IQBAL AND QUAID-I-AZAM*

Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada

Federal Minister for Education and Provincial Coordination

I am indeed very glad to associate myself with the scholarly de-liberations held today. Such deliberations are crucial to our collective self-discovery and our national advancement. They are also a measure of our gratitude to the towering personalities of Allamah Muhammad Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad All Jinnah, who played the most significant role in shaping the destiny of Muslims in South Asia. In the perspective of the general Muslim decline in the subcontinent for over two centuries, for nearly a whole century the achievements and ideals of Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam represent a climax in the growth of our national consciousness.

Iqbal derived spiritual sustenance from the historical foundations of Muslim culture. With his mastery of Western philosophy and the history of Islam, he analysed in depth the contribution made by Muslim thinkers to the world of knowledge which, in its turn, led to the formulation of modern renaissance and humanism.

Iqbal was one of those bold modern thinkers who believed that the world revealed through sensations is real and that there are natural laws governing the spatio-temporal events. For him, matter is nothing but spirit in space and time. He vigorously marked out the thesis that the dichotomies between spirit and matter, space and time are unreal. These dichotomies, he thought, are the expressions of the fragmented personality of modern Western man.

Whatever, according to Iqbal, is real needs to be changed by revolutionary action. It is only in the act of transforming the real into the ideal "What is" into "What ought to be" that man fulfils his destiny.

The concept of Pakistan was, therefore, not merely a dream for Iqbal, but the application of his principles to the social realities of South Asia.

*The text of the Presidential Address delivered at a special meeting held on 28 February 1976 at the Iqbal Academy, Lahore, in connection with the Birth Centenary of the Quaid-i-Azam.

Iqbal passionately believed in the truth that the concern of Islam was man as a whole. To him prejudices of creed, colour and caste were just alien. He studied the condition of man in the twentieth century employing all the tools that contemporary knowledge offered and came to the conclusion that the message of Islam was the need of humanity J at large. He discovered that capitalism and feudalism with their emphasis on concentration of sources of production in fewer hands led to large scale exploitation. After an incisive analysis of the major streams of civilization of his day, Iqbal found that man^'s soul had been polluted, his heart vitiated and his mind poisoned. To purge humanity of these ailments Islam presented a remedy to which there was no substitute. Aware as he was of this regenerative and revolutionary potential of Islam, Iqbal was no less conscious of the painful fact that Islam 4 had been exploited by forces of obscurantism, both of indigenous and of alien hue. He, therefore, set out to express the Islamic principles in their true colour through the media of his powerful prose and poetry. All men are equal before God and they are partners in the cosmic creative process. All such barriers as stand in the way of this fundamental equality and integrity have to be destroyed. They may appear 1 in the form of particular classes of people, or social, political and religious institutions. Whatever their shape, Iqbal directs his revolutionary wrath against them and challenges us to destroy them so that a truly egalitarian socio-economic order may be born.

It is in the context of this universal framework that Iqbal's role in directing the course of history in South Asia should be evaluated. His clarion call to the Muslims of this subcontinent to awaken to the in justices done to them and to struggle for an independent homeland of their own formed a part of his total vision. I could therefore say that Iqbal is of great relevance to us in our struggle to consolidate our State on the basis of principles enunciated by him. He is of equal relevance to the world as a whole because it continues to be plagued by the destructive forces he has so clearly identified in his works.

It is indeed a rare coincidence of history that the period of Iqbal^'s intense intellectual frenzy should have synchronised with the Quaid-i-Azam^'s equally intense political struggle. This brought into play an unparalleled collaboration between a man of vision and a man of action. While Iqbal stirred a burning desire amongst Muslim masses for a common ideal by tapping the reservoir of their psychological and historical experience, the Quaid-i-Azam pleaded the Muslim cause. The integrity of character he brought to bear upon his performance and the vision of the future he delineated before the masses made him an unrivalled leader of the Muslims of South Asia. He strictly adhered to the constitutional path and evolved his political strategy to fight the enemy keeping in view the limitations imposed by well-recognised principles of democracy. The pragmatic approach of the Quaid and his faith in the potter of his people soon made his struggle a mass movement. The emergence of Pakistan in the wake of this movement symbolizes a rare phenomenon where a country was brought into existence by dint of unflinching national determination solidified by the will of a single political leader. Fighting without any arms for a minority encircled by majority which was assisted by the alien rulers, the Quaid-i-Azam truly performed a miracle which places him in the forefront of world statesmen.

Though physically shaken by the rigours of the struggle for in-dependence, the Quaid was determined to consolidate the State he had created. He had to start from a scratch, but he was very clear in his mind as to the basic principles on which Pakistan was to be built. And in his vision he was guided by his own experience as well as the thought of Iqbal who had said last farewell to him years before Pakistan was won I refer to a few principles the Quaid enunciated during the short period he lived after independence:

"Brotherhood, equality and fraternity of man—these are all the basic points of our religion, culture and civilisation. And we fought for Pakistan because there was a danger of denial of these human rights in this subcontinent... .

"You are only voicing my sentiments and the sentiments of millions of Mussalmans when you say that Pakistan should be based on sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism ... which emphasises equality and brotherhood of man. Similarly you are voicing my thoughts in asking and in aspiring for equal opportunities for all. These targets of progress are not controversial in Pakistan."[1]

"Islam and its idealism has taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan…"[2] "Our foreign policy is one of friendliness and goodwill towards all the nations of the world. We do not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation. We believe in the principle of honesty and fair‑ play in national and international dealings and are prepared to make our utmost contribution to the promotion of peace and prosperity among the nations of the world."[3]

"Having failed to prevent the establishment of Pakistan, thwart­ed and frustrated by their failure, the enemies of Pakistan have now turned their attention to disrupt the State by creating a split amongst the Muslims of Pakistan. These attempts have taken the shape prin­cipally of encouraging provincialism.... As long as you do not throw off this poison in our body politic, you will never be able to weld your, self, mould yourself, galvanise yourself, into a real true nation.”[4]

From these quotations from the speeches of the Quaid and what I have said about Iqbal, it is clear that they were in agreement with each other as to the social, economic and political goals for which we must all strive. But before the basis could be laid, alas, the Quaid went on a long long journey from where no one returns and the nation soon after went in for a very long winter, a winter for palace intrigues, adventurism, martial law, disruption of democratic principles, poison of provincialism and eventual dismemberment of the country. We had to pass through a series of tragic experiences before we could take to the Islamic and democratic road defined for us by Iqbal and the Quaid. The People^'s Government under the leadership of Quaid-i-Awam Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is endeavouring to rebuild Pakistan in consonance with the wishes of its founding fathers and the spirit of modern times. We, therefore, welcome such deliberations as you have held. We need clarity to do away with conceptual cobwebs. Who can help us more than Iqbal and Quaid in this direction? Happily the first birth centenaries of both the luminaries succeed each other, that of Quaid being this year and that of Iqbal next year. The Government is doing its best to organize the celebrations. But these are national events and the nation as a whole must participate in them. I appeal for this participation. Let us all unite to make these events an occasion for national re-appraisal and for dissemination of the achievements and ideals of Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam.

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