THE PHILOSOPHY OF IQBAL
ITS NATURE AND IMPORTANCE
Dr. Mohammad Rafiuddin
All that Iqbal has presented as a thinker has its roots in one concept alone to which he has given the name of Khudi or 'Self'. All the philosophical ideas of Iqbal are derived from, and rationally and scientifically related to, this one concept, the concept of 'Self'. This means not only that all his ideas are rationally and intellectually inter-related but also that they constitute a system of thought, each concept whereof is intellectually supported and strengthened by the rest. Therefore, obviously enough, we cannot appreciate any single idea of Iqbal unless and until we have a full appreciation of the concept of 'Self' which is the central idea of his system of thought. And vice versa, unless we understand each one of- his various concepts which, according to him, are no more than the ramifications and implications of the basic concept of 'Self' a proper appreciation of the basic concept of 'Self' itself would be impossible. Thus, for a proper appreciation of the philosophy of Iqbal, it is necessary that instead of trying to study his ideas piecemeal, we should treat the sum-total of his ideas as an organic whole.
Now, if each one of Iqbal's ideas is just a. part or a -constituent of the entire system of his thought which, in its turn, provides an exposition and explanation of each one of his ideas, then a proper understanding of any single idea is possible only by treating it as a part of this entire system and not as an isolated and separate idea. Similarly, no adequate understanding of any of his ideas would be possible if even a single aspect of that unified-thought-system is ignored or brushed aside as irrelevant and unimportant. Any estimate of any of Iqbal's ideas, which is not formed in the light of his entire system of thought and in the context of the rest of his ideas, would turn out to be anything but Iqbal's concept. That could very well be our own pet concept, but certainly not Iqbal's. Iqbal's concept could be only that which the whole and not a part of his system of thought determines and defines. If we isolate a concept from the thought-system of which it is a constituent part, it is bound to become as lifeless as a limb torn away from an animal organism. This principle is the key to the understanding of Iqbal. If students of, and writers on Iqbal, — Muslims as well as non-Muslims — are suffering from a number of misconceptions about Iqbal or if acrimonious controversies, are raging around him or if attempts are being made to exploit Iqbal in order that each one could find support for his own ideas, it is all very largely because this principle has been ignored.
But the question is: What is the nature of Philosophy itself? And why do we need it? Moreover, why is it that Iqbal's thought takes the shape of a system of philosophy? Why is it that Iqbal has based all his ideas on a single idea? Was this attitude essential, or is it merely incidental? We could have easily set these questions aside, but for the fact that for a proper understanding of Iqbal's thought these questions must need be raised and answered.
Ever since man reached the level of self-consciousness, he has been persistently endeavouring to discover the reality of the universe in which he finds himself present all so suddenly. This is so because unless man discovers the reality of the universe he remains unware of his own reality and of the nature of his relationship with the universe. Hence, the discovery of the universe is an essential step towards self-discovery, for man is himself an important part of the universe. He is keen to find out the reality about himself so as to be able to determine the supreme goal of his life which is a necessary basis for a proper type of conduct that might lead him to the best possible results in this life or in the next (if such a life does really exist). He knows that if he succeeds in finding out satisfactory answers to the questions which arise regarding the universe, he will also succeed in finding out satisfactory answers to questions concerning himself. And in the light of these answers, he will be able to find correct solutions to all his problems and to put his life to good use. It is because of this that one tries, with the utmost care, to fashion his practical life in the light of the idea he forms regarding the ultimate reality of the universe. In other words, the search for the reality of the universe is not an intellectual diversion, nor is it merely an issue of a theoretical or academic significance. It is a serious question of tremendous practical import, a question so profoundly practical that it determines the minutest details of one's day-to-day life.
It is erroneous to think that concepts or ideas relating to the reality of the universe are peculiar to philosophers and thinkers. The fact is that there has never been, and there can never be, any mentally sound and healthy human being, whether learned or otherwise, who has had no conception of the reality of the universe, good or bad, right or wrong, scientific or unscientific, elaborate or brief, coherent or incoherent. What goes to distinguish philosophers and thinkers from the non-philosophers is that the former are possessed of comparatively greater intelligence and better acumen than the latter and are, by their aptitude and temperament, more efficient and more capable of reflecting on the reality of the universe, of understanding it themselves and of explaining it to others. Quite as some people engage themselves in producing foodstuffs or cloth, or in providing for other similar needs of human beings, philosophers and thinkers keep themselves occupied with providing for the greatest intellectual and spiritual need of human beings namely a correct idea of the reality of the universe. They endeavour to see that their own idea, as well as that of others, concerning the real nature of the universe be the most correct one in order that they may be enabled to fashion their practical life in the most correct manner. But the need for an idea concerning the real nature of the universe is so pressing and immediate that people never wait for the results of the search and inquiry of philosophers which might be available at some future date. What they actually do is to accept and own one of the current ideas of Reality that appears to them to be the most satisfactory of all, make it the basis of their own practical conduct, and bequeathe the same to their offspring. And if the offspring is later on impressed with another idea of Reality presented by some philosopher, it re-orientates its outlook and practical life accordingly. Most of the revolutions in human history are the products of the ideas of philosophers, thinkers and sages.
Philosophers and thinkers have been born in every age and those born in later times have always tried to reform and improve upon the ideas of their predecessors. Thus their differences and disagreements constitute a continuing and unending process. Although they have so far failed to present any adequate conception of the real nature of the universe, they have always believed, on the basis of a mysterious intuitive prompting, that the universe is a harmonious whole or unity. In other words, the universe, considered as a space-time entity, is not divided into separate sectors ruled by conflicting laws of nature. The laws of the universe are universal and eternal. They are the same for all times and climes. This belief in the unity of the universe has been the axiomatic common denominator of all thinkers, philosophers and scientists, whether idealists, materialists, or realists. Although no great philosopher or scientist ever demands evidence or argument to support this belief and each one of them simply assumes it as the axiomatic postulate of his thought, one may ask what argument in its favour could be more cogent and convincing than the fact that so far it has not proved erroneous ? Behind all the advances in the realms of science and philosophy lies this idea of the unity of the universe and all these advances, in fact, only go to corroborate it. The fact of the matter is that if the seekers after truth had not proceeded with the assumption or belief that the universe is a unity, and if the assumption had been wrong, the existence of both science and philosophy would have been rendered impossible. It is this very belief that impels the philosopher and the scientist, to proceed with inquiries and researches in their respective domains and it is only on verification from this belief that they feel satisfied in regard to their conclusions and proceed further. It is obvious that if the philosopher or the scientist were ever to feel that the scientific fact discovered by him is one of a merely transient and local validity and that there do exist, or might come to exist in future, several parallel and alternative scientific truths, he will simply abandon the result of his inquiry as worthless.
Now, for a thinker with religious inclinations, the concept of the basic unity of the universe is a sine qua non, because he is convinced that the Creator of the universe is one and that it is His purpose which is being fulfilled throughout the entire universe. Similarly, the philosophical attitude of an idealist too demands the same sort of faith in the unity of the universe. What, however, is particularly significant is the fact that even materialist thinkers cannot afford to do away with this conviction.
This axiomatic truth that the universe is a unity leads us to a number of conclusions:
Firstly, that unity in plurality is impossible without some sort of order; and order being unthinkable without a central principle, there must needs be some concept which should constitute the principle of the unity of the universe, a principle to serve as the bond that unifies the plurality of the universe into a single whole.
Secondly, that the principle of the unity of the universe should be the Ultimate and Fundamental Reality of the Universe of which all the other facts of the world should be mere phenomena. For, if they are not its phenomena, the ultimate reality would not be able to give them unity and order nor would such facts themselves, because of the inherent conflicts in their nature, admit of any order or unity.
Thirdly, that the unity of the universe should be rationally comprehensible. Therefore, it is necessary that all the facts of the universe should be bound rationally to the fundamental reality of the universe as also to each other and this bond or relationship should render them into a chain, the first and the last link whereof must be the same Ultimate Reality; and further, that every link of this chain should lead to the next. It is this sort of chain of facts which is designated by the philosophers as a "Philosophical System."
Fourthly, that if we undertake to explain the cause underlying any of the facts of the world, that explanation itself, while explaining that particular fact would bring out a number of questions seeking answer. Then the answer to these questions would generate further questions and this would go on. If the universe were to be taken as a
unity then it would be necessary that the ultimate answer to these questions, coming up one after another, and the ultimate explanation in respect of each fact, must be no other than the nature of that reality which is the reality of all realities.
Fifthly, that while thousands of ideas in respect to the principle of unity or the reality of the universe could be entertained, there could be only one idea and not two or more, which would be the correct one or else the unity of the universe would vanish. It is necessary that all the genuine facts of the universe are scientifically and rationally related to that idea alone and not to any wrong idea of the reality of the universe. Furthermore, whenever the correct philosophical system regarding the universe emerges, its fundamental or pivotal point must necessarily be this very correct idea of Reality.
Should there remain even a single scientific fact which is out of tune with a philosophical system it would only mean that that particular system is based on some wrong concept of Reality. Similarly, if a scientific fact which is considered to be so, is not in harmony with a philosophical system based on a correct idea of Reality, it would mean that such a scientific fact would not conform to the true standards of science and reason and would not be a true scientific fact at all. Wrong ideas cannot find place in a correct philosophical system and, vice versa, correct ideas cannot fit into the framework of a wrong philosophical system. A correct philosophical system, however, has the capability, in every age, to assimilate all correct ideas and concepts and herein lies the test of its soundness.
Sixthly, that the unity of the universe implies the existence of a rational system and organization in the facts of the universe and this creates an affinity between all the known and the unknown facts and enables us to go on discovering the hitherto unknown facts with the help of the known facts until all the facts of the universe, in their rationally systematized form, are grasped by us. Scientists and philosophers are both engaged in this task and, as a result of their efforts, the number of known facts is increasing day after day. With the increase in their number, their scientific relevance to the one true idea of the reality of the universe will increase and correspondingly their relevance to all the false ideas of the reality of the universe will decline. Then, with the help of our intuition, we shall be able to state as to which of the ideas of the reality of the universe is in harmony with these facts and which of them is not. Thus we shall be able to approach the true idea of the reality of the universe and come closer to the true philosophical system based on this idea.
Seventhly, that in the initial stage of its emergence, the range of this true philosophical system will, of necessity, be limited. Subsequently, as the quantity of known facts increases and is assimilated by that system, the system will move towards greater degree of perfection — a process which will continue till eternity. As a result of the support that it will receive from the ever new discovered scientific facts, the system will become more and more elaborate, systematic and rational and in proportion to this development, all false philosophical systems will go on losing their rational support until the entire intellectual world will be forced to acknowledge that this system alone is correct and satisfactory. After the emergence of this philosophical system, all new advancements in the various branches of human knowledge will perforce support this system or else they will not prove to be any advancements at all.
Now, the question is: does the unity of the universe stem from the fact that the universe really has a Creator and He is One and One alone? Is it that the unconscious, intuitive belief of man in the unity of the universe stems from the urge of human nature to acknowledge some being as the creator of the universe and that the Creator be One alone? It is not intended here to furnish any detailed answer to these questions. It would be pertinent, however, to point out in passing that the Holy Qur'an has stressed the unity of the universe as one of the proofs of the fact that this universe has One and only One Creator. Says that Book of All Time:
"No discordance wilt thou see in the creation of the Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again. Seest thou any flaw? Again turn thy vision a second time: thy vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out."
(Holy Qur'an , lxvii:3-4) "
Say: Do ye see what it is ye invoke besides God?
Show me what it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens ?"
(Holy Qur'an, xlvi:4)
In other words, had there been any partner of God in the creation of the universe, there must have been some manifestation of his creation somewhere on the earth or in the heavens where a different set of laws should have been in operation. It is obvious that in reply to the above question of the Holy Qur'an the disbelievers coud not point out, with any degree of reasonableness, to any part of this universe and say: "This is the creation of the sharer in creation in whom we believe". When the same laws of matter are in operation throughout the universe, how can it be claimed that the creator of a certain part of the universe is not the same as the Creator of the rest of it?
Like other philosophers, lqbal too considers the universe to be a unity despite its rich variety and diversity. Says he:
زمانہ ایک، حیات ایک، کائنات بھی ایک
دلیل کم نظری قصۂ قدیم و جدید
(Time is one, Life is one and the Universe is one;
It is the height of folly, this talk of old and new.)
It is because of this that the philosophy of Iqbal is a system of thought as is that of any other philosopher. There is, however, one basic difference between Iqbal and the other philosophers. This difference lies in the fact that, according to Iqbal, the principle of the unity of the universe, or the reality of the universe, which transforms this variety into a unity is God with all His attributes as embodied in the teachings of the last of the prophets (peace be upon him). On the other hand, the philosophers have fancied quite different ideas of the reality of the universe. God being the principle which unities the whole of the universe, the true lover of God accommodates the entire universe in his heart. Human self is a unity, but its external manifestations are numerous. It is hidden but its actions are manifest. In the same way, the Divine Being is One but He has manifested Himself in the variety of the universe. The Divine Self is hidden but the creation of the universe has made Him manifest. And it is this reality which leads to the unravelling of the secrets of the universe:
ایں پستی و بالائی، ایں گنبد مینائی
گنجد بہ دل عاشق با ایں ہمہ پہنائی
اسرار ازل جوئی بر خود نظرے وا کن
یکتائی و بسیاری، پنہانی و پیدائی
(This depth, this altitude, and the heavens: all these, with their vastness, are absorbed by the heart of the lover.
O thou who seekest the secrets of eternity ! cast a glance at thyself; thou art one and thou art many, thou art manifest and thou art hidden.)
I have mentioned above the term "scientific fact"! For an elucidation of this term it is essential to point out that not only is the whole of the universe, but every part of it that we comprehend or can comprehend, is a unity; at least we can comprehend it only as a unity and in no other way. Were it not a unity, we would not be able to comprehend it, and it would be absolutely meaningless for us. A number of minor unities go to form a bigger unity and then these unities form a still bigger unity, and so on, until we come to the biggest unity, the universe itself. None of these bigger unities is merely a conglomeration of small unities. It is to be found in the form of a whole which is always greater than its constituent elements put together and which cannot be comprehended merely by taking the sum-total of its elements. For instance, an animal organism is not merely the sum-total of certain organs. To cite another example, the charm of a beautiful piece of art does not depend on its different parts; it emanates from the whole of that piece of art and from inexpressibly mysterious integration of its parts. The innate capacity of man to comprehend a unity is known as intuition. The intuition of a unity assumes the form of a feeling or belief. Our knowledge is organised merely out of our intuitive concepts or beliefs and its validity or otherwise depends wholly on the validity or otherwise of these beliefs.
It is generally understood that we comprehend also by means of our senses and our intellect, and that in his quest for truth the scientist largely depends upon the senses while the philosopher depends upon the intellect. But, as a matter of fact, both the senses and the intellect are there to assist our intuition. They neither comprehend, nor are they capable of comprehending unities. It is intuition which comprehends them with the help of the two. True that intuition is liable to error also. It should be borne in mind, nevertheless, that intuition alone is capable of a comprehension which is free from error. Hence, as seekers after truth and as men of normal understanding, intuition is simply indispensable for us.
In front of the place where I am sitting, there is hanging a coloured carpet on a wall. But this statement is based on an intuitive inference. I do not perceive the carpet; I merely perceive a colour quality which would be something meaningless without the intervention of my intuition. If I were to say that I have seen or perceived the carpet with my own eyes, this would be an incorrect statement. It is quite possible that my inference, that the said object is a carpet, might prove to be quite wrong and it might turn out to be merely a painting on the wall. Even though I have fully reflected upon the unity which I call the carpet and have used my intellect to discover the relationship between all the minor unities which go to compose this unity, and although my intuition has finally inferred that these unities can blend to make nothing else than a carpet, the possibility of error is undoubtedly there. Even when senses are functioning quite normally, we do frequently fall a prey to erroneous intuitive inferences. The same is true of all my sense-experiences whether they are due to seeing, or hearing, or tasting, or touching, or smelling. None of these experiences can come into being without my intuition and except in the form of a unity. The Holy Qur'an also points towards the same reality:
"She (the Queen) was asked to enter the lofty palace: but when she saw it, she thought it was a lake of water, and she (tucking up her skirts) uncovered her shins. He said: 'This is but a palace paved smooth with slabs of glass.' She said: '0 my Lord' ! I have indeed wronged my soul: I do (now) submit (in Islam), with Solomon, to the Lord of the worlds."'
(Holy Qur'an, xxvii: 44)
The summons of prophet Solomon to believe in the Lord of the worlds had already been conveyed to the Queen. The Queen saw that it was not unlikely that in the same manner as she had erroneously been mistaking the glass for water, she might also be comitting an error of judgement in respect of her real object of worship and might be quite wrong in considering the Sun to be her deity. Hence she at once announced that she had accepted the true creed.
The purpose of this anecdote is to stress that prophethood is a Divine provision to prevent human intuition from falling into error in respect of essential matters.
The function of what we term as reason or intellect is merely to discover the inter-relationship obtaining among the unities which have been discovered by intuition. Hence it moves from one unity to the other, from the second to the third, from the third to the fourth and so on and tries to find their mutual relationship, so that our intuition may be able to comprehend a bigger unity of which some of these unities may be parts. It merely reflects on the parts of a whole; it cannot comprehend the whole as such. It is none of its functions to comprehend a unity. By the time our intuition grasps a certain unity, the intellect has parted company with it although we are quite unaware of it. Intellect shows us the way towards our goal: it does not reach the goal itself. To reach the goal is the function of intuition alone:
گزر جا عقل سے آگے کہ یہ نور
چراغ راہ ہے منزل نہیں ہے
(Go ahead, leaving intellect behind, for this light is merely a road-lamp, not the destination.)
خرد سے راہ رو روشن بصر ہے
خرد کیا ہے چراغ رہ گزر ہے
درون خانہ ہنگامے ہیں کیا کیا
چراغ رہ گذر کو کیا خبر ہے
(Intellect provides light to the eyes of the wayfarer.
What is intellect? No more than the road-lamp.
The tumult that goes on inside the house, how can the road-lamp be aware of it?)
As soon as we cross the limit of investigating the inter-relationship between unities and begin to have the feeling of the unity of a certain unity, or as soon as we begin to feel that we have acquired a certain knowledge, or that we have known something, the functioning of our intellect comes to an end, and that of our intuition begins.
The emergence of Behaviourism, Logical Positivism and other similar superficial philosophies which are growing like mushrooms in this age of world-wide decline of philosophy, is merely due to the fact that their proponents and advocates have not been able to grasp the intuitive basis of sense-experience. If we were to reflect upon the attributes and characteristics of the 'Self', the standpoint of Iqbal concerning the natures of, and inter-relationships between, sense, intellect and intuition becomes all the more clear and it becomes quite plain as to why he has designated intuition with such other appellations also as love, or (love's) madness, or insight.
زمانہ عقل کو سمجھا ہوا ہے مشعل راہ
کسے خبر کہ جنوں خود ہے صاحب ادراک
خرد کے پاس خبر کے سوا کچھ اور نہیں
ترا علاج نظر کے سوا کچھ اور نہیں
(The world regards intellect as the road-lamp.
Who knows that (love's) madness itself has the gnosis of Reality.
Intellect has nothing but information.
The remedy of thy ailment is nothing else than insight.)
سپاہ تازہ برانگیزم از ولایت عشق
کہ در حرم خطرے از بغاوت خرد است
زمانہ ہیچ نداند حقیقت او را
جنوں قباست کہ موزوں بقامت خرد است
(Fresh forces am I raising from the realm of love,
For the Harem is menaced by the revolt of the intellect.
Little does this age know the reality of (love's) madness:
It is the garment which fits the intellect perfectly.)
When the scientist has known a certain number of observed facts (which are really given their shape by our intuition) he feels the necessity of an assumption, or a theory, or an intuitive or credal concept in order to explain these observed facts. To put it differently, in order to synthesize or organize these facts, or to give them the form of a unity, he invents an intuitive hypothesis. If this hypothesis does really offer a rational explanation of all those acts, i.e., if it proves capable of organizing and ordering them into a unity, then such a hypothesis has to be reckoned as much of a scientific fact as any other scientific fact which is regarded by the scientist as `observed', even though this fact might not have been subjected to his observation in the usual sense. The reason is that in such a case no other hypothesis is capable of explaining these facts and replacing this hypothesis. In other words, the scientist has to believe in the existence of something unobserved on the ground of its effects and consequences. The same is known as a belief in the 'Unseen' which is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an in the following words:
"Those who believe in the Unseen."
(Holy Qur'an, ii-3)
Not the scientists alone but, in fact, all of us do make assumptions and create hypotheses in our daily life, that is, we frequently resort to belief in the unseen in regard to many a concept, for instance, when I say that 'The Sun will rise tomorrow' or that 'My friend is a nice man', etc. And it is mostly on these beliefs in the unseen that our practical life is based. Every fact that we believe in is originally a hypothesis and, subsequently, the discovery of newer data goes to strengthen this hypothesis and it goes on assuming the shape of a `fact' for us so much so that our faith in it becomes unshakable, If a hypothesis is not vindicated and corroborated by the facts that we discover subsequently, we abandon the hypothesis as erroneous.
The 'atom' provides a fine example of the scientist's belief in the unseen. Although we have known a lot about the nature of the atom, the atom itself has hitherto remained 'unseen' in the normally-understood sense of the term. The 'atom' was postulates centuries back only as a hypothesis; but the experiences we have had of its effects and consequences that is of the unities which have been rendered into a new unity by means of the intuitive concept of the 'atom' have now established it as an undeniable fact. And the knowledge of this fact is so patently effective and meaningful as to have enabled man to reduce Hiroshima and Nagasaki to ashes quite in a moment. The scientist cannot afford to treat the hypothesis or the assumption by means of which his "observed facts" are explained and ordered as a less scientific fact in comparison with these "observed facts". He cannot contend that while the `observed facts' constitute science, the hypothesis which explains these facts is not 'science'. And quite often this hypothesis is of more use to him than these detached 'observed facts' in so far as it is this hypothesis which furnishes him with the basis for proceeding with and continuing his scientific inquiry and research as also for grasping and comprehending the ever-new observed facts. But for this hypothesis his observed facts too would be of little significance.
The need of forming intuitive assumptions felt by the scientist is also due to and fact that a number of minor unities go to make a major one and we are forced by the nature of the universe, as also by our own nature, to know and comprehend facts as unities. This compelling feature of our nature will force the scientist sooner or later to a stage where the facts discovered by him will be explained only by an assumption or intuitive and credal concept, which synthesizes and integrates the facts of the entire universe. And when even the scientist will explain the facts of the universe by such an assumption or hypothesis, it will matter little whether we call him a scientist or a philosopher. For, the philosopher also explains the facts of the universe with the help of some universal intuitive concept. What the scientist does to-day on a minor scale, and what he will have to do on a major scale tomorrow, is already being done on a major scale by the philosopher. The philosopher essentially explains the facts made available to us at a particular time by the scientist, with the help of a universal intuitive concept or hypothesis! whether spiritual or materialistic which in his view, integrates the facts of the universe into a unity.
It is thus sufficiently clear that there is essentially no difference between a philosopher and a scientist. Both operate in the same sphere of knowledge and both depend for their knowledge and investigation on one and the same human capacity, intuition. Science, in its higher stages, has got to become a philosophy, for unless it becomes a philosophy, it must lose all meaning.
We know that there are three realms of creation: the material world, the animal world and the human world. Corresponding to these are three major categories of science: Physics, Biology and Psychology. The discoveries of Physics in the present century have forced the physicists to make the intuitive assumption that the ultimate reality of the universe is consciousness. They have been forced to come to this conclusion because the hypothesis to which they had stuck so far, viz., that the ultimate reality of the universe is matter, has failed to explain the new discoveries in the realm of Physics. To explain this new theory physicists of no less a stature than Eddington and James Jeans have written books which, although evidently books of Physics, are at the same time books of Philosophy as well. In the same way, the biological facts discovered during the course of this century have forced the biologists to the conclusion that the ultimate reality of the universe is consciousness and not matter. It is significant that the book written by J.S. Haldane to elucidate this theory is entitled, "The Philosophy of Biology" thus asserting that Biology now needs a philosophy to explain itself. The facts newly discovered in the realm of Psychology also corroborate the same viewpoint. The facts brought into light by these sciences, however, are neither available in such a quantity, nor are they of such a nature as to enable the experts of these sciences to determine the attributes of that consciousness, which, in their view, is the Ultimate Reality of the Universe. It is nevertheless gratifying for the intellectual and ideological future of mankind that the experts on Physics, Biology and Psychology are all proceeding towards a point of agreement on
the basic ideas of the reality of the universe. Changes in concepts of philosophers and scientists are useful as well as essential for they move towards truth through a process of trial and error. When new scientific facts are discovered and some old idea, which had previously been regarded as adequate to explain the previously available quantum of knowledge, is found to be inadequate to explain the new scientific facts, scientists and philosophers are forced to replace it by a new idea which would satisfactorily explain the entire stock of human knowledge, both old and new. This process of change of ideas is bound to lead us ultimately to a universal idea, essentially sound and true and capable of satisfactorily explaining the scientific facts regarding the whole of the universe.
It is generally presumed that while trying to interpret the universe rationally, a philosopher arrives at his conclusions by a process of pure logical reasoning, and does not allow his own feelings or sentiments to interfere with this process in the least. But this is a false view of the process of reasoning. What actually happens is that, in the light of the facts of the universe known to him, he forms an intuitive concept concerning the reality of the universe and then he employs logical argumentation in order to give a rational and scientific explanation of this concept, or to put it differently, in order to show that it is this concept which is the principle of unity of the universe and organises and integrates all the known scientific facts. The conclusion of the philosopher is not the outcome of his reasoning. On the contrary, his reasoning is the outcome of his conclusion. He knows his conclusion well in advance and orientates his reasoning with all his mental capacity and eloquence in that direction. No philosopher, whether big or small, can possibly deviate from this principle. If his primary assumption about the reality of the universe is wrong, it only means that the very foundation stone of his thought structure has been laid erroneously, and in such a case naturally, all his reasoning will be false, i.e., it will be full Of_ logical discrepancies. In order to maintain the force of his argument, he will be compelled sometimes to ignore, at other times to misinterpret many a true scientific fact which might be capable of showing the weaknesses inherent in his erroneous concept of the reality of the universe. Sometimes he will endeavour to undermine the importance of such facts to such a degree that they would no longer appear to challenge his concept of reality. On other occasions he will be forced to incorporate into his reasoning and argumentation wrong scientific facts (that is, scientific facts which have not been finally authenticated), simply because they support his viewpoint. He will magnify the importance of these facts to such an extent as to make them appear to be the key to a knowledge of the reality of the universe and so on. But if a philosopher's primary assumption regarding the reality of the universe is sound, and if his understanding of the scientific facts of the universe discovered upto his time is a thc rough one, his reasoning will be correct and these facts will be duly accommodated into his philosophical system; rather he will look for these facts wherever they might be found and will incorporate them in that system, for they will be in harmony only with his concept of reality and will be of use only to him. If he has to modify some scientific facts which are generally regarded as scientific facts, in order to maintain the force of his argument, this modification will be of such a nature that the shortcomings and errors of these facts will be removed and if some of them are ignored, they will indeed merit being ignored. In certain other cases if the importance of some of them is reduced, then it will be merely because they will be worthy of this diminished importance. Likewise, if he incorporates certain hypotheses in his system of thought, it will be proved sooner or later that they were not just hypotheses, but true scientific facts according to all rational and scientific standards. In this way the soundness of a man's perception of the Reality of the universe will lead to the soundness of the whole of his philosophical system. It will also lead to the rectification of some of those so-called scientific facts the falsity of which has remained undemonstrated. It will even spur the discoverer of new and true scientific facts to move ahead. Thus knowledge, aided by the true concept of reality, proceeds onwards smashing its own idols, towards its natural destination of truth. Iqbal points to this when he says:
وہ علم اپنے بتوں کا ہے آپ ابراہیم
کیا ہے جس کو خدا نے دل و نظر کا ندیم
وہ علم کم بصری جس سے ہم کنار نہیں
تجلیات کلیم و مشاہدات حکیم
(Knowledge which is intimate with the heart and the intuition,
is Abraham for its own idols.
Knowledge in which the illuminating vision of Moses is not
accompanied by the "Observed facts" of the scientist is sheer lack of sight.)
It is not only that when a philosopher writes his philosophy of the concept of reality he cannot detach himself from his emotions. The fact is that all his emotions are centred round the concept of reality which he is trying to expound and interpret. He is simply in love with that concept, whether it is material or spiritual. This is an admitted fact for, as I have said earlier, a person's concept of the reality of the universe is the moving force of his life and a philosopher is no exception to this. In fact, it is under the pressure of this force that he writes the whole of his philosophy and wants his concept of reality to be accepted everywhere so that people may pattern their lives after the mould that he chooses for them so that they may be able to reap the gains and avoid the losses which, in his view, are gains and losses — a purpose for which he considers his philosophy to be indispensable. Philosophy, like poetry, is the expression of one's love. When a philosopher feels like popularising his 'love', he does not talk with the people in a simple, direct manner. On the contrary, he explains to them how his concept of reality is relevant to all scientific facts and he knows that this method of expression will not prove ineffective. For, he is unconsciously aware that human nature yearns for a concept of reality which can, and actually does, _rganize and integrate all the scattered facts of the universe into a unity. Iqbal has expressed this as follows:
فلسفہ و سعر کی اور حقیقت ہے کیا
حرف تمنا جسے کہ نہ سکیں رو برو
(What is the reality of philosophy and poetry?
A word of longing one dare not utter face to face.)
But wherefrom is the philosopher to secure that true concept of reality which would not only validate his own philosophical system, but also rectify all untrue scientific -`facts' and serve as the standard for the ever-increasing fund of true scientific facts. Human intellect can form a number of spiritual and material concepts of the reality of the universe, for even a slight change of attributes leads to a change in the concept. Now, which concept, out of all these, is, by virtue of its nature and attributes, really in harmony with the scientific facts of the day? For, it is obvious that if such a concept were to be found, it would be in conformity with the facts that will come to light in future as well. But the quantum of scientific facts will always remain so limited that it will be always very difficult for a philosopher to grasp that concept by his own individual effort with the help of the known scientific facts of his time, so difficult indeed that it merits exclusion from the range of possibilities. Every philosopher has attempted, nevertheless, to form a concept of Reality in the light of the known scientific facts of his time and to evolve a philosophy on that basis. But so far every philosopher has formed a wrong, incomplete and worthless Concept of Reality, has evolved a wrong philosophy on its basis and has resorted to a wrong, inconsistent, fallacious and faulty reasoning to support his wrong philosophy. There has never been a philosopher the validity of whose reasoning has escaped the barrage of devastating criticism of other philosophers. The mutual differences of philosophers are simply endless. If a philosopher were to try to modify his philosophy in the light of the criticisms of other philosophers, he would fail to do so, for when an attempt is made to remove one defect of a philosophy which is basically erroneous, a number of other defects are bound to crop up. There are only two possible ways for a philosopher to reach the true concept of Reality. Either he should be able to get hold of all the facts of the universe all at once to enable him to judge as to which concept of Reality conforms to all these facts and integrates them into a system. Then he will not countenance much of a difficulty in forming a correct view of the nature and attributes of that concept, for, if he forms a concept which is even slightly wrong it will be contradicted by one known fact or another. But this will be a wild-goose-chase. The philosophers and scientists of the world are unanimous that human knowledge will never be able to embrace all the facts of the universe, not even till eternity. The Qur'an has pointed towards this in the following verse:
"Say: 'If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it for its aid."
(Holy Qur'an, xviii:109)
The other alternative is that the philosopher gets hold of the true concept of the reality of the universe directly from somewhere by chance and happens to acquire its knowledge and love to such an extent that he is enabled to see and interpret all the scientific facts discovered so far in the light of it in the correct perspective, and to integrate them into a unity on the basis of that concept. In such a case, even though he will have fewer scientific facts at his disposal, he will nevertheless be able to appreciate them properly because of his true concept of Reality. He will also be able to explain why these facts are in conformity with his concept of Reality alone. In such a case, even if his philosophical system is imperfect, it will nevertheless be true. And as new facts will come to light, they will be gradually incorporated in the intellectual framework of his philosophy with the result that the philosophy will move from lesser to greater perfection, a process which will continue till the end of the world. As I have said earlier, after the emergence of such a philosophy, all further progress of philosophy will depend not on the appearance of new wrong philosophies, but on the further development and perfection of this philosophy alone. However, this second possibility will need one thing more in order to materialize and it is that scientific facts happen to have developed to such an extent that the philosopher is able to see the conformity of these facts with that true concept of reality which he has obtained by chance from somewhere. Unless this has happened, he will not be able to correlate these scientific facts with the true concept of reality because their relevance to this concept will not be clear and he will continue to wander about for another concept of reality. In order that the philosopher's concept of reality embraces the facts discovered by Science, it is essential that while his concept of reality comes forward to meet the facts of Science, the facts of Science also come forward to meet that concept.
One could say that it is quite understandable that in order to achieve his goal a philosopher should be aware of the true concept of reality, but why is it essential that he should also be in love with that concept? This difficulty is resolved if we bear in mind that, according to Iqbal (and Iqbal is right), knowledge is gained through intuition and intuition is a function of 'love'. Or, one might say that `love' is a developed form of intuition.
Every unity is beautiful. That is why it is a unity. The Reality of the universe, being the greatest of all unities, is also the greatest of all beauties. The intuition or feeling of its being a unity includes the feeling of its being a beauty. This feeling is love. It is the absolute love of the true concept of Reality alone which constitutes the absolute intuition or absolute knowledge of that concept — that is, absolute to the extent of a person's native capacity for love or knowledge.
Nature has endowed all human beings with the capacity for love and it varies in general with the level of man's intelligence. One could use this capacity for loving either the true concept of Reality or a false one. But since the capacity is the same, a person cannot make use of it for loving the true concept of Reality to the extent to which he employs it in the love of a false concept. The saying goes, one cannot both eat the cake and have it. With increase in man's love for God, the love for false concepts decreases in the same proportion till it is extinguished altogether. At this stage, the 'love' of the true concept of Reality reaches the highest point which one is capable of attaining keeping in view the limitations of man's natural capacity. But this stage is reached after a tremendous effort.
براہیمی نظر پیدا مگر مشکل سے ہوتی ہے
ہوس چھپ چھپ کے سینوں میں بنا لیتی ہے تصویریں
(It is difficult to cultivate Abrahamic insight
For lust stealthily forms images within the breast.)
If a part of a philosopher's capacity for love is devoted to the love of a false concept of Reality, he will naturally observe scientific facts through the false lenses of that concept and his interpretation of thee facts will not be absolutely true, that is, he will not be fully able to correlate these facts with the true concept of Reality and will, therefore, produce a philosophy which will be false or inadequate and defective in proportion to the falsity and defectiveness of his love. As I have said earlier, the necessity to love one's idea of Reality is not confined to those philosophers Who have the true idea of Reality as the basis of their philosophy. It is equally essential for those philosophers who stand for false concepts of Reality. Whatever apparent force of argument a wrong philosophy comes to have, it is there owing to the love that the proponent of that philosophy has for his false concept of Reality. It is this love which makes him reject as wrong those true facts which do not conform to his false concepts of Reality and accept as true those false facts which conform to his erroneous concept of Reality. Had Karl Marx not been in love with his false concept of Reality, he would not have succeeded in producing a philosophy which, despite its falsity, continues to be the pivot of the lives of millions upon millions of human beings at present.
Now, on the one hand, the true philosophy of the universe is a crying need of man, and, on the other, there are insurmountable difficulties in its availability. But it is a law of nature that it provides for all the fundamental inborn needs of man by an arrangement of its own. The reason behind this is not far to seek. But for this provision, the purposes of nature would have remained unfulfilled. In the same way as nature places the clouds, air, Sun, Moon, earth and sky at the disposal of man to enable him to meet his basic physical needs, it also provides him with a chain of prophets to enable him to meet his basic spiritual needs. In this brief paper it would be rather difficult to elucidate Iqbal's views in regard to the phenomenon of prophethood. I would, therefore, confine myself to pointing out merely that the first and the most valuable gift of a prophet to mankind is his true concept of the Reality of the universe which is known as the concept of God. The totality of attributes and the true nature of this concept can be comprehended only through its practical application. This practical application of the true concept of Reality which is reflected in the practical life of a prophet remains imperfect until man's practical social life reaches that particular stage of its evolution at which all its essential natural aspects such as education, law, politics, warfare, economy, morals, etc., become quite manifest and widespread. Whenever the evolution of human society reaches such a level of development there arises among them a prophet who exemplifies the application of the concept of God to all sectors of human life by his own practical life and thus brings out both the theoretical and practical aspects of the attributes of God and their implications. He is thus the first man who gives a perfect concept of the Reality of the universe to mankind which is the only basis of a perfect philosophy. The end of prophethood after the emergence of this prophet is only natural for, after him the human race can have no difficulty in raising their practical life to the height of perfection from the point of view of its richness and validity.
The last of the prophets who gave a perfect concept of Reality to mankind is the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The first philosopher, who made this perfect concept of Reality, received through the agency of perfect Prophethood, the basis of his philosophy in this age of the progress of science, is Iqbal. And the philosophy which organizes the scientific data of the age according to the perfect concept of Reality is the philosophy of 'Self' (Khudi). Iqbal has realized that this is the concept of Reality which is true and which integrates all the known facts of the universe into a single unity. It is on account of this that Iqbal repeatedly stresses that a philosophy, not based on the prophetic concept of Reality but on some other concept of it, forged by a philosopher on the basis of an inadequate knowledge of the universe and independently of prophetic guidance, must be false and barren and that all the philosophical systems which have been presented so far are such. It is only the love of God which can form the basis of a true philosophy of man and the universe and the source of this love is perfect submission to the prophet. Says Iqbal:
نہ فلسفی سے، نہ ملاّ سے ہے غرض مجھکو
یہ دل کی موت، وہ اندیشہ و نظر کا فساد
(I have no truck either with the philosopher or the mulla: The former means death of the heart, the latter, perversity of thought and insight.)
تو اپنی خودی اگر نہ کھوتا
زنارئی برگساں نہ ہوتا
ہیگل کا صد گہر سے خالی
ہے اس کا طلسم سب خیالی
انجام خرد ہے بے حضوری
ہے فلسفہ زندگی سے دوری
دل در سخن محمدی بند
اے پور علی زبوعلی چند
(Had you not lost your 'Self'
You would not have become an adorer of Bergson.
Th7 pearl-shell of Hegel is devoid of pearl;
His magic is all a rigmarole of fancies.
The end of reason is a lack of direct experience;
Philosophy only means separation from life.
Tie thyself to the Prophetic Teaching,How
long, progeny of Ali' ! how long wilt thou cling to
Avicenna's philosophy?)
Iqbal's degrading criticism of Hegel is, according to him, applicable to every philosopher. Says he;
حکمتش معقول با محسوس در خلوت برفت
گرچہ فکر بکر او پیرایہ پوشد چوں عروس
طائر عقل فلک پرواز او دانی کہ چیست
ماکیاں کز زور مستی خایہ گیرد بے خروس
(Even though his novel thought has adorned itself like a bride,
His rational philosophy has developed no intimacy of love with Reality.
His heaven-soaring intellect, what dost thou know what it is?
A hen laying eggs merely by the force of its passion, without haying any contact with the cock.)
The true concept of Reality is only the concept of God Who is Ever-Living and Who sustains the entire universe. All other concepts are concepts of objects that are dead and have never been alive. And the representation of anything which is dead is itself bound to be lifeless and meaningless. It will be disdainfully brushed aside tomorrow, if not to-day. Says Iqbal:
یا مردہ ہے یا نزع کی حالت میں گرفتار
جو فلسفہ لکھا نہ گیا خون جگر سے
(A philosophy which is not an expression of the love of God
Who is alive) is either dead or in the throes of death.)
بلند بال تھا لیکن نہ تھا جسور و غیور
حکیم سر محبت سے بے نصیب رہا
پھرا فضاؤں میں کرگس اگرچہ شاہیں وار
شکار زندہ کی لذت سے بے نصیب رہا
(The philosopher had no access to the secret of love:
He could soar high, but was devoid of daring and courage.
Even though the vulture flew in the skies like the eagle,
It could not enjoy the pleasure of a live prey.)
حکیماں مردہ را صورت نگارند
ید موسیٰ دم عیسیٰ ندارند
دریں حکمت وے چیزے ندید است
برائے حکمت دیگر تپید است
The philosophers and scientists give shape to what is lifeless but can't breathe life into it,
For they have neither the hand of Moses nor the spirit of Jesus. My heart sees no reality in this philosophy;
It remains restless for another philosophy.)
This "other philosophy" is the one based on the concept o f Reality which has been obtained through the aegis of the perfect prophethood. It is this concept which is the source of that true love which the philosopher needs. It is this love which reveals the hidden secrets of the universe. It is this love which has been poetically
designated by Iqbal asخون جگر (liver's blood) in which is written that philosophy which can neither die nor suffer from the throes of death.
مے ندانی عشق و مستی از کجا است
ایں شعاع آفتاب مصطفی است
(Dost thou not know wherefrom is this passion of love and ecstasy ?
It is but a ray of the Sun of Mustafa.)
نشان راہ ز عقل ہزار حلیہ مپرس
بیا کہ عشق کمالے ز یک فنی دارد
(Seek not road-signs from the intellect which has a thousand artifices.
Come towards love, for it has attained perfection in but one art.)
بچشم عشق نگر تا سراغ او بینی
جہاں بچشم خرد سیمیا و نیرنگ است
(Look at the world with the eye of love to get hold of its secret, For the world, in the eye of the intellect, is merely a talisman, a show of magic.)
وہ علم کہ بصری جس میں ہم کنار نہیں
تجلیات کلیم و مشاہدات حکیم
(Knowledge, in which the illuminating vision of Moses is not accompanied
By the "observed facts" of the scientist, is sheer lack of insight.)
نقطۂ ادوار عالم لا الہ
منتہائے کار عالم لا الہ
لا و الا احتساب کائنات
لا والا فتح باب کائنات
(La Ilah is the centre of the circular movement of the heavens.
The end of the universe itself is La Ilah.
La and Illa are the criterion for evaluating everything in the universe;
La and Ilia open the door of the universe.)
حریف نکتہ توحید ہو سکا نہ حکیم
نگاہ چاہیے اسرار لا الہ کے لیے
(The philosopher could not grasp the point in the doctrine of Tawhid;
One needs insight to understand the secrets of the formula: "There is no deity except Allah".)
Every scientific fact, every wisdom is in conformity with this true philosophy, and with this philosophy alone. Hence, wherever it is found, it should be picked up and integrated with that philosophy:
گفت حکمت را خدا خیر کثیر
ہر کجا ایں خیر را بینی بگیر
("Wisdom", said God, "is a tremendous Good";
Take hold of it wherever thou findest it.)
According to Iqbal, it is essential that the concept of God, which is the only basis of a true philosophy, should be given the shape of a philosophy, for without that it will neither be able to win popular acceptance nor will human beings be able to get rid of the hold of false philosophies. Such a philosophy will create a revolution and bring a new world-order into existence.
غریباں را زیرکی ساز حیات
شرقیاں با عشق راز کائنات
زیر کی از عشق گردد حق شناس
کار عشق از زریکی محکم اساس
عشق چوں با زیرکی ہمسر بود
نقشبند عالم دیگر شود
خیز و عشق عالم دیگر بنہ
عشق را با زیرکی آمیزدہ
(The Intellect, to the Westerners, is the tune of life.
To the Easterners, love is the secret of the universe.
Intellect, aided by love, acquires the knowledge of Reality.
The foundation of love's task is consolidated by intellect.
When love is combined with intellect it becomes the architect of a new world.
Arise and create a new world; combine love with intellect.) But even after correlating the true concept of Reality and all the scientific facts discovered by man so far, because of his ceaseless quest for truth, the interpretation of Reality will not become perfect. For, ever-new facts will continue to be discovered and correlated to Reality till the end of the world rendering it progressively clearer and more attractive, It is for this reason that in his Reconstruction Iqbal has aptly remarked:
"As knowledge advances and fresh avenues of thought are opened, other views, and probably sounder views than those expressed in these lectures, are possible. Our duty is carefully to watch the progress of human thought, and to maintain an independent critical attitude towards it." (Reconstruction, p. vi)
But if today someone is desirous of having an absolute knowledge of Reality, it is imperative for him to cultivate, by means of devotion and prayers, a personal feeling or experience or love for the beauty of Reality. Without that no person, howsoever gifted he might be, can make a full explication of Reality, nor can any individual gain full knowledge of reality merely by reading or listening to that explication.
حقیقت پہ ہے جامۂ حرف تنگ
حقیقت ہے آئینہ، گفتار زنگ
فروزاں سینے میں شمع نفس
مگر تاب گفتار کہتی ہے بس
The garment of words is too brief for Reality;
For reality is like a metallic mirror, speech is rust.
The candle of the soul is ablaze within the breast;
But the ability of expression says: "No further".
Rumi has said the same in these forceful words:
ہر چہ گویم عشق را شرح و بیاں
چوں بعشق آیم خجل باشم ازاں
گرچہ تفسیر و بیاں روشنگر است
لیک عشق بے زباں روشن تر است
چوں قلم اندر نوشتن مے شتافت
چوں بعشق آمد قلم بر خود شگافت
چوں سخن در وصف ایں حالت رسید
ہم قلم بشکست و ہم کاغذ درید
عقل در شرحش چوں خر درگل بخفت
شرح عشق و عاشقی ہم عشق گفت
آفتاب آمد دلیل آفتاب
گر دلیلت باید از وے او متاب
(No matter how elaborately I try to explain love,
I feel ashamed (at my failure) when I encounter 'love' itself.
Even though elucidation and explanation help illuminate a point,
The tongueless 'love' is far more illuminating.
The pen which flows so swiftly in writing,
Breaks when it comes to write about love.
When it comes to express this state (i.e. of love),
The pen is broken and the paper torn to shreds.
Intellect fails to explain love like the donkey who gets stuck into the mud.
Love and the ways of love can be explained by love alone.
The appearance of the Sun itself is the proof of the Sun ;
If thou needeth a proof (in respect of the Sun) turn not away thy face from it.)
Iqbal is a lover of God, a lover who interprets his love in philosophical terms in order to transmit that love to his reader so that when the flame of love has been kindled in his heart too, he might be drawn towards prayers and devotion and through them develop his love to a stage where he no longer needs even philosophy and rationalism for its further growth; so that out of his philosophy is engendered love, and from his love there stem, develop and flourish philosophy and wisdom.
When we say that all scientific facts of the universe are deeply related to only one idea of Reality — the idea of God — we mean to say that every atom of the universe testifies that God is the true Reality of the universe. It is for this reason that the Qur’an designates every scientific fact to be a sign of God:
و فی الارض آیات للموقنین
"And in the earth there are signs for those of assured faith."
(Holy Qur'an, li:20)
That is, since no scientific fact can be intellectually and rationally related to any of the false concepts of Reality every such fact is a sign, an argument, and a testimony of God.
The function of a true philosopher is merely to correlate with the true concept of Reality, according to known and accepted scientific and rational standards, all the scientific and rational facts which have come into the grasp of human knowledge and thus to make every atom of the universe cry out what the true reality of the universe is:
وی کل شئی لہ آیۃ
تدل علی انہ واحد
(And in everything there is a sign,
pointing out that He is but One.)
In this way, a true philosopher demolishes all possible evidence in favour of the false concept of Reality. He is not irked by the fact that so far a very limited number of facts of the universe have entered into the orbit of human knowledge. For, no matter whether these facts are few or many, all of them support only his concept of Reality. Moreover, those who present false arguments in favour of false concepts of Reality, they too, after all base their case on a misinterpretation of these facts. Hence when every atom of our known universe begins to testify that God is the true reality of the universe, it will also testify, in effect, that all concepts of Reality, except that of God, are false and unsound.
ومن یدع مع اللہ الہا آخر لا برہان لہ
"Whoso invokes any other god along with Allah, he has no authority therefor."
(Holy Qur'an, xxiii:117)
And when there does not remain even a single evidence in the whole universe in favour of any false concept of Reality, the survival of any of the false concepts of Reality is rendered impossible and a new true philosophy, based on the true concept of the Reality of the universe, spreads throughout the world, reaching its farthest limits without opposition. But we have seen that concepts of Reality are not merely ideas of academic and theoretical significance: they are the intellectual foundations on which the whole structures of the practical lives of individuals and nations are based. Hence, when these intellectual foundations are destroyed the socio-political structures which had been raised on them also crumble. At a time when the whole world has its life-structure based on false concepts of Reality, the emergence and spread of a new and true philosophy, which insists that the accepted and cherished concepts of the Reality of this world and the next are false, would be nothing short of a world revolution as destructive as Doomsday itself. Who would be there among the worshippers of false concepts of Reality who sees this world revolution emerging in the ideas of a single individual and does not rise in opposition to him to wipe him out of existence. Thus to present such a revolutionary philosophy is a matter of supreme courage which cannot be expected of everybody. For anyone who does so comes out with a desire to destroy with the sword of his philosophy the popular ideas of the people about the two worlds of existence.
حکمت و فلسفہ را ہمت مردے باید
تیغ اندیشہ بروئے دو جہاں آختن است
(Philosophy and wisdom require manful courage,
For they amount to unsheathing the sword of one's thought to destroy both the worlds of existence.)
خوگر من نیست چشم ہست و بود
لرزہ برتن خیزم از بیم نمود
(The eye of existence is not familiar with me.
I arise trembling, afraid to show myself.)
But such a world-revolution must come. Thus, at a time when the intellectual foundations of the false concepts of Reality are being undermined and their superstructures are in a process of disintegration, a new world, based on a true philosophical system based on the true idea of Reality is moulded into existence by the passionate lovers of Divine Beauty, according to their hearts' desire — and their hearts' desire is no other than the Will of God Himself. In other words, before this happens the following conversation between them and God would have taken place:
گفتند، جہان ما آیا بتو می سازد؟
گفتم کہ نمی سازد، گفتند کہ برہم زن
(He Said: "Is my world attuned to thee?"
"No," said I. "Go and shatter it to pieces", said He.)
And then God encourages these lovers of His Beauty by saying that it is only what they want that would happen, and that their opponents would be swept off his way:
قدم لے باک تر نہ در رہ زیست
بہ پہناے جہاں غیر از تو کس نیست
(Put thy step in the path of life with greater courage,
For there is none in the vastness of the world but thee.)
It is this which Iqbal meant when he stressed the need of creating a new philosophy based on the love of God in these words:
زیرکی از عشق گردد حق شناس
کار عشق از زیرکی محکم اساس
عشق چوں با زیرکی ہ مسر بود
نقشبند عالم دیگر بود
خیز و نقش عالم دیگر بنہ
عشق را با زیرکی آمیز دہ
(Intellect, aided by love, acquired the knowledge of Reality.
The structure of love's task is consolidated by intellect.
When love is combined with intellect,
It becomes the architect of a new world.
Arise and found a new world;
Combine love with intellect.)
Iqbal sees the irresistible approach of this imminent, catastrophic, world-wide intellectual revolution with a clarity of mind and a wonder which he is unable to express.
انقلابے کہ نگنجد بضمیر افلاک
بینم و ہیچ ندانم کہ چساں مے بینم
(A revolution [so tremendous that even its secret] the heart of the heavens is unable to harbour.
I see [openly] and I do not know how I am able to see it thus.)
آنکھ جو کچھ دیکھتی ہے لب پہ آ سکتا نہیں
محو حیرت ہوں کہ دنیا کیا سے کیا ہو جائے گی
(What the eye sees the lips are unable to express.
I am struck with wonder when I think how utterly the world is going to change.)
And Iqbal has no doubt that his philosophy heralds the advent of this great intellectual revolution:
حادثہ وہ جو ابھی پردۂ افلاک میں ہے
عکس اس کا میرے آئینۂ ادراک میں ہے
(That great event which is still concealed behind the curtain of heavens)
Its reflection is present in the mirror of my intellect.
عالم نو ہے ابھی گم پردۂ تقدیر میں
مری نگاہوں میں ہے اس کی سحر بے حجاب
(The new world-order is still hidden behind the curtain of Destiny;
To my eyes, however, the light of its dawn is already revealed.)
The philosophers who deny prophethood have failed, despite their best efforts, to gain a complete knowledge of the True Reality of the Universe, although they have made some progress in that direction.
The fact is that Philosophy and Prophethood have been endeavouring to advance towards the same goal — that of unravelling the mystery of the universe — by two different routes. Although Prophethood could not reach its destination till the arrival of the last of the prophets (peace be on them all), it had been moving essentially on the right path and in the right direction. On the contrary, Philosophy, since it lacked the true intuitive concept of the reality of the universe, remained far away from its goal, wandering aimlessly in search of it, in spite of some partial and limited successes which it attained. Without guidance from the perfect Prophethood it was not possible for it to start with the true intuitive concept of reality and hence it could not proceed along the true rational lines. The objective of prophethood was not to introduce to man all the details of the rational order operating in the universe. Its objective was rather to furnish man with that minimum of knowledge about the universe which would create in him the urge to purify his practical conduct in all its aspects, and create and nourish the love of that true intuitive concept of reality which alone could guide him in his desire to understand the rational order of the universe. It is for this reason that we find that prophethood, even in its perfect form, does not seek to provide us with true scientific data regarding the order of this universe: it merely seeks to create and cultivate that true intuition of Reality which is ultimately essential for obtaining this data and without which sound rational thinking is impossible. Philosophy is right in deducing that the order of the universe is akin to a chain all the links of which are rationally interrelated. But this has led the philosopher to the naive conviction that he will be able to understand all the links of this chain with the help of reason alone. But unfortunately he always fails because he always starts with a false concept of Reality and his reasoning turns out to be a vain effort to rationalise this false concept. Had Philosophy been a little more courageous, it could have accepted the concept of Reality given by perfect prophet-hood, ever since its advent. In such a case its headache would have come to an end and it would have been able to grasp that true rational order of the universe for which it has been groping down the ages. But as long as Philosophy, with its faltering steps, did not reach a point sufficiently close to the prophetic concept of Reality it was impossible for it to take such a bold step. Fortunately, owing to new discoveries in the fields of Physics, Biology and Psychology, in the present century, Philosophy has indeed reached a point where it could take such a bold step and it has actually taken that step by integrating itself with the teachings of the perfect prophet in the shape of Iqbal's philosophy. Iqbal's philosophy of the 'Self' provides an explanation of the Prophetic concept of the universe into which all true scientific facts known so far have been integrated and there is no reason why true scientific facts to be discovered in future will not be similarly integrated into it.
This union between Philosophy and Prophetic Teachings is a landmark in man's intellectual progress and it has ushered in a new era in man's intellectual history — a new era whose pioneer and herald is Iqbal. As a consequence of this union the knowledge of human nature upon which the everlasting peace and unity of the human world depends has emerged before mankind for the first time in history in an organized and systematic form which can satisfy the intellect of the modern man and ensure its world-wide acceptance. Iqbal is himself well aware of the dimensions of his intellectual contribution. Whatever Iqbal has said in respect of the importance of his thought is not in the nature of poetic exaggeration or self-adoration. It is based on solid facts which made it absolutely impermissible for him to remain quiet on the point.
ذرہ ام مہر منیر آن من است
صد سحر اندرگریبان من است
خاک من روشن تر از جام جم است
محرم از نازادہائے عالم است
فکر آں آہو سر فتراک بست
کو ہنوزاز نیستی بیروں نجست
(Tho' I am a mote, the radiant Sun is mine:
Within my bosom are a hundred dawns.
My dust is brighter than Jamshed's cup:
It knows things which are yet unborn in the world.
My thought hunted down and slung from the saddler a deer,
That has not yet leaped forth from the convent of non existence.)
ہیچ کس رازے کہ من گویم نہ گفت
ہمچو فکر من در معنی نہ سفت
چشمۂ حیواں برا تم کردہ اند
محرم از راز حیاتم کردہ اند
(None hath told the secret which I tell;
Or threaded a pearl of thought like mine.
The fountain of life hath been given to me to drink.
I have been made an adept in the mystery of life.)
قلزم یاراں جو شبنم بے خروش
شبنم من مثل یم طوفان فروش
انتظار صبح خیزاں می کشم
اے خوشا زردشتیان آتشم
(The sea is silent, like dew.
But my dew is storm-ridden, like the ocean.
I am waiting for the votaries that rise at dawn:
Oh, happy they who shall worship my fire.)
عمر ہا در کعبہ و بت خانہ می نالد حیات
تا ز بزم عشق یک دانائے راز آید بروں
(Life bemoans for ages in K'aba and temple,
Until there arises from love's assembly the one knowing the mysteries of life.)
سر آمد روزگارے ایں فقیری
دگر دانائے راز آید کہ نہ آید
(This faqir's time has come to an end,
Who knows if another sage knowing the secrets of life comes to the world or not.)
One could say, perhaps, that even though it might be true to assert that no non-Muslim philosopher had based his philosophic thought on the concept of Reality propounded by perfect prophethood, yet the philosophies of the Muslim philosophers who have preceded Iqbal are bound to have been based on the Islamic concept of God. If this is so, what is the distinction of Iqbal over other Muslim philosophers? And in this connection perhaps the names of great luminaries like Shah Waliullah and Mohyid-Din Ibn al-Arabi might be mentioned. But the distinction of Iqbal over other Muslim philosophers depends upon the fact that by employing the philosophic term 'Self', Iqbal has succeeded in presenting the Islamic concept of God not as a creed and dogma but as a scientific and rational fact in the context of other scientific and rational concepts known to humanity in this age. The result is that he has succeeded in elucidating the scientific and rational links between the Islamic concept of God and all the scientific facts of the present-day world as well as all the aspects of the natural practical life of the individual and the society. He has also succeeded, thereby, in bringing out the hidden potentiality of this concept to be the only one capable of organizing meaningfully and interpreting correctly all the facts of the universe, that is, all those facts which are in the range of human knowledge at present or will be brought into its range in future. It is this which constitutes the measure of Iqbal's academic contribution. In fact, this remarkable expression of Iqbal's genius is the outcome of the need as well as the intellectual climate of the present age. It is the peculiar academic atmosphere and surroundings of Iqbal which have enabled him to play this epoch-making role. In this age of Iqbal, thanks to the research and inquiry of Western scholars, the quantum of scientific knowledge has increased so rapidly in all the three main branches of knowledge as never before in the past. Secondly, due to the prestige of the modern peculiar scientific method of investigation, a new method of reasoning has developed in Philosophy which emphasises that no relevant facts may be overlooked, that facts maybe examined with the utmost care and precision and only those conclusions may be arrived at which may be unavoidable. This method of reasoning has acquired a permanent place in the domain of Philosophy for the future. Thirdly, in this age there have come into existence a number of philosophies, each one of which has endeavoured to relate all the known and established scientific facts to a central idea of Reality. Iqbal, as he himself admits, has been deeply influenced by these intellectual pecularities and advancements of Western Philosophy. As a consequence his philosophy has assumed a peculiar orientation which has made it capable of assimilating all true scientific facts known hitherto as well as those which will become known in future, thus proving it to be that true and final philosophical system of the world which alone can have the capacity to refute the erroneous philosophies of every age by using their own terminology. Such a philosophy could not have come into existence in the time of Muhyid-Din Ibn al-Arabi and Shah Waliullah when the intellectual outlook and atmosphere were radically different. If today the Muslim nation or any other nation tries to refute Dialectical Materialism in a rational and scientific manner, in a manner which is understandable to and convincing for the man of the present age, then it is to the philosophy of Iqbal alone that it can turn. Whatever the nature of the intellectual hurdles which may be encountered by man in his quest for the knowledge of the reality of man and universe, the remedies provided by nature for their removal are appropriate to them. Iqbal's philosophy has assimilated the apparent characteristics of the philosophies of his age in order to become their antedote. The philosophies of such great thinkers as Muhyid-Din Ibn-al-'Arabi and Shah Waliullah were antedotes to the false philosophies of their own times. However, they neither are nor can be made to serve as antedotes to the false philosophies of the present age. It is for this reason that Iqbal was justified in saying:
ہیچ کس رازے کہ من گویم نہ گفت
ہمچو فکر من در معنی نہ سفت
(None has revealed the secret which I reveal,
Nor threaded a pearl of thought like mine.)
Since Iqbal believes in the unity of the universe as a philosopher, it was essential for his philosophy to take the form of a system of thought. But Iqbal's ideas have mainly found their expression in poetry rather than prose. And poetry, as is well known, is not a suitable medium for expressing the subtle details of the rational and logical connection of ideas. Hence we could not expect Iqbal, since he expresses himself mainly through his poetry, to express his ideas in all their rational details and logical subtleties to the same extent to which we could expect a philosopher who expresses himself through prose to do so. It is for this reason that Iqbal's philosophy has not been expressed as a continuous system written- out in a single volume or series of volumes. His ideas are found scattered throughout his poetic works in fragments. The coincidence that Iqbal was also a poet has, however, proved helpful in the spread of his ideas. Poetry transmits ideas to the hearts of people with a revolutionary force. Had Iqbal been merely a philosopher and not a poet, his community, the Muslims, who have cut themselves adrift of the tradition of intellectual work of the higher order, would perhaps not have turned towards his philosophy for inspiration. But his people needed an immediate shake-up out of their stagnation and lethargy. So the cure of his people's ailment provided by nature was that Iqbal should sing his philosophy so that his people are immediately aroused and stirred and throng around him. Hence, when Iqbal summoned his people towards his message:
حلقہ گرد من زنید اے پیکران آب و گل
آتشے در سینہ دارم از نیا گان شما
(Come and gather around me 0 structures of clay and water!
For I preserve in my bosom the fire of your ancesters.)
In response to Iqbal's call the nation joined hands together and created a new state, Pakistan. What is now needed is that the nation, which has been inspired by his poetry, should present the ideas implicit in his poetry in an integrated and coherent form in order to be able to deepen its own appreciation of Iqbal's philosophy and also to present it in a perfectly intelligible form before others. It is obvious that if we desire to provide a complete elucidation and elaboration of Iqbalian thought, it will be essential not to ignore even one single scientific fact that might help us illuminate the scientific and intellectual coherence of his ideas. By this I mean that no true scientific fact or philosophical idea which is in harmony with the philosophy of Iqbal can be neglected by his commentator without making his philosophy less intelligible, less attractive and less coherent than it potentially is and can be actually made. Iqbal himself supports this view when he says:
گفت حکمت را خدا خیر کثیر
ہر کجا ایں خیر را بینی بگیر
(Wisdom, says God, is a tremendous good:
Take hold of it, wherever you find it.)
Such a systematic elaboration of Iqbal's thought is not merely a service to knowledge and learning, and to humanity: it will also place Iqbal before the world for an evaluation of his philosophy in a test which is sure to bring out the real stature of Iqbal.
It would not be impertinent to say that whosoever undertakes such a task must fulfil two requirements. First, that he should have access to the intellectual or intuitive springs of Iqbal's thought, that is, he should be gifted with that inner feeling or intuition of Reality out of which Iqbal's thought has sprung. In other words, he should be possessed of that vision, spiritual experience or 'love' of the Prophetic concept of Reality, which Iqbal had.
It is a pity that although Iqbal has repeatedly insisted, we allow ourselves to forget that, aside from being a poet and a philosopher, he is basically a darvesh or a Sufi and his poetic excellence as well as his philosophical acumen only subserve his 'love' or intuition of Reality. The outcome of all his intellectual effort is that he has interpreted his spiritual experience or 'love' in the well-known language of philosophy which is fully intelligible to the modern man and dressed the philosophical views and ideas emerging in this process, in the vigorous and captivating garb of poetic expression. He is not interested in amusing people by epics of sensual love or lyricism. It is for this reason that he denies the appropriateness of his being designated a poet:
نہ پنداری کہ من بے بادہ مستم
مثال شاعراں افسانہ بستم
(Don't think that I am intoxicated without wine,
That I am fabricating stories like poets.)
او حدیث دلبری خواہد ز من
آب و رنگ شاعری خواہد ز من
کم نظر بے تابئے جانم ندید
آشکارم دیدم و پنہانم ندید
(From me he seeks amorous poetry;
From me he seeks the shine and glitter of verse.
Lacking insight he has not observed the restlessness of my soul.
He has seen me outwordly but not from within.)
نمہ کجا و من کجا، ساز سخن بہانہ ایست
سوئے قطار می کشم ناقۂ بے زمام را
(What relation is there between me and the song? The poetic tune is merely an artifice.)
An artifice to keep the reinless dromedary to its correct route.
I have explained earlier how Iqbal came to the conclusion that all philosophies which are bereft of the love of God or of the true concept of Reality, are false or inadequate, and thus senseless and futile. Had Iqbal himself not been gifted with the love of God, it would have been impossible for him to arrive at this invaluable piece of wisdom. And it is not merely a fanatasy: Iqbal himself claims that he has been endowed with a high level of mystic experience and that he has acquired a high status in his knowledge of God. This level of gnosis, this stage of 'love' Iqbal calls 'inner warmth' (سوز دروں) restless spirit'(جان بے تاب.),'God-intoxicatedness' (خدامستی) and 'pure wine'بادہ ناب, etc., while he calls himself a darvesh, a faqir, a qalandar, etc., terms which are used for the Sufis. For instance, he says:,
درویش خدا مست نہ شرقی ہے نہ غربی
گھر میرا نہ دلی نہ صفاہاں نہ سمر قند
(God-intoxicated darvesh is neither Easterner nor Westerner.
My abode is neither Delhi, nor Isfahan, nor Samarqand.)
سر آمد روزگارے ایں فقیرے
دگر دانائے راز آید کہ ناید
(This faqir's time has come to an end,
Who knows if another sage, knowing the secret of life, comes to the world again or not.)
مرے کدو کو غنیمت سمجھ کہ بادۂ ناب
نہ مدرسے میں ہے باقی نہ خانقاہ میں ہے
(Be content with my wine-cup, for pure wine is now found Neither in the madrasah nor in the Khaniqah.)
عصر حاضر را خرد زنجیرپا است
جان بیتابے کہ من دارم کجا است
(Intellect has become a chain for the present age;
As for the restless soul that I have, it is to be found nowhere.)
اعجمی مردے چہ خوش شعرے سرود
سوزد از تاثیر او جاں در وجود
(A non-Arab sang a song and what a beautiful song;
By its warmth the song blazes the very soul of existence.)
The second requirement which must be fulfilled by the writer who undertakes to present the thought of Iqbal in the form of a continuous and systematic philosophy is that he should be duly canversant with all the scientific facts and philosophical ideas known and established so far, so that he may be able to know how far these facts and ideas are harmonious or inharmonious with Iqbal's thought. The commentator of Iqbal who is able to fulfil these two requirements will be able (because of his understanding of the intellectual relationship of the scattered ideas of Iqbal) not only to give Iqbal's thought the shape of a continuous philosophical system, but also to further enrich and advance this system, that is, he will be able to incorporate into this system fresh scientific facts and philosophical ideas which conform to Iqbal's trends of thought and thus provide further intellectual reinforcement to his philosophy. And it is obvious that any development of a philosophy based on a true concept of Reality is bound to pave the way for its further developments. When Iqbal's philosophy of 'Self' will appear in a systematized and consequently a more developed form, it will lead to even greater development and its development will prove to be an unending process, as all the ever-increasing facts relating to the three main branches of knowledge will be regarded merely as its integral parts. Thus thinkers and philosophers will continue to contribute to the expansion, elaboration and elucidation of Iqbal's philosophy till the end of the world and there will be no danger of their contribution becoming dull or stale in any way at least because of his philosophy. We have seen above in detail why there can be no end to the development of a true philosophy. On the contrary, since scientific facts are incongruous with a false philosophy based on a wrong concept of Reality, with the development of these facts and the progress of scientific knowledge the artificial and false reasonableness of false philosophies is bound to become less and less automatically till it disappears entirely. This means that a continuous systematic elucidation and elaboration of Iqbalian thought will bring us ultimately to an age when there will remain but one philosophy — Iqbal's philosophy of 'Self' — and when all other philosophies will either have died or will survive as relics of man's ignorant past. It is because of this that Iqbal pins his hopes for the recognition of his full stature as a philosopher and the acceptance of his philosophical views on the man of to-morrow, rather than of today. Says he:
انتظار صبح خیزاں می کشم
اے خوشا زر تشتیان آتشم
نغمہ ام از زخمہ بے پرواستم
من نوائے شاعر فرداستم
عصر من دانندۂ اسرار نیست
یوسف من بہر ایں بازار نیست
نغمۂ من از جہان دیگر است
ایں جرس را کاروانے دیگر است
(I am waiting for the votaries that rises at dawn:
Oh, happy they who worship my fire.
I am a note which needs none to play it
I am the song of the poet of to-morrow.
My own age does not understand my deep ideas,
My Joseph is not meant for this market.
My song is for another age than this;
This bell calls travellers who belong to another era to take the road.)
But these two requirements are of such a nature that although there is no dearth of people who fulfil very well either the first condition or the second, there are very, very few people who combine both of them. In the present times, when persons with a religious or mystic bent of mind are out of touch with modern learning and persons who are conversant with modern science and philosophy are devoid of a religious or mystic outlook, we can rarely come across a mystic or religiously-minded person inspired with the love of God who is also well versed in modern knowledge.
In Iqbal's philosophy the term 'Self' denotes a consciousness which is conscious of itself. The word 'consciousness', however, does not mean discernment or awareness. It denotes something the attributes of which are discernment and awareness, or something on account of which man possesses the capacity of discernment and awareness. It is light but there is no form of material light which can be compared to it. It is also a force, but there is no material force with which it has a resemblance. It is that lightsome force or forceful light on account of which a human being is alive. In this sense there is a type of consciousness also found in animals; but animal consciousness is not free: it has been subordinated to the inexorable instincts created by nature. On the contrary, human consciousness can transcend natural instincts. The result of this freedom of consciousness is that we find there is in man a craving to search for beauty and strive after perfection and he can defy and oppose his instincts while trying to satisfy his craving for beauty and perfection. The animal, because of his consciousness, merely thinks, knows, and feels. But man not merely thinks, knows and feels, but when he does so, he also knows that he thinks knows and feels. In other words, man is endowed with the knowledge of the operation of his consciousness. He is, therefore, invested not merely with consciousness but also with self-awareness and self-consciousness. It is this self-consciousness which Iqbal denotes as 'Self'.
We know our own 'Self' not through our senses, but directly. As for the 'Self' of others, we know of it merely with the help of the actions it has performed or the effects it has produced. We can never perceive any 'Self' with these eyes. The whole philosophy of Iqbal is devoted to explaining, in the light of scientific facts, the unchangeable and inherent attributes and practical effects of 'Self' and to interpreting and organising scientific facts in their light. Iqbal has discussed every aspect of the reality of the universe and man and has expressed his views on the fundamentals pertaining to every sector of man's practical life. He has tried to answer, for instance, such questions as these: What is the Reality of the universe? What is creation? What is evolution? What is matter? What is animal? What is man? What is instinct and how has it come into being? What is imagination? What is memory? What is struggle? What is longing? What is knowledge? What is intellect? What is intuition? What is love? What is 'Faqr'? What is Politics ?What is Law? What is dictatorship? What is democracy ?What is Art ?What is History ?What is War ?And so on, and so forth. Iqbal tries to answer these questions only because he thinks a true answer to all of them can be derived only from the nature of 'Self'. Since there can be no life without consciousness and no consciousness without life, Iqbal often designates 'Self' as Life too.
The central characteristic of 'Self' is love and it is by means of love alone that 'Self' expresses its potentialities and develops itself. Says Iqbal:
نقطۂ نورے کہ نام او خودی است
زیر خاک ما شرار زندگی است
از مہبت می شود پائندہ تر
زندہ تر، سوزندہ تر، تابندہ تر
از محبت اشتعال جوہرش
اتتقائے ممکنات مضمرش
فطرت او آتش اندوزد ز عشق
عالم افروزی بیاموزد ز عشق
(The luminous point whose name is the Self.
Is the life-spark beneath our dust.
By love it is made the more lasting, more living, more burning, more glowing.
From love proceeds the radiance of its being.
And the development of its unknown possibilities.
Its nature gathers fire from love;
It learns from Love to illuminate the world.)
In order to satisfy this urge, the 'Self' seeks some beautiful purpose or goal and whenever there appears any purpose or goal which seems to it to be beautiful, it begins to love it wholeheartedly, and boldly launches upon the struggle to secure it, completely unmindful of the consequences. In this manner the 'Self' employs all its hidden potentialities and powers in order to be able to overpower all the impediments found in its path, to remove all obstacles and to achieve its goal. The achievement of the goal means the predominance of the 'Self' as well as its self-expression. Hence the desire for predominance or the urge for self-expressions is its secondary attribute which stems from the demands of love:
زندگانی را بقا از مدعا است
کاروانش را درا از مدعا ست
زندگی در جستجو پوشیدہ است
اصل او در آرزو پوشیدہ است
Life is preserved by purpose;
Because of the goal its caravan bell tinkles.
Life is latent in seeking.
Its origin is hidden in desire.
آروز ہنگامہ آرائے خودی
موج بے تابے ز دریائے خودی
Desire keeps the self in perpetual uproar.
It is restless wave of the Self's sea.
Some of those who have tried to explain Iqbal have encountered a considerable difficulty in grasping this concept of 'Khudi.' One of the reasons is that the word Khudi' in Persian and Urdu has been used in a radically different sense: in the sense of pride, vanity, and self-adoration. Moreover, Iqbal also has selected, out of the numerous eternal attributes of the Self, one attribute for special emphasis and that is its love of self-assertion and predominance and Iqbal has done so in view of the indolence and inactivity and the consequent decay and degeneration of the present-day Muslims. According to this attribute, the 'Self' seeks to overcome and subdue the obstacles that it encounters in order to achieve its goal. For this reason, a number of people suspected that perhaps Iqbal had the same, or more or less the same notion of 'Self' as has existed so far in the minds of the common people. They began to think, therefore, that Iqbal considers self-assertion and every expression of power, whether legitimate or illegitimate, to be a positive virtue and that he merely preaches the expression of power in every possible manner. Such a notion, however, is totally false.
In this connection it might be pointed out that the objectives of 'Self' can be right as well as wrong. The urge of 'Self' can find a complete expression or satisfaction by means of action and striving only when its objective is correct, that is, in conformity with its nature. A wrong objective is not, in fact, the objective of 'Self'; it is merely a misrepresentation of the natural and correct objective of 'Self', which has to be rectified sooner or later. In pursuing wrong objectives, the 'Self' might attain a transient satisfaction. Ultimately, however, it will face discontent and frustration. In this way, the striving of 'Self' after a wrong ideal ultimately defeats its own purpose of self-expression. Moreover, practical endeavour is a necessary outcome of the goal consciousness of the self. And the self is ever bound to have some goal, whether right or wrong. In other words the self is bound to remain perpetually engaged in action and endeavour. A wrong goal leads to wrong action. Conversely, a correct goal leads to correct action. Iqbal only preaches that action which stems from our commitment to a correct and sublime goal, and the envisagement of a correct goal is the distinction of a believer (mu'min) alone. The goal of the believer is as bright as the aurora of the dawn: it is the acme of beauty and perfection, it is higher than the heavens, for the goal of the believer is God Himself.
اے ز راز زندگی بیگانہ! خیز
از شراب مقصدے مستانہ خیز
مقصدے مثل سحر تابندۂ
ماسویٰ را آتشی سوزندۂ
مقصدے از آسماں بالاترے
دلربائے، دل ستانے، دلبرے
(Rise, 0 thou who art stranger to life's mystery!
Rise, intoxicated with the wine of an ideal.
An ideal as brilliant as the dawn.
A blazing fire to all that is other than God,
An ideal higher than heaven —
Winning, captivating, enchanting men's hearts.)
We have said earlier that, according to Iqbal, 'Self' means self-consciousness and this self-consciousness is a characteristic of man. The question arises, where has this 'Self' come from? Is it the attribute of matter in a particular form of its evolution, a form whichit assumes, for example, in the case of human beings? If this is correct, the self is a form of matter and divorced from matter it cannot survive. Materialist philosophers are inclined to this view. They are of the opinion that in the process of its evolution matter reaches a stage wherein its physical and chemical properties begin to operate in such a manner that we begin to say that it has acquired consciousness, or that it is alive. Living matter takes the form of organisms. Consciousness is centred in the brain or the nervous system of the organism. As living matter evolves and the brain of the organism develops and complicates, consciousness also evolves till when it reaches man, it becomes self-conscious. The reason is that the structure of the human brain is more complicated and developed than that of the brain of any other animal. If such a viewpoint were to be regarded as sound, it would mean that there would be no life after the present one. But Iqbal totally disagrees with this point of view. Addressing the Muslim follower of a materialist philosopher Iqbal says:
تری نجات غم مرگ سے نہیں ممکن
کہ تو خودی کو سمجھتا ہے پیکر خاکی
(Thy salvation from the fear of death is not possible
For thou regarded 'Self' merely as a body of clay.)
In the opinion of Iqbal 'Self' is not a developed form of matter. It is the ultimate Reality of the universe, a Reality which, in order to manifest its attributes, creates matter and uses it as the medium of its own expression. Thus, it directs the evolution of matter by a gradual process towards a particular goal of biological perfection:
پیکر ہستی ز آثار خودی است
ہر چہ م ی بینی ز اسرار خودی است
(The form of existence is an effect of the self;
Whatever thou seest is a secret of the self.)
In this encounter of Iqbal with the materialists, the latest scientific facts go entirely against the materialists and in favour of Iqbal's standpoint.
