“Nations are born in the hearts of poets; they prosper and die in the hands of politicians”, wrote Allama Muhammad Iqbal in 1910 in his diary, later published under the title Stray Reflections. Commenting on this reflection of Iqbal’s, Dr Tehseen Firaqi in his book Iqbal: Deeda-i-Beena-i-Qaum says that “exactly 20 years after having written these words, this great visionary poet gave his famous 1930 Allahabad address, proffering the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims, thus a new nation was born. Seventeen years later Pakistan came into existence as a result of political struggle; and a part of it died in 1971. The selfishness and ineptness of politicians counts among reasons for this debacle. One cannot help but praise Iqbal’s vision.”

Today, even 78 years after his death, Iqbal, his poetry and philosophy live on to entice critics and researchers. Ghalib and Iqbal are two of our poets who have truly fascinated critics and researchers. A large number of articles and books keep appearing on these two maestros and hardly does a year go by without a book being published on them. Dr Firaqi’s recently published book is an invaluable addition to the critical and research writings in Urdu on Iqbal. Going through the book, one gets the feeling that Dr Firaqi has taken full advantage of his extensive reading and command over Persian, not to mention his long commitment to Iqbal’s poetry and his philosophy.

Dr Tehseen Firaqi’s new book, a collection of essays and research papers, is an invaluable addition to critical writings on Iqbal

The book is a collection of 12 critical essays and research papers, most of which were published between 1997 and 2014 in Pakistani research journals, and a few of them in Iranian and Indian magazines. While analysing different dimensions of Iqbal’s thought and his works, Dr Firaqi has juxtaposed Iqbal’s philosophy with that of some Western philosophers. In doing so he has quoted extensively both from Iqbal’s Urdu and Persian poetry and Iqbal’s English writings including his speeches, statements, and especially his lectures published under the title The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.

The first article, which has the same title as the book, is in fact an adulatory one, though not without its merits. The second one evaluates Iqbal’s idea of a world order based on the unity of mankind. Along with Iqbal’s Persian and Urdu poetry expounding his thoughts on a just, equitable world, he has quoted from the poet’s message broadcast from All India Radio a few months before his death. According to Dr Firaqi, these words of Iqbal are as true today as they were when spoken: “Remember man can be maintained on this earth only by honouring mankind and this world will remain a battleground of ferocious beasts of prey unless the educational forces of the whole world are directed to inculcating in man respect for mankind. Only one unity is dependable, and that unity is the brotherhood of man, which is above race, nationality, colour or language”.

Some other articles included in the book — such as the ones on Iqbal’s concept of culture and civilisation, Iqbal’s relevance in today’s world, Rumi’s influence on Iqbal, and Iqbal and the unity of the Islamic world — too, are worth the reader’s time, but two articles that deserve a special mention here are the ones that compare the philosophies of Iqbal and Hegel, and Iqbal’s views on the efforts to create an economic system that would benefit a few big players.

These articles not only help one understand Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy but also offer some food for thought. The article on Iqbal and Hegel begins with a quote from Iqbal’s Stray Reflections: “Hegel’s system of philosophy is an epic in prose”. These words capture, as put by the author, not only the gist of Hegel’s dialectics but also show how deeply Iqbal was impressed with Hegel’s philosophy. With the passage of time, however, as Iqbal’s thoughts evolved, slowly but surely he drifted away from Hegelian philosophy, just as he differed from some other Western philosophers. The author first analyses Iqbal’s writings to trace where and how Iqbal has referred to Hegel, then he elaborates on Iqbal’s early fascination with Hegelianism and his ultimate deviation and differing views on the issue.

In the footnotes, which are very rich and guide the reader to some important sources of Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy, Dr Firaqi has quoted Yousuf Saleem Chishti, the famous exponent of Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy, as saying that once Iqbal said to him that there were four personalities whose charm had a magical effect that was very difficult to free oneself from. When Chishti asked who those four personalities were, Iqbal replied “Shankaracharya, Ibn Arabi, Bedil [Azimabadi] and Hegel”. But Iqbal’s drifting away from Hegel was so complete that he almost totally rejected Hegel’s philosophy later on. In his two poems, ‘Jalal-o-Hegel’ and ‘Aik Falsafa Zada Syed Zade ke Naam’, Iqbal criticised Hegel. It would not be out of place to mention here that ‘Aik Falsafa Zada Syed Zade ke Naam’ was written when Patras Bukhari met Iqbal and showed his inclination towards Hegelianism. Iqbal in this poem says that philosophy is not superior to art and religion. But in the final analysis Dr Firaqi says that parallels can be drawn between Iqbal and Hegel, and Iqbal did agree with Hegel on some philosophical issues, but Iqbal’s concepts of life and the universe are more dynamic and everlasting than Hegel’s.

Dr Firaqi’s view on globalisation is not much different from thinkers like Noam Chomsky and the editors of the book Deviant Globalisation: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century who feel that certain aspects of globalisation make it almost a certain recipe for disaster. Dr Firaqi feels that the spirit of globalisation promotes neo-colonialism and Iqbal had foreseen the emerging scenario and its exploitative effects much earlier than Chomsky. Presenting a host of quotations from different Western writers and Iqbal, he concludes that Iqbal too had a vision of a new world order but that was based on a just and egalitarian system, unlike the present one, which is a hindrance to humanity’s progress and prosperity.

Last but not least, an article included in the book severely criticises an English translation of Iqbal’s ‘Bang-i-Dara’. The way Dr Firaqi has exposed the inaccuracies of the translation is both entertaining and threatening at the same time as it offers some lessons to translators aspiring to take on Iqbal’s work: just a good command of any language is not enough to render Iqbal’s poetry into that language. One should not dare to translate Iqbal unless one has studied Urdu and Persian poetry and language in depth, that is, in addition to having a vast knowledge of religion and philosophy.

An additional feature of the book for those who relish words and coinages is some interesting and new terms that Dr Firaqi has used while trying to render the philosophical thoughts into Urdu.

Dr Firaqi is a well-known academic, researcher and critic. He has to his credit a large number of books and research papers. Having taught at University of the Punjab Urdu department for quite a long time, he served as a visiting professor at Tehran University also. Currently he is the director-general of the Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab, Lahore, and edits three literary journals.

The reviewer is associate professor, department of Urdu, University of Karachi.

April 21 marks the 78th death anniversary of Iqbal

Iqbal: Deeda-i-Beena-i-Qaum
(ESSAYS)
By Dr Tehseen Firaqi
Poorab Academy, Islamabad
206pp.