fell of deaf ears in Calcutta. In 1906 the very same Bengalis in Calcutta ignored the Muslims of Dhaka.
After a few years of Indian domination, the patriotic Bangladeshis threw out the obsequious Indian agents and declared their true independence. General Zia dumped buried “secularism” (euphemism for subservience to India) deep in the Bay of Bengal. Today Bangladesh is a strong pillar of the Muslim world. Bangladesh has excellent relations with the Arabs and even with Pakistan. Pakistan and Bangladesh work together in many fields including the nuclear field.
This is what all the Muslims of the Subcontinent struggled for.
This is the history of deceit and treachery that kept the Muslims apart
This is the joint history. We can hang together or hang seperately.
Although, this idea of Brihot Bangladesh has some respectable intellectual support in Bangladesh it is
very much in its infancy and probably will not grow to maturity at least within the next 50 years and may
even then die a premature death out of natural causes such as exhaustion and lack of interest. However, the
Indian intelligence agencies, political, intellectual and religious establishment have made this an all
embracing vision that must be prevented at all costs. Lt. Gen. (Retd) S.K. Sinha PVSM, and a former Governor
of Assam has commented,Barrister M.B. Munshi
Failure to get Assam included in East Pakistan in 1947 remained a source of abiding resentment in the
country (Pakistan). Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his book, Myths of Independence wrote, ‘It would be wrong to
think that Kashmir is the only dispute that divides India and Pakistan, though undoubtedly the most
significant. One at least is nearly as important as the Kashmir dispute, that of Assam and some districts
of India adjacent to East Pakistan. To these Pakistan has very good claims.
Even a pro-India leader like Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his book, Eastern Pakistan: Its population and
Economics, observed, ‘Because Eastern Pakistan must have sufficient land for its expansion and because
Assam has abundant forest and mineral resources, coal and petroleum etc., Eastern Pakistan must include
Assam to be financially and economically strong. (Qouted in â˜Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamic Militancy
in North East India’).
Divorces in the Subcontinent are never final. In an article titled “What Dhaka needs to learn“, the seasoned Indian diplomat Bhaskar Roy asserts and vocalises the growing pro-Pakistani feeling in Bangladesh. What started as whispers has now become a cacophony. The press is full of stories of the rising tide of fundamentalism in Bangladesh. This rising tide of “religiosity” actually has pro-Paksitani sentiments at its core.
In pursuance of Survival 2007 campaign, the Ao Kaketshir Mongdang (AKM) undertook a comprehensive investigation on the problem of unabated influx of illegal migrants into the state and the region, particularly from Bangladesh. We discovered that although influx of illegal migrants to Nagaland is purportedly economic driven, the imminence of a sinister politico-religious design of some external fundamentalist agencies cannot be ruled out. These are some of the information we garnered on this regard:
That, the Muslim League had in 1947 prior to India’s and Pakistan’s Independence drawn a political map of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) which indicated the whole of present-day NE India falling within East Pakistan territory. Basing on this, some Utopian fundamentalist Islamic agencies are reportedly endeavoring to carve out an Islamic state out of NE India and then assimilate it with Bangladesh to form “Greater Bangladesh” or “Brihot Bangladesh” or “Bangistan,” as they term their utopian Islamic State.
That, Brigadier DK Bux of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Abdul Hasan Muadish, founder of Jamat-e-Islam met at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on December 15, 2004 and jointly declared Operation Pin Code. The reported objective of Operation Pin Code is to cause havoc and corruption in the NE India. The Islamabad based Islamic Development Bank has sanctioned 35 million dollars for the Operation, we have learned. Muttahida Jihad Council (United Jihad Council) of Jammu and Kashmir is also reported to be roped in to spread bloodshed in the NE India region.
That, the Islamic Bank of Saudi Arabia sponsors up to a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- to any Muslim migrant who marries a localwoman, which perhaps serve them a big deal to further their utopian and sinister design of Islamitization of NE India by destabilizing the very social fabric of the indigenous peoples of the state and the region.
That, the Muslim Liberation Front of Burma led by Maulana Abdul Qadir Mullah is co-operating with the Bangladeshi Islamic extremists to further their cherished dream of carving out Greater Bangladesh. This nexus is financed by the Saudi Arabia based Rabitat-al-Islami, as per reports.
That, Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islamic (HUJI) under the leadership of Sheikh Farid and based in Chittagong, Bangladesh, was formed under Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda patronage to further their Greater Bangladesh dream.
That, Rabita Trust of Bangladesh managed by Wael Hamza Julaidan in collaboration with the Muslim World League and the International Islamic Relief Organization as well as the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce reportedly masterminds the move to transform the NE India region into an Islamic State which will be assimilated into Bangladesh to form “Bangistan” or “Greater Bangladesh.”
That, Bangladeshi intellectuals, such as Dr. A.H. Jaffar, whose realname is Abdul Hassanath, based in New Orleans, USA, are very vocal patrons of “Bangistan” or “Brihot Bangladesh” and his comments with clear separatist designs in an article was floated in the site www.deja.com.
That, in line with the Greater Bangladesh dream, NE Indian states bordering Bangladesh has shown a sudden upturn in Bangladeshi Muslim population since the eighties. While Bangladeshi illegals initially come as economic refugees, they are subsequently used for Bangladeshi political interests. It is also reported that they get State patronage, under the tutelage of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI) to infiltrate into India, and are punished if they attempt to return.
The AKM require the Nagaland Police Intelligence Bureau to urgently investigate on the above cited information for governmental discernment and initiate necessary counter measures immediately, which otherwise left unattended could prove annihilating for the Nagas in particular andthe whole NE India region in general. The rapid growth of international Islamic fundamentalism may provide the driving force for this demand of a utopian”Greater Bangladesh.” We must not allow any misconceived notions of secularism blind us to these realities.
Further, the AKMonce again strongly reiterate that not a single illegal migrant shall be allowed to walk the Naga soil within our traditional jurisdiction. Aodangnok, President, AKM. Jamir, Vice-President, AKM andConvener, Survival 2007. The Greater Bangladesh Dream Posted by jagoindia on May 26, 2008AKM to thwart influx of migrants-
Pakistan, the Indus land, is the child of the Indus in the same way as Egypt is the gift of Nile. The Indus has provided unity, fertility, communication, direction and the entire landscape to the country. Its location marks it as a great divide as well as a link between central Asia and south Asia. But the historical movements of the people from Central Asia and South Asia have given to it a character of its own and have established closer relation between the people of Pakistan and those of Central Asia in the field of culture, language, literature, food, dress, furniture and folklore. However, it is the Arabian Sea that has opened the doors for journey beyond to the Arabian world through the Gulf and Red Sea right into the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is this Sea voyage that gave to the Indus Land its earliest name of Meluhha because the Indus people were characterized as Malahha (Sailor) in the Babylonian records. It is for this reason that the oldest civilization of this land, called Indus Civilization, had unbreakable bonds of culture and trade link with the Gulf States of Dubai, Abu Dabi, Sharja, Qatter, Bahrain and right from Oman to Kuwait. While a Meluhhan village sprang up in ancient Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), the Indus seals, painted pottery, lapis lazuli and many other items were exchanged for copper, tin and several other objects from Oman and Gulf States. It is to facilitate this trade that the Indus writing was evolved in the same proto-symbolic style as the contemporary cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia. Much later in history it is the pursuit of this seaward trade that introduced Islam from Arabia in to Pakistan. The twin foundations of cultural link have helped build the stable edifice of Islamic civilization in this country. All these cultural developments are writ-large in the personality of the people of Pakistan.
As in many other countries of the world, man in Pakistan began with the technology of working on old stone by using quartzite and flint found in Rohri hills and stone pebbles found in the Soan Valley. The oldest stone tool in the world, going back to 2.2 million years old, has been found at Rabat, about fifteen miles away from Rawalpindi, thus breaking the African record. The largest hand Axe has also been found in the Soan Valley. Although man is still hiding in some corner, the Soan pebble stone age culture show a link with the Hissar Culture in Central Asia. Later about fifty thousand B.C. at Sangho Cave in Mardan District man improved his technology for working on Quartz in order to chase the animal in closed valleys. Still later he worked on micro quartz and chert or flint and produced arrows, knives, scrapers and blades and hunted the feeling deer and ibexes with bow and arrow. Such an hunting scene is well illustrated on several rock carvings, particularly near Chilas in the Northern Areas of Pakistan along the Karakorum Highway – a style of rock art so well known in the trans- Pamir region of Tajikistan and Kirghizstan. However, the first settled life began in the eight millennium B.C. when the first village was found at Mehergarh in the Sibi districts of Balochistan comparable with the earliest villages of Jericho in Palestine and Jarmo in Iraq. Here their mud houses have been excavated and agricultural land known for the cultivation of maize and wheat. Man began to live together in settled social life and used polished stone tools, made pots and pans, beads and other ornaments. His taste for decoration developed and he began to paint his vessels, jars, bowls, drinking glasses, dishes and plates. It was now that he discovered the advantage of using metals for his tools and other objects of daily use. For the first time in seventh millennium B.C. he learnt to use bronze. From the first revolution in his social, cultural and economic life. He established trade relation with the people of Turkamenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and other Arab world.
He not only specialized in painting different designs on pottery, made varieties of pots and used cotton and wool but also made terracotta figurines and imported precious stones from Afghanistan and Central Asia. This early bronze age culture spread out in the country side of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and North West Frontier Province.
And this early beginning led to the concentration of population into small towns. Such as Kot-Diji in Sindh and Rehman Dheri in Dera Ismail Khan District. It is this social and Cultural change that led to the rise of the famous cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappra, the largest concentration of population including artisans, craftsman, businessmen and rulers. This culminated in the peak of the Indus Civilization, which was primarily based on intensive irrigated land agriculture and overseas trade and contact with Iran, Gulf States, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Dams were built for storing river water, land was Cultivated by means of bullock- harnessed plough – a system that still prevails in Pakistan, granaries for food storage were built, furnace were used for controlling temperature for making red pottery and various kinds of ornaments, beads of carnelian, agate and terracotta were pierced through, and above all they traded their finished goods with Central Asia and Arab world. It is these trade divided that enriched the urban populace who developed a new sense of moral honesty, discipline and cleanliness, and above all a social stratification in which the priests and the mercantile class dominated the society. The picture of high civilization can be gathered only by looking at the city of Mohenjodaro, the first planned city in the world, in which streets are aligned straight, parallels to each other, with a cross streets cutting at right angles. It is through these wide streets that wheeled carriages, drawn by bulls or asses, moved about, carrying well-adorned persons seated on them, appreciating the closely aligned houses, made of pucca bricks, all running straight along the streets. And then through the middle of the streets ran stone dressed drains covered with stone slabs – a practice of keeping the streets clean from polluted water, for the first time seen in the world.
The Indus Civilization is the first literate Civilization of the subcontinent. The cities were centres of art and craft. Where the artisan produced several kinds of goods that were exported to other countries. Sailing boats sailed out from Mohenjodaro and anchored in the port of the Gulf, which region was perhaps known as Dilmin. However, it was the city administration that managed the urban life in strict discipline and controlled the trade in their hands. The discipline is derived from the strict practice of meditation (yoga) that was practiced by the elite of the city, who appear to have trimmed their beard and hair combed and tied with golden fillets. The body was covered with a shawl bearing trefoil designs on them. Such a noble man with a sharp nose and long wish eyes shows a contrast with a bronze figurine of a dancing and singing girl, plying music with her fully bang led hand, as we find today with the Cholistan ladies having bangled hands. Obviously there were distinctive ethnic groups of people in Mohenjodaro but the dominant class of rulers and merchants appear to be distinctive from the rest of the population. It is these literate people who inter- acted with the Arabian people and continued to maintain strict discipline in the society. It is they who developed astronomy, mathematics, and science in the country along with numerical symbols, weights and measures but they thoroughly intermixed in the society and also believed in the local cult of tree and tree deities and animal totems. The most prominent animals as attested in the seals are bull, buffalo, elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, alligator and deer and ibexes. However, Mesopotamian influences are seen in the figures of Gilgamash, Enkidu, joint statue of the bull and man and other animals with several heads and bodies. However, the unique local concept is that of highly meditative man, seated in his heels, with three or four heads, and combining in himself the power to control the animals probably with a crown of horns or some times a tree overhead. It is this supreme deity, depicted on Seals, that draws the serpent worshippers and overpowers the animals. A part from these there was no concept of nature worship as we find in the Vedas of the Aryans. The ritual consisted of offerings through the intermediary of mythological composite animals to the tree deity. These dose not appear to have been any concept of animals sacrifice nor worship of any idol or idols. The Indus civilization lasted for nearly five hundred years and flourished up to 1750 B.C. when we notice the movements of nomadic tribes in Central Asia. As a result the Asian trade system was greatly disturbed. Consequently the trade and industry of the Indus people greatly suffered with the result that led to the end of the Civilization. The cities vanished, the noble lost their position. The writing finished. The common people met with the influx of new horse-riding pastoralists who hardly understood the system of irrigated agriculture and hence the value of dams. Such nomadic tribes are known from the large number of graves and their village settlements all over Swat, Dir and Bajaur right up to Taxila. In the Northern Areas of Pakistan different group of such tribes, known as Dardic people are known from their graves. The tribes of the plains are recognized as different groups of the Aryans from the hilly tribes of the North- the ancestors of the Kalash people and those who now speak Shina, Burushaski and other Kohistani languages. They had nothing to do with the cities as we find them building small villages nor did they know irrigation. Infect they believed in nature gods, one of them Indra destroyed the dams and spelled disaster on the local Dasyus who differed from them in colour, creed and language. These Aryans conquerors developed there own religion of the Vedas, practiced animal sacrifice and gradually built up tribal kingdoms all over the Indus Valley. The most prominent being that of Gandhara with capitals at Pushkalavati (modern Charsadda) and Taxila, the last having been the older capital of Takshaka, the king of serpent worshippers. Taksha-sila (a Sanskrit word, literally translated in to Persian Mari-Qila) survive in modern Margala. It become the strong hold of the Aryans, whose great epic book Mahabharata was for the first time recited here. Since that time Takshka-sila or Taxila lying on the western side of Margala remained the capital of the Indus land, which was called Sapta- Sindhu (the land of seven rivers) by the Aryans. It because of this central location, en routs from Central to South Asia that the new capital of Pakistan has been established at Islamabad on the eastern side of Margala hill , thus giving a historical link from the most ancient to modern time and new significance to Pakistan as a link between Central and South Asia.
The city of Taxila began to grow from 6th century B.C. onward when Achaemenian kings by name Cyrus and Darius joined this city by road and postal services with their own capital at Persepolis in Iran. Here one can see the Aryan village at Hatial mound lying above the pre-Aryan bronze age capital of Takshakas (Serpent worshippers). One can also visit the Achaemenian city at Bhir mound, where old bazaars and royal palace, with long covered drain, have been discovered. Land rout trade with Iran and the west once again started with the issue of coin currency for the first time in the Indus land. But the most important was the great use of iron technology, which produced several kind of iron tools, weapons and other objects of daily use as known as from the excavations at Taxila. Above all a new writing known as Kharoshti was developed here. At the same time the oldest University of the world was founded at Taxila, where taught the great grammarian Panini, born at the modern village of Lahur in Sawabi district of the Frontier Province. It is the basis of this grammar that modern linguistics has been developed. It is in this University that Chandra Gupta Maurya got his education, who later founded the first sub continental empire in South Asia. He developed the Mauryan city at Bhir mound in Taxila, where ruled his grandson, Ashoka, twice as governor. He introduced Buddhism in Gandhara and built the first Buddhist monastery, called Dharmarajika Vihara, at Taxila. Ashoka has left behind his Rock Edicts at two palaces, one at Mansehra and another at Shahbazgari, written in Kharoshti.
Long before the rise of Chandra Gupta Maurya the Achaemenian empire, that had extended from Pakistan to Greece and Egypt, had collapsed under the onslaught of Alexander of Macedonia. He first finished with the Greek city states, united the Greeks, and dashed forward to annex the Achaemenian empire and hence proceeded to all those places where the Achaemenian had ruled. In this march they come to Taxila in 326 B.C. where he was welcomed by the local king Ambhi in his palace at Bhir mound. It is here as well as at Bhira in Jhelum district that Alexander’s remains can be seen. However, he fought the greatest battale on the bank of the Jhelum river opposite the present village of Jalalpur Sharif against Porus, the head of the heroic Puru tribe, whose descendents still supply military personal to the Pakistan army. Alexander’s battle place was at Mong, where he founded a new city, called Nikea, the city of victory. The other city which he founded was called Bucaphela after the name of his horse that died here. However, the most captivating site is at Jalalpur Shaif, laying on the bank of rivulet Gandaria, perhaps Sikanaria, where Alexander’s monument has now been built on the spot where he stopped for about two months before launching his attack on Porus.
The Achaemenian and Alexander’s contacts with Pakistan are very important from the point of view of educational and Cultural history. The Achaemenian brought the learning and science of Mesopotamia Civilization that enriched the University of Taxila. They also introduced their administrative system here, on the basis of which the famous book on political science, called Arthasastra was written in Sanskrit language in Taxila by Kautilya, known as Chanakya, the teacher of Chandra Gupta Maurya. It is this book that was adapted for the administrative of the Mauryan empire. On the basis of Achaemenian currency the Mauryan punch marked coins. So well known in Taxila, were produced. It is their Aramaic writing, used by Achaemenian clerks, that led to the development of Kharoshti in Pakistan and trade with the Semitic world that created the Brahmi writing in India. On the other hand Alexander brought Greek knowledge and science to Taxila and introduced Greek type of coin currency. It is Taxila that philosophers and men of learning of the two countries met and developed science, mathematics and astronomy. Above all Alexander left behind large number of Greeks in Central Asia, who founded the Bactrian Greek kingdom in mid-third century B.C. it is the descendants of these Bactrian Greeks who later advanced in to Pakistan and built up the Greek kingdom here and built up their own city at Sirkap in Taxila. This is the second well planned city in Pakistan. The Greeks introduced their language, art and religion in the country of Gandhara, where ruled thirteen Greek kings and queens. Their language lasted more than five hundred years and their art and religion and considerable influence on the flourish of Gandhara Civilization.
This civilization was the result of interaction of several peoples who followed the Greeks, the Scythians, the Parthians and Kushans who came one the other from Central Asia along the Silk Road and integrated them selves into the local society. It is under their patronage that Buddhism evolved here into its new Mahayana form and this become the religion of the contemporary people in Pakistan. Under their encouragement the Buddhist monks moved along the Silk Road freely and carried this religion to central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. It is again the trade along the silk road that was particularly controlled by the Kushana emperors, who built a mighty empire with Peshawar as their Capital, the boundaries of which extended from the Aral Sea to the Arabian Sea and from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal. It is the dividends of trade that enriched Pakistan and led to the development of Gandhara Art, which mirrors the social, religious and common man’s life of the time. It is an art that was blend of the Greek classical and local arts, which created the finest statues of Buddha and Buddhisatttvas that today decorate the museums all over the world. At the same time the sculpture depict the whole life of the Buddha in a manner that is unsurpassed. Many Greek themes, their gods, typical toilet trays, Greek life scenes showing musicians, drinking bouts and love making are presented in there natural fashion. The Kushanas period was the golden age of Pakistan as the Silk Road trade brought unparalleled prosperity to the people of the country.
The luxury items produced in the country enrich the museum at Taxila at that show the Cultural and trends of life of the time. Gandhara art is the high water achievement of the people of Pakistan. Mahayana Buddhism was the inspiring ideal of the time and the Buddhist stupas and monasteries survive in every nook and corner of the hills. It was this time that the country was known as Kushana-shahar, the land of the Kushanas, to which came the Romanships to carry the luxury goods in exchange for Roman Siler and Gold, that were used by the Kushana emperors and as a result their gold currency flooded the country and all along the Silk road. It is these Kushana kings who have gifted the national dress of shalwar and kamiz and sherwani to Pakistan. Their dress and decorations are deeply imprinted on the Indus land, that is now Pakistan.
Then came from Central Asia the Huns and the Turks who gave to Pakistan the present ethnic, their Culture, Food and Adab. The Jats, Gakkhars, Janjuas (Jouanjouan of the Chinese) and Gujars all trekked into Pakistan and made their home here. The Rajput rose and founded the feudal system in Punjab and Sindh in the same way the Pashtuns, who borrowed the surname of Gul and later the title of Khan from the Mongols, their Sardari system in Balochistan, and slowly developed the Wadera practice in the Indus delta region of Sindh. This feudal arrangements, which was the result of confederated tribes of the Huns, led to new administrative system in the country and created a new form of land management that has lasted until today. The tribes have fused into the agricultural society but their brotherhoods have survived and they have given a permanent character to Pakistan.
In the early eight Century A.D. the Arabs brought Islam in Sindh and Multan built up the kingdom of Al-Mansurah in Sindh. At the same time their east ward Sea trade introduced porcelain and called on were from China and popularized glass were from Iran Syria- new materials that can be seen in the excavations at Bambhore in Sindh. With the Muslims Turks came the Sufis and Dervishes from Central Asia. Iran and Afghanistan and they spread Islam all over the country. It is Sultan Mahamud of Ghazni who made Lahore- the city of Data Sahib as his second capital. However, the city of Multan become famous as the city of Saints although it lay en route the camel caravan that carried on trade between Pakistan and Central Asia right up to Baku in Azerbaijan. It is these cities that the famous Muslims monuments of old are to be seen. As a result of the Saintly activity Pakistan become a land of Islamic Civilization. In several villages and cities we now find the Dargah of these Muslims Saints. While Shahbaz Kalandar is a well known in Sindh, Baba Farid Shakarganj resided over Pak Pattan in Punjab, Buner Baba rules over the Frontier region, and Syed Ali Hamdani is the real Sufi Saint in Kashmir. The capital city of Islamabad enshrines the well known Golra Sharif and Barri Imam. It is in these Saints who influenced the development of Sufi literature in all the languages of Pakistan and their monumental tombs that attract the people from all the country. In the old city of Thatta at Makli hill several tombs and Mausoleums are spread over the place that surpass in the beauty of stone carving but much more than this they evidence the historical evolution of architecture from 12th century A.D. to the Mughal time.
This was a period of great change in the historical integration of the people in Pakistan when the country was brought closer to Central Asia and the Arab world. The mixing of several tribes from both these regions transformed the ethnic complex of the country. Just as in the period of Kushanas of Mahayana type rose here and the Buddhist monks out from this land along the Silk road to carry the massage of the Buddha, now it was the Arabs and the Muslims Saints from Central Asia who came in the reverse direction and flocked in the prosperous land of Pakistan. New trade route were opened in the reverse direction from those countries into the Indus land. From the Huns to the Turks the age of cavalry dominated the life scene. Many Rock carvings in Central Punjab show men riding, even standing on horse back and brandishing their swords and shooting arrows. Hence forward Polo game become common and sword dance was common, as seen in the Rock carving near Chilas. The foundation of Muslims state was firmly laid, in which the dominate position first occupied by the Arabs in Sindh and Multan and later by the Gaznavid and Ghorid Sultans who made the Indus country as their spring board from the onward conquest of India. A beautiful monument in memory of sultan Ghori can be seen at Suhawa on the National Highway. It was therefore in the fitness of things that the first missile made in Pakistan was named after Ghori. Several Muslims kingdoms grew up in this country. Beginning from north we find the Tarkhan ruling dynasty, who came from trans-pamir region here and become supreme in the Gilgit area. The descendent of Shah Mir founded the Muslims Sultanate in Kashmir maintained its independents until the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Pushtun tribes made their movements and asserted their independence in the land watered by the western branch of the Indus River. The Langhas and later the Arghuns become the Master of Multan. The Sama ruling dynasty started a new era of Cultural development and prosperity in Sindh. The Baluchis in concert with Brahuis leapt forward not only to build their kingdom in Balochistan but also migrated eastward and northward. Apart from these political shape of the country, there was an unparalleled development in art and architecture, literature and music, and particularly new social integration took place on the basis of the patronage of local languages, such as Baluchi, Sindhi, Panjabi, Pashto, Kashmiri, Shina and Burushaski. All these languages received literary form with the support of the Muslims rulers and the first time their literatures began to take shape. They received influence from Arabic and Persian and added many themes from the Folklores as well as from those of Central Asia. Such an unusual developments transformed the society with the stories from Shahnama and Hazar Dastan and with the Folk-tales from Lila-Majnun, Sassi-Punnu and Hir-Ranjha. The stringed instruments, the dholak and the dhap and also flute and trinklets gave a new tone to the life of the people of Multan, Thatta, Marha Shrif in D.I. Khan, Swat and Kashmir, and finally Gilgit, Hunza and Baltistan created the finest architecture of the time. That was the period of new religious activity in the country side when Islam become the dominant religion of the people who were directly linked in religious ties with the people of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Arab world.
The migrant people had brought the new technology of straining the horse from Central Asia and Iran. Were ever the horse galloped right up the corner of Bengal and Orissa, the Turks and Afghans advanced from Pakistan and established new empires. Here the artisans and craftsman gathered in new centre, cities began to grow with new craft mohallas, and they began to specialise in the products of Shawl and carpets in Kashmir, chapkan, chadar and dopatta in Punjab and Chitral and Northern Areas, tile work in Multan, Hala and Hyderabad, block printing in Sindh and fine carpentry in Chiniot, Bhira and Dera Ismail Khan. As a result several families occupied themselves in traditional crafts and passed them on to their own children.
Then came the Mughal emperors, descendent of Amir Timur, who, following the Mongol ruler Changiz Khan, had embarked on building a new world empire on the basis of organizing a new type of cavalry and making a new disciplined army in the unites of hundred and thousand. The later still survive in the name of Hazara both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The first Mughal emperor, Zahiruddin Muhammad Baber, who had to come out from Farghana, brought a new taste of poetry, baghicha and architectural forms from the natural environment and landscape from Farghana and Samarqand, latter city reflecting the delicious water of Zarafshan (golden) river. Baber built his first terraced garden in Kabul and then choose the beautiful spot at Kalda or Kallar Kahar in Chakwal district and built here Bagh-i-Safa on the very spot marked by this throne seat. It was again terraced garden watered by a near by spring. At the old Bhira on the bank of Jhelum he built a fort and then proceeded to Shah Dara (the Royal pass Gate) that opened his route the city of Lahore. At Shah Dara several garden were laid by by the Mughal noblemen but only one is preserved inside Jahangir tomb that was built by his queen Nur Jehan who lies buried in another mausoleums. The tomb along with the garden is now desolate. There is also Kamran’s baradari, without the garden, that still defies the flood of the Ravi river. When the Mughal emperors followed Baber one after the other, they choose the old Lahore on the bank of Ravi to their main Urban centres in Punjab. It was developed as a city of gardens with numerous gardens around but the main Mughal fortress was built in an Island, surrounded by the Ravi on the three sides and only on the east it was joined to the city proper. Here third Mughal emperor Akbar transferred his capital from Agra to meet the challenge of cousin Mirza Hakim. Here he laid the foundation of a typical Mughal citadel with royal residences, called Akbari Mahal and Jahangiri Mahal, with a prominent Diwan-i-Aam built in the traditional Iranian style, all constructed in red sand stone imported from Rajistan. Later Akbar’s grandson Shah Jehan, the King of architecture, transformed many buildings and renewed to his taste with white marble. He added Diwan-i-Khas that overlooked Ravi, his palace and Turkish Bath and still more important the Moti Masjid, the gem of monuments, with beautiful decorative designs in precious stones set in marble.
However, his choicest building is the Shish Mahal, the Mirror Palace that was the constructed by the side of a Char-bagh style garden with running water channel and fountains, but later destroyed by the Sikhs, and quadrangles remodelled. Such garden, called Mehtab, can be seen in other quadrangles in the Fort. The Shish Mahal is the luxurious place of resort particularly during summer months with rest rooms of a long hall at its either end, opening on to the brilliantly dazzling Veranda that looks at the marble paved quadrangle with a fountain in the middle side. The mirror reflects the stars and the bedrooms presents, in its ceiling, the panorama of a star lit Sky. On the western side there is a unique building of Bengali style, called Naulakha, whose brilliance of precious stone outshone the natural setting of flowers and tree leaves that decorate the walls. Alas ‘ the Sikh and British soldiers have robbed many of the precious stones. Even then the Shish Mahal, even in its changed character by the Sikhs, presents a dazzling brilliance in its perfect creation by the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan. It is the climax of Mughal luxury surpassed nowhere in the world.
The exterior wall of the Shish Mahal one can see the beautiful mosaic paintings that depict everyday sport of the Mughal princes for the enjoyment of the people who used to gather below the fort not only to have a view of the emperor sitting in the Jharokha but also to admire the brilliance of colour on the wall. Here one can observe galloping horses, humped camels, elephant ride, hunting scene, animal fights, horse man plying polo or chaughan, camel fights, figures of angels, demon head sand moving clouds, horse and elephant riders crossing Swords and verities of floral and geometrical designs. There are three gates to enter the fort, all three of them showing different tastes. The Masti (or correctly Masjid) Gate on the east shows Akbar’s taste of red sand stone. The Shahburj gate on the west presents the fine mosaic decorations of the time of Janhangir. The last is the Alamgiri gate built by Emperor Aurangzeb, showing tasteful simple entrance with multiple facetted Tower at either end, crowned by Kiosks.
From Shish Mahal one can have a magnificent view of the Badashahi Masjid built by Aurangzeb on a spot regained after the river Ravi shifted further away. Its magnificent Stair way leading to the elegant red sand stone gate way on the east is highly impressive. It is on the left side that later the tomb of Allama Iqbal was built. The gate way, which is preserved the relic of the Prophet and also in one of the copy of the Holy Qur’an with brilliant calligraphy, leads into a wide open courtyard, having a washing pond in its middle, and rows of cells on its sides. On its west is the main prayer chamber of oblong shape marked by four tall corner towers. On its roof are three marble dooms of bulbous shape that attract the eye from a long distance. The interior of the mosque has chaste decoration in the mehrab chamber that opened in to equally well decorated side aisles. It has a Verandah on the front that is again tastefully decorated. But the most elegant are the tall towers at four corners of the quadrangle, from the top of which one can have an unforgettable view of the city of Lahore.
There are two other beauties in the city of which the greatest monumental gems of Lahore. The first is the most chaste fully painted mosque of Wazir Khan, which was once the centre of religious and educational activities during the Mughals period. In its original design the mosque was fronted by an open maidan that presented from a distance a marvellous view of the mosque. It was built by Ilmuddin Ansari, hailing from the old trading city of Chiniot, but later he gave rise to the city of Wazirabad. He was raised to the high post of governor by Shah Jehan for his devoted service and great skill of Hikmat. But of greater importance in his taste of decorative architecture which he has translated into this mosque. The mosque plan, which is typical Mughals style but for its squat domes has tall minarets crowned by tasteful Chhatris. The most attractive is the mosaic ornamentation of the facade, the minars, and particularly the mihrab, which remains unsurpassed in its setting and choice of decorations and calligraphic work. In its charging decoration the mosque symbolises high sense of taste and marks a magnificent attraction in Lahore, to which both Shah Jehan as well as his officials gave a new face of colour and charm.
And yet the greatest jewel of the city of Lahore is the Shalimar Bagh, the unique pleasure resort that has been gifted to the world by the Mughal emperors. With paying a visit to this garden one can hardly understand the Mughal love for pleasances. In its creation what a real pleasure they have bestowed to the people of Lahore. The garden sumbolises the elixir of life that the Mughals alone could imagine. They had long left Farghana but the beauteous charm of its terraced fields lingered behind that has been recaptured in the Char bagh style of the garden in Shalimar, as Taj Mahal in Agra is the symbol of unforgettable love of emperor Shah Jehan, in the form of unique architectural creation, for the beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal, so is the Shalimar, the epitome, of Shala (fire of love), the embodiment of the highest playful joy in life that the emperor and empress could have in this world. The garden is a combination of Char baghs, water channels, fountains, Cascades, water falls and bathing hall in three different terraces, each terrace headed by beautiful pavilions for a pause of pleasurable enjoyment and then to pass on the other ponds of joy, inset with showering fountains, each terrace presenting varieties in scenic complex. Starting from a elaborate gate way in the south , with a water fountain in its middle chamber, we enter the open space, surrounded on right and left, by residential quarters, having long walkways, in the middle of either side of a channel marked by fountain, that join together on the four sides on a watery platform. And then we pass to the first pavilion that looks at a square pond remarkable sitting a cascade of a water falling down below the pavilion, series of fountains around a central seat for musicians and dancers and smaller pavilions at the four corners. From the top pavilion the elite royalties draw their pleasure from the scenic panorama in front and from the corner pavilions guests could roll in pleasance and enjoy the music of the running fountains coupled with the music of the singers and dancers. The next lower terrace begin with a rare bathing hall in the middle with water fountains lower down and lighted lamps in the arched niches of the walls. Here one could cool the legs during summer months- a novel way of cooling the atmosphere in the days when there were no electricity and air conditioners. And thus we find here a thrilling atmosphere where natural art has been channelised in the service of man. What a creation of charming loveliness that is combined with cooling water in various forms to soothe the evening of warm Lahore.
That is not all of Mughal architecture. If one likes to see the Mughal fondness for hunting, one can go to Sheikhupura, not far from Lahore , and admire the construction of Hiran Minar by Emperor Jahangir on the spot where his dearly loved deer died. That minar stands by the side of a tank which has in its middle a three storied pavilion for a general view around. If one is interested to see the defence arrangements of the Mughals, one can go to Attock on the bank of the Indus River, where Akbar built a magnificent fort, made arrangements for crossing the river by boat-bridge and laid a new road south of the Kabul river leading to Peshawar through the Khyber pass to Kabul. And then come to Attock the empress Nur Jahan, who constructed here a caravan serai, known as Begum Ki Serai, with a platform at its four corners and living rooms cooled by the Indus breeze. It is from one of the top platform that one could look at the magnificent expanse of the Indus River, full of flowing life and natural beauty, that perhaps will remain as the lasting memory of the Indus land, that is Pakistan.
Boat Village at Indus
Painted Pottery from Kot-Diji
Painted Pottery from Mehergarh
Painted Pottery from Mehergarh
Figurines from Mehergarh
Figurines from Mehergarh
Figurines from Mehergarh
Figurines from Mehergarh
Figurines from Mehrgarh
Mohenjodaro, A forgotten City of INDUS
Priest King from Mohenjodaro
Fasting Buddha
Votive Stupa from Jaulian, Taxila
Jewellery from Sirkap, Taxila
Jewellery from Sirkap, Taxila
Seated Buddha in Dhayana Mudra Pose, Julian Monastery Taxila
Pathans await the retreating British Army after the Battle of Maiwand
The silent majority remains supine and tries to ignore the hate-clans polemical diatribes. We are an emotional people. The pullulating millions should not be swayed by the rantings of a few, however on many occasions the young and the impressionable can actually be beguiled. The nurseries of hate produce the lone assassins and the suicide bombers, not by actually showing them how to murder and maim but, rather by creating an atmosphere of intolerance. The question before all of us is the same question that beduffled the nation in the forties; can the majority take cathartic action against this evil phalanx within us? Can the moderate and progressive forces see through the vacuity of the argument proposed by the fringe? If not the clans hate mongering will lead to us anachronism and obscurantism.
If we cannot expose the true agenda of the hate mongers, it will be opprobrium to our great heritage. For the past fifty years a tiny miniscule minority is engulfed in pure unadulterated malevolence. This hate mongering clan brings up obscure arguments, and selects inexplicable references, and has tried to debase our history. Those of us who have not caviled with the facts must challenge the gross inaccuracies over and over again. Let us all coalesce and destroy the cabal that thrives on the profits of feudalism, slavery, and the military industrial giants. Our teeming millions are steeped in penury. Can we improve their lot?
“Most of this area, now called Pakistan, was under Ranjeet Singh’s empire (1799-1839), and even in notorious anarchic era of 1839-1849 the state was sovereign, maintaining unchallenged monopoly coercive power, but lacked societal will and `ethical idea’ to enforce order and, ultimately, collapsed. If that was not a colonialist expansionist era, that state might have prolonged for long despite the internal chaos.”
The following is a detailed description of how Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Shaheed e Millat Khan Liaqat Ali Khan, outsmarted their opponents and provided counter balance to the Congressional props in the Punjab and the Sarhad. Had the fifth column called the Unionist succeeded in their conspiracies with the Congress, there would have been no Pakistan.
THE FIFTH COLUMNS: FRINGE FASCIST MOVEMENTS OF THE SUBCONTINENT There were the mainstream movements in the Subcontinent that represented the wishes of the people. There were also fringe fascist movements and fringe feudal parties that represented the vested interests of a few individuals. These fringe movements failed to win the hearts and the minds of the people. If the fascist movements had succeeded, there would have been no Pakistan. The Muslim League and the Congress won electoral victories and led the two countries to nationhood. The fifth columns represent a sad chapter in our history.
Most Indians aware of our history are ashamed of the fringe movements. Similarly most Pakistanis are ashamed of the fringe terror movements. Eulogizing the fascist movements based on ethnic origin may have worked in 1939 in Germany, but the world has rejected fascism and what they represented. The world has also rejected feudalism, though some vestiges of this dinosaurremain in certain pockets of the Subcontinent.
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE THROUGH SEPARATE ELECTORATES REPRESENTED THE MUSLIMS
The Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim had a point to argue with the British Raj. The Indian National Congress continued to argue that the Congress was the representative of all the people of “India”. The Muslim League argued the point that the Muslim League and the Muslim League alone represented the rights, and the aspirations of the Muslims of the Subcontinent. The Indian National Congress wanted to forge “India” into a nation, while the Muslim League argued that India had never been a nation, and that it had always been a conglomeration of nationalities. Even though the British called it “India’, there were actually more than 500 different countries in the Subcontinent. The Muslim League formed by Alama Iqbal and many other leaders in 1906 as a reaction to the imposition of Hindi-Devanagri script on the Muslims, and as an immediate reaction to the annulment of the partition of Bengal (which would have created the province of Muslim Bengal with a Muslim majority).
The mission of the Muslim League was to fight for the rights of the Muslims, and fight it did. It fought the Indian National Congress and it fought the British Raj. The story of the Muslim League is indeed a story of success. Under the able leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Khan Liaqat Ali Khan, the Muslim League was able to score many wins. From its nascent beginnings the League turned into a mass movement, and this strength was depicted in its successes. Even though the Muslim League was not successful in securing the province of Muslim Bengal, around 1933 the Muslim League was successful in securing for the creation of the province of SINDH.
THE RADICALIZATION OF THE MODERATE CONGRESS: UNHOLY ALLIANCES The Congress under the leadership of Motilal Nehru was a moderate right wing political party run by Harrow and Oxbridge bred Indians. To improve the base of the Congress so that it represented a broad base of Indians, some nonconformist elements were brought into the party. These ultraist elements radicalized the INC and moved it leftwards. By the time Jawaharlal became president of the INC the political ideology of the party had moved towards the Fabian and Socialist camps. Under Jawaharlal Nehru the Congress was polarized between its secular (Nehru), parochial (Patel) and religious leadership (Lal Laj Pai). Gandhi tried a dual tactic to isolate the Muslim League.
1) On the one hand Gandhi was able to put up a great facade of tranquility by appointing figurehead Muslim “showboys” like Azad to the Congress Leadership. These figureheads had no real power and were over ruled on many occasions by the real Brahmin power brokers in the Congress.
2) On the other hand the Indian National Congress tried to sow seeds of discontent and tried to put in wedges in the Muslim movement. The Congress tried to put up alliances with Muslim figureheads in the Punjab and in Sarhad The Gandhi tactics were to show the British that the Congress represented all Indians-Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Brahmins, Kahatriyas, Vaisas, Shudras and other Hindus. The INC opposed the creation of Pakistan so it strategically hunted for Muslims who would form alliances with the anti-Pakistan Congress. It found fifth columns in the Punjab and in Sarhad.
In India Wins Freedom by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Page 138) he says the following:
…theMuslim League had been isolated and Congress, though it was a minority had become the decisive factor in Punjab affairs. Khizar Hyat Khan was the Chief Minister through Congress support and he had naturally come under its influence. In the Punjab the socialist Congress linked up with the feudalistic landlords who represented the Unionist Party. While both the parties were poles apart in ideology and interests, both of them wanted to defeat the Muslim League and somehow stop the freight train of the Muslim League. The Congress was socialistic and had propounded the complete decimation of the feudal system. The Congress was dominated by Hindus and largely represented the interests of the majority of Indians in India -the Hindus. This marriage of convenience between the Congress and the Unionists of the Punjab was severely criticized by the rank and file of the Congress and by Azad.
In India Wins Freedom by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Page 138) he says the following:
“The alliance of Congress with the Unionist Party was in principle wrong. They argued that the Muslim League was a mass organization and the Congress should have formed a coalition with the Muslim League and not with the Unionist Party in the Punjab…sacrificing leftist principles in forming a coalition with the Unionist Party…..
In the Sarhad the Congress found an ally called Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Badshah Khan -the Frontier Gandhi) who associated himself with the secular ideals of M.K. Gandhi. Thanks to the Punjabi populace (who felt repressed by the Unionists and gladly voted for the Muslim League) and some great Muslim League leaders from the Punjab who supported Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan, the Gandhi-Congress tactics of isolating and marginalizing the League failed at the polls, when after the announcement of separate electorates, the Muslim League repeatedly got more than 96 percent of the Muslim votes. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah out smarted the INC and their lackeys by forming liaisons in the Punjab and by bypassing the jirga leadership in the Sarhad.
Pakistan with Afghanistan–a confederation approved by King Zahir Shah in the 50s. After the death of Liaqat Ali Khan, or cecause of it, the plan fell apart. Many say that Liaqat Ali Khan, a Karnal–East Punjab born Nawabzada had Pathan ancestry and was killed because he wanted this union, and he opposed the US attack on Iran. Separate article on this site. This confederation is the long term solution to the Pashtun strife.
THE PATHANS
The Western Pathans: The Abdalis (Durranis), The Ghaljis
The Eastern Pathans: Usufzais
Pakistani (NWFP) Pakhtuns or Pashtuns: The Karlanri: The Afridis, The Khattaks, The Orakzai, The Bangash, The Wazir, The Masud, The Turi
by Moin Ansari
Written March 6th, 1998.Updated May 14, 2008.. Pakistanis are a diverse group….
BADSHAH KHAN AND THE THE CHOICE FOR PAKISTAN: NWFP VS. PAKHTOONKHAWAH In spite of the venomous propaganda spewed against Pakistan and Pakistanis and in spite of the Frontier Gandhi…it is a fact that the people of NWFP bypassed the wishes of Badshah Khan and the Pathans voted for Pakistan in a referendum for Pakistan. They are as patriotic as any other Pakistani.
The recent developments in the Sarhad with reference to a change in nomenclature of the province has a lot to do with information and d misinformation. It is obvious to all that the province of NWFP has to change its name … that name is a legacy of the British raj when the province was in the North West Frontier of the Empire…..today it is not in the North West Frontier of Pakistan. In a democracy, if the provincial assembly wants to change the name, the center has little choice but to oblige.
Of all the name suggested, the ANP has sent Pasktunkhawa and Afghania to the Center. The Cnter seems to have approved the name of Pakhtunkhawa. The Sarhad has many minorities that are non-Pakhtun. These tribes do not want the province to reflect the name of the majority. If the Sarhad wnats to be called Pakhtunkhawa, this author does not have serious issues with it.
POST ‘71 ERA: FEDERALISTS VS. PROVINCIALISTS In this post ‘71 era, we as a nation are leery of the provincialists and their agendas. To the majority FEDERALISTS…the agenda of the ANP is simple….change the name of Sarhad …then ask for the other Pakhtun areas to be merged with the “Pakhtun” province …areas of FATA and Baluchistan …then merge the Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan into the Pakhtun province. To the DEVOLUTIONISTS…the provinces should control their destinies…and the center has no right to interfere.
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND NWFP One does not find the following in Indian text books. See Stanley Wolpert (Nehru for details). The Indian National Congress of the 1940s had moved from the secular leadership of pan-Indians like Moti Lal Nehru to religious leaders like Gandhi. In order to bridge the split between the various Brahaminc factions, religious fanatics like Lala Rai were included in the Congress. During this phase almost all Muslims were drummed out of the INC. It was Gandhian policy to divide the conquer the Muslim majority areas like the NWFP.
Badshah Khan surely played into the INC ideals. He opposed Jinnah, Liaqat Ali Khan and the Muslim League. The Muslim League played an ingenious card. It bypassed Badshah Khan (The Frontier Gandhi) and got a referendum to vote for Pakistan. Badshah Khan was soundly defeated and the Pathans voted for Pakistan. The Durand Line in 1947 was declared the dividing line between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE DURAND LINE IN EIGHTIES In 1947 and beyond the Congressite followers of Badshah Khan continued to ask the Gandhi question “The Pathans should have had a choice between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India”. Firstly the Muslim League had correctly argued that the British had no right to ask that particular question, since they did not ask Bengal if it wanted to join Burma, and it did not ask Tamil Nadu if it wanted to join Sri Lanka. Thus the Durand Line became the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it would have stayed that way for a while if the Soviets had not invaded Afghanistan. Since the 1980s the Durand Line has been a porus line for men and material, and today the question is being asked if it is truly a valid line? During the Soviet occupation of Western Afghanistan, some portions of Eastern Afghanistan (at least the Pashtun portions) literally became part of free Afghanistan, a part of Pakistan. 6 million Afghans came to Pakistan as refugees and stayed in Pakistan for years. One million Afghan children were born in Pakistan.
Thousands stayed back in Pakistan. After the take over of the Taliban, the Afghan state is sub state. Today many Pakistanis and Pathan ask the question. Should we abolish the Durand line and let all the Pathans live in the state of Pakistan? The controversy will surely never end…….however we can tell the story of the Pathans….
The Insidious Indian Propaganda 18 Jan, 2010 Dr S. M. Rahman INDIA IS A WAR MONGERER The internet has become a vehicle to fan preposterous propaganda by the agencies in India, in order to promote ‘Hindutva’ sensibility to raise scare and trepidation among the Hindus that Pakistan in collusion with Bangladesh and Indian Muslim are now planning [...] […]
باطل سے دبنے والے اسماں نھیں سو بار کت چکا ھي امتھاں ھمارا
That, Rabita Trust of Bangladesh managed by Wael Hamza Julaidan in collaboration with the Muslim World League and the International Islamic Relief Organization as well as the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce reportedly masterminds the move to transform the NE India region into an Islamic State which will be assimilated into Bangladesh to form “Bangistan” or “Greater Bangladesh.”
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