IQBAL AND COLONIALISM – II

(27.4.1969)

Having shown the dangers inherent in colonialism, Iqbal does not stop short. He shows the way out. It is Islam, the following of the message of the Quran and the way of the Prophet (peace be on him).

This is how Iqbal defines the law of the Prophet in this context:

"O you, who are proud of the Great Quran. How long will you sit idle in the monastic cell? Clearly reveal the secrets of the faith in the world. Clearly reveal the essence of the manifest law (of God). Nobody should become the dependent of another in this world. This is the essence of the manifest law (of God)". (Page 41).

In another place he makes a contrast between capitalism and Islam -- the manifest Law of God. "If you collect wealth for the sake of spending for purposes of the faith (Deen), the Prophet has given the injunction by saying that it is pure. (This is a quotation from Rumi.) If you do not realise the meaning hidden in this wisdom, then you become a slave, and gold and silver become your master. Nations attain their liberation through the empty handed ones. Nations fall a prey to conflicts through such wealthy men (as are described above). Originality in his (the wealthy man's) eyes is totally contemptible. He is a customer of all that is old and decadent. In his eyes the right becomes wrong. He is frightened at the storm of the revolution. The master ate up the bread of the labourer. He violated the chastity of the daughter of the labourer. In his presence the slave weeps like the flute. On his lips a constant complaint. Neither in his (labourer's) cup is there any wine nor in his pot. He builds palaces and himself is a houseless wanderer in the street … One nation gobbles up another. This one grows the crop and that other takes away the harvest. To take away the bread of the weak is all their wisdom. To take away the life from the bodies (of the weak) is their wisdom. The custom of the new civilisation is the tearing apart of human beings. And the veil behind which this is carried on is trade. These banks, these products of the clever Jewish mind. They have taken away the light of truth (God) from the breast of Man. As long as this system is not turned down knowledge and civilisation and faith (Deen) are all raw madness". ( page 36-38).

In the midst of this destructive element of colonialism and capitalism, what is the position of Man?

"Mankind, in the mist of this world of good and evil, little distinguishes its profit from its loss. Nobody knows what is the good and what is the evil of (human) activity , or what is the level path or what the tortuous road". (Page 38).

While this helplessness is the condition of mankind, life creates the law to set it right. And here. once again is a definition of the Islamic law ( Shara ) as Iqbal sees it, not as Maulana Maudoodi and his followers see it:

" Shara (the Law of God) rises out of the depths of life. The darkness of the universe is lit up by its light. If the world accepts what it has forbidden as forbidden, this system will remain secure till the end of the world. This is not the work of Faqihs (the jurists), O my son! Look at it from quite another point of view. It commands justice and acceptance and recognition of God's Will as supreme, the root of this (tree) is in the heart of Mustafa (Peace be on him). (Page 39).

How is this system to be brought about? Iqbal says that the secret of revolution is contained in the kalima "La Ilaha il Allah". And what is the meaning of this distinctive mark of the Muslim --with whom it is not merely a sentence to be spoken but an action to be carried out in every moment of his life? The meaning is contained in what Iqbal has called "Hikmat-e-Kaleemi" (the wisdom of Moses) as an opposite of "Hikmat-i-Firauni" (the wisdom of the Pharaoh).

"When prophet hood gives currency to the command of truth, it spurns with its foot the command of the king. In its morning sigh there is life. From the dawn of its beginning is the universe renewed. The land and ocean are upturned by its tempest. In its glance is the message of revolution. It tells every weary slave to rise up and to break into pieces every ancient idol … O man of truth! break the enchantment of this ancient temple with the two words, "God is the greatest". You have strayed far from your real position. Erase the vulturous in you, because you were born of an eagle. Even the little sparrow in the garden foliage builds its nest in accord with its desire. You 'who have a thought which ranges up to the heavens, do not rate yourself at less than a sparrow. Once again build up the nine heavens. Build the world in accordance with your own desire. When the man of Faith becomes absorbed in the Will of God, he himself becomes the decree of God. In the darkness of this world of brick and stone, brighten your eyes with the light of understanding. As long as you do not get your portion from the Might of God, you will not get your portion from the Beauty of God. The beginning of love and ecstasy is triumphant force. The last stage of love and ecstasy is beloved ness. The Man of Faith is of the true wonders of existence. He exists in fact; other things are merely appearance. If he gets his ardour and brightness from the words "La nah", the sun and the moon move to no other purpose but his. (Page 12-15).

What is "La Ilah"? What is the meaning of the distinction between the "La" and the " IlIa ", the negation and the affirmation, on account of which Iqbal rejects the atheistic level of Socialism? This rejection is made much of by the critics of Socialism, as a proof that Iqbal was not only not a Socialist, but a committed enemy of Socialism. We will not go into the meaning of the first verse of a ghazal in the Masnavi "Musafir" which is printed in the same volume as "Pas Cheh Baid Kard ", though it has a certain relevance. I shall just give its translation:

"I come from the tavern of the Magi drunk without the passing around of the wine cup. I was in the stage of "La" drunk with the wine of "Illa".

Under the title of "La Ilaha it Allah", Iqbal first reveals the secret of movement in the life of nations as the unity of opposites: negation and affirmation -- "La" and " IlIa ". "I tell you the secret of the men of ecstasy. From negation ("La") is the power of the nations; from affirmation (" IlIa ") their creativity. Negation and affirmation (together) are the accounting of the universe. Negation and affirmation (together) are the key to the gate of the universe. Both are the destiny of the world of creation. The movement is born of negation (La) the stillness of affirmation. As long as the secret of negation (La) does not come to hand, it is not possible to break the shackles of non-God ( ghair Allah). The beginning of (creative) action in the world comes from negation. This is the first stage of the journey of the Man of God. A nation which for a moment was heated up in its heat recreated itself from its own clay. To say "No" before non- God is life. The tumult of the universe is renewed, because of it. Not every collar is torn because of this madness. Not every trash is becoming for the attention of this flame. You want that the slave should rise up in revolt against the master. Then cast the seed of negation in that handful of dust. Whoever has this fire in his heart, his visage is far, more awesome than the terror of the Resurrection Day". ( page 19- 20).

After this Iqbal shows the magic of this word working in the Arab nation at the beginning of Islamic history.

"I shall tell thee something of the days of the Arabs ( Ayyam-i-Arab ). So that you know of the raw and the ripe of the Arabs. "Lat" and " Manat " fell broken into a thousand pieces at one blow. It became free of the four directions even in the world of four directions (free of necessity in the world of necessity). Every old mantle of authority was rent by its hand. The Caesar and Chosroes were destroyed by its hand. A whole world went up in flames like a heap of straw in its fire. All this was the tumult of Negation ("La") and nothing more. It was in constant agitation in this old world of creation so that a new world came into being". (Page 20- 21).

Immediately after this characterisation of the revolution brought about by Islam in the world of old empires of the Romans and the Persians, Iqbal talks about the Russian Revolution of 1917:

"In the same manner you see that in the age of Afrang (the modern slave empire) the slaves have come into conflict with their masters. The heart of Russia bled of its wounds. From its deep inwards came out the word of Negation ("La"). It has overturned that old system. It has struck a sharp lancent on the vein of the world (to bleed it into health). I have looked into its stages of movement. It has said "no" (La) to kings, "No" (La) to the Church, and "No" (La) to gods". (Page 21-22). Having shown the parallel between Islam and Socialism, Iqbal goes on to criticise it. But his criticism of socialism is not its total rejection, but rather on the appreciation of the basis of its revolution in the principle of negation (La), from which is the "power of the nations", from which "movement is born", without which "it is not possible to break the shackles of non-God ( Ghair Allah"). The objection of Iqbal to Socialism is precisely this, that it has not gone forward from the stage of "La" which is nevertheless necessary. But unless "Illa" (Affirmation) is added to it, there is likely to be a decay in its earlier revolutionary achievement. That is why he can say on the one hand that he is not a Bolshevik or a Socialist, and on the other he says to Francis Younghusband, that with the addition of the affirmation of God to Bolshevism it comes very near Islam, and that a day might come when the Bolsheviks should do so, without cancelling the stage of "La" up to which they have already advanced on the way to Islam. And that is also why he can say to Ghulam-us-Sayyadain . "As for Socialism, Islam itself is a kind of Socialism, from which Muslim society has so far not derived the benefits that it has in it". This sentence is often dropped by anti-Socialists from the quotation which precedes it, for understandable reasons. The succeeding lines of the Masnavi about Russia (Socialism) are as follows:

"Its thought has come to a stop in the sharp wind of "La" (Negation). It has not spurred its charger on to the stage of " Ilia " (Affirmation). A day will come upon it when with the force of its inner madness it will bring itself out of this sharp wind. Life cannot stay put on the stage of negation ("La"). The universe moves on towards affirmation ("Illa"). Affirmation and negation "(La" and "Illa") are the armour and travelling tackle of nations. Negation without affirmation is the death of nations. How can Khalil become complete in love, until negation becomes a guide in the direction of affirmation” . (Page 22).

Having elaborated on the necessity of having both "La" and "Illa" together as the regenerating principles, Iqbal criticises the Muslims of his time (and ours).

"O you who sit in the 'hujra' (monastic cell) and indulge in tall talk. Go and shout the word of negation ("La") before a Nimrod. All this that you see is not worth two barley seeds. Become aware of the power of the word "La Ilah" (there is no god). Whoever has got the sword of negation ("La") in his hand, is the ruler over the entire world of existence" (Page 20).

This is the message of Iqbal. It is certainly not any kind of ideological or political switching back to orthodoxy or medievalism. Nor is it any kind of scholasticism. It is the negation and total overthrow of capitalism and colonialism. But Dr. Javed Iqbal, son of Allama Iqbal, today is proclaiming that Iqbal was at best a protagonist of capitalism. In an interview to the Maudoodite paper " Asia ", he has even condemned, like the Maudoodites, the concept of Pakistani nationalism. What else can one say except that.

"The crow did not learn to fly on the heights. But the company of the crow spoilt the fledgling of the eagle".

NOTES:

1. Published in The Pakistan Times. 27.4.69.