Allama Iqbal’s Message from the East (Payaam-i-Mashriq)
Translated from Persian to English by M. Hadi Hussain
Illustrated by Shireen Gheba Najib
Shireen Gheba’s Studio
ISBN: 978-969-23158-1-4
247pp.

Given the abundance of literature, venerative, appreciative, contemplative and meditative that Allama Iqbal’s work — with special reference to his Payaam-i-Mashriq [Message of the East] — has inspired, why would there be a reason to go for one more publication of the same?

Add to that collection, the copious illustrative interpretations by some of the greatest visual artists, too. However, Shireen Gheba Najib’s illustrated version of the Payaam comes as one solid proof that, while there is absolutely nothing to counter the iconic status of Iqbal’s brilliance as a poet and spiritual sage, there is always room for further illustrative reading of his works.

Infinitely, Iqbal’s poetry does become more rewarding for the layman when a visual artist steps in. More so when most readers are laypersons — which is this century’s great dilemma when it comes to Iqbal’s text. Thus, in a scenario where Urdu as a language is systematically being swept under the carpet, visual interpretations of the ‘national’ poet’s work come as a saviour.

The human imagination and its imprint on paper is a complex process, as bewildering in its interpretation of text as in how the creative reader chooses to actually paint the words. Iqbal’s poetry being a showcasing of the “melioristic philosophy of the perfectibility of the human condition of the human ego in an existentialist setting of ceaseless struggle and striving” (foreword by Chief Justice (retd) S.A. Rehman) demands an even greater and more deliberate processing of imagination, if you want to picturise the philosophy.

An illustrated and translated version of Allama Iqbal’s Payaam-i-Mashriq opens up the great poet’s Persian work even for the layperson

The artist’s visualisation of Iqbal’s text can hence take many shades — shades of deep intellectual acumen, of a play with the hues that spell the words, or sheer love, to count a few reactions. Either way, the beauty lies always in being able to retain the sagacity and philosophy of the thought between the lines.

Illustrating Iqbal without losing the essential spirit is what counts and this one task is not for the faint-hearted. It takes heavy doses of courage, conviction and commitment to venture forth on the journey.

Turning the pages of this illustrated publication, with its straight-from-the-heart brushwork, shows how Shireen Gheba Najib, artist, author, philanthropist, educationist, blogger and now vlogger, is on the page.

Growing up in a milieu where Iqbal was a household name (Najib was presented a complete copy of Iqbal’s poetry by her parents at a very young age and which became the start of a life-long adventure), it is small wonder that, in the preface of this publication, she could write the sentence, “I have loved Iqbal’s poetry all my life.” But moving on from the emotional to the creative affiliation, the illustrator adds very endearingly, “Whatever I could understand of it!” This is an honesty of admission few would make public.

It is in the same vein that the illustrator’s images have to be viewed: as pure, pristine, first impressions of one who has no pretensions to scholastics. “My purpose has been to share Iqbal’s work with the youth of Pakistan and the rest of the English speaking world. To me that has been very important, because it is the key to solving most present-day problems.”

It was after wading her way through the 1977 English translation of the Payaam by M. Hadi Hussain, that Najib finally sat down to translate her discovery into picture format. Today’s generation should be grateful to her for bringing Iqbal and his spirituality/philosophy closer to them, since there is no denying the fact that visuals have greater impact than the written word.

The over 17 paintings that sit facing the text in the publication, speak volumes for the spiritual alignment of the illustrator as well as her concentrated efforts in what, by her own admission, has been a full-pronged thrust to capture the full spectrum of Iqbal’s thought as expressed in this epic book of Persian poetry. From the readers’ point of view, this enthusiasm and devotion is no less than the translator’s sentiments.

It had to be 50 long years before the twain of this one translator and illustrator would appear as a neat volume, opening with the 1923 preface to Payaam by the Allama himself. This essay is of immense help to both the literature- and art-oriented devotee of Iqbal’s poetry.

Najib’s self-published slim volume displays her unique qualities of observation and sensitivity for literary nuance, as she travels virtually verse by verse, line by line, word by word through Hadi’s translation, to unravel the gist of one of the world’s greatest philosophies. The hues and strokes, the clarity of images and, at times, the haze and mystery of her illustrations almost capture the ‘near full’ spectrum of Iqbal’s thought.

Najib moves from direct iridescent strokes in flashing colour (depicting the section titled Tulips of Sinai [Lala-i-Toor] and Paradise) to, at times, hazy, misty, almost ‘out-of-focus’ brush strokes (in the section ‘Glow-worm, Love and the Song of the Stars’). It is the frenetic use of colours from the pastel to the brooding to the bold that invite us to re-ponder Iqbal’s message in the Payaam.

The brilliance or otherwise of the brushwork takes second place and should in no way be made a case for study in this publication. The book is not an art gallery piece. It is a work of the imagination in cohort with the mind.

The illustrations and the original poetry come a century apart in time and yet are a true reflection of the spiritual enrichment illustrator Najib has garnered. From the ‘inner’ flame that Iqbal’s heart and soul were lit up by, to the serenity and seriousness of the message, to the enlightening balm of serious concern for the rise of possible, potential, human elevation, Najib has tried to retain all in her paintings.

Even if some of the paintings may not correspond directly to the text they are placed against, suffice it to say that the effort to keep an interpretive cohesion of Iqbal’s poetry is worth a million kudos.

The reviewer is a freelance journalist, translator and creative content/report writer who has taught in the LUMS Lifetime Learning Programme. X: @daudnyla

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, August 4th, 2024