Background
Iqbal, Muhammad was born in 1876 in Siaikot, India.
interpreter philosopher politician poet
Iqbal, Muhammad was born in 1876 in Siaikot, India.
Government College, Lahore, then at Cambridge University, completing his doctorate at Munich.
Barrister in London; teacher at Government College, Lahore. Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.
Muhammad Iqbal played a significant part in developing for Muslims an understanding of their role in the modern world, a role which appeared to many to be one of decline. He listed three reasons for this decline. The first is an excessive concern with mysticism, which he identified with a turning away from contemporary practical and political life. Then there is the loss of the inductive spririt. The essence of Islam lies in its concentration upon the concrete and the finite, and so long as Islamic science concentrated upon empirical investigation it was successful. Once it abandoned this approach and incorporated the deductive spirit of Greek thought it became static and fell behind European intellectual activity. Finally, the scope for Islam to react to new circumstances and situations had been stultified by the authority of religious law. Islam as a system had become rigid and inelastic, quite out of keeping with the basic principles of the religion which are based upon change and adaptation. What is required, he held, is a philosophy which is capable of restoring dynamism to the religion, the sort of dynamism which is found in the thought of Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207 73) and Henri Bergson (1849-1941). In fact Islam is an essentially dynamic faith, with the emphasis upon actions rather than ideas, and for the religion to be revived it is necessary to reconstruct it along these more appropriate and authentic lines. Iqbal was attracted to the process philosophers who saw change as the fundamental characteristic of reality, and the universe as unfinished and in need of continual effort to make progress. In line with this approach he does not claim any finality to his particular conclusions, but sees them as part of the process of improvement and emancipation which is so important in the revivification of Islam. Not everything needs to be changed, but what is to remain should not be regarded as rigid or sterile, a mere stubborn rejection of the pressure of other religions and imperial powers. He outlined hts thinking using the approach of Hegel and Fichte. God is the supreme self, and human beings attain the highest realms of self of which finite creatures are capable. The world contains a vast variety of different kinds of personalities, which exist in a kind of hierarchy, but the individual self requires the appropriate social environment in which to develop. There is little to be gained by isolation, and it is through participation in society that the self can apprehend and create a notion of purpose in an individual’s life. The self in Iqbal’s thought is the whole of the individual’s personality which is receiving and dealing with messages and also responding creatively to them. The construction of the personality is not carried out entirely through the understanding of ideas, but also through continuous practical action. We are free to choose and act, and we can create by directing ourselves to the evolution of moral values through our practice. Movement in history works towards a future which has to be created: there is no point m passively harking back to a distant past. As a Bergsonian. Iqbal propounded a vitalistic theory in which ultimate reality is neither menta nor physical, but rather a continuous and constantly creative form of activity. Since God is the ultimate reality he is constantly active and creative, and the universe is in a state of everlasting change. As the representatives of God on earth we are provided with infinite responsibilities and possibilities which we must utilize by creating through our efforts a new and better world an fighting against the forces of evil which confront us. The Qur’an emphasizes the ontological reality of change and movement. Existence is life in time, and it is only if we grasp this basic fact about ourselves that we shall be able to orient ourselves properly. In his political thought Iqbal rejects both capitalism and communism and suggests that Islam represents the ideal state. Such a state has not existed in the past and is not to be identified with any particular region or ethnic group. In such a state the human viceregency of God would be actualized and would acknowledge that the ownership of wealth rests with God, with the 'replication that our duty is to produce wealth for the benefit of all humanity. Given the absence of the right conditions for such an ideal state, Iqbal agreed with Jinnah on the necessity of the creation of an independent Islamic state such as Pakistan was to be. Iqbal managed to combine action and thought in his own life in the sort of way suggested by his philosophy, and he has come t0 have considerable influence throughout the Islamic world. In part this is due to the attractive and dramatic style in which he wrote, frequently Poetically, in Urdu, Persian and English. His attempt at combining traditional Islamic philosophy with modern European thought produces an interesting and exciting amalgam of ideas, and the emphasis upon practice helps to make his thought more accessible than it might otherwise have become had it been entirely theoretical. His Poetry in particular has had a wide effect on those who would not normally respond to philosophy. His connection with the campaign for Pakistan, and his description of the malaise of contemporary Islamic thought, has struck a deep chord throughout the Islamic world, and has continued t° be much respected and discussed.