
Allama Iqbal (1877-1938) : No doubt he was one of great Persons of his times
FFI front page sayA versatile poet-philosopher, an active political leader for Muslims of Subcontinent. He was born in 1877 in Sialkot. He obtained Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Government College Lahore. Later he proceeded to Europe for higher studies and did his doctorate at Munich and finally he was able to qualify as a barrister. In 1908, on returning to India, besides teaching and practicing Law, Iqbal continued to write poetry. He resigned from the Government service in 1911 and took to the propagation of his individual thinking to the Muslims through his poetry
Well that is what OpEd says., FFI old forum also discussed about Allama Iqbal on an doff in different threads., Let us pull the relevant posts here for the sake of readers..but what else would one do to try to stay alive?Spoiler! :
Now we shall analyze some parts of his work (poetry) to see how foolishly Muslims think that he was a follower of Islam. Although he could not declare boldly during his life that he was not inspired by the Quran, and occasionally, he has mentioned Islam and Quran in his poetry, it is obvious that he was at least not a Muslim. To avoid the impression that I am trying to promote Hinduism, I’d only say that in this article, I am going to include the reference of his clear inclination towards Hinduism only as a proof of his having rejected Islam, at least.However, you can clearly see that his ultimate message was love and he openly admits that power and tranquility hails in the “songs of Hindu devotees”.In his Urdu book, “Bang-e-Dara”, he writes:
“Shakti bhi Shaanti bhi, bhakton kay geet main hay. Dharti kay baasiyon ki Mukti preet main hay.”
Translation: Shakti (Hindi word for ‘power’) and Shaanti (Hindi word for ‘peace of mind’ or ‘relexation’) is in the songs of bhakts (sages / devotees of Hindu Gods). The Mukti (salvation) of the inhabitants of the Earth is in Preet (love).
But to please the highly sticky Muslim leaders of his time, he starts this poem with the verse meaning “Let me tell you the truth, O Brahmin if you don’t mind. The idols of your temples have gone old. You have learnt to keep enmity with your peers from idols.”
At another place, he talks to Moses in a disgracing tone and says: “O Moses, it is not your specialty that you can talk to God. Even trees and stones talk to God.”Spoiler! :
The English translations / summaries of some extracts of his “Shikwah” are being mentioned here:
“Why should I suffer loss and forget the gains? Why shouldn’t I think of the future and keep regretting upon the past? Why should I listen to the cuckoo and keep listening? O my companion, am I a flower that I should keep silent? My speaking power encourages me to speak. I have complaint against Allah (sand be in my mouth).”In one verse he says:Spoiler! :
“If there is love and devotion, even KUFR (apostasy) is Musalmani (religiousness). If there is no love and devotion, even a Muslim is a KAFIR (apostate) and the damned.”
One thing is particularly interesting. He says:Spoiler! :
yeezevee