Background to the Previous Century
Many events that defined our world into what it is today occurred in the twentieth century. It was also a time in which poetry, literature, and philosophy flourished without bounds. The twentieth century has given us names like Sylvia Plath, D.H. Lawrence, and Siegfried Sassoon if we speak of poetry. If we speak of literature, we find Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Orwell, and C.S. Lewis. Philosophy too reached a height which the 21st century can seldom hope to parallel with Herbert Marcuse, Naom Chomsky, and Hannah Arendt.
I have included these names here for two reasons. One, because I hope more names ring a bell in your mind, if it doesn’t, it’s unfortunate. The latter reason is more sinister. These are a few of the names which would pop up on your screen should you choose to Google the subject. I want to you understand how information is almost invariably, always skewed. There is a reason for an overwhelming majority of these names being white men.
Poetic Philosophy: A Concept
It is unfortunate that Allama Iqbal is nowhere to be found in either list, neither poetry nor philosophy. This blog is dedicated to him. Iqbal perhaps is one of the only philosophers whose work shall remain evergreen. Philosophy is like a book; regardless of how good, and how beautiful it is, it is bound to get old: it gets dusty, and its pages begin to yellow. In my opinion, Nietzsche was one of the greatest philosophers to walk this planet, but if I were to quote him, I would write “Nietzsche said”. Poetry, however, remains youthful for eternity. One may be reciting a couplet a century later, but they shall always say, “Ghalib says”. That is what sets Iqbal apart from all other philosophers; he not only introduced but benchmarked the concept of philosophy in poetry. That is why, his ideas shall remain evergreen, for all times to come.
Evaluating Magnitudes: Urdu and Farsi
Iqbal’s work is in Urdu and Farsi; languages that have over 450 million speakers between them. Let’s discuss Urdu first. The national language of Pakistan, a population of 220.0 million, the native language of 50.8 million speakers in India, with an overwhelming amount of non-native speakers with the same proficiency. It is the official language in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. Burmese Indians and Muslims in Sri Lanka, Bihari’s in Bangladesh, and many in Nepal, where Urdu is a registered regional dialect, also speak Urdu, totaling approximately 1.5 million speakers. Afghans in Pakistan, or those who have formerly lived in Pakistan, speak Urdu as an adopted language. Dari, one of Afghanistan’s official languages, is a dialect of Persian. Persian is the national language of Iran, with over 110 million speakers, whilst the Tajik dialect of Persian is spoken in Tajikistan. To put the magnitude of these Urdu and Persian into further perspective, the above numbers do not include diaspora communities. Why then, one may wonder, is Iqbal still downplayed, and to quote Mr. Khurram Illahi, remains “one of the most misunderstood philosophers, and if understood at all, only through his mediocre works to date?”
Examining Mass Misappropriation
The answer lies not in the prowess Iqbal had over language, and words it lies in his ideas; ideas which did not settle well with many, particularly the circles which dominate the discourse. The woes of post-colonialism and post-colonial scholarship are real. Iqbal’s work on socialism as a concept has been a key focus, particularly in India. It is perhaps the reason for the communist left in Pakistan, including names like Hoodhboy, engaging in needless debate on Iqbal’s sect. To discuss sect, or secularism, whilst discussing a philosopher whose ideology was firmly grounded in religion, is an insult to Iqbal’s work. There is also the phenomenon of Iqbal’s work on Afghanistan being twisted and quoted by Pashtun ethno-nationalists, and his ideas of statehood twisted by Pakistani nationalists. Furthermore, the West fundamentally disagrees with ideas grounded in Islam. The creation of Pakistan was vehemently opposed by the British, and even after creation, there were a few who expected the new nation to survive. Persian too, is currently the language of countries at odds with the West. It is no surprise that these languages have fallen victim to cultural imperialism.
Persian scholarship has done far more justice to Iqbal’s work. It is a pity that it has not been translated for a larger audience. As I scrolled google scholar, some of the top titles which showed up in Farsi scholarship included: Western Studies of Iqbal Lahore, Insider and ideal man in Iqbal Lahori poetry, Mohammad Iqbal Lahori and Persian word formation, Intellectual methodology of Iqbal Lahori, Shams Tabrizi and Iqbal Lahori, Factors of the genius of Allameh Iqbal, the Secrets of life according to Allameh Iqbal, and The influence of Mohammad Iqbal Lahori on thinkers and the Islamic Revolution. In contrast, when I looked searched English scholarship, I found, Narratives of Emancipation in Modern Islam, Economic Vision of Allama Iqbal, Muhammad Iqbāl and Atatürk’s Reforms, Muhammad Iqbal and Division of Sub-continent, Iqbal: An Analysis on his Life, Works, and Mission, Allama Muhammad Iqbal: Poet-Philosopher and the Dangers of Appropriation, and Muhammad Iqbal — Reconstructing Islam along Occidental Lines of Thought. The work in English is far more superficial and exhibits a clear lack of understanding, and in some cases, even includes deliberate attempts of appropriation.
I may have touched upon the reasons for Iqbal being a textbook example of a tragedy and misappropriation. However, it is up to us, to read Iqbal, understand Iqbal, and keep Iqbal alive, doing justice to his work. If we don’t pay our due share of respect to our scholars, no one else will.
