MUCH has been written on Palestine issue in recent past and ever since the onset of Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians in October 2023, Pakistani Urdu journalism has been very vocal.

Urdu magazines and newspapers have been publishing pieces or special sections on Palestine issue. Now monthly Mafaaheem, Karachi, has come up with Al-Quds Number or the special issue on ‘the holy one’, the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Al-Quds is, in fact, the short form for ‘Madinat-ul-Quds’, or the Holy City, as Muslims, as well as Jews and Christians, consider the city sacred. The articles included in Mafaaheem’s special issue discuss the history, or rather, historic injustices, and other issues related to Palestine to highlight the recent Israeli atrocities with historical background.

But what was of more interest to this scribe is a chapter reproduced from Zinda Rood, Allama Iqbal’s biography written by his son Dr Javed Iqbal, as it has details of Iqbal’s visit to Jerusalem, a remarkable gesture by Iqbal, expressing his support for Palestinians and their cause. Iqbal was in London to attend the Second Roundtable Conference held between September and December 1931. Motmar-Al-Alam-Al-Islami, or The World Muslim Congress, had arranged a conference in December 1931 at Jerusalem to discuss the Palestine issue and especially the Zionist threat. Syed Ameen-ul-Husaini, the grand Mufti of Palestine, had invited Iqbal and other prominent figures from the Islamic countries. Others invited from the subcontinent included Ghulam Rasool Mehr, Maulana Shaukat Ali and Shaf’i Dawoodi.

Iqbal departed from London on Nov 21, 1931, along with Ghulam Rasool Mehr, while the Roundtable Conference was still in session. The fact is Iqbal was much disappointed with the conference and had differences with other participants on certain issues. Also, he wanted to attend the conference at Jerusalem. On Dec 6, 1931, Iqbal and Mehr reached Jerusalem via Paris, Rome, Naples, Brindisi (a port city in Southern Italy), Alexandria and Cairo. Shaf’i Dawoodi had joined them in Brindisi, writes Javed Iqbal.

Maulana Shaukat Ali was already in Jerusalem. According to Javed Iqbal, the inaugural session of the conference began in the evening of Dec 6 and was attended by delegates from almost every Islamic country and/or region, including Chinese Turkistan, Russian Turkistan, Bukhara, Qafqaz, Yugoslavia, Ceylon and Java. Among them were scholars, politicians, religious figures and freedom fighters. After the session, the delegates left for Al-Aqsa Mosque. On his way to the mosque, Iqbal offered fateha at the grave of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, who was buried in Jerusalem as he had desired. Maghrib and I’sha prayers were offered at the mosque and then Ameen-ul-Husaini delivered his presidential address, stressing brotherhood and unity among Muslims. Afterwards Iqbal and some other delegates spoke briefly.

Committees constituted during the conference on different issues concerning Hejaz Railways, Al-Aqsa Mosque, propagation, preaching, holy buildings, legal matters and finance began their discussions. Iqbal expressed his views on different issues, such as Hejaz Railways and establishment of a university at Jerusalem. As for Hejaz Railways, he thought it should be under the control of an international Muslim management board. Iqbal opposed establishing a university at Jerusalem that was to be devoted solely for imparting religious knowledge and he stressed the need for both modern and religious knowledge at the proposed university. Secondly, he thought the project was impractical as it seemed a farfetched idea that the students from the entire Muslim world would come to Jerusalem, ignoring other educational institutes already working in other Muslim cities, such as, Madina, Cairo, Tehran and Damascus. He said that considering the Jewish threat in Jerusalem, it was not realistic to expect that students in droves would be attracted to the proposed university, added Javed Iqbal.

Till Dec14, 1931, Iqbal attended the conference and left the next day for Port Said for the onward journey back home. On Dec 18, the ship sailed from Port Said and reached Bombay (now Mumbai) on Dec 28, 1931. On Jan 1, 1932, when Iqbal was back in Lahore, a correspondent from Civil and Military Gazette met him and wanted to know about his impressions. Iqbal termed the travel to Palestine one of the most interesting events in his life. He was all praise for the Arab youth and said he had never seen such sincerity and integrity except for the young Italians, albeit they were supporting a fascist regime, Javed Iqbal wrote.

The other articles included in the special issue of Mafaaheem are by some renowned scholars and writers and they include Mufti Taqi Usmani, Zahid-ur-Rashidi, Maulana Muhammad Iqbal, Abdul Ghafoor Siddiqi, Jameel-ur-Rahman Abbasi, Hammad Turk and some others. Some old pieces on Palestine are also reproduced and they are by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Shibli N’omani, Altaf Husain Hali, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Naeem Siddiqi, Ibn-i-Insha, Ada Jaferi, Vus’atullah Khan and Fazil Jameeli.

The issue brings forth the Palestine issue from a religious and literary angle.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2024