Mubashir Iqbal Kitaba
POETRY par excellence is always the outcome of a serious and unrelenting conflict between poet’s personality and surrounding circumstances. A genuine poet, like a genuine leader and teacher is one who can change the circumstances around as well as his society by changing their thinking, outlook, leaving deep impression in their minds, awakens them, inspires them, gives them hope when they feel disappointed through his acts and philosophical writings. The art of poetry without beautiful and high thought makes no poetry. For a poet, who is at the same time philosopher and thinker the problem of fulfilling demands of art becomes all the more difficult to make the philosophy sign in an enormously arduous job. Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal (RA) has succeeded in doing so in a very well manner and language. Without a strong conviction, passion, dedication and honesty a poet can never conquer his milieu. In this sense Iqbal (RA) was a great conqueror. In the poetry of Iqbal (RA) we found a very beautiful view of life which is free from all types of hatred. To live was to conquer. He makes others see and feel what he himself saw and felt.
Iqbal (RA) was a great poet, philosopher, thinker, statesman, teacher of a very high and distinguished quality. His intellectual ability and performance was not just meant to find solutions of any one particular race or community but to the whole of humanity. Iqbal (RA) was well aware of the circumstances of both the East as well as of West as he was born and brought up in the east and got his higher education in the West. He was a scholar par excellence who spoke his heart and mind through his poetry, speeches and philosophical writings which continue to illuminate people across the globe. Iqbal (RA) was born in the year 1877, Friday 9 November in Sialkot (now) Pakistan. His ancestors hailed from Kashmir. His grandfather, Sheikh Muhammad Rafiq, had migrated from his ancestral village in Kashmir and settled in Sialkot along with his three brothers. The memory and love of Kashmir was never erased from his soul and mind. To shed light on Iqbal’s personality, Syed Abu Hassan Nadvi said that there are five traits which make Iqbal’s life the living legend even after his death. He says that the first one is Iqbal’s firm belief in the oneness of Almighty Allah and love for Prophet (SAW). The second one which shapes Iqbal’s personality and thinking is the glorious Holy Quran which today is in every home and house but unfortunately today we do not enlighten our souls and minds with its divine revaluations. The trait is Iqbal’s inner devotation towards Almighty Allah, to ask help only from Almighty. The fourth one is self (Khudi). And the fifth one the study of Maswani of Rumi (RA). Dr Razi-u-Din said that Iqbal’s poetry is the explanation (Tashreeh) of the Holy Quran in Urdu and Persian.
The father of Alama Iqbal (RA) was a devout Muslim, a Dervish by temperament with attractive white beard and an impressive tall figure. It was Iqbal’s daily routine that he recited the verses from the Holy Quran early in the morning. His father once told him to recite the verses with its meaning and imagine that these verses are revealed upon you. This later on puts great impact on Iqbal’s mind and thinking. Abu Ala Modudi (RA) said about Iqbal that whatever Iqbal (RA) thinks, he thinks in the light of Quran, whatever he sees, he sees it in the light of Quran. He goes to the extent and said that we found Iqbal (RA) leader of Mufasereens of the past four hundred years. Iqbal (RA) gave us the concept of khudi (self) which has deep philosophical meanings. Iqbal makes clear the reality of life in terms of will and action. According to his philosophy of khudi man is the supreme creation of Almighty Allah, therefore, we must realize our inherent abilities, power, responsibilities, duty, role and possibilities for the progress of society and for the perfection of one’s own personality. He stresses that one should use his heart and mind to understand the supernatural forces which are hidden inside one’s heart. He was against all kinds of slavery, blind imitation, aimlessness both in action and thought. The father of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (RA) Sheikh Noor Mohammad had seen a dream before Iqbal’s birth which he used to narrate to his friends in the latter part of his life. In that dream he saw a big crowd gathering in a very large field. A beautiful coloured bird was flying over our heads and every one tried to catch him, but no one succeeded. At last it came down and flew right into my hand. His dream, turned into reality by emergence of Iqbal (RA) as a poet, philosopher and thinker of international repute by virtue of his dedicated service to humanity and Islam.
— The writer is PhD Research Scholar, Srinagar Kashmir.
