REFLECTIONS OF ALLAMAH DR. MUHAMMAD IQBAL ON PALESTINE
 Dr. M. A. K. Khalil

Introduction

Islam and the Muslim world constitute the central theme of all the works of Allamah Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. The defeat and dismemberment of the Khilāfat‑i‑Uthmānia hurt Allamah Iqbal’s heart most severely. The problem of Palestine constitutes the greatest tragedy of this century for the Muslim world. This is a festering wound which has continued in the body politic of the Muslim world till today. It constituted the greatest stress to Allamah’s heart and its evidence exists throughout his writings and lectures. As the Palestine problem is one of the most important problems of the present day Muslim world I felt it appropriate to present this topic to Muslim intelligentsia. Recently an article entitled “lqbāl awr Masa’alah‑i‑Filasṭīn” written by Maulvi Shams Tabriz Khan passed my eyes. It has been included in a book entitled, Nuqūsh‑i‑Iqbāl by Sayyid Abul Ḥasan ‘Alī Nadvī published by Majlis‑e‑Nashriyaat‑e‑Islam, Karachi, Pakistan in 1975. This book is an Urdu translation of an earlier Arabic book entitled, Rawā’i‘ Iqbāl by the same author. Though the book Rawā’i‘ Iqbāl, was written to acquaint the Arab world with the thought of Allamah lqbal it did not have any paper on Palestine. This grave omission was noticed by the translator of the book into Urdu and has been rectified by him which is a very valuable addition. An English translation of this paper is presented below for the benefit of English knowing Muslims.

Note. The material within parentheses in what follows has been inserted by me for clarification.

Translation

Iqbal had a very deep personal interest in the problem and future of Palestine and Arabs. His personal letters, particularly those to Miss Farquharson, show his heart‑felt intense dismay concerning the Palestine problem. In a letter to Mr. (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah he writes.

The Palestine problem has long kept Muslims in mental distress. The Palestinian Arabs perhaps may attain some benefit through the Muslim League. Personally, I am prepared to go to jail for any issue influencing both India and Islam. The forcible establishment of a Western military cantonment at the gateway to Asia is fraught with dangers both to Islam and India.

He writes to Miss Farquharson:[1]

The Jews also have no right over Palestine. They had bid farewell to Palestine willingly long before its occupation by Arabs. Zionism also is not a religious movement in addition to the absence of any interest among religious Jews in Zionism. The Palestine Report has brought out this fact to broad daylight.

The advice and sympathies of Iqbal with Palestine were part and parcel of every Palestine conference held in India. The Allamah made a statement against The Palestine Report in the Muslim Conference held at Lahore in which he said: [2]

The injustice meted out to Arabs has touched me intensively as it could touch any person who is conversant with the conditions prevailing in the Near East. This problem provides an opportunity to the world Muslims to declare with all the force at their command that the problem, the solution of which is the aim of the British politicians is not only the occupation of Palestine but is a problem which will lead to the creation of intense influence on the whole Islamic world. If the Palestine problem be viewed in its historical background it will be obvious that this is a problem which is purely Islamic. If viewed in the light of the history of Bani Israel, the Jewish problem in Israel had ceased to exist thirteen centuries before the entry of Hazrat Umar in Jerusalem. The forcible expulsion of Jews from Palestine never occurred (through) Muslims but, as is pointed out by Professor Hocking. Jews had spread out of Palestine voluntarily and intentionally and the larger part of their scriptures was written and organized outside Palestine. The Palestine problem was never a Christian problem. The recent historical discoveries have thrown a shroud of doubt over the existence of Peter the Hermit himself.

The most tragic result of the First World War was the infliction of severe damage on the Islamic world. On the one hand, the Islamic Khilāfah of Turkey was disorganized and on the other, the allies again freely used their old stratagem of injudicious division of the booty. Consequently, the eastern part of Turkey was given over to Russia and the western provinces of Balkan, Hungary and Bulgaria etc. were declared completely independent. Iran and Syria were given over to France and Britain occupied Egypt and Iraq. In this way the Islamic world was dismembered and distributed among imperialist European nations. As the Palestine problem had international dimensions it was placed under the guardianship of Britain “to guide it to the path of progress and civilization”. Iqbal throws light on this state of affairs and exposes the cunning stratagem of Europe. He shows how Europe first makes the weak countries the target of its tyrannies, then sheds crocodile tears over their misfortunes and shows sympathy, so as to retain its acceptability in the world of Islam in addition to attaining its own ends

All applause to your compassionate heart, as for the sake of thawāb

You have come to the funeral prayer of the one killed by your amorous glance

Europe designates this diplomacy to be a combination of discipline and guardianship but it is nothing short of blood sucking.

Iqbal has no doubts in its apparent civility
Europe is the “guarantor” of every oppressed nation
However, Syria and Palestine break my heart
Prudence fails to uncover this complex enigma
After coming out of the influence of the “unjust Turks’

These poor countries are now engulfed in “the whirlpool of civilization

Even at that time that the League of Nations (which was the predecessor of the present day United Nations) had perpetrated discriminatory treatment against Arabs and Asians which continues till today. This was due to the overpowering influence of Jews and Western countries over it. For this very reason Iqbal sometimes called the League of Nations “Dāshta‑i‑pīrak‑i‑Afrang” (a keep of the West) and sometimes presents it with the similitude of shroud thieves who wanted to designate the East as a grave yard whose graves they wanted to distribute among themselves for stealing their shrouds.

I do not know more than this that some shroud thieves)

Have formed an association for distributing the graves among themselves

Iqbal had understood the growing influence of Jews over Western politics. He had considered it inevitable that Europe would some day fall a victim to their snare of fraud.

The usurious Jews are waiting since long
To whose deceit the prowess of the tiger is no match
The West is bound to fall by itself like a ripe fruit
Let us see in whose lap the West falls

He expresses the same thought in another poem titled, “Europe and Jews”

This prematurely dying civilization is in the agony of death
The Jews will perhaps be the trustees of the Church

Since the Arab‑Israeli war of June 5, 1967 opinion has been expressed by Jews and their supporters that because Arabs had expelled Jews from their homeland Jews are not to blame if they have wrested their homeland again and that this land is the “Promised Land” where their return is inevitable, as the Zionists say.

Iqbal had responded to this to the effect that Jews had emigrated from Palestine voluntarily and that this “Diaspora” had occurred even before the Arab conquest of Palestine. Accepting this claim of Jews, Iqbal raised a pertinent but unwelcome question. This was that if Jews had their rights over Palestine why could not Arabs have their rights over Spain, Sicily and other European lands previously owned by them? This claim of Jews is equivalent to the launching of their claim by the Red Indians over North America and that of the Hun, Goth and Gaul nations over Britain or of the Aryans of India against Iran and Russia that their homelands be returned to them.

In Iqbal’s view this is an outrage and a joke on history and is a ridiculous attempt at its wilful distortion. If Jews have to be rewarded with a homeland at all this should be conferred upon them in Germany from where they have been really expelled. This new claim of Jews over Palestine after a lapse of a thousand years of its relinquishment, followed by silence about it is totally baseless and is only the result of prompting by the West.

If the Jew has the right over the land of Palestine
Why is there no right of Arabs over Spain
The object of British imperialism is something very different
It is not concerned with orange orchards or “the Land of Milk and Honey

Allamah Iqbal is aware of the conceptions and potential of Palestinian Arabs as well as with their capabilities. Consequently, he wants to stir them up for the development of Khudī and excitement to the desire of being counted, and reminds them of their spiritual elegance from which the world is still benefiting. It is well known that in Iqbal’s message of Khudī the feelings of Arabs, their Islamic sentiments, the pleasures of Īmān and Belief, spiritual potentials and a stable determination alone are the basic components. Inviting Arabs to the war of independence, after furnishing themselves with these very arms, Iqbal says beside Faith in God and in Khudī any trust in Europe and the League of Nations (or the United Nations) is nothing short of vain imagination and self-deception.

I know that your existence still has the fire
From the warmth of which the world is still benefiting
Your cure lies neither in Geneva nor in London
The jugular vein of the West is in the clutches of Jews
I have heard that freedom of nations from slavery
Lies in the development of Khudī and the joy for rising up so as to be counted

Discussion

Some discussion of “the Promised Land” in the light of Jewish history appears necessary here. For a complete understanding of the concept of “the Promised Land” and the behaviour of Jews regarding it I shall restrict myself only to the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. The teachings of the Holy Qur’an on this subject are well known to its readers and will not be included in this discussion for brevity. According to the Holy Bible God promised “the Promised Land” of Cana‘ān to Abraham and his progeny in 1900 B.C. (Genesis 12:1‑7). This land roughly corresponds to the present day Palestine and Jordan. The progeny of Abraham includes Banū Isrā’īl (Jews) as well as Banū Ismā‘īl (Arabs). So, both branches of Abraham’s progeny have equal rights to “the Promised land”. This promise is conditioned with the obligation of piety, as is general with every promise of God. From 1900 B.C. to 1000 B.C. i.e. for a period of 800 years this land was ruled by Egypt and Philistines, which gave it the name of Philistine, now anglicised to Palestine. Moses brought Banū Isrā’īl to Palestine in about 1100 B.C. after their Exodus from Egypt and wandering about in the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years. In spite of the promise of God, which should have given strength to Banū Isrā’īl they refused to face the travails of a war with Philistines (Numbers Chapters 13‑15). A summary of the history of Jews follows

721 B.C. ‑ 715 B.C. ‑ Assyrians, followed by Babylonians conquered Palestine with complete destruction of Banū Isrā’īl and their cities.

530 B.C. ‑ Return of Banū Isrā’īl to Palestine with the help of the Persian king Cyrus II.

332 B.C. ‑ Palestine conquered by Greeks under Alexander.

63 B.C. ‑ Conquest of Palestine by Romans.

135 C.E. ‑ Revolt of Banū Isrā’īl and its suppression by Romans with extremely heavy losses to Banū Isrā’īl and destruction of the Temple of Solomon.

About 650 C.E. ‑ Muslim conquest and rule arrived, which continued till the end of World War 1. in 1918.

Thus, “the promised Land” was not given to Banū Isrā’īl for a period of 800 years from 1900 B.C. to 1100 B.C. During the Exodus when Moses, on command from God, planned to invade Cana‘ān, Banū Isrā’īl flatly refused to go with him. (Numbers Chapters 13‑15).

The Muslims remained rulers in Palestine for about 1270 years which is four times longer than the rule of Banū Isrā’īl. The expulsion of Banū Isrā’īl from Palestine was completed in 715 B.C. after its conquest by Babylonia and continued off and on for about 1400 years when the Muslims arrived in 650 C.E. The emigration of Banū Isrā’īl since 715 B.C., technically known as “Diaspora”, was either due to the atrocities of Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans or occurred voluntarily in search of ‘greener pastures’ elsewhere. It was not brought about by Muslims (or Arabs). In fact Banū Isrā’īl were rehabilitated in Palestine by the Uthmanian Khalifah in the late 15^th Century and early 16^th Century, when they were expelled by the Christian kings of Spain during the infamous “Inquisition”. These disasters were not brought on to Banū Isrā’īl by Muslims but by their own backsliding from the Covenants with God on Mount Sinai after the Exodus, followed by abandoning the straight path shown to them by their own prophets and scriptures, which brought the wrath of God over them. There are innumerable references to this in the scriptures of Banū Isrā’īl, Christians and Muslims. The following is a very short list of such references in the Old and New Testaments. References in the Holy Qur’an are omitted because they are well known.

The Old Testament: Psalms 106: 34‑43:

34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them.

35. But were mingled among the heathen and learned their works.

36. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

37. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.

38. And shed innocent blood even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Cana‘ān and the land was polluted with blood.

39. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

40. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.

41. And he gave them into the hands of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them.

42. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43. Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their inequity.

Isaiah 1: 3‑5 and 21‑24, and 3:16‑26;

Chapter 1: 3. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass master’s crib: but Israel doth not know: my people doth not consider.

4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with inequity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the holy one of Israel into anger, they have gone away backward.

5. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

21. How is the faithful city become as harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

22. Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water.

23. Thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves: everyone loveth gifts and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

24. Therefore, saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge of mine enemies.

Chapter 3:16‑26

16. Moreover the LORD saith Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.

17. Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion; and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

18. 1n that day the LORD will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon.

19. The chains and the bracelets and the mufflers.

20. The bonnets and the ornaments of their legs, and the headbands and the tablets, and the earrings.

21. The rings and nose jewels.

22. The changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the wimples, and the chipping pins

23. The glasses and the fine linen, and the hoods and the Vail.

24. And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smells there shall be stink; and instead of girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girdling of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

25, Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

26. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit on the ground.

Jeremiah, Chapter 3:

6. The LORD also said unto me in the days of Joshua the king. Hast thou seen that backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there had played the harlot.

7. And I said after she had done all those things, Turn thou unto me But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away and had given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

9. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

St. Mathew, Chapter 23:

35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah son of Batrachia, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36. Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37. 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that calloused the prophets, and steepest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

38. Behold your house is left unto you desolate.

Notes and References