A year hath passed since Aurangzeb is encamped against us,

Disordered and perplexed in appearance, and wounded in heart.

It is now year after that his nobles fall in battle; But his armies

                   swept away, who shall number them!

The treasures of India have been spread out before us:

The red gold mohurs have been engulfed in the hills.

It would not have entered one’s head in eighteen guesses

That such events would ever have happened in these parts.

Still Aurangzeb’s malevolence hath not a whit diminished

Though the curse of his father it before drew down.

For this reason, also, no one can place dependence on him:

He is malignant and perfidious; a breaker of his word.

For this state of things, no other termination can be seen

Than that the Mughals be annihilated, or the Afghans undone.

If this, which is beheld, be the revolutions of destiny—

If in this be the will of the Almighty, the time has come.

Fate revolved not in the same fashion at all times—

 Now ‘tis propitious to the rose; now favorable to the’ thorn,

At a period so pregnant with honour and glories the present.

In what manner do these base and recreant Afghans act?

‘There is no deliverance in anything save the sword:

Afghans, who nourish any other idea than this, are lost,

                                                                             indeed.

The Afghans are superior to the Mughals at the sword,

Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet.

If the different tribes would but support each other,

Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them.

But whether it be concord or strife, or folly or wisdom,

The affairs of every one are in the hands of the Almighty.

(2)

I have beheld fortune’s practices—it’s different

usages and ways—

It clambered unto thee with difficulty; but like

a stone from a mountain, rolleth away!

(3)

Though the kind may cast him into prison, he will not grieve;

For the liberty of the free is from the beginning of time.

 (4)

Let it not be, that every bad rider should mount fortune’s steed:

If it be ridden by any one, at least I good horse man let him be.

(5)

Neither doth any one here seek to avail himself of my abilities

and experience,

Nor are the capabilities of this country’s people of any advantage

                                                                                           unto me.

We converse together in one tongue—we speak the Pushto

       language;

But we do not, in the least, understand what we to one

    another say,

The Swatis account themselves exceeding wise, whilst they

 are but fools,

And ‘tis amongst such a set as these, that the Almighty my

lot hath cast.

Now that I have beheld the Swat valley, I have this much

 discovered,

That there is no tribe more abject and contemptible than

 the.

Tyranny and self-conceit seem to be the inmates

of al And every man amongst them is covetous and ready

          to beg.

Although, in their dwellings, they have wealth and goods,

 they are hungry-eyed;

And their head-men, than the rest, are more villainous and

infamous still.

‘Tis said, that the water-melon deriveth its colour from the

water-melon,

But their wise men and elders are more worthless than the

people themselves.

The rights of the poor and helpless, they make out wrong

    and unjust,

If they can a single penny obtain by way of a present, or

 a bribe.

As to these I have seen myself; about others I am unable

to speak—

They are all either bullocks or skinners, without any

     exception soever.

(6)

The Turanis are all turbulent, quarrelsome, and

oppressive;

Liars, perjurers, and concocters of calumny and

      slander.

The Iranis are of a friendly disposition—they are

    true and faithful:

They have urbanity and breeding—are respect

able and deserving.

The Afghans are malevolent and ruthless and

contentious,

But give them for their modesty and valour due

    praise, lip

Whether Baluch or Hazarah, both are dirty, and

abominable:

They have neither religion nor faith—may shame

attend them!

Whether Hind ustani or Sindhi, may their faces

be blackened!

For they have neither modesty nor shame, neither

bread nor meat.

The Kashmiris, whether male or female—may

       they all be undone!

They have none of the chattels of humanity

   amongst them.

Behold theyare not of the human race—what are

     they?

May perdition swallow them—both Uzbek and

        Kazalbash!

The Laghmanis, Bangashis, Swatis, Tirahis—all

 of them,

Are dancers and fiddlers—and who will be friends?

with such?

Unto him, all matters are manifest, regarding

other folks’ ways;

Then render unto Khushhal’s shrewdness, its due

need of praise.

(7)

Gentle breeze of the morn, shouldst thou pass

over Khairabad,

Or should thy cours& lead thee by Sarae, on

  the banks of the Sind?

Hail them, again and again, with my greetings

and salutations?

And with them, many, many expressions of

       my regard and love.

Cry out unto the Swift Aba-Sind with sonorous

     voice;

But unto the Landdaey, mildly and whisperingly

      say—

“Perhaps, I may drink, once more, a cup of thy

       water;

For, whilst, I was not on Gange’s nor no Jamna’s

        banks.”

Of the climate of Hind should I complain, how

            long shall I cry out?

Whilst the vileness of its water is far more

  horrid still.

Shouldst thou drink water from a rivulet?

it racket the vitals;

And that of the wells, too, is not free from

      danger and peril.

since therein, from hill streams, the cool element

                    is not to be had,

Defend us from Hind, tho’ it should teem with all

 the world’s luxuries besides.

(8)

Do they belong to the Ifreet, the demon, or the

goblin race?

For, among the lineage of Adam, the Afghans

I cannot account.

Notwithstanding thou mayest give one of them

the best of counsel and advice,

Still, even the counsel of his father is not accept

able to his heart.

The whole of the deeds of the Pathans are better

than those of the Mughals;

But they have no unity amongst them, and a

         great pity it is.

The fame of BahIol, and .of Sher Shah too,

resounded in my ears—

 Afghan Emperors of India, who swayed its

scepter effectively and well.

For six or seven generations, did they govern so

wisely,

That all their people were filled with admiration

of them

Either those Afghans were different, or these have

greatly changed

Or otherwise, at present, such is the Almighty’s

decree

If the Afghans shall acquire the gift of concord

and unity

Old Khushhal shall, a second time, grow young

there from.

A good name will remain behind—naught else

    So ever will survive:

The wicked for evil are remembered—the good,

    for their virtues, in the menhory live.

Shouldst thou hear of Hajaj, thou wilt also hear

 the name of Noshirwan,

For justice, the unbeliever is venerated_ tyranny,

      the believe is cursed.

(9)

The Afghans have gone mad about posts and

dignities;

But God preserve me Wrom such plagues and

troubles.

Unto whom belangeth thhe gift of discretion;

        to the swordsman?

Just the same as one learLrneth the Kuran, in the

 schools.

Not one amongst them i is gifted with the art of

          prudence;

For with the dispositions of all of them Jam well

         acquainted.

The Afghans have one veery great failing, if thou

                                                                   but notice—

That they with the title and dignities of the

          Mughals conquest.

Shame and reputation, faame and honour, are

     Of no account;

But, certainly, they tell enough about officers,

     rank, and gold.

LOOK not towards the M with the eyes of

  cupidity;

Even if in the habit of dooiug so from any other

       cause.

The trusty Khattaki sworird is buckled round my

        waist;

But not the custom of se in the village and in town.

The dark night of Auranggzeb’s prison I hold in

        remembrance,

When all the night longg, “0 God! 0 God !“ continually

         I cried.

If the Afghans would buut oppose the Mughals with the

          sword,

Every Khattak, by thhe bridle-rein, should lead

        a Mughal away.

Amongst the Khattakk, O Khushhal, no Council

    of honour existent;

Hence, I cannot conc from what lineage they have

          sprung.

(1,10)

Whet it is the wis man, or the ignorant—the honest

     man or the robber.

I do not see anyone a true colleague united with me

                                                                  in my task.

A sincere friend in cdistress I cannot discover

   throughout the land;

For people merely ggive the empty consolation

          of their tongues.

Like unto the ants, dlirected towards the grain

 are the steps

Of those who favouri me with their coming and their

   going.

Did not these ants entertain the hope of obtain ing a

   store?

They would never make any journey in that direction

    at all.

Abandon not thane o stricken mountain-land, 0 Khushhal!

Though blood is at every footstep and in every direction

shed.

(iiii)

if the damsels of Kashmir are famed for their

 beauty,

Or those of Chin, or Ma-chin, or Tartary, noted

  likewise;

Yet the sweet Afghan maidens t that mine eyes

        have beheld,

Put all the others to shame, by their conduct

        and ways.

As to their comeliness, this, once for all, is

         the facet of the matter,

That they are, in lineage, of the tribe and

 posterity of Yakub.

Of the fragrance of musk, or of r rosewater,

they have no need—

 They are as the attar of the perfumer, by

                           Prayer Five times a day.

Whether jewels for forehead or fedora

        neck, or any other trinkets,

All these are contemptible, with t their

     dark locks compared.

Whether veils of gold brocade, or whether

         Silken mantles,

All ‘are a sacrifice unto the snow-white kerchief

    of theirs.

The beauty of their minds exceblieth their per

        zonal privacy;

Not seen in the markets, with garments open and

     persons exposed.

They cannot look one full in the face, through

      modesty,

They are unused to abuse, and tithe discipline of

       the shoe.

Khushhal hath mentioned, moree or less, some

          what of the matter;

But much remained that may be suitable, or

    unsuitable to the case.

(12)

If the Afghan people are of the human race,

in disposition and ways they are very Hindus.

They are possessed of neither skill, nor intellect;

But are happy in ignorance, and in strife.

Neither do they obey words of their fathers;

Nor do they unto the teachers’ instructions give

When there may be one worthy man amongst them,

They are the destroyers of his head and life.

They ever lie in wait, one to injure the other;

Hence they are always by calamity remembered.

They neither possess worth, nor do others esteem

them,

Though they are more numerous than locusts or

than ants.

First I, then others, as many as there may be —

We all of us require aid, and a helping hand.

Whether it is valour, or whether liberality,

They have cast, through dissension, them both

      away.

But still, 0 Khushhal, thank God for this,

That they are not slaves, but free-born men.

(13)

Doth the gnat ever attain unto the high rank ‘f

the falcon,

Even though he is furnished, both with feathers

 and with wings?

(14)

Though all the world may agree to disparage and

      speak ill of him;

Poor Khushhal in his own merits and integrity.

(15)

However tortuously the snake moved about,

It proceeded straight enough unto its hold.

(16)

What is it, a sound and healthy body, Which,

 more than empire and sovereignty, is

       preferred?

Author’ the world’s wealth is an excellent thing,

Glory and renown are, than riches, more precious

still.

What are more inestimable than the most perfect

         thing?

The one is purity—the other is sincerity of

heart.

What is it that disenthralled a man from

sorrow?

Yea, what is it?—it is contentedness of

mind! Should thou boast thyself of the

 godliness, That godliness, thereby, is

       rendered bootless and vain.

What is that, which hath a value beyond

  corn pate’

Yea, what is it?—it is deliberation in all

                                                Out affairs

That, which as a favor and oblivion is con.

As generosity or liberality, was it ever

accounted? What is that, which, in this

world, is a Hell indeed?

Verily, it is the society and acquaintance

                                                   of a fool.

Then, 0 Khushhal, guard thou well thy

mind; For if there be aught good, ‘tis a

      mind upright.

Verily, the Afghans are deficient in sense

         and understanding—

They are the tail-cut curs of the butcher’s

      slaughter-house.

They have played away dominion for the

gold of the Mughals;

And they lust after the offices, that the Mughals

    can give.

Though the camel, with its lading, hath entered

        their dwelling,

They are first taken up with stealing the bell from

       its neck.

Out upon him who first the name of Sarrahban

bore,

And malediction upon the whole of them, that after

            follow.

The recreant occupy themselves in baseness and

       dishonor;

But every breath of the noble is devoted to the cause

       of renown

They commence from Kandahar, and reach unto

        Damghar

(17)

And all are worthless and good for nothing, who dwell between.

(18)

The Mughals whom I now set e es upon, are not such as were wont to be?

The day of their swords is past and gone, and but the pen remaineth unto them:

They gain over the Afghans by gold; and by fraud and deception entangle them;

Upon me these things have no effect, for the favour of God is still upon me.

I am neither a fly nor a crow, that I should hover over rottenness and filth,

The hawk or the falcon am 1, that must my heart, with my own quarry, delight;

Were there but others like unto me in this affair, I should rejoice indeed;

But since there are none like me, with distress and grief I am o’erwhelm’d.

(Islamic Culture, May, 1928)

FOREWORD TO “MURAQQA-I-CHUGHTAI”

I welcome Muraqqa- i-Chughtai—Ghalib’s Illus tr Edition by Mr. M. A. Rahrnan Chughtai— a unique enterprise in modern tndian painting and printing. Unfortunately I am not competent enough to judge the. technical side of painting, and refer the reader to Dr. Cousin’s admirable Introduction in which he has analysed some of the more important forces that are shaping Chughtai’s artistic ideal. All that I can say is that I look upon Art as subservient to life and personality. I expressed this view as far back as 1914 in my Asrar-i-Khudi, and twelve years later in the poems of the Zubur-i-Ajam. I have tried to picture the soul-movement of the ideal artist in whom Love reveals itself as a unity of Beauty and

Power: From this point of view some of the more recent paintings of Mr. Chughtai are indeed remarkable. The spiritual health of a people largely depends on the kind of inspiration which their poets and artists receive. But inspiration is not a matter of choice. It is a gift, the character of which cannot be critically judged by the recipient before accepting it. It comes to the individual unsolicited, and only to socialise itself. For this reason the personality that receives, and the life-qualitY of that which is received, are iatters of the utmost importance for mankind. The j if his art can lure his fellows to his song or picture, may prove more ruinouS to a people than whole battalions of an Attila or a Changez. As the Prophet of Islam said of lira’ ul Qais—the greatest poet of pre-Islamic Arabia: To permit the visible to shape the invisible, to seek what is scientificallY called adjustment with nathre is to recognise her mastery over the spirit of man. Power comes from resisting her stimuli, and not from exposing ourselves to their action. Resis tance of what is with a view to create what ought to be, is health and life. All else is de . and death. Both God and man live by perpetual creationThe artist who is a blessing to mankind defies life. He is an associate of God and feels the contact

- of Time and Eternity in his soul. In the words of ichte, he “sees the Nature full, large and abun4ant as opposed to him who sees all things thinner, smaller and emptier than they actually are”. The modern age seeks inspiration from Nature. But Nature ‘is’ and her function is mainly to obstruct our search or ‘Ought’, which the artist must discover

within the deeps of his own being.

And in so lard as the cultural history of Islam is concerned its my belief that, with the single  exception of Architect art of Islam (Music, Painting and even Poetry) is yet to be born—as art, that is to says There are, however, indications to show that the young artist of the Punjab is already on the way to feel his responsibility as an artist. He is only twenty- nine yet. What his a will become when he reaches the mature age of forty, the future alone will disclose. Meanwhile all those who are interested in his work will keenly watch his forward movement.

Sometime ago various questions arose in my mind regarding the culture of Islam as embodying the world feeling of a specific group of mankind. Is Modern Science purely Western in origin? Why did the Muslims devote themselves to architecture as a mode of self-expression; and why did they comparatively ignore music and painting? What light, if any, do their mathematics and their. decorative art throw on their intellectual and emotional attitude towards the concepts of space and time? Are there any psychological conditions which determined the rise and final acceptance, as an orthodox religious dogma, of a boldly conceived Atomic theory wholly unlike the Greek theory? What is the psychological meaning of miraj in the cultural history of Islam? Professor

Macdonald has recently tried to prove the existence of Buddhist influence on the rise and growth of Atomism in Islam. But the cultural problem which I have ventured to raise is far more important than the purely historical question answered by Professor Macdonald. Similarly Professor Bevan has given us Valuable historical discussion of the story of the mirage. To my mind, however, what is, culturally speaking, more important is the intense appeal that the story has always made to the average Muslim, and the

manner in which Muslim thought and imagination

A PLEA FOR DEEPER STUDY OF THE MUSLIM SCIENTISTS

Have worked on it. It must be something more than a mere religious dogma, for it appealed to the great mind of Dante, and through Muhyiuddin Ibn-ul Arabi furnished a model for the sublimes part of the Divine Comedy which symbolizes the culture of mediaeval Europe. The historian may rest satisfied with the conclusion that the Muslim belief in the Prophet’s Ascension finds no justification in the Quran; yet the psychologist who aims at a deeper view of Islamic culture cannot ignore the fact that the outlook given by the Quran to its followers does demand the story as a formative element in the world-picture of Islam. The truth is that it is absolutely necessary to adjust their answers into a systematic whole of thought and emotion. Without this it is impossible to discover the ruling concepts of a given culture, and to appreciate the spirit that permeates it. However, a comprehensive view of the culture of Islam, as an expression of the spiritual life of its followers, is easy of achievement.

The Culture of Islam is the youngest of all Asiatic Cultures. For us moderns it is far easier to grasp the spirit of this culture than to imagine the world-picture of those ancient cultures whose intellectual and emotional attitude it is extremely difficult to express in a modern language. The difficulty of the historian of Muslim culture is mainly due to the almost total lack of Arabic scholars. trained in special sciences. European scholars have done good work in the domain of Muslim history, philology, religion and literature. Muslim philosophy too has bad share of their attention; but I am afraid the work done philosophy is, on the whole, of a superficial kind, and often’ betrays ignorance of both Muslim and European thought. It is in Art as well as in the concepts of special sciences and Philosophy that the true spirit of a culture is revealed. But, for the reason mentioned above, the student of Muslim culture is yet very far from understanding the spirit of that culture. Briffault, in his Making of Humanity a book which every student of the history of culture ought to read, tells us that “neither Roger Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be credited with having introduced the experimental method”. And further that “The experimental method of the Arabs was by Bacon’s time widespread and eagerly cultivated throughout Europe.” Now, I have reasons to be lieve that the origin of Descartes’ Method and Bacon’s Novum Organum goes back to Muslim critics of Greek logic, e.g., Ibn Taimiyya, Ghazzali, Razi, and Shahabuddin Maqtul. But it is obvious that the existing material which would prove this thesis can be handled only by those Arabic scholars who have made a special study of Greek, Muslim and European logic.

Again, our ignorance of the concepts of Muslim Science sometimes leads to erroneous views of modern Culture. An instance of this I find in Spangler’s extremely learned work, Integrands 4bend!andes, in which he has developed a new theory of the birth and growth of cultures while discussing the concept of number in the classical, Arabian and modern cultures, and contrasting the Greek notion of magnitude with the Arabian indeterminateness of number, he says :—

“Number as pure magnitude inherent in the material present ness of things is paralleled by number as pure relation, and if we may characterize the Classical World, the cosmos, as being based on a deep need of visible limits and composed accordingly as a sum of material things, so we may say that our world-picture is an actualizing of an infinite space in which things visible appear very nearly as realities of a lower order, limited in the presence of the illimitable. The symbol of the West is an idea of which no other culture gives even a hint, the idea of function. The function is anything rather than an expansion of, it is complete emancipation from, any pre-existent idea of number. With the function, not only the Euclidean Geometry but also the Archimedean arithmetic ceased to have any value for the really significant mathematics of Western Europe.”

The last three sentences in this passage are in fact the foundation-stone on which the superstructure of Spangler’s theory largely rests. Unfortunately, the thesis that no other culture gives even a hint of the idea of function is incorrect. I had a vague recollection of the idea of function in Al-Beruni, and not being a mathematician, I sought the help of Dr. Zia-ud-Din of Aligarh who very kindly gave me all English translation of Al-Berunis passage, and wrote to me an interesting letter from which I quote the following:

“Al-Beruni in his book, Qanun-i-Masudi, used Newton’s formula of Interpolation for valuing the various intermediary angles of Trigonometry functions from his tables which were calculated for every j of fifteen minutes. He gave Geometrical proof of Interpolation formula. In the end he wrote a paragraph saying that this proof can be applied to any function whatsoever whether it may be increasing or diminishing with the increase of arguments. He did not use the word function, but he expressed the idea of function in generalizing the formula of Inter polation from Trigonometrically functions to any function whatsoever. I may add here that I drew the attention of Prof. Schwartz child-—Professor of Astronomy in the Gottingen University—to this passage, and he was so much surprised that he took Prof. Andrews with him to the library, and got the whole passage translated three times before lie began to believe it.”

It is not possible for me here to discuss Spangler’s theory, and to show how materially his oversight affects his view of history. Suffice it to say that a genetic view of the cultures associated with the two great Semitic religions reveals their spiritual relation ship which tends to falsify Spangler’s thesis that cultures, as organic structures, are completely alien to one another. But this brief reference to one of the most important concepts of modern mathematics reminds me of (“The extent of Possibility in the science of space”) of Iraqi. During m with Maulvi Syed Anwar Shah, One of t most learned traditions in the Muslim World of today, regarding the meaning of the word “ldahr” (Time) occurring in the well-known tradition ( I _.3’ “Deal not in invective against Time (with Time’s vicissitudes), Lo: Time (with) Time’s vicissitudes) is Allah.” The Maulvi Sahib referred to this manuscript; and later, at my request, very kindly sent me a copy of it. I •consider it necessary to give you an account of the contents of this valuable document, partly because it will furnish additional reason for dissatisfaction with Spangler’s theory, but mainly because I mean thereby to impress upon you the need of Oriental research in concepts of special sciences as developed in the world of Islam. Moreover it is likely that this small manuscript of great value may lead to the opening up of a fresh field of inquiry about the origins of our concepts of space and time, the importance of which has only recently been realised by modern Physics.

There is, however, some doubt about the author ship of the booklet. Haji Khalifah attributes it to one Sh. Mahmud whom 1 have not been able to trace. About the middle of the text the following sentence occurs Personally I am inclined to think that in this manuscript we are in a more intimate touch with the Persian Sufi Iraqi whose freedom of thought and action brought on him the odium of the orthodox both in Egypt and India. However the reason why he was led to reduce his thoughts to writing is thus explained Assuming, then, that the writer is Fakhruddin Iraqi, it is significant to note that he was a con temporary of Nasir-ud-Din Tusi. Tutsi’s work on Euclid was printed in Rome in 1594, and John Wallis introduced it to the University of Oxford about the middle of the 17th century. It is Tutsi’s effort to improve the parallel postulate of Euclid that is believed to have furnished a basis in Europe for the problem of space which eventually led to the theories of Gauss and Reimana. Iraqi, however, was not a mathematician, though his view of space and time appears to me to be several centuries ahead of Tusi. This necessitates a very careful inquiry into the progress of mathematical thought in Islam with a view to discover : Iraqi’s conclusions were ever reached through a Purely mathematical channel.

I will now proceed to summaries tuebstance of Ira. ‘s discussion of Time and Space mainly in his OW words. The secret of Time and Space is the greatest of secrets. To know it is to know the secret of the Being and attributes of God. The existence of some kind of Space in relation to God is clear from the following verses of the Quran :— “Dost thou not see that God know  all that is in the Heavens and all that is in the Earth? Three persons speak not privately together, but He is their fourth; nor five, but He is their sixth; nor fewer nor more, but where they are He is with them”.

“Ye shall not be employed in affairs, nor shall ye read a text out of the Quran, nor shall ye work any work, but We will be witness, over you when you are engaged therein; and the weight of an atom on Earth or in Heaven escaped not the Lord; nor is there weight that is less than this or greater but it is in the Perspicuous Book.”

“We created man: and we know what his soul whispereth to him, and we are closer to him than his neck-vein.”

But we must not forget that the words proximity, contact and mutual separation, which apply to material bodies, do not apply to God. Divine life is in touch with the whole Universe on the analogy of the soul’s contact with the body. The soul is neither inside nor outside the body; neither proximate to nor separate from it. Yet its contact with every atoll of the body is real, and it is impossible to conceive this contact except by positing some kind of space which befits the subtleness of the soul. The existence of space in relation to the life of God, therefore, cannot be denied; only we should carefully define the kind of space which may be predicated of the Absoluteness of God. Now there are three kinds of space—the space of material bodies, the space of  beings, and the space of God. The space of material bodies is further divided into three kinds. First, the space of gross bodies of which we predicate roominess. In this space movement takes time, bodies occupy their respective places and resist displacement. Secondly, the space of subtle bodies, e.g., air and sound. In this space two bodies resist each other and their movement is measurable in terms of time which, however, appears to be different to the time of gross bodies. The air in a tube must be displaced before other air can enter into it; and the time of sound-waves is practically nothing compared to the time of gross bodies. Thirdly, we have the space of light. The light of the Sun instantly reaches the farthest limits of the Earth. Thus in the velocity of light and sound time is reduced almost to zero. It is, therefore, clear that the space of light is different to the space of air and sound. There is, however, an effective argument than this. The light of a candle spreads in all directions in a room without - displacing the air in the room ; and this shows that

the space of light is more subtle than the space j air which has no entry into the space of light In the view of the close proximity of these spaces, however, it is not possible to distinguish the one from the other except by purely intellectual analysis and spin the experience. Again, in the hot water the-two Opposites—fire and water which appear to interpenetrate each other cannot, in view of their respective nature, exist in the same space. The fact cannot be explained except on the supposition that the spaces of the two substances, though closely proximate to each other are never the less distinct. But while the element of distance is not entirely absent there is no possibility of mutual resistance in the space of light. The light of a candle reaches up to a certain point only and the lights of a hundred candles intermingle in the same room without displacing one another.

Having thus described the spaces of physical bodies, possessing various degrees of subtleness, Iraqi proceeds briefly to describe the main varieties of space operated upon by the various classes of immaterial beings, e.g., angels. The element of distance is not entirely absent from these spaces; for immaterial beings, while they can easily pass through stone walls, cannot altogether dispense with moteior which, according to Iraqi, is evidence of imperfection in spirituality. The highest point in the scale of spatial freedom is reached by the human soul which in its unique essence, is neither at rest nor in motion. thus passing the Divine space which is absolutely free from all dimensions, and constitutes the meeting point of all infinities.

In a similar manner Iraqi deals with time. There are infinite varieties of time relative to the varying grades of being intervening between materiality and pure spirituality. The Time of gross bodies ,which arises from the revolutions of the heavens is divisible into past, present, and future; and its nature is such that as long as one day does not pass away that’s day does not came. The time of immaterial beings is also serial in character; but its passage is such that whole year in the time of gross bodies is not more than a day in the time of immaterial beings. Rising higher and higher in the scale of immaterial beings we reach the notion of Divine Time which is absolutely free from the quality and consequently does not admit of divisibility, sequence and change. It is above eternity; it has neither beginning nor end. The ‘eye’ of God sees all the visible act of perception. The priority of is not due to the priority of time, on the other hand the priority of time is due to God priority. Thus Divine Time is what the Quran describes as the ‘Mother of Books’ in which the Whole of History freed from the net of casual sequence is gathered up in a single super-eternal ‘now’.

From this summary of Iraqi’s view you will see how a cultured Muslim Sufi intellectually interpreted his spiritual experience of time and space in an age which had no idea of the theories and concepts of modern mathematics and Physics. In fact his theory of a plural space may be taken as a primitive stage in the modern hyperspace movement which originated in Nasir-ud-Din Tutsi’s efforts to improve the parallel postulate of Euclid. In modern times it Was Kant who first definitely suggested the idea of different spaces as you will see from the following Passage which I quote from his Prolegomena :— “That complete space (which is itself no longer boundary of another space) has three dimensions, id that space in general cannot have more, is based of proposition that not more than three lines canintcrsect at right angles in one point . . . . That we can require a line to be drawn to infinity, a series of changes to be continued (for example, spaces passed through by motion) in indefinite, presupposes a representation of space and time which can only attach to intuition.” But Kant was not a mathematician. It was left for professional mathematicians of the 18th and the 19th centuries finally to reach the concept of space as a dynamic appearance, and as such generable and finite. Iraqi’s mind seems to be vaguely struggling with the concept of space as an infinite continuum; yet he was unable to see the full implications of his thought, partly because he was not a mathematician and partly because of his natural prejudice in favour of the traditional Aristotelian idea of a fixed Universe. If he had been able to raise the question whether dimensionality is a property of the world or a property of our knowledge of the world, he would have felt the necessity of searching examination of his own consciousness, and this would have opened up to him a line of thought much more in keeping with his sophistic standpoint. Again the interpenetration of the super spatial ‘here’ and the super-eternal ‘now’ in the Ultimate Reality suggests the modern notion of space-time which Professor Alexander, in his lectures on ‘Space, Time and Deity’, regards as the matrix of all things. A keener insight into the nature of time would have led Iraqi to see that time is the more fundamental of the two; and that it is not a mere metaphor to say, as Prof. Alexander does say, that time is the mind of space. Iraqi conceives God’ relation to the Universe on the analogy of the relation  of the human soul to the body: but, instead of philosophically reaching this position through a criticism of the spatial and temporal aspects of experience, he simply postulates it On the basis of his spiritual experience. It is not sufficient merely to reduce space and time to a vanishing point-instant. The philosophical path that leads to God as the Omni of the universe, lies through the discovery of Living Thought as the ultimate principle of space-time. Iraqi’s mind, no doubt moved in the right direction; but his Aristotelian prejudice coup led with a lack of Psychological analyses blocked his progress. With this view that Divine Time is inadequate analysis of conscious experience—it was not possible for him to discover the relation between Divine Time and serial time, and to reach, through this discovery, the essentially Islamic idea of con tenuous creation which means a growing universe.

(Islamic Culture,

April, 1929)

FOREWORD TO

Persian Navigation

1 have read parts of Professor Hadi’s book o Persian Navigation with great interest and profit. Besides the innumerable Persian, Arabic and Chinese sources, he has utilized all the available sculptural, pictorial and numismatic material in establishing the conclusion that whilst the land empire of the Sasanids perished with the fall of Yazdigird the maritime activity of the Persians continued till the Caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, when it began to be displaced by the Arabs. The author’s great capacity for sustained work, his infinite patience in sifting the details of evidence, and above all his youthful enthusiasm for the subject of his study—all this is abundantly clear from the remarkable work that he has produced. I have no doubt that Professor Hadi’s work is a very important contribution to modern historical research relating to Persian antiquities. It is needless to add that Professor Hadi is a brilliant Persian is from whose pen yet greater things are expected.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Delivered at the Annual Session of the All-India

Muslim League at Allahabad on the

29th December, 1930

Gentlemen, I am deeply grateful to you for the honour OU have conferred upon me in inviting me to preside over the deliberations of the All-India Muslim League at one of the most critical moments in the history of Muslim political thought and activity in India. I have no doubt that in this great assembly there are men whose political experience is far more extensive than mine, and for whose knowledge of affairs I have the highest respect. It will, therefore, be presumptuous on my part to claim to guide an assembly of such men in the political decisions which they are called upon to make today. I lead no party; I follow no leader. I have given the best part of my life to a careful study of Islam, its law and policy, its culture, its history, and its literature. This constant Contact with the spirit of Islam, as it unfolds itself in time, has, I think, given me a kind of insight into its significance as a world-fact. It is in the light of this insight, whatever its value, that, while assuming that the Muslims of India are determined to remain true to the spirit of Islam, I propose, not to guide you in ( decisions but to attempt the humbler task of bringing clearly to your consciousness the main principle which, in my opinion, should determine the general character of these decisions.

It cannot be denied that Islam, regarded as a ethical ideal plus a certain kind of polity—by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical ideal— has been the chief formative factor in the life history of the Muslims of India. It has furnished those basic emotions and loyalties which grad uallyunify scattered individuals and groups and finally transform them into a well-defined people. Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that India is perhaps the only country in the world where Islam as a society is almost entirely due to the working of Islam as a culture inspired by a specific ethical ideal. What I mean to say is that Muslim society, with its remarkable homogeneity and inner unity, has grown to be what it is under the pressure of the laws and institutions associated with the culture of Islam. The ideas set free by European political thinking, however, are now rapidly changing the outlook of the present generation of Muslims both in India and outside India. Our younger men, inspired by these ideas, are anxious to see them as living forces in their own countries, without any critical appreciation of the facts which have determinate their evolution in Europe. In Europe Christianity was understood to be a purely monastic order which gradually developed into a vast church-organization. The protest of Luther was directed against this church organization, not against any system of polity of a secular nature, for the obvious reason that there was no such polity associated with Christianity. And Luther was perfectly justified In rising in revolt against hi organization though, I thinks he did not realize that in the peculiar conditions which obtained in Europe, his revolt would eventually mean the complete displacement of the universal ethics of Jesus by the growth of a plurality of national and hence narrower systems of ethics. Thus the upshot of the intellectual movement initiated by such men as Rousseau and Luther was the break-up of the one into mutually ill- adjusted many, the transformation of a human into a 4tional outlook, requiring a more re foundation, such as the notion of country and finding expression through varying systems of polity evolved on national lines, i.e., on lines which recognize territory as the only principle of political solidarity. If you begin with the conception of religion as complete other then that has happened to Christianity in Europe is perfectly natural. The universal ethics of Jesus is displaced by national systems of ethics and polity. The conclusion to which Europe is consequently driven is that religion is a private affair of the individual and has nothing to do with what is called man’s temporal life. Islam does not bifurcate the -unity of man into an irreconcilable duality of spirit and matter. In Islam God and the universe, spirit and matter, Church and State, are organic to each other. Man is not the citizen of a profane world to be renounced in the interest of a world of spirit situated elsewhere. To Islam matter is spirit ealising itself in space and time Europe Uncritically accepted the duality of spirit and matter from Manichaean thought. Her best thinkers are realizing this initial mistake today, but her statesmen are indirectly forcing the world to accept it as an unquestionable dogma. It is, then, this mistaken separation of spiritual and temporal which has largely influenced European religious and political thought and has resulted practically in the total exclusion of Christianity from the life of European States. The result is a set of mutually ill-adjusted States dominated by interests not human but national. And these mutually ill-adjusted States after trampling over the morals and convictions of Christianity, are today feeling the need of a federated Europe, i.e., the need of a unity which Christian church-organization originally gave them, but which instead of reconstructing it in the light of Christ’s vision of human brotherhood they considered it fit to destroy under the inspiration of Luther. A Luther in the world of Islam, however, is an impossible phenomenon; for here there is no church-organization similar to that of Christianity in the Middle Ages, inviting a destroyer. In the world of Islam we have a universal polity whose fundamentals are believed to have been revealed, but whose structure, owing to our legists’ want of contact with modern world, stands today in need of renewed power by fresh adjustments. I do not know what will be the final fate of the national idea in the world of Islam. Whether Islam will assimilate and transform it, as it has assimilated and transformed before many ideas expressive of a different spirit, or allow a radical transformation of its own structure by the force of this idea, is hard to predict. Professor Wensinck of Leaden (Holland) wrote to In the other day: “It seems to me that Islam is entering upon a crisis through which Christianity has been passing for more than a century. The great difficulty is how to save the foundations of religion when many antiquated notions have to be given up. It seems to me scarcely possible to state what the outcome will be for Christianity, still less what ii will be for Islam. At the present moment the national Idea is curacial using the outlook of Muslims, and thus materially counteracting the humanising work of Islam. And the growth of racial consciousness may mean the growth of standards different and even opposed to the standards of Islam.

I hope you will pardon me for this apparently academic discussion. To address this session of the All-India Muslim League you have selected a man who is not despaired of Islam as a living force for  the outlook of man from its geographical limitations, who believes that religion is a power of the utmost importance in the life of individuals well as States, and who believes that Islam is itself Destiny a will not suffer a destiny. Such a man cannot but look at matters from his own point of view. Do not think that the problem I am indicating is a purely theoretical one. It is a very living and practical problem calculated to affect the very fabric of Islam as a system of life and conduct. On a proper solution of it alone depends your future as a distinct cultural unit in India Never in our history has Islam had to stand a greater trial than the one Which confronts it today. It is open to a people to modify, reinterpret or reject the foundational principles of their social structure, but it is absolutely necessary for them to see clearly what they are before they undertake to try a fresh experiment. No should the way in which I am approaching this important problem lead anybody to think that I intend to quarrel with those who happen to think differently. You are a Muslim assembly and, I suppose, anxious to remain true to the spirit and ideals of Islam. My sole desire, therefore, is to tell you frankly what I honestly believe to be the truth about the present situation. In this way alone it is possible for me to illuminate, according to my light, the avenues of your political action.

What, then, is the problem and its implications? Is religion a private affair? Would you like to see Islam, as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe? Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as a polity in favour of national polities, in which religious attitude is not permitted to play any part? This question becomes of special importance in India where the Muslims happen to be in a minority. The proposition that religion is a private individual experience is not surprising on the lips of a European. In Europe the conception of Christianity as a monastic order, renouncing the world of matter and fixing its gaze entirely on the world of spirit, led by a logical process of thought, to the view embodied in this pro position. The nature of the Prophet’s religious experience, as disclosed in the Quran, however, is wholly different, it is not mere experience in the sense of a purely biological event, happening inside the experiment and necessitating no reactions on his social environment it is individual experience creative of a social order. Its immediate outcome is the fundamentals of a polity with implicit legal concepts basic significance cannot be belittled merely because their origin is revelation. The religious ideal of Islam, therefore, is organically related to the social order which it has created. The rejection of the one will eventually involve the rejection of the other Therefore the construct on of a polity on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim The is a matter which at the present moment directly concerns the Muslims of India “Man”, says Renan, “is enslaved neither by his racier by his religion, nor by the course of rivers, nor by the direction of mountain ranges. A great aggregation of men, sane of mind and warm of heart. creates a moral consciousness which is called a nation.” Such a formation is quite possible, though it involves the long and arduous process of practically remaking in and furnishing them with a fresh emotional equipment. It might have been a fact in India if the teaching of Kabir and the Divine Faith of Akbar had seized the imagination of the masses of this country. Experience, however, shows that the caste-units and religious units in India have o no inclination to sink their respective individualities in a larger whole. Each group is intensely jealous of its collective existence. The formation of the kind of moral consciousness which constitutes the essence of a nation in Renan’s sense demands a price which the peoples of India are not prepared to pay. The unity of an Indian nation, therefore, must be sought, not in the negation but in the mutual harmony and co-operation of the many. True statesmanship cannot ignore facts, however unpleasant they maybe. The only practical course is not to assume the existence of a state of things which does not exist, but to recognize facts as they are, and to exploit them to our greatest advantage. And it is on the discovery of Indian unity in this direction that the fate of India as wellas Asia really depends. India is Asia in miniature. Part of her people has cultural affinities with nations in the east and part with nations in the middle and west of Asia. If an effective principle of co-operation is discovered in India, it will bring peace and mutual good will to this ancient land which has suffered so long, more because of her situation in historic space than because of any inherent incapacity of her people. And it will at the same time solve the entire political problem of Asia.

It is, however, painful to observe that our attempts to discover such a principle of internal harmony have so far failed. Why have they failed? Perhaps we suspect each other’s intentions and inwardly aim at dominating each other. Perhaps in the higher interests of mutual co-operation we cannot afford to part with the monopolies which circumstances have placed in our hands and conceal our egoism under the cloak of a nationalism, outwardly as narrow- minded as a caste or a tribe. Perhaps, we are unwilling to recognize that each group has a right to free development according to its own cultural traditions it may be the causes of our failure, I still feel hopeful. Events seem to be tending in the direction of some sort of internal harmony. And as far as I have been able to read the Muslim mind, I have no hesitation in declaring that if the principle that the Indian Muslim is entitled to full and free development on the lines of his own culture and tradition in his own Indian home-lands is recognized as the basis of a permanent communal settlement, he will be ready to stake his all for the freedom of India. The principle that each group is entitled to free development Of its own lines is not inspired by any feeling of narrow communalism. There are cornniunalisms and communisms. A community which is inspired by feelings of ill-will towards other corn inanities is low and ignoble. I entertain the highest respect for the customs, laws religious and social institutions of other communities. Nay, it is my duty according to the teaching of the Quran, even to defend their places of worship, if need be. Yet I love the communal group which is the source of my life and behavior and which has formed me what I am by giving me its religion, its literature, its thought, its culture and thereby recreating its whole past as a living operative factor in my present consciousness. Even the authors of the Nehru Report recognize the value of this higher aspect of communism While classing the separation of Sind they say “To say the larger view-point of nationalism that no individual provinces should be created, is in a way equivalent to saying from the still wider international view-point that there should be no separate nations. Both these statements have a measure of truth in them. But the staunchest internationalist recognizes that without the fullest national autonomy it is extra ordinarily difficult to create the international State. So also without the fullest cultural autonomy, and Communalism in its better aspect is culture, it will be difficult to create a harmonious nation.”

Communalism in higher aspect, then, is in dispensable to the formation of a harmonious whole in a country like India. The units of Indian society are not territorial as in European countries. India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages and professing different religions. Their behavior is not at all determined by a common race-consciousness. Even the Hindus do not form a homogeneous group. The principle of European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognizing the fact of communal groups. The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is, therefore, perfectly justified. The resolution of the All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi, is, to my mind wholly inspired by this noble ideal of a harmonious whole which, instead of stifling the respective individualities of its component wholes, affords them chances of fully working out the possibilities that may be latent in them. And I have no doubt that this House will emphatically endorse the Muslim demands embodied in this resolution. Personally, I would go further than the demands embodied in it. I would like to e the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North west Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North West India. The proposal was put forward before theNehruC0m They rejected ton the ground that. if carried into effect, it would give aver  State. This is true in so far as the area is con cerned; in point of population State contemplated by the proposal would be much less than some of the present Indian provinces. The exclusion of Ambala Division and perhaps of some districts where non- Muslims predominate will make it less extensive and more Muslim in po so that the exclusion suggested will enable this consolidated State to give a more effective protection to nonMuslim minorities within its area. The idea need not alarm the Hindus or the British. India is the greatest Muslim country in .the world. The life of Islam as a cultural force in this country very largely depends on its centralisation in a specified territory.. This centralisation of the luost living portioll of the Muslims of India, whose military and police service has, notwithstanding unfair treatment from the British, made the British rule pos Sible in this country, will eventually solve the problem of india as well as of Asia. It will intensify their Sense of responsibility and deepen their patriotic leeling. Thus possessing full opportunity of development within the body politic of India, the North-West to Muslims will prove the best defenders of India against a foreign invasion, be the invasion one of ideas or of bayonets. The Punjab with 56 per cent Muslim population supplies 54 per cent of the total combatant troops in the Indian Army, and if the 19,000 Gurkhas recruited from the independent State of Nepal are excluded, the Punjabcontingcnt amounts to 62 per cent of the whole Indian Army. This percentage does not take into account nearly 6,000 combatants supplied to the Indian Army by the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. From this you can easily calculate the possibilities of North West India Muslims in regard to the defence of India against foreign aggression. The Right Hon’ble Mr. Srinivasa Sastri thinks that the Muslim demand for the creation of autonomous Muslim States along the north-west border ii actuated by a desire to acquire means of exerting pressure in emergencies on the Government of India. I may frankly tell him that the Muslim demand is not actuated by the kind of motive he imputes to us; it is actuated by a genuine desire for free development which is practically im possible under the type of unitary government con templated by the nationalist Hindu politicians with a view to secure permanent communal dominance in the whole of India.

Nor should the Hindus fear that the creation of autonomous Muslim States will meanthe introduction of a kind of religious rule in such States. I have already indicated to you the meaning of the word religion as applied to Islam. The truth is that Islam is not a church. it is a State conceived as a contract ual organism long before Rousseau ever thought of a thing and animated by an ethical ideal which gards man not as an earth-rooted creature, defined by this or that portion of the earth, but as a spiritual being understood in terms of social mechanism, and possessifl rights and duties as a living factor in that mechanism The character of a Muslm State c judged from what the “Times of India” pointed out some time ago in a leader on the Indial Banking enquiry Committee. “In ancient India”, the paper points out, “the State framed laws regulating the rates of interest but in Muslims thought Islam clearly forbids the realization on money loaned, Indian Muslim States imposed no restriction on such rates.” I therefore demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim State in the best interest of India and Islam. For India it means security and peace resulting from an internal balance of power; for Islam an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilize its law, its education, its culture, and to bring them into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times.

4 Thus it is clear that n vie i of Inuta’s inñnite Variety in climates, races, languages, creeds and social systems, the creation of autonomous States based On the unity of language, race, history, religion and identity of economic interests, is the only possible Way to secure a stable constitutional structure in India. The conception of federation under1ying the Simon Report necessitates the abolition of the Central Legislative Assembly as a popular assembly, and makes it an assembly of the representatives of federals States. It further demands a redistribution of territory on the illnes which I have indicated. And the Report does recommend both. I give my whole hearted support to this view of the matter and venture to suggest that the redistribution recommended in the Simon Report must fulfil two conditions. It must precede the introduction of the new Constitution and must be so devised as finally to solve the communal problem. Proper redistribution will make the ques tion of joint and separate electorates automatically disappear from the constitutional controversy of India. It is the present structure of the provinces that is largely responsible for this controversy. The Hindu thinks that separate electorates are contrary to the spirit of nationalism, because he understands the word nation to mean a kind of universalamalgama tion in which no communal entity ought to retain its private individuality. Such a state of things, however, does not exist. Nor is it desirable that it should exist. India is a land of racial and religious variety. Add to this the general economic inferiority of the Muslims, their enormous debt, especially in the Punjab, and their insufficient majorities in some of the provinces as at present constituted, and youwill begin to see clearly the meaning of our anxiety to retain separate electorates. In such a country and in such circumstances territori electorate cannotsecure adequate representation of all interests and must in evitably lead to the creation of an oligarchy. The Muslims of India can have no objection to purely territorial electorates if provinces are demarcated so as to secure comparatively homogeneous communities thoughts.

Position linguistic, racial, cultural and religious but in so far as the questiOfl of the powers of the Central Federal State is concerned, there is a subtle difference of motive in the constitutions proposed by the pundits of India and the pundits, of England. Be pundits of India do not disturb the Central authoritY as it stands at present. All that they desire is that this authority should become fully responsible to the Central Legislature which they maintain intact and when their majority will become further reinforced on the nominated element ceasing to exist. The pundits of England, on the other hand, realising that democracy in the Centre tends to work contrary to their interests and is likely to absorb the whole power now in their hands, in case a further advance is made towards responsible government have shifted. The experience of democracy from the Centre to the provinces. No doubt, they introduce the principle of federation and appear to have made a beginning by making certain proposals yet their evaluation of this principle is determined by considerations wholly different to those which determine its value in the eyes of Muslim The Muslims demand federa tion because it is pre a solution of India’s 1st difficult problem, i.e., the communal problem. The Royal Commision view of federation, though sound in principle does not seem to aim at responsi ble of federal States. Indeed it does not go beyond providing means of escape from the situation which the introduction of democracy in India created for the British, and wholly disregards the communal problem by leaving it where it was.

Thus it is clear, that, in so far as real federation is concerned the Simon Report virtually negatives the principle of federation in its true significance. The NehruReport realising Hindu majority in the Central Assembly reaches a unitary form of government be cause such an institution secures Hindu dominance throughout India; the Simon Report retains the pre sent British dominance behind the thin veneer of an unreal federation, partly because the British are na turally unwilling to part with the power they have so long wielded, and partly because itis possible for them, in the absence of an inter-communal understanding in India, to make out a plausible case for the reten tion of that power in their own hands. To my mind a unitary form of government is simply unthinkable in a self-governing India. What is called ‘residuary powers’ must be left entirely to self-governing States, the Central Federal State exercising only those powers which are expressly vested in it by the free consent of federal States. I would never advise the Muslims of India to agree to a system, whether of British or of Indian origin, which virtually negatives the prin ciple of true federation or fails to recognise them as a distinct political entity.

The necessity for a structural change in the Central Government was seen probable long before the British discovered the most effective means for introducing this change. That is why at rather a late stage it was announced that the participation of the Indian Princes in the Round Table Conference was essential. It was a kind of surprise to the people of India, particularly the minorities, to see the Indian princes dramatically expressing their willingness at the Round Table Conference to join an all-India federation and as a result of their declaration, Hindu delegates, uncompress advocates of a unitary form of governments quietly agreeing to the evolution of a federal scheme. Even Mr. Sastri who, only a few days before, had severely criticised Sir John for  a federal scheme for India, suddenly became a convert and admitted his conversion in the plenary session of the Conference, thus offering the Prime Minister of England an occasion for one of his wittiest observations in his speech.

• All this has a meaning both for the British who have sought the participation of the Indian Princes, and for the Hindus, who have hesitatiflglY accepted the evolution of an all-India federatiofl The truth is that the participation of the Indian Princes among whom only a few are Muslims, in a federation scheme serves double purpose. On the one hand, it serves as an all important factor in ajntaifling the British power in India practicallY as it is; on the other hand, it gives 0 majority to the Hindus in an All-India Federal Assembly it appears to me that the H differences regarding the ultimate form of Central Government are being cleverly ex ploited by British politicians through the agency of the princes, who see in the scheme prospects of better Security for their despotic rule. If the Muslims silently agree to any such scheme it will simply hasten their end as a political entity in India. The policy of the Indian federation, thus created, will be practically controlled by Hindu Princes forming the largest group in the Central Federal Assembly. They will always lend their support to the Crown in matters o Imperial concern; and in so far as internal admin tration of the country is concerned, they will help j maintaining and strengthening the supremacy of the Hindus. In other words, the scheme appears to be aiming at a kind of understanding between Hindu India and British Imperialism: “Youperpetuatemein India and in return I give you a Hindu oligarchy to keep all other Indian communities in perpetual sub. Jection” If, therefore, the British Indian provinces are not transformed into really autonomous states, the Princes’ participation in a scheme of Indian feder ation will be interpreted only as a dexterous move on the part of British politicians to satisfy, without parting with any real power, all parties concerned— Muslims with the word federation, Hindus with a majority in the Centre, the British Imperialists, whe ther Tory or Lobourite, with the substance of real power.

The number of Hindu States in India is far greater than that of Muslim States; and it remains to be seen how the Muslim demand for 33 percent seats in the Central Federal Assembly is to be met with india House or Houses constituted of representatives taken from British India as well as Indian States. I hope the Muslim delegates are fully aware of the implications of the federal scheme as discussed in the Round Table Conference. The question of Muslim representation in the proposed All-India Federation has not yet been discussed. “The interim report”, says Reuter’s summary, “contemplates two chambers in the federal legislature, each containing representatives both of British India and States, the proportion of which will be a matter of subsequent consideration under the heads which have not yet been referred to the Sub-Committee.” In my opinion the question of proportion is of the utmost importance and ought to have been considered simultaneously with the main question of the structure of the Assembly.

The best course, 1 think, would have been to start with a British India federation only. A federal scheme born of an unholy union between democracy and despotism cannot but keep British India in the same vicious circle of a unitary Central Government. Such a unitary form may be of the greatest advantage to the British, to the majority community in British India and to the Indian Princes; it can be of no antage to the Muslims, unless they get majority rights in five out of the eleven Indian provinces with full residuary powers, and one-third share of seats in the total House of the Federal Assembly. En so far as the attainment of sovereign powers by the British Indian provinces is concerned; the position of His Highness the Ruler of Bhopal, Sir Akbari Hydari and Mr. Jinnah is unassailable. In view, however, of the participation of the Princes in the Indian federation we must now see our demand for representation in the British Indian Assembly in a new light. The question is not one of Muslim share in a British.

Indian Assembly, but one which relates to repre sentation of British Indian Muslims in an All-India Federal Assembly. Our demand for 33 per cent must now be taken as a demand for the same proportiot in the All-Indian Federal Assembly exclusive of the share allotted to the Muslim States entering the federation.

The other difficult problem which confronts the successful working of a federal system in India is the problem of India’s defence. In their discussion of the problem the Royal Commissioners have mar shalled all the deficiencies of India in order to make out a case for Imperial administration to the army. “India and Britain,” say the Commissioners, “are so related that India’s defence c.annot now or in any future, which is within sight, be regarded as a matter of purely Indian concern. The control and direction of such an army must rest in the hands of agents of Imperial Government.” Now does it necessarily follow from this that further progress towards the realisation of responsible government in British India is barred until the work of defence can be adequately discharged without the help of British officers and British troops? As things are, there is a block on the line of constitutional advance. All hopes of evolution in the Central Government towards the ultimate goal prescribed in the declaration of 20th August, 1917, are in danger of being indefinitely frustrated, if the attitude illustrated by the Nehru Report is maintained that any future change involves the putting of the administration of the army under the authority of an elected Indian Legislature. Further to fortify their argument they emphasjse the fact of competing religions and rival races of widely different capacity, and try to make the problem look soluble by remarking that “the obvious fact that India is not in the ordinary and natural sense, a Jingle nation is nowhere made more plain than in onsidenng the difference between the martial races of India and the rest.” These features of the question have been emphasised in order to demonstrate that the British are not only keeping India secure from foreign menace but are also the “neutral guardians” of internal security. However, in federated India, as I understand federation, the problem will have only one aspect, i.e., external defence. Apart from provin cial armies necessary for maintaining internal peace, the Indian Federal Congress can maintain, on the North-West frontier, a strong Indian Frontier Army, composed of units recruited from all provinces and officered by efficient and experienced military men taken from all communities I know that India is not in possession of efficient military officers, and this fact is exploited by the Royal Commissioners in the .jjinterest of an argument for Imperial administration. On this point I cannot but quote another passage from the Report which to my mind furnished the best argument against the position taken up by the Commissioners. “At the present moment,” says the eport, “no Indian holding the King’s Commission is of higher army rank than a captain. There are, we believe, 39 captains ofwhom 25 are in ordinary regimental employ. Some of them are of an age Which would prevent their attaining much higher Jtank, even if they passed the necessary examination before retirement. Most of them have not been through Sandhurst, but got their Commissions during the Great War.” Now, however genuine may be the desire and however earnest the endeavour to work for this transformation, over-riding conditions have been so forcibly expressed by the Skeen Committee (whose members, apart from the Chairman and the Army Secretary, were Indians) in these word.

“Progress . . . must be contingent upon success being secured at each stage and upon military efficiency being maintained, though it must in any case render such development measured and slow. A higher command cannot be evolved at short notice out of existing cadres of Indian officers, all of junior ranks and limited experience. Not until the slender trickle of suitable Indian recruits for the officer class—and we earnestly desire anincrease in their numbers—flows in much greater volume, not until sufficient Indians have attained the experience and training requisite to provide all the officers for, at any rate, some Indian regiments, not until such units have stood the only test which can possibly determine their efficiency, and not until Indian officers have qualified by a success ful army career for the high command, will it be pos sible to develop the policy of Indianisation to a point which will bring a completely Indianised army with in sight. Even then years must elapse before the process could be completed.”

Now I venture to ask who is responsible for the present state of things? Is it due to some inherent incapacity of our martial races, or to the slowness of the process of military training? The military capacity of our martial races is undeniable. The process of military training may be slow as compared to other processes of human training. I am no nnlitary expert to judge this matter But as a layman I feel that the argument, as stated, assumes the process to be practically endless This means per petual bondage for India, and makes it all the more necessary that the Frontier Army, as suggested by the Nehru Report, be entrusted to the charge of a rn mittee of defence: the personnel of which may be settled by mutual understanding.

Again, it is significant that the Simon Report has given extraordinary importance to the question of India’s land frontier, but has made only passing reference to its naval position. India has doubtless had to face invasions from her land frontier; but it is obvious that her present masters took possession of her on account of her defenceless sea coast. A self-governing and free India will, in these days, have to greater care of her sea coast than lana frontiers.I have no doubt that if a federal government is esfablished, Muslim Federal States will willingly agree, for purposes of India’s defence, to the creation of neutral Indian military and naval forces. Such a neUtral military force for the defence of India was a reality in the days of Mughal rule. Indeed in the time of Akbar the India frontier was, on the whole, defended by armies officered by Hindu generals. I alflperfectly sure that the scheme for a neutral Indian army, based on a federated India will intensify Muslim patriotic feeling, and finally set at rest the SUSpjcjo if any, of Indian M uslims joining Muslims from beyond the frontier in the event of an invasion I have thus tried briefly to indicate the way j which the Muslims of India ought, in my opinion, to look at the two most important constitutional pro blems of India. A redistribution of British India, calculated to secure a permanent solution of the communal problem is the main demand of the Muslims of India. If, however, the Muslim demand of a territorial solution of the communal problem is ignored, then I support as emphatically as possible, the Muslim demands repeatedly urged by the All India Muslim League and Muslim Conference. The Muslims of l cannot agree to any constitutionaI changes which effect their majority rights, to be secured by separate electorates in the Punjab and Bengal, or fail to guarantee them 33 per cent repre sentatiOn in any Central legislature. There were two pitfalls into which Muslim political leaders fell. The first was the repudiated Lucknow Pact which orig nated in a false view of Indian nationalism and dc prived the Muslims of India of chances of acquiring any political power in India. The second is the narrow visioned sacrifice of Islamic solidarity in the interests of what may be called Punjab ruralism resulting in a proposal which virtually reduces the Punjab Muslims to a position of minority. it is the duty of the League to condemn both the Pact and the proposal.

The Simon Report does great injustice to the Muslims in not recommending a statutory majority for the Punjab and Bengal. It would either make the 1. Recurrence to? formed  Sir Fazli Muslims stick to tt Lucknow Pact or agree to a scheme of joint electorates. The dispatch of the Government of media on the Simon Report admits that since the publication of that document the Muslim community has not expressed its willingness to accept any of the alternatives proposed by the Report. The dispatch recognizes that it may be a legitimate grievance to deprive the Muslims in the Punjab and Bengal of representation in the councils in proportion to their population merely because of weight age allowed to Muslim .Minorities else where. But the Jespatch of the Government of India fails to correct the injustice of the Sirxion Report. Insofar as the Pun- jab is concerned—arid this is the most crucial point

—it endorses the so-called carefully balanced sche me worked out by the official members of the Punjab Government which gives the Punjab Muslims a majority of two over Hindus and Sikhs combined, and a proportion of 4.9 percent of the House as a whole. It is obvious that the Punjab Muslims cannot be satisfied with less tban a clear majority in the total House. However, Lord Irwin and his Government do recognise that the justification for communal electorates for majority communities would not cease unless and until by the extension of franchise their Voting strength more correctly reflects their population; and futher unlessatwo-third majority of the Mus lim members in a provincial council unanimously agree to surrender the right of separate representa tion. I cannot, however, understand why the Government of India, having recognised the legitimacy of the Muslim grievance have not had the courage to recommend a statutory majority for the Muslims in the Punjab and Bengal.

Nor can the Muslims of India agree to any such changes, which fail to create at least Sind as a separate province, and treat the North-West Frontier Province as a province of inferior political status. I see no reason why Sir id should not be united with Baluchistan and turned into a separate province. It has nothing in common with Bombay Presidency. In point of life and civilization the Royal Conimissioners find it more akin to Mesopotamia and Arabia than India. The Muslim’geographer Masudi noticed this kinship long ago when he said: “Sind is a country nearer to the dominions of Islam.” The first Omayyad ruler is reported to have said of Egypt: “Egypt has back towards Africa and face towards Arabia.” With necessary alterations the same remark describes the exact situation of Sind. She has her back towards India and face towards Central Asia. Considering further the nature of her agricultural problems which can invoke no sympathy from the Bombay Government, and her infinite commercial possibilities, dependent on the inevitable growth of Karachi into a second metropolis of India, I think it unwise to keep her attached to a presidency which, though friendly today, is likely to become a rival at no dis tant period. Financial difficulties, we are told, stand in the way of separation. I do not know of any definite authoritative pronouncement on the matter. But assuming there are any such difficulties, I see no reason why the Government of India should not give temporary financial help to a promising province in her struggle for independent progress.

 As to the North-West Frontier Province, it is painful to note that the Royal Commissioners have practially denied that the people of this province have any right to reforms. They fall far short of the Bray Committee, and the council recommended by them is merely a screen to hide the autocracy of the Chief Commissioner. The inherent right of the Afghan to tight a cigarette is curtailed merely because he happens to be living in a powder house. The Royal Comm is sioners’ epigramatic argument is pleasant enough, but far from convincing. Political reform is light, not fire: and to light every human being is entitled whether he happens to live in a powder house or a coat mine. Brave, shrewd and determined to suffer for his legitimate aspirations, the Afghan is sure to resent any attempt to deprive him of opportunities of  self To keep such a people contented is in the best interests of both England and India.

What has recently happened in that unfortunate pro vince is the result of a step-motherly treatment, shown to the people since the introduction of the principle of self in the rest of India.. I only hope that British statesmanship will not obscure its view of the situation by hoodwinking itself into the belief that the present unrest in the province is due to any extraneous causes. The recommendation for the introduction of a measure of reform in the North-West Frontier Pro vince made in the Government of India’s despatch is also unsatisfactorY. No doubt, the despatch goes farther than the Simon Report in recommending a sort of representative council and a semi-representa tive cabinet, but it fails to treat this important Muslim province on an equal footing with other Indian pro vinces. Indeed the Afghan is by instinct more fitted for democratic institutions than any other people in India.

I think I am now called upon to make a few observations on the Round Table Conference. Per sonally I do not feel optimistic as to the results of this Conference. It was hoped that away frotm the actual scene of communal strife and in a changed atmosphere, better counsels would prevail and a genuine settlement of the differences between the two major communities of India would bring India’s freedom within sight. Actual events, however, tell a different tale. Indeed, the discussion of the communal question in London has demonstrated more clearly than ever the essential disparity between the- great cultural units of India. Yet the Prime Minister of England apparently refuses to see that the problem of India is international and not national. He is reported to have said that this Government would find it difficult to submit to Parliament proposals for the maintenance of separate electorates, since joint elec torates were much more in accordance with British democratic sentiments. Obviously he does not see that the model of British democracy cannot be of any use in a land of many nations; and that a system of separate electorates is only a poor substitute for a territorial solution of the problem. Nor is the Minorities Sub-Committee likely to reach a satisfactory settlement. The whole question will have to go before the British Parliament and we can only hope that the keen-sighted representatives of British nation, unlike most of our Indian politicians, will be able to pierce through the surface of things and see clearly the true fundamentals of peace and security in a country like India. To base a constitution on the concept of a homogeneous India or to apply to India principles dictated by British democratic sentiments is unwit tingly to prepare her for a civil war. As far as I can see, there will be no peace in the country until the various peoples that constitute India are given oppor tunities of free self-development on modern lines without abruptly breaking with their past. I am glad to be able to say that our Muslim delegates fully realise the importance of a proper solution of what I call Indian international problem.They are perfectly justified in pressing for a solution of the communal question before the question of responsibility in the Central Government is finally settled. No Muslim politician should be sensitive to the taunt embodied in that propaganda word—communalism—expressly devised to exploit what the tPrime Minister calls British democratic sentiments, land to mislead England into assuming a state of things IW1 does not really exist in India Great interests re at stake. We are 70 millions and far more homo geneous than any other people in India. Indeed the Muslims of India are the only Indian people who an fitly be described as a nation in the modern sense of the word The Hindus, though ahead of us in almost all respects, have not yet been able to achieve- kind of homogeneity which is necessary for a nation, and which Islam has given you as a free gift. No doubt they are anxious to become a nation, but the process of becoming a nation is a kind of travail, and in the case of Hindu India involves a complete overhauPng of her social structure. Nor should the Muslini leaders and politicians allow themselves to he carried away by the subtle but placid arguments that Turkey and Iran and other Muslim countries ar progressing on national, i.e., territorial lines. The MuslimsotInuia s tuated TheLountries of Islam outside Tndia are practically wholly Muslim in population. The minorities there belong, in the language of the Quran, “to the people of the Book”. There are no social barriers between Muslims and the “people of the Book”. A Jew or a Christian or a Zoroastrian does not pollute the food of a Muslim by touching it, and the law of Islam allows inter4 marriage with the “people of the Book”. Indeedi the first practical step that Islam took towards the realisation of a fnal combination of humanity was to call upon peoples possessing practically the same ethical ideal to come forwa and combine. The Quran declares: “People of the Book! Come, let Lis join together on the word (Unity of God) that is common to us all.” The wars of Islam and Chris-$ tianity, and later, European aggression in its variou forms, could not allow the infinite meaning of thi verse to work itself out in the world of Islam. To it is being gradually realised in the countries of Islam in the shape of what is called Muslim Nationalism.

It is hardly necessary for me to add that the soIe test of the success of our delegates is the extent to which they are able to get the non-Muslim delegates of the Conference to agree to our demands as em bodied inthe Delhi Resoultion.’ If these demands are not agreed to, then a question of a very great and far reaching importance will arise for the community. Then will arrive the moment for an independent and concerted political action by the Muslims of India. If you are at all serious about your ideals and as pirations, you must be ready for such an aclion. Our leading men have done a good deal of political thinking, and their thought has certainly made us, more or less, sensitive to the forces which are now shaping the destinies of peoples in India and outside India. But I ask, has this thinking prepared us for the kind of action demanded by the situation which may arise in the near future? Let me tell you frankly that, at the present moment, the Muslims of India are suffering from two evils. The first is the want of personalities. Sir Malcolm Hailey and Lord Irwin were perfectly correct in their diagnosis when they told the Aligarh University that the community had failed to produce leaders. By leaders I mean men who, by divine gift or experience., possess a keen per ception of the spirit and destiny of Islam, along with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history. Such men are really the driving forces of a people, but they are God’s gift and cannot be made to order. The second evil from which the Muslims of India are suffering is that the community is fast 1. The Resolution passed at the All-India Muslim Conference held in Delhi on 1st January, 1929. under the pres of tbe Agha Khan. The resolute Jon recombined a federal form of Government for the sub. 3fltinent with lull autonomy and residuary powers invested in the Provin ces.—E4. losing what is called the herd instinct. This makes it possible for individuals and groups to start mdc pendent careers without contributing to the general thought and activity of the community. We are doing today in the domain of politics what we have been doing for centuries in the domain of religion. But sectional bickerings in religion do not do much harm to our solidarity. They at least indicate an interest in what make.s the sole principle of our structure as a people. Moreover, this principle is so broadly con ceived that it is almost impossible for a group to become rebellious to the extent of wholly detaching itself from the general body of Islam. But diversity;. in political action, ata moment when concerted action is needed, in the best interests oithe very life of our people, may prove fatal. How shall we, then, remedy these two evils? The remedy of the first evil is not in our hands. As to the second evil, I think it is possible to discover a remedy. I have got definite views on the subject; but I think it is proper to post pone their expression till the apprehended situation actually arises. In case it does arise, leading Muslims of all shades of opinion will have to meet together, not to pass resolutions but finally to determine the Muslim attitude and to show the path to tangible Achievement. In this address I mention this alter- native only because I wish that you may keep it in. mind and give some serious thought to it in the meantime.

Gentlemen, I have finished. In conclusion I cannot but impress upon you that the present crisis inthe history of India demands complete organization and unity of will and purpose in the Muslim cornrnunity, both in your own interests as a community, and in the interests of India as a whole. The political bondage of India has been and is a source of infinite misery to the whole of Asia. It has suppressed the spirit of the East and wholly deprived her of that joy of self-expression which once made her the creator of a great and glorious culture. We have a duty to wards India where we are destined to live and die. We have a duty towards Asia, especially Muslim Asia. And since 70 millions of Muslims in a single country constitute a far more valuable asset to Islam than all the countries of Muslim Asia put together, we must look at the Indian problem not only from the Muslim point of view but also from the stand point. of the Indian Muslim as such. Our duty towards Asia and India cannot be loyally performed without an organized will fixed on a definite purpose. In your own interest, as a political entity among other political entities of India, such an equipment is an absolute necessity. Our disorganized condition has already confused political issues vital to the life of the community. I am not hopeless of an intercommunal understanding, but I cannot conceal from you the feeling that in the near future our community may be called upon to adopt an independent line of action to cope with the present crisis. And an independent line of political action, in such a crisis, is possible only to a determined people, possessing a will focalized by a single purpose. Is it possible for you to achieve the organic wholeness of a unified will? Yes, it is. Rise above section interests and private ambitions, and learn to determine the value of your individual collective action, how ever directed on material ends, in the light of the, ideal which you are supposed to represent, Pass from matter to spirit. Matter is diversity! spirit is light, life and unity. One lesson I have learnt from the history of Muslims. At critical moments in the history it is Islam that has saved Muslims and not vice versa. If today you focus your vision on Islam and seek inspiration from the ever-vitalising idea embodied in it, you will be only reassembling your scattered forces, regaining your lost integrity, and thereby saving yourself from total destruction. One of the profoundest verses in the Holy Quran teaches us that the birth and rebirth of the whole of humanity is like the birth and rebirth of a single individual. Why cannot you who, as a people, can well claim to be the first practical exponents of this superb concep- tion of humanity, live and move and have your being as a single individual I do not wish to mystify anybody when I say that things in India are not what they appear to be. The meaning of this, however, will dawn upon you only when you have achieved a real collective age to look at them. In the words of Quran, “Hold fast to yourself; no one who erreth can hurt you, provided you are well guided” .

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Delivered at the Annual Session of the All-India Muslim Conference at Lahore on the

2lst March 1932

Gentlemen, the Muslims of India have listened to so many addresses from their political platforms that the more impatient of them have already begun to suspect our deliberations which, they think, tend to enfeeble and eventually to kill the spirit of action that lies dormant in the heart of Islam. “The present situation in the country,” said one of them, “whets our appetite for action; and if our leaders fail to point to a definite course of action, suitable to the peculiar position of the Indian Muslims, the sheer force of imitation will do its work, and make our youth thoughtlessly plunge into the stream of events.” “Action,” said another with characteristic youthful impatience, “does not need a previously thought out plan; it is not subject to the logic as it emerges out of the heart of man into open space.” Such is the present psychology of our youth. I am grateful to you for the confidence you have placed in me at this critical moment; but I certainly cannot congratulate you on your choice of a man who is nothing more than a visionary idealist. Perhaps you think you need a visionary at this juncture; for where there is no vision the people perish. Perhaps you think I am better equipped for the presidential chair of this assembly after my experiences at the London Con- ference. To reveal an ideal freed from its temporal limitations is one function; to show the way how ideals can be transformed into living actualities, is quite another. If a man is temperamentally fit for the former function his task is comparatively easy, for it involves clean jump over temporal limitatlonsi which waylay the practical politician at every step. The man who has got the courage to migrate frorn the former to the latter function has constantly tol take stock of, and often yield to, the force of those. very limitations which he has been in the habit of ignoring. Such a man has the misfortune of living in the midst of perpetual mental conflict and can be easily accused of self However, Gladly accept the difficult position in which you have placed me, not because consider myself fit for that position, but because the issues have fortunately become so clear that the whole thing now depends so much on the guidance of one particular individual as on the force of all the individual wills focused on a single purpose.

Politics have their roots in the spiritual life of man. It is my belief that Islam is not a matter of private opinion. It is a society, or if you like, a civiC church. It is because present-day political ideals, as they appear to be shaping themselves in India, may affect its original structure and character that I find myself interested in politics. I am opposed to nation alism as it is understood in Europe, not because, if it is allowed to develop in India, it is likely to brine less material gain to Muslims. I am opposed to it because I see in it the germs of atheistic materialism which I look upon as the greatest danger to modern humanity. Patriotism is a perfectly natural virtue and has a place in the moral life of man. Yet that which really matters is a man’s faith, his culture, his historical tradition. These are the things which in my eyes are worth living for and dying for, and not the piece of earth with which the spirit of man happens to be temporarily associated. In view of the visible and invisible points of contact between the various communities of India I do believe in the possibility of constructing a harmonious whole whose unity cannot be disturbed by the rich diversity which it must carry within its bosom. The problem of ancient Indian thought was how the one became many without sacrificing its oneness. To-day this problem has come down from its ethical heights so the grosser plane of our political life, and we have to solve it in its reversed form, i.e., how the many can become one without sacrificing its plural character. In so far then as the fundamentals of our policy are concerned, I have got nothing fresh to offer. Regarding these Liave already expressed my views in my address to the 4d1-India Muslim League. In the present address propose, among other things, to help you, in the first place, in arriving at a correct view of the situation as it emerged from a rather hesitating behaviour of our delegation at the final stages of the Round Table Conference. In the second place, I shall try, according to my lights, to show how far it is desirable to construct a fresh policy now that the Premier’s an-nouncement at the last London Conference has again necessitated a careful survey of the whole situation. Let me begin with a brief history of the work of our delegation.

The first two meetings of the Minorities Com mittee were held on the 28th of September and the 1st of October 1931, respectively. On both occasions the meeting was adjourned for a private settlement of the communal problem Mahatma Gandhi first told the Muslim delegation that matters could not proceed until the Muslim delegation had lifted the embargo on Dr. Ansari. Failing in this, he gave the Muslim delegation to understand that he would personally agree to Muslim demands and would try to persuade the Congress, the Hindus and the Sikhs to agree to them, provided the Muslims agreed to three things:

(i)                  Adult suffrage;

(ii)                No special representation for the Unto

(iii)               Congress demand for complete independence. The Mahatma declined to refer the matter to the Congress and failed in his efforts to get the Hindus and the Sikhs to agree to this arrangement. On the 7th of October two prominent Hindu leaders proposed that the whole matter might be referred to a board of seven arbitrators. This too was rejected by Hindu and Sikh representatives On ‘the 8th the Minorities Committee met for the third time In this meeting Mahatma Gandhi set to thea account of the British Government his failure to bring 4 about a communal settlement, since, according to him, they had deliberately chosen for the Bi Indian delegation men who, as he said, had no repre sentative character. On behalf of the Muslim delega tion, the late Sir Muhammad Shafi refuted ‘refused the Mahatma’s uncalled for remarks questioning the re presentative character of the various delegations, and opposed the proposals put forward by him. The meeting came to an end, and owing to the British general elections, could not meet till the 12th of November. In the meantime, private conversations recommenced on the 15th October. A prominent fea ture of these conversations was Sir Geoffrey Corbett’s scheme relating to the Punjab. This scheme, very similar to the one I had suggested in my address to the All-India Muslim League, proposed the adoption of joint electorates with the exclusion of the Ambala Division from the Punjab. It, too, was rejected by Sikh and Hindu representatives, who could not tole, rate a Muslim majority in the Punjab even with a system of joint electorates. These conversations also remaining fruitless, the representatives of the Indian minoritieswhich constitute nearly half of India, began to consult one another on the possibility of an Indian Minorities Pact. On the 12th of November all these minorities, with the exception of Sikhs, signed a pact, which was formally handed over to the British Premier in the last meeting of the Minorities Com mittee held on the 13th of November.

This brief account of our informal conversations speak for itself. It is. Obvious that our delegates did their best to arrive at a communal settlement. The only thing which is a mystery to me, and which will perhaps ever remain a mystery, is the declaration made on the 26th of November by our spokesmen in the Federal Structure Committee to the effect that they agreed to the simultaneous introduction of provincial autonomy and central resporkstbllitY Whether this was due to their anxiety for conciliation and political advance of the country, or to some conflicting influences which operated on their minds, I cannot say On the 15th of November—the day on which I dissociated from our delegation_Muslim delegates had decided not to participate in the dis- cussions of the Federal Structure Committee Why did they participate then in these discussions contrary to their own decision? Were our spokesmen on the Federal Structure Committee authorised to make the declaration of 26th November? I am not in a position to answer these questions. All that I can say is that the Muslim community considers the declara tion a very grave error, and I have no doubt that, this Conference will give an emphatic expression to their views on this important matter. In my address to the All-India Muslim League I raised my voice against the idea of an all-India federation. Subsequent J events have shown that it is working only as a drag’J on the political advance of India. If the introduc tion of central responsibility is dependent on the completion of an all-India federation, which I fear; will take a fairly long time, then the Government should immediately introduce responsible government in the British Indian provinces, so that the founda- tion thus delineated may, till the coming of central responsibility, fully prepare itself, by experience, to bear the weight of the federal superstructure. A great deal of spade work is needed before we can4 have a really modern federal State. I have reason toj believe, and bad suspected this some days before dissociated myself from our delegation, that our spokesmen were badly advised by certain English politicians in rejecting the immediate introduction of responsible government in the provinces of British India. Recently Lieutenant-Commander Kenworthy has expressed the same view. He says: “I understand that the moderate leaders in London were badly advised on this matter by certain English politicians that they listened too readily to their advice and re jected the great instalment of provincial autonomy. And the curious thing is that the Mahatma was apparently ready to consider this instalment sympa thetically.” Who are the moderate leaders alluded to by the Lieutenant-Commander? In view of the attitude taken up by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru in London and now in the Consultative Committee regarding the immediate introduction of provincial autonomy, it is obvious that the writer of the pass age quoted could not have meant Hindu Liberals. I think he probably means Muslim moderate leaders whose declaration in the Federal Structure Com mittee on the 26th of November seems to me to be really responsible for the British Premier’s an nouncement regarding the simultaneous introduc tion of central and provincial responsibilit’cr. And since immediate introduction of responsible Govern ment in the provinces would have involved a definite announcement regarding the demands of our community as to majority rights in the Punjab and Bengal, we must not forget, while judging the present situation that the conduct of our own leaders is mainly responsible for the British Premier’s silence which has raised all sorts of suspicions in the mind of the Muslim community.

The next question is to explore the possibilities of shaping, if necessary, a new policy after the disappointing announcement by the British Parliament at the close of the last London Conference Muslims have naturally grown apprebet of Government’s attitude towards the problem of communal settlement. They suspect that the Government will purchas4 Congress co at any cost, and that its delays in conceding Muslim demands is only a cover for the possibility of finding some basis for negotiation with that body. The policy of trusting the Government in regard to political issues seems to be rapidl4 losing its hold on the mind of the community. The Franchise Committee has postponed consideration of matters relating to the formation of constituters is obvious that no communal settlement, provisional to permaflent can satisfy the Muslim community, whim does not recognise, as its basic principle the right of, the communitY to enjoy majority rights in provinC where it happens to be in actual majority. The co tinuanCe of separate electorates and the status of the Frontier Province are no doubt assured,but complel provincial autonomY, transfer of power from Parlia ment to Indian proVinces equality of federal un classification of subjeCts,’nbt into federal, central a( proviflCial but into federal and provincial out majoritY rights in the Punjaband Bengal, UflcOfl tional separation of Sind, and one-third share in the Centre, constitute no less essential elements of our demand. The Premier’s silence on those points has only resulted in the unsound policy of war with the Congress and no peace with the rest of the country. Shall we then join the Congress in their present campaign? My answer without a moment’s hesita tion is ‘No’. A careful reading of the underlying motives of this movement will make it perfectly clear.

To my mind this movement has its roots in fear and resentment. The Congress leaders claim that they are the sole representatives of the peoples of India. The last Round Table Conference made it abundantly clear that they were not. This they natur ally resent. They know that the British people and the rest of the world now fully realise the importance of communal settlement in India. They further know that the minorities of India have arrived at a pact, and that the British Government have given a notice to enforce a provisional settlement of their own, in case the Indians themselves failed to arrive at one. The Congress leaders fear that the British Govern ment in their provisional settlement of the communal problem may concede to the minorities what they demand.They have, therefore, started thepresent paign to bolster up a claim which has no foundation in fact, to defeat a pact which, they fear, may find a place in the coming constitution, and to force Govern ment to settle the matter of minorities with the Congress alone. The Congress resolution in pur suance of which the civil disobedience campaign was launched made it perfectly clear that since Government had refused to .regard Mahatma Gandhi as the sole representative of the country, the Congress decided civil disobedience how can then a minority join a campaign which is directed as much against.

Itself as against the Government?

In the circumstances, therefore, to join the Congress in their present campaign is simply out of the question. But there is no denying. that at the moment you are called upon to make important de- cisions. I am sure you are fully aware of the present :. state of the community’s mind. Government’s delay in conceding Muslim demands, and the treatmen meted out to our brave Frontier brethren on the cv of the constitutional reforms in their province, ar making Indian Muslims suspicious ofBritishmethods; and most people are already asking the question whether the power of a third party in India does constitute a real safeguard for the Muslim minority) against a politically hostile and economically exploit ing majority in India. There seems to be a deeper reason also. The rapid movement of events, and often suddenchanges ofsituation in thepolitical world, $ cannot permit an Imperial democracy, especially in; the case of Party Government, to adhere for any ion periods of time to definite policies. Lack of imagin3 tion is a virtue rather than a fault in a modern politician. And owing to this lack of imaginatio which is incapable of synthesising permanence an change in a higher political concept, modern politi, is driven to live from hand to mouth. In the case of a subject couutry like India, therefore, co-operatir communities are naturally led to think that the fin ness of their political attitude in difficult times for t Government may be of little or no value in the eye of this or that political party which may come to power at any time in England. Whatever may be the character and ideals of political parties in England, you must base your policy on enlightened self-interest and conceive it in a spirit calculated to impress the whole British nation. It is folly to fight a battle in which there is likelihood of the fruits of victory going to those who are either hostile to, or have no sympathy with, our legitimate politicaE aspirations. The present circumstances are such that in thinking out a line of policy with a view to get over the imme diate difficulties of the community, it is your duty to see that the likelihood I apprehend is eliminated, and the benefit of the action advised by you finally accrues to your community.

Let me state the position as plainly as possible. The British undertook to give a provisional decision of the communal problem in case the communities of India did not arrive at a mutual settlement after their representatives had returned from the Second Round Table Conference. This undertaking was thoroughly consistent with the claim and the policy of the British as a third party holding the balance between the contending communities of India. The British Government’s present attitude, however, would show that they do not mean to function as an impartial holder of balance in India, and are indirectly driving the Indian communities, which are mainly Hindus and Muslims, to a kind of civil war. We tried the majority community and found them unwilling to recognise the safeguards which we can forego at the risk of complete extinction as a nation determined to live its own life. The alternative was to hope fo justice from the British who, ever since they took the country from the Muslims, have claimed, as I have said above, to function as an impartial holder of balance in India. In their case, too, we find tha the old British courage and straight-forwardness are replaced by a constantly shifting policy which can rnspire no confidence and seems to be calculated only to facilitate their own position in India. The Muslim community is thus brought to face the que tion whether it is in the interests of the cdmmuni that their present policy which has so far obviat British difficulties and brought no gain to the co munity shall continue for any further period of tim This is a question for the open Conference to decide’ All that I can say at the present stage is that, if yo decide to discontinue this policy, your immedia duty is to prepare the whole community for the kind of self-sacrifice without which no seif-respecti people can live an honourable life The most critic moment in the history of the Indian Muslims b arrived. Do your duty or cease to exist.

Gentlemen, I now request you to turn for a m ment to two mattersof gravest concern to the Mush of India—I mean the Frontier Province and Kash which, I have no doubt, are uppermost in your might. It is indeed gratifying to see that Governme have at least conceded our demand regarding the political status of North-West Frontier Pr though it remains to be seen what this status in the actual administration of that province. New paper reports show that in the matter of franchise Government rules have been more liberal than in other provinces. The reform machinery will, it is understood, be set in full working order from the next month. What, however, has taken grace out of the whole affair is the simultaneous launching of a campaign of repression which is not essentially dif ferent from martial law. The consideration shown in the matter of constitutional issue has been more than neutralizedby the severity and short-sightedness shown in the case of the administrative issue. Government may have reasons for counteracting ex tremist activities of certain people in that part of the country, but it has surely not been able to defend a policy of wholesale repression. Dpring this struggle in other parts of India Britain’s dealing with the situation has not been entirely devoid of restraint. In the Frontier Province alone repression has as sumed forms unworthy of a civilized Government. If oral reports are true then the heart of the British official in the Frontier Province stands in need of a reform far greater in importance for the British Empire than the constitutional reform sought to be introduced into that province. There is no definite and final ijiformation about the number of arrests and prosecutions: but as it is roughly mentioned in newspapers, thousands have been arrested and con victed or interned. It is for the Government to con sider whethertheincongruent policies of concession and repression will result in the pacification of a proud race like the Afghans. Abdul Ghaffar Khan certainly commands a great deal of influence among

the young border Afghans, but what has extended the sphere of his influence to the farthest ends of the territory and to the ignorant folk of the Frontier viI lages, is the present thoughtless policy of repression. Government cannot be unaware of the fact that the all-India policy of the Indian Muslims was at thui juncture, effectively keeping in check the tendencie of the Muslims of that province to join hands witS those who were for an unconditional alliance with the Congress. Perhaps there have been difficulties from the Government point of view; yet I think little different handling of the administrative actio could have saved the whole situation. The politicai situation in the Frontier, it appears, was allowed to deteriorate during the period when a policy of relaxation was the order of the day, and attempts to deal with it in a repressive manner have been made at a time when the real remedy of the disease ha5 been prescribed. The sooner the Government with draws all repressive measures from the province the, better for the province and the Government itself The situation has caused deep concern to the whol4 Muslim community in India, and it is hardly wisGf for the Government not to allay Muslim feeling in this respect.

As to Kashmir it is hardly necessary for me to describe the historical background of events whicS have recently happened in that country. The appa rently sudden resurrection of a people, in whom th ego-flame had been almost extinguished, ought to b in spite of the suffering which it has necessarily in volved, a matter of rejoicing to all those who posses an insight into the inner struggle of modern Asiatic peoples. The cause of the people of Kashmir is absolutely just, and I have no doubt that the rebirth of this sense of reality of their own personality in an intelligent and skilful people will eventually prove a source of strength not only to the State but also to the people of India as a whole. What, however, is most deplorable is that the communal ill-feeling existing in India, and the perfectly natural sympathy of the Indian Muslims with their Kashmir brethren, led to a kind of counter-agitation among the Hindus, which, in its despair, sought to protect a barbarous administration by attributing its inevitable conse quences to such wild fancies as Pan-Islamic plots and conspiracies for British occupation of Kashmir. Such agitation and the communal colour thereby given to the Kashmir question could have led only to one thing—resort to violent repression leading to prolonged lawlessness. in the State. In parts of the mmu Province, as newspaper reports tell us, the idministration has completely broken down and it is only the presence of British troops which is keeping things in control at least in places where they are Dresent. Oral reports of a most violent and shame ful repression practised by State authorities in many places are still pouring in. Nor can commissions of enquiry be of any help in such a state of thing. The Middleton Report which admits important facts and fails to draw legitimate conclusions therefrom has already failed to satIsfy Muslims. The truth is that the matter has passed the stage in which enquiries can lead to effective results. The growing sense of self-consciousness in the people all over the world is now demanding recognition in the shape of a desire4 for an increasing share in the administration whichi governs them. Political tutelage is good for a primitive people but it is in the best interests of an ad. Ministration itself not to shirk from radical reform when a change in the outlook of a people demanded it. Among other things which have probably arisen from the peculiar conditions t in Kashmir the people of that country demand some kind of a popular assembly. Let us hope that the ruler of the State and the Government of India will consider the people’s demands as favour ably as they possibly can. I have no doubt that the new Prime Minister, with characteristic British administrative acuteness, will see into the heart of the matter, and provide scope for the activity of a fine but down-trodden people who gave some of the best intellects to ancient India, and later added a real charm to Mughal culture. There may be difficulties in the way of constitutional reform in Kashmir as in the case of our own country; but the interests of permanent peace and order de mand that these difficulties must be speedily over come. If the meaning of the present upheaval is not properly understood and its causes are sought in directions where they cannot be found, the Kashmir Government, I fear, will have made its problem much more complicated.                                                                                                                                         

                         It is obvious, therefore, that the attitude of i’ British Government towards our demands and the gravity of the situation in the Frontier Province and Kashmir claim our immediate attention But what claims our immediate attention is not our only con- cern. We must have a clear perception of the forces which are silently moulding the future, and place a relatively permanent programme of work before the community in view of the probable direction of events in the country. The present struggle in India is sometimes described as India’s revolt against the West. I do not think it is a revolt against the West; for the people of India are demanding the very insti tutions which the West stands for. Whether the gam ble of elections, retinues of party leaders and hollow pageants of parliaments will suit a country of pea sants to whom the money-economy of modern demo cracy is absolutely incomprehensible, is a different question altogether. Educated urban India demands democracy. The minorities, feeling themselves as distinct cultural units and fearing that their very existence is at stake, demand safeguards, which the majority community, for obvious reasons, refuses to concede. The majority community pretends to be lieve in a nationalism theoretically correct, if we start from Western premiscs, belied by facts, if we look to India. Thus the real parties to the pre sent struggle in India are not England and India, but the majority community and the minorities of India which can ill-afford to accept the principle of Western democracy until it is properly modified to suit the actual conditions of life in India.

Nor do Mahatma Gandhi’s political methods signify a revolt in the psychological sense. These methods arise out of a contact of two opposing types of world-consciousness, Western and Eastern. The Western man’s mental texture is chronological in character. He lives and moves and has his being in time The Eastern man’s worid is non- historical. To the Western man things gradually become; they have a past, present and future. To the E man they are immediately rounded off,4 timeless, purely present. That is why Islam which sees in the time movement a symbol of reality 4 appeared as an intruder in the static world pictures$ of Asia. The British as a Western people cannot4 but conceive political reform in India as a system atic process of gradual evolution. Mahatma Gandhi’ as an Eastern man sees in this attitude nothing mord than an ill-conceived unwillingness to part with 4 power and tries all sorts of destructive negatIons to achieve immediate attainment Both are elementally incapable of understanding each other. The result is the appearance of a revolt.

These phenomena, however, are merely premoni tions of a coming storm, which is likely to sweep over the whole of India and the rest of Asia. This is the inevitable outcome of a wholly political civilization which has looked upon man as a thing to be exploited and not as a personality to be developed and: enlarged by purely cultural forces. The peoples of Asia are bound to rise against the acquisitive econo my which the West has developed and imposed on the nations of the East. Asia cannot comprehend modern Western capitalism with its undisciplined in dividualism. The faith which you represent recognisesj the worth of the individual, and disciplines him to give away his all to the service of God and man. Its possibilities are not yet exhausted. It can still create a new world where the social rank of man is not determined by his caste or colour, or the amount of dividend he earns, but by the kind of life he lives; where the poor tax the rich, where human society is founded not on the equality of stomachs but on the equality of spirits, where an Untouchable can marry the daughter of a king, where private ownership is a trust and where capital cannot be allowed to accumu late so as to dominate the real producer of wealth. This superb idealism of your faith, however, needs emancipation from the medieval fancies of theolo gians and legists. Spiritually we are living in a pri son house of thoughts and emotions which during the course of centuries we have woven round ourselves. And be it said to the shame of us—men of older generation—that we have failed to equip the younger generation for the economic, political and even re ligious crises that the present age is likely to bring. The whole community needs a complete overhauling of its present mentality in order that it may again become capable of feeling the urge of fresh desires and ideals. The Indian Muslim has long ceased to explore the depths of his own inner life. The result is that he has ceased to live in the full glow and colour of life, and is consequently in danger of an unmanly compromise with forces which, he is made to think, he cannot vanquish in open conflict. He who desires to change an unfavourable environment must undergo a complete transformation of his inner being. God changeth not the condition of a people until they themselvestake the initiative to change their condition by constantly illuminating the zone of their daily activity in the light of a definite ideal Nothing can be achieved without a firm faith in the independence of one’s own inner life. ThIs faith alone keeps a people’s eye fixed on their goal and saves them from perpetual vacillation. The lesson that past experience has brought to you must be taken to heart. Expect:

nothing from any side. Concentrate your whole ego on yourself alone, and ripen your clay into real manhood if you wish to see your aspirations realized. Mussolini’s maxim was “He who has steel has everything” Be hard and work hard This is the whole secret of individual and collective life. Our ideal is well defined It is to win in the coming con stitution a position for Islam which may bring her opportunities to fulfil her destiny in this country It is necessary in the light of this ideal to rouse the progressive forces of the community and to orgamse their hitherto dormant energies. The flame of life tannot be borrowed from others; it must be kindled $ in the temple of one’s own soul. This requires earnest preparation and a relatively permanent programme. What then shall be our future programme? I am in dined to think that it should be partlypolitical, partly cultural. I venture to offer a few suggestions for your consideration:

First, we must frankly admit that there is yet a sort of chaos in the political thought of those who are supposed to guide the activities of the Indian Muslims in the present-day political struggle. The community, however, is not to blame for this state of things. The $ Muslim masses are not at all lacking in the spirit of self-sacrifice when the question of their ultimate destiny in the country is involved. Recent history bears ample testimony to what I say. The fault is ours, not theirs. The guidance offered to the com munity is not always independently conceived, and the result is ruptures, sometimes at critical moments, within our political organisations. Thus these or ganisations cannot properly develop the kind of dis cipline which is so absolutely essential to the life and power of political bodies. To remedy this evil I suggest that the Indian Muslims should have only one political organisation with provincial and district branches all over the country. Call it whatever you like. \Vhat is essential is that its Constitution must be such as to make it possible for any school of political thought to come into power, and to guide the community according to its own ideas and methods. In my opinion this is the only way to make ruptures impossible, and to reintegrate and discipline our scattered forces to the best interests of Islam in India.’

Secondly, I suggest that this central organ isatjon should immediately raise a national fund of at lesat 50 lakhs of rupees. No doubt we are living in hard times, but you may rest assured that the Muslims of India will not fail to respond to your call if a genuine effort is made to impress upon them the gravity of the present situation. Thirdly, I suggest the formation of youth leagues and well-equipped volunteer corps throughout the Country under the control and guidance of the Central

1. As a result of this suggestionalj parties were absorbed in the Muslim League._Ed.
2. organisation. They must specially devote themselves to social service, custom reform, commercial or ganisation of the community and economic propa- J ganda in towns and villages specially in the Punjab, where enormous indebtedness of Muslim agricul turists cannot be allowed to wait for the drastic- remedies provided by agrarian upheavals. Things J appear to have reached the breaking point as in j China in 1925 when peasant leagues came into being in that country. The Simon Report admits that the peasant pays a substantial portion of his means to the State. The State, no doubt, gives him in return peace and security, trade and communication But the net result of these blessings has been only a kind of scientific exactitude in taxation, destruction of village economy by machine-made goods and the commercialisation of crops which makes the peasant) almost always fall a prey to money-lenders and corn mercial agents. This is a very serious matter esPecial-4 ly in the Punjab I want the proposed youth leagues to specialise in propaganda work in this connectiofl, and thus to help the peasantry in escaping from its present bondage. The future of Islam in India largely depends, in my opinion, on the freedom of Muslim peasants in the Punjab. Let then the fire of youth mingle with the fire of faith in order to enhance the ir glow of life and to create a new world of actions for. our future generations. A community is not merely a purely present and numerable whole of men and women. Indeed its life and activity as a living reality cannot be fully understood without areference to thaS unborn infinity which lies asleep in the deeps of its inner being.
3. Fourthly, I suggest the establishment of male and female cultural institutes in all the big towns of India. These institutes as such should have nothing to do with politics. Their chief function should be to mobilise the dormant energy of the younger gener ation by giving them a clear grasp of what Islam has aireadyachieved and what it has still to achieve in the religious and cultural history of mankind. The pro gressive forces of a people can be roused only by plac ing before them a new task calculated to enlarge the individual to make him comprehend and experience the community, not as a heap of isolated fragments of life, but as a well defined whole possessing inner cohesion and solidarity. And when once these forces are roused they bring fresh vigour for new conflicts, and that sense of inner freedom which enjoys resis tance and holds out the promise of a new self. These institutes must keep in close touch with our educa tional institutions—old and new—with a view to secure the ultimate convergence of all the lines of our educational endeavour on a single purpose. One practical suggestion I can immediately make. The Hartog Committee’s interim report, now apparently forgotten in the rush of other political problems, makes the following recommendation which I con sider of the utmost importance for the Muslims of
4. India:
5. “There can be no doubt that if in provinces, where the educational progress of the Muham madan community is impeded by religious diffi culties, such arrangements for religious instruct tion can be made as will induce that community to send its children to ordinary schools, the public system will gain both in economy and efficiency and much will be done to free the community from the handicap and the reproach of educational backwardness.
6.  
7. “We are fully aware that such arrangements are not easy to make and that in other countries they have given rise to much controversy. But j in our opinion the time is ripe and more than ripe for a determined effort to devise practicatj plans” (pp 204-205)
8.  
9. And again on page 206 while discussing reser vations, the Report says:
10. “If therefore special arrangements inside thej public system were made now, and possibly for some time to come, to enable the Muhammadaii community to take its full share in the life and in the advance of the nation, this would not, in our opinion, be inconsistent either with sound democratic or sound educational principles We wish we could say that no reservations are neces- sary and we should certainly wish that they should be as small as possible As complications of an educational system they are undesirable in themselves, but since, in our belief, they represent 7. necessary alternative to leaving the Muhain- rnadan community in its present backward state, md leaving it to take the poor chances afforded by a system of segregate institutions, we have no iesitation in embracing that alternative as justi able on broad grounds of national policy.”
11. The proposed cultural institutes or till their establishment the All-India Muslim Conference must see that these recommendations, based as they are on a clear perception of the present handicaps of our community, are carried into effect.

Fifthly, I suggest the formation of an assembly of ulama which must include Muslim lawyers who ha received education in modern jurisprudence. The idea is to protect, expand and, if necessary, to reinterpret the law of Islam in the light of modern conditions, while keeping close to the spirit embodied in its fundamental principles. This body must receive constitutional recognition so that no bill affecting the personal law of Muslims may be put on the legislative anvil before it has passed through the crucible of this assembly. Apart from the purely practical value of this proposal for the Muslims of India, we must remember that the modern world, both Muslim and non-Muslim, has yet to discover the infinite value of the legal literature of Islam and its significance for a capitalistic world whose ethical standards have long abdicated from the control of man’s economic conduct. The formation of the kind of assembly I propose will, I am sure, bring a deeper understanding of the usual principles of Islam at least in this country.

SOME STUDY NOTES*

I was reading the other day a book called The Emergence of Life the author has tried to applya mathematical method to philosophical research. His method is based on Boole’s system of logic, which I he further develops in the light of modern methema tical investigation After having discussed his vLew of time, space and life, as seen in the light of moder relativity, the author refers in his chapter on ‘Non Spatial Reality’ to corporeal resurrection. I am sure 11 this passage will interest the readers of the Muslim Revival.

The noteworthy point in this passage is how modern science and philosophy, becoming more and more exact, is furnishing rational foundations for certain religious beliefs which the 18th and l9th Centuries science rejected as absurd and incredible. Further the Muslim reader will see that the argument .In support of corporeal resurrection advanced in this passage is practically the same as put forward in the Quran over 1,300 years ago. The passage is as follows;

“Whether indeed such an apparently fantastic notion, at any rate, to the scientific mind, as to the resurrection of the body, the most wonderful and I should say, almost incredible mystery of theological teaching, one of the most astounding tenets of the Christian faith insisted upon by St. Paul and firmly held even to this day by some of the most earnest and devout scholars of our time, would ever admit of a scientific explanation, seems to me in the light of this consideration to be not altogether eliminated from the class of possible and rational beliefs. Absurd as it seems to take an extreme case, that the atoms that composethe body of a person who had been shattered to smithereens by an explosion in the trenches would by any possibility ever recombine, except by what would truly be called a miracle, there is nothing in the light of these reflections, to hinder the monads from adopting the right “time and tune” that would enable it once more to respond to one and all of the monads that had served as the chamber of its material environment.”

It must be remembered that the Christian belief in resurrection is based upon the supposed fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, i.e., it is based on a his torical event which is believed to have happened 2,000 years ago. In the Quran, resurrection is taken as a universal property of living organisms. The Quranic argument is summed up in the following verses:

“And they used to say: What! when we die and become dust and bones, shall we be raised again and

our forefathers too.“Say : Those who have gone before and after—all will be brought together at the appointed moment.“We have made death among you and we are not helpless that we should bring the like of you and create you in a form which you know not And yo4 know your first creation Why then do you not dyer “Do they not see how God created the first time then He will create again surely it is easy for Him. Say: Go about the earth and see how He caused first creation ;so will God bring about the other creation.”

 “Does man think that We will not bring together his bones? Yea, We are powerful that We should complete all his limbs.” “And they say What’ when we become bone4 and dust, shall we be raised in a fresh form? Say:

Be ye stones or iron or anything else which seems harder to you. Then they say: Who will bring, us to life again? Say: He who made you the first time.” “And man says What when I have died, shall I be raised to life again Does not man consider that we created him before while he was nothing?”

As may be seen from the italicized lines, the Quran bases its arguments in support of resurrection, not on any events in history, but oil the personal experience of every individual This is exactly thee argument which the modern most scientific research as quoted above, has advanced; via, the same “time and tune” which brought the monads together the first time and caused his creation, may once more summon together, after death, the same monads and cause the4 second creation of man It may, however, be noted here .that this return to life after death is nothing in the sense of the cycle of births and rebirths as commonly understood. The Quran supports the scientific view that all life is a forward movement. There is no coming back. Mark the following verses on the point:

“When death overtakes anyone of them, he says, my Lord! Send me back (to the world) so that I may do well in what I have left behind. Never! ... in front of him there is a barrier till the day or resurrection.” (23: 99-101)

“By moon when’ it becomes full ! Of a certainty you will go from stage to stage.” (84: 19, 20)

Just as the moon goes through various stages, from the crescent to the full moon, even so is man to advance from a lower to a higher form of life..

Another passage which will interest the Muslim readers of the Muslim Revival, I came across in a book, entitled, Emnion as the Basis of Civilization. This passage refers to the sense of unity in Islam as created by the institution of congregational prayer and pilgrimage. It is as follows:

“The vast difficulty of creating any sense of unity or solidarity in such a group (i.e., composed of diff erent nations with different traditions and outlooks) is apparent. All historians declare that the amazing success of Islam in dominating the world is the as tounding coherence or sense of unit in the group, but they do not explain how this miracle was worked. There can be little doubt that the most effective means was prayer. The five daily prayers when all the faithful wherever they were, alone in thegrim solitudes of the desert or in the vast assemblies in crowded city, knelt and prostrated themselves towards Mecca, uttering the same words of adoration for the one true God and of loyalty to His Prophet, produced an overwhelming effect even on the spectator and the psychological effect of thus fusing the minds of the worshippers in a common adoration and expression

of loyalty is certainly stupendous Muhammad wa the first one to see the tremendous power of public prayer as a unification culture and there can be little doubt that the power of Islam is due in a large measure to the obedience of the faithful to this inviolable rule:. of the five prayers.

“The giving of alms to the poor was also a means of developing the sense of brotherhood. So, likewise, was the pilgrimage to Mecca. . . the pilgrimage proved in the end a great aid in unification for the men of every tribe and race met at Mecca with a common purpose and in a common worship and a feeling of brotherhood would not but be engendered in the process”.

(The Muslim Revival,

September, 1932):

‘JAVID NAMA’

WITH A NOTE by N. M. KHAN, C.S.P.

Iqbal came to London in the winter of 1931, as a delegate. to the Round Table Conference. He shared a suite of rooms with Mowlana Abdul Qadir Kasuri, in a block of flats situated in the south-western suburb. When I first came to learn that Iqbal. was expected to participate in the Round Table Conference, I held consultations with some of my friends and we formed ourselvcs into what came to be known as the Iqbal Literary Association. Our number was not very large, but all the members were full of enthusiasm for the poetry of Iqbal. After Iqbal had arrived in London, we made it a practice. to go to his rooms very frequently and to hear him talk on all sorts of subjects. Our Association decided to present an address of welcome to the great poet of the East, and I was commissioned to approach him with the request to accept our address. When 1 first talked on the subject to Iqbal,. He showed extreme reluctance to accept such an address. He expressed himself very much averse to publicity. I argued that the move had been spontaneously initiated by Indian young men resident in England without any one from outside urging them to do so and that he should not do anything to damp their enthusiasm. He did finally agree. We got busy and arranged an afternoon receptionist at the Waldorf Hotel,, at which the address was presented The reception waj attended by all representative Indians and manyt English friends. Mahatma Gandhi came to it and so did His Highness the Aga Khan. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was also present. The late Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan Tiwana acted as the chief host at the - function It was while preparing a part of the address of welcome that I came to receive a gift fromf Iqbal, which I have treasured ever since. Javid Nama had not yet been published when I had come away from India. I asked Iqbaiwhat the book contained.1 He said: “I can give you an outline of the poe if you can manage to write down the words as I utter them.” He started dictating the words which I reproduce below. It took me nearly an hour to take down his words. They came out without effort; and Iqbal had to pause only to give me time to writ them down in my long-hand. When he came to-h wards the end, he broke down and it was not unit 15 minutes later that he became his normal self. The words were as follow:

“The book opens with a Manama and begin with the Poet standing on the sea-shore about even-• ing time, reading a few verses from Rum. This makes the soul of Rum to appear. The Poet puts. all sorts of questions to the Spirit old Rum, the principal question being as to how the Soul of I passes beyond Space and Time. The idea is to £ a kind of philosophy of Mi’raj. Then appears L. Spirit of Space-Time which is pictured by the Poet a double-faced angel, one of the two faces as dark and sleeping. not the other as bright and awake. This Spirit exercises some kind of charm on the poet and carries him up. Both the Spirit of Rumi and the Poet swim in Space and continue to do so untiF the mountains of the Moon become visible. Here they hear a song from the Stars—a sort of wel come given to human beings who have the courage to pass beyond Space. They alight on the Moon and enter some of its caves. In one of the caves they meet the Spirit of the great Indian ascetic, Vishwa initra,, whose name the Poet translates as Jahan Dost. The ascetic is found sitting absorbed in. contempla tion with a White Snake, circling round his head. Recognising Rumi, the ascetic asks as to who is the new corner. Rumi gives a short description of his companion. Thereupon the ascetic puts some ques tions to the new corner in order to test his spiritual attainments. One of the questions, for instance, is; “In what respect is- Man superior to God ?“ The answer is: ‘In his knowledge of Death.” Similarly he puts -other questions and finding the answers satisfactory, he discloses certain truths about various things, entitled in the Poem— J 3 . Is . They leave the cave and pass on to the valley of the yon where they find a huge rock on which four pictures are carved. They are called the tablet of Buddha, the tablet of Jesus, the tablet of Zoroaster and the tablet of Muhammad. Descriptions of the tablets are given in the Poem. So they pass on from planet to planet. - In Mars is shown a woman-prophet originally stolen from Europe as a child by the Devil and who teaches the women of Mars a new view of evolution which according to this woman-prophet tends to- eliminate the male. Her message- is that the world will, eventually, be ruled by Woman and her practical advice to her sisters is, in the first place4 not to marry and if they marry and have children to kill the male and retain the female children. Thig gives an occasion to Rumi to criticise some of the , aspects of modern civilization.

ru the planet Mercury they find the spirits of Jamal-ud-d in Afghani and Saeed Halim Pasha, the head- of the religious reform movement in Turkey. Afghani sends a message to the people of Russia wherein the- Spirit of rslam is compared with the Spirit of Bolshevism, and Karl Marx is described as a prophet without an angel.

“Passing on to another planet they find three spirits, Mansur Hallaj, Ghalib- and Qurrat-ul-Ain. They are supposed to have been offered a home in Paradise which they refused to accept and. preferred constant movement in the immensity of the Uni Hallaj explains his position as. a Muslim mystic. Certain questions of literary and religious nature aris- jug from Ghalib’s poetry are put to him. Qurrat-ul- Am gives a song of her own. As a contrast to this in another planet two spirits is shown who went to; seek a Home in the flames of Hell but Hell refused them admittance. They are Mir jafár of Bengal and Mir Sadiq of Mysore. In another planet underneath a transparent sea are shown the spirits of the Pharaoh and Kitchener The conversation attracts the atten tion of the Mahdt Soudani from Paradise It comes down,.penetrates into the sea and has a talk with Kitchener. The Spirit of the Mabdi works itself up and finally addresses the whole of the Arabic-speak ing world.

“Having passed through all the planets, the Poet enters Paradise and meets Saints as well as Kings. He finds there the palace of Sharaf-un-Nisa, daughter of Abdus Samad Khan, Governor of Lahore. One of the saints whom the Poet meets in Paradise is Shah Hamdan, the patron saint of Kashmir, who brings.in questions with regard to the history and people of Kashmir. The Poet further meets King Nadir Shah of Persia, Ahmad ShaI Abdali of Afghaijstan and Sultan Tipu.

“At the moment of leaving Paradise, the Houris of Paradise besiege the Poet and insist on his staying with them. The Poet refuses to stay. The real meaning of Muslim Paradise which is not an end in itself but a stage in the spiritual development of Man is here explained. However, a compromise is arrived at, the Houris agree to let him go provided he gave them a song which he does. He then leaves the Paradise and gradually reaches the point where Rumi leaves him for man must enter t/i divine pre sence alone. Here the Poet puts some very serious questions to God and finally wants a complete re c of the destiny of his own people which is granted to him. The book ends with a song from the spirit of Universe.

“At the end of the book the Poet addresses his son, which is virtually an address to the coming genera (Morning News, Calcutta

Led Number 1944)

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN AFGHANISTAN

I am asked to write a line or two by way of a foreword to the excellent book on “Modern Afghanistan” I have great pleasure in doing so, not only because I have always regarded the Afghans as a people of inexhaustible vitality but also because I have had e of personally knowing the late and lamented King Nadir Shah—that soldier man, whose genius infused a new life into his people and opened their eyes to the modern world. The history of Afghanistan has yet to be read and appreciated. Mere record of events is not history, it is only material for history. Events are like words and baveaning which it is the duty of the genuine historians to discover. This work has yet to be done in regard to the history of Afghans both India and Afghanistan. A people, who have produced such men as Muhammad Ghauri, Ala-ud-Din Khilji, Sher Shah Suri, Abmed Shah Abdali, Amir Abdur Rebman Khan, King Nadir Shah and, above all, Maulana Syed jamal-udDin Afghani— many respects the greatest Muslim and certainly one of the greatest Asiatic of our times cannot but be regard ed as an important factor in the life of Asia.

For long periods in the past Amiable fade, Kabul, Gadfly and Herat have been great centers of culture; and the earnestness of the present ruling dynasty does certainly hold out a promise that they may well revive their past glories again. When ever I think of Afghanistan, as I quite often do, my mind conjures up before me a picture of a country I saw last autumn. I sit in a simply furnished study room which overlooks a garden. Beyond the garden abroad stretch of land rises in gentle slopes to meet the hills which lie in ever-ascending waves, one behind the other, till they culminate in the towering range of Hindu Kush. A line of huge pylons, that bring the high tension current from distant falls lies athwart the landscape; overhead the sky is painted in gorgeous colors by the approaching sunset; below the shadows move swiftly across the valley. Innumerable poplars, straight, slim and tall, sway gently in the gathering shadows as the soft evening breeze kisses their searing leaves. In the calm of that twilight, the valley, the trees, the distant villages and the mountains floating in a sea of hazy mist present a scene of dream-like beauty. Suddenly the hush of the evening is broken by the call to prayer. One by one all my companions leave their seats; transported beyond myself by the sweetening chant of the Muezzin, I am the last to reach the prayer room, where my fellow guests are already gathered, along with Our royal host and the humblest, of his retainers.

The little episode reveals three of the most strike trig qualities of the Afghans—their deep religious Spirit, their complete freedom from distinction of birth and rank and the perfect balance with which they have always maintained their religious and national ideals This spirit of conservatism hash always been, and will always remain a great source of strength to the Afghans It keeps them in living contact with their past, without rendering them in capable of response to the call of a new age Their f conservative wisdom make them cherish their traditions; but the weight of these traditions does not any way, kill the forward movement of the soul within.

Only the other day, I met in Lahore a remarks able old Afghan druggist who had spent more than half a century in the West and had finally settled in Australia. He could not read and write but spok4 good Australian English. “Do you still remember your Pashto?” I said. My question went straight to his heart. His slightly bedewed eyes became brighter! The memories of his youth seemed to be crowding in his mind, until they found unrestrained express in an old Pashto love-song which for the moment transported the hoary Afghan from the scorchi4g heat of Lahore to the cold valleys of his fatherland., The Afghan conservatism is a miracle; it is adamant live yet fully sensitive to and assimilative of new cultural forces. And this is the secret of the extern organic health of the Afghan-type.

Afghanistan was a great commercial centre is the ancient world and remained so during the Middle Ages, till the development of sea-borne traffic in to  modern world. She has occupied and will contain to occupy the key position in the politics and hits of Asia.. “Here”, writes Professor Lyde, “we hay one of the most important areas of Asia, full of fascination to those who believe in both the national and international, but do not believe that it is the destiny of world to be for ever at war.” So this plain, straight-forward and unvarnished account of the country by two brothers, who during long residence in that land, have supplemented the fruit of personal observation, by a study of the best sources and have been able to draw upon the latest official information, is doubly welcome.

The authors. of the book have rightly focused their attention upon those periods, during which the arts of peace have flourished and not upon the periods of numberless wars, invasions and internal dissensions, which at first sight appear to be the most striking feature of the history of Afghanistan. Besides providing invaluable and authentic information re grading the country, the authors have raised some very interesting questions about the position of Afghanistan in relation to cultural advancement of the world. There is no doubt that archaeological and historical research will throw a new light on our knowledge of the ancient world, but much work yet remains to be done, and I hope that Afghan scholars will diligently try to lay bare the past greatness of their country.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

OF ISLAM*

A.—Religion.

Is it morality touched with emotion?

Is it belief in a God or Gods with’ some kind of worship? Mithraism

Darkness

Mosque

(i)                  Is it wholly other worldliness?

(ii)                Is it fear of the invisible?

(iii)               Is it intimacy with the supersensible?

In 1937 tqbal handed certain.papers to Mian Muhammad Shafi which contained certain notes which were to form the basis of the book Intro duction to tbe study of Islam. As his eyesight was getting weak Iqbal intended to dictate the book to Mian Muhammad Sba But this could not be done as Iqbal’s health did not permit It. Eventually Iqbat breathe4 his last on 21st April, 1938 and these notes remained with Mimi Muhamma Shaft. As these notes in Iqbal’s handwriting were getting fainter afl fainter Mian Muhammad Shafi copied them in 1947, when he was inter new in Multan Central Jail. The original notes are now in the Nation Museum, Karachi. With the kind permission of the Curator of the Museum a photographic copy of the notes was obtained and from th*J photo these notes are reproduced here. In some cases it was not easy to decipher certain words. In the Tutu-i-Islam of 22nd October 1958. Chaudhary Ghulam Ahm Parwez, the Editor, published a translation of these notes. The tran tion diners in important details from the notes as reproduced he especially as it is more detailed in parts. And it is very difficult to say the additional notes which form a part of the translation were also by Iqbal.

Partly yes, but supersensible opened to be approached in a scientific spirit— Ibn Khaldun, and idea of finality.

(iv) Is it some secret teaching to be handed orally (mystery)?All early Magian religions believed in it Islam--No.

Spengler.

(v) Religion (Origin of the word) ai. not used in the Quran.Words used in the Quran ‘What is the meaning of ?

(vi) Martiman, Vol. I..B.—Islam a protest against all religions in the old sense of the word.

(i) Abolition of Prophethood. Islam and time

(ii) The idea of Salvation in Islam Is it a salvation—religion?

 is used only once in the Koran. What is Najat?

No secret teaching

Belief in God (Deracialisation of mankind., )

Economic Equality il

C.—Church and State

Is Islamic community a juristic person?Is Islamic State a juristic person?Relation of Church and State.What is State? Like marriage or Contract.The Amir and the Shaikhul Islam, etc.Hereditary monarchy. History of Islamic Priesthood.Kerbala? Effect of it.

D and the Woman,

E.—Islam and Capitalism.

F--- To the Magian culture Revelation i a mysti cal process in which some spirit enters the body of a person who speaks it. ‘ Is Islam ‘Wahy’ (quote verses) is the uni- ‘ versa! property of life in which a man obtains contact with the ultimate springs of life. It manifests itself iii 3 ways It is abolished as a source of knowledge. I Islam. con templation of Amr spreads into thought and action. It realises the immensity of the world in which old conceptions of races,; community, creed vanish into nothing. It is light. j

It draws the world from darkness to the open day-light.

 (ii) The word Salvation (What is Najat? Liberation from what? . Not from the limitations of lndivduallty Not liberation from the tenswn of cons.It is relief of the Ego’s loneliness in the Universe The conception of God (Comrade).

(a)Sleep liberates  

(b)Wine liberates Breaks the vigour of consciousness.

(c) Dancing too liberates

All these means of escape from space and time are discouraged. You should overcome space and time by iI Ji Mastering actuality by understanding.Fear ovisibre actuality, i.e. Space and Time is. removed when we begin to understand things as causal relations.

Knowledge of world as nature—actuality. Fear overcome not by charms but by formula..Knowledge of world as movement—history, Sufism.

(iii) I—Security reforms movement is Islam.Taimiyya. Abdul Wahab.Bab I prophethood All more orhmaddiya it less magian.Syed Ahmad—Rationalism.The new movement.The coming of the expected one ,

(1) No retun.

(ii) Traditions—Bukhari.

NOTE ON NLETZSCHE*

The Ego

The teaching of the ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ rests on twc points: (a) That personality is the central fact of thj universe. The old testament describes this ultimat fact as the great ‘r ani’. The Koran, however, deSi cribes the ultimate personality in much grander .

Read in this connection ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’.

(a)The ego is the root of all existence.

(b) That personality, ‘I am’, is the central fact ir the constitution of man. This smaller or - ‘I am’ is variously described in the Koran -

yet it is also described as the bearer of Divine trust ;

case of man, therefore, in spite of his constitution shortcomings is not hopeless. On the other ha the Koran says:

The slender which appears to be capable of dissolution by the smallest of shocks appears to have a future and can achieve permanence as an element in the constitution of the universe provided it adopts a certain mode of life. It has the quality of growth 3 as well as the quality of corruption.it has the power to expand by absorbing the elements of the universe of which it appears to be an insignificant part, it has also the power of absorbing the attributes of God,.I and thus attain to the vicegerency of God on earth. The various stages of its spiritual expansion are described in the ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ as follows :—

(i) “Complete surrender to the Law— This is symbolised by the camel.

(ii)  Self-control

(iii) Vicegerency of God

The superficial resemblance of these three parts of the growth of human ‘I’ with Nietzsche’s 3 meta morphosis of the spirit may mislead some readers. It is therefore necessary to warn the reader of ‘Asrar-i Khudi’ that Nietzsche does not at all believe in the spiritual fact which I have described as “ in the poem, vide—Will to Power, Vol. 2, According to Nietzsche the ‘I’ is a fiction. It is true that looked at from a purely intellectual point of view this conclusion is inevitable, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason ends in the conclusion that God, immortality and freedom are mere fictions though seful for practical purposes. Nietzsche only follow Kant in this conclusion. There is, however, another point of view, that is to say the point of view of inner experience. From this. point of view the ‘I’ is an indubitable fact, (vide Bradley’s discussion on this point) which stares us in the face in spite of our intellectual analysis of it. In this respect Leibnitz is nearer to truth than either Kant or Niietzsche—Th( monad or the 1-atom according to him is an ultimate fact His mistake, however, is that he regards the I-atom as something closed.and windowless. This, however, is contradicted by experience, because we know that the ‘I’ grows and expands by education. The question, therefore, which should be raised in regard to the human ‘r is not whether it is a substance or not The question was raised b our theologiansj whose philosophical discussion achieved nothing. The question which oirght to be raised in my opinion is whether this weak, created and dependent Ego or ‘I’ can be made to survive the shock of death and thus become a permanent element in the consti tution of universe The answer that ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ tries to give to this question, of course in a poeticat way and not in a philosophical manner, is this that the human ego can be made permanent by adoptuig a certain mode of life and thereby bringing it into contact with the ultimate source of life. The VarioUS stages of its growth are mentioned in the ‘Asrar-i Khudi’. Thus in its essence ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ and Nietzsche are diametrically opposed to each other‘Asrar-i-K.hudi’ wholly depends on the factum of “ in which Nietzsche does not believe.The conception of this Superman in Nietzsche is purely materialistic. This conception may be new in European literature. it is, however, the same as the idea of the Overman in Emmerson. it is prob able that Nietzsche borrowed it from the literature of Islam or of the East. and degraded it by his materi alism. In the literature of Islamic mysticism the expressionused for thehigher man is “J I wrote on this subject about 36 years ago immediately after leaving the College. My dissertation was pub ished in the “Indian Antiquary” of Bombay and now ‘orms part of my Development of Metaphysics in-ersia Being a. thoroughgoing materialist, Nietz sche cannot use the term spirit except in the sense of life in its metaphysical manifestations. Thefirst netamorphosis of life according to him is camel, which from his point of view is a symbol of load oearing strength. The second is lion, that is to say he strength to kill without pity, for pity is a vice and not virtue with Nietzsche. The third metamor phosis is child, that is to say the Superman passing beyond good and evil like the child and becoming a aw unto himself. This is materialism turning the uman ego into a monster, which, according to Nietz sche’s idea of immorality, has repeated itself and will epeat itself infinite number of times. Nietzsche fell into this error of the world repeating itself on account of his fatal error, namely that clock time is the real time. On this point again ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ is opposed to’ Nietzsche’s teaching. He never grappled with the problem of time and accepted without criticism the old Hindu and Greek idea of time. The time move-I ment to him is circular. In the ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ it is regarded as a straightline. Life, therefore, to Nietzsche is repetition, to ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ creation. The perfection of the perfect man according to Islam consists in realising this aspect of time which can be described only as the eternal now. To Nietzsche there is no such thing as eternal now. Further Nietzsche’s Superman is a biological product. The Islamic perfect man is the product of moral and spiritual forces.

NIETZSCHE’S MATERIALISM

Nietzsche recognises no spiritual purpose in the universe. To him there is no ethical principle resident in the forces of history. Virtue,Justiee, Duty, Love all are meaningless terms to him. The process of history is determined purely by economical forces and the only principle that governs is ‘Might is Right’. It must be noted that Karl Marx and Nietzsche bor rowed this materialistic interpretation of the histori cal process from the left wing followers of Hegel and accepted it without criticism. They, however, drew absolutely opposite inferences from this interpretation. Karl Marx predicts that power will eventually fall into the hands of the proletariat by the sheer force of historical causes. The proletariat therefore wrest by force the power from the hands of the rich and imposed upon the world a new social order. Nietz sche on the other hand says that it i the superior man who has been robbed of power and he should assert himself and tell the inferior to remain where they should be, i.e. bowers of wood and drawers of water. The truth is that this materialistic interpret tion of the historical process has marred the teachings of both Karl Marx and Nietzsche. It has however done more harm to the teachings of Karl Marx.

THE MEANING OF KHUDI

The word ‘Khudi’ was chosen with great difficulty and most reluctantly. From a literary point of view it has many shortcomings and ethically it is generally used in a bad sense both in Urdu and Persian. The other words for the metaphysical fact of the ‘I’ are equally bad, e.g. JI W. What is needed is a colorless word for self, ego, having no ethical significance. As far as I know there is no such word in either Urdu or Persian. The word in Persian is equally bad. However, considering the requirements of verse, I thought that the word was the most suitable. There is also some evidence in the Persian language of the use of the word in the simple sense of self, i.e. to say the colorless fact of the ‘I’m Thus metaphysically the word ‘ is used in the sense of that indescribable feeling of ‘I’, which forms. the basis of the uniqueness of each individual. Metaphysically it does not convey any ethical significance for those who cannot get rid of its ethical significance. I have already said in the Suborn-j-A jam:

The wine of ego hood is no doubt bitter, but do look to thy disease and take my poison for the sake of thy health.  When I condemn self-negation I do not mean self-deni.al.in the moral sense.; for self-deniaL in the moral sense is a source of strength to-the ego. Iz condemning self-negation I am condemning these

forms of conduct which lead to the extinction of the ‘I’ as a metaphysical force, for- its extinction would mean— its dissolution,.its incapacity for- personal im mortality The ideal of Islamic Mysticism accord rng to- my understanding is not the extinction of thel ‘P. The: ‘U’ in- the Islamic: mysticism, means not extinction but complete- surrender o the human ego to. the Divine.Ego. The.ideaL of Islamic mysticisi is. a: stage beyond the: stage of- ‘U i.e ‘ which from niy.-point of: view is the highest stage. of se-If-affirmation.          When 1 say. “Be as ba-rd as the diamond,”,. 140 not-mean-as Nietzsche doeacahlour ness itilessness. What- I mean is-the integration of the elements of the ego-so that it may be able. To obstruct the forces.of destruction in its means .toward personal imniortality Ethically the word means (as used by me) self-reliance; self-respect, self sel1  preservation, even self when such a-thing is’ necessary, in- the in-terests of life and the- power- to stick to the cause of truth, justice, d tity, etc., etc., even- in the face of. death. Such behavior is moral in my opinion because it helps in the integration of- the forces of the Ego, thus hardening it, as against the forces of disintegration and dissolution (vide Recon struction) practically the. metaphysical Ego is the bearer of two main rights that is the rightto.life and freedom as determined by- the Divine Law

QADIANIS AND ORTHODOX MUSLIMS

The issue created by the controversy between the Qadianis and the orthodox Muslims is extremely important. The Indian Muslims have only recently begun to realize its importance. I intended to address an open letter to the British people explaining the social and political implications of the issue. But unfortunately my health prevented me from doing so. I am, however, glad to say a few words for the present on a matter which, to my mind, affects the entire collective life of the Indian Muslims. It must, however, be pointed out at the outset that I have no intention to enter into any theological argument. Nor do I mean to undertake a psychological analysis of the mind of the founder of the Qadiani movement; the former will not interest those for whom this statement is meant and the time for the latter has not yet arrived in India. My point of view is that of a student of general history and comparative

determined partly by the religious and partly by the race idea. Islam repudiates the race idea altogethe and founds itself on the religious idea alone since religion. India is a land of many religious communities and Islam is a religious community in a sense than those communities whose much deeper structure is Islam bases itself on the religious idea alone, a basis which is wholly spiritual and consequently far more ethereal than blood relationship, Muslim society is naturally much more sensitive to forces which it considers harmful to its integrity. Any religious  society historically arising from the bosom of Islam, which claims a new prophethood for its basis, and declares all Muslims who do not recognize the truth of its alleged revelation as KaUrs, must, therefore,  be regarded. by evey Muslim as a serious danger to the solidarity of Islam. This must necessarily be so since the integrity of Muslim society is secured by the Idea of the Finality of Prophethood alone. This idea of Finality is perhaps the most original idea in the cultural history of mankind; its true significance can be understood only by those who carefully study the history of pre-Islamic Magian culture in Western and Middle Asia. The concept of Magian culture, according to modern research, includes cultures associated with Zoroastrjanjsm. Judaism, Jewish Christianity, Chaldean and Sabean religions. To these creed-communities the idea of the continuity of prophethood was essential, and consequently. they lived in a state of constant expectation. It is probable that the Magian man psychologically enjoyed this state of expectation. The modern man is spiritually far more emancipated than the Magian man. The result of the Magian attitude was the disintegration of old communities and the constant formation of new ones by all sorts of religious adventures. In the modern world of Islam, ambitious.a,nd ignorant mullaism taking advantage of the modern Press, has shamelessly attempted to hurl the old pre-Islamic Magian outlook in. the face of the twentieth century. It is obvious that Islam whj claims to weld all the various communities of the

world into one single community cannot recon itself to a movement which threatens its pre4t olidarity and holds the promise of further rifts human society.

Of the two forms which the modern revival f pre-Islamic Magianism has assumed, Bahaism app me to be far more honest than Qadianisrn; for the former openly departs from islam, whereas the ‘atter apparently retains some of the more importit externals of Islam with an inwardness wholly ini4i cal to the spirit and aspirations of Islam. its idea of a jealous God with an inexhaustible store of earth quakes and plagues for its opponents; its concep of the prophet as a soothsayer; its idea of the con tinuity of the spirit of Messiah, are so absolutely Jewish that the movement can easily be regarded as a return to early Judaism. The idea of the continuity of the spirit of Messiah belongs more to .

mysticism than to positive Judaism. Professor B r who has given an account of the movement initia d y the Polish Messiah Baalshem tells us that “it was thought that the spirit of the Messiah descen upon the earth through the prophets and evCfl through a long line of holy men stretching into the presenttime—theZaddiks”(Sadiqs). Heretical mclj ments in Muslim Iran under the pressure of pre Islamic Magian ideas invented the words ‘bur” ‘hulul’, ‘zill’ to cover this idea of a perposals reincarnation. It was necessary to invent new ex pressions for a Magian idea in order to make it less shocking to Muslim conscience. Even the phrase “promised Messiah” is not a product of Muslim religious consciousness. It is a bastard expression and has its origin in the pre-Islamic Magian out look.

We do not find it in early Islamic religious and historical 1iterature This remarkable fact is re vealed by Professor Wensinck’s Concordance of the Traditions of the Holy Prophet, which covers no less than 11 collections of the traditions and 3 of the earliest historical documents of Islam. One can very well understand the reasons why early Muslims never used this expression. The expression did not appeal to them probably because they thought that it implied a false conception of the historical process. The Marian mind regarded time as a circular move mint; the glory of elucidation the true nature of the historical process as a perpetually creative movement was reserved for the great Muslim thinker and his torsion, Ibn Khaldun. The intensity of feeling which the Indian Muslims have manifested in opposition to the Qadiani movement is, therefore, perfectly intelligible to the Student of modern sociology. The average Muslim who was the other day described as “mulla-ridden” by a writer in the ‘Civil and Military Gazette’ is in spired in his opposition to the movement more by his instinct of self-preservation than by a fuller grasp of the meaning of the idea of Finality in his faith. The so-called “enlightened” Muslim has seldom made an attempt to understand the real cultural significance of the idea of Finality in Islam, and a process of slow and imperceptible Westernization has further deprived him even of instinct of self- preservation. Some of these so-called enlightened Muslims have gone to the extent of preaching ‘toler ance’ to their brethren-in-faith. I can easily excuse Sir Herbert Emerson for preaching toleration to Muslims; for a modern European who is born and brought up in an entirely different culture does not, and perhaps cannot, develop the insight which makes it possible for one to understand an issue vital to the very structure of a community with an entirely different cultural outlook.

In India circumstances are much more peculiar. This country of religious communities where the future of each community rests entirely upon its so lid arity, is ruled by a Western people who cannot but adopt a policy of non-interference in religion. This liberal and indispensable policy in a country like India has led to most unfortunate results. In so far as Islam is concerned, it is no exaggeration to say that the solidarity of the Muslim community inindia under the British is far less safe than the solidarity of the Jewish community was in the days of Jesm under the Romans. Any religious adventurer in India can set up any claim and carve out a new community for his own. exploitation. This liberal State of ours does not care a fig for the integrity of a parent community, provided the adventurer assures it ofhis loyalty and his followers are regular in the payment of taxes due to the State. The meaning of thispolicy forIslam was quite accurately seen by our great poet Akbar who in his usual humorous strain says: ‘0 friend! pray for the’ glory of the. Briton’s name Say ‘I am God’ sans chain, sans cross, sans shame; I very much appreciate the orthodox Hindus’ demand-for protection against religious reformers in the new constitution. Indeed, the demand ought to have been first made by the Muslims who, unlike the JH’indus, entirely eliminate the race idea from their social structure. The Government must seriously consider the present situation and try, if possible, to understand the mentality of the average Muslim in f regard to this issue which be regards as absolutely Ivital to the integrity of his community. After all, if the integrity of a community is threatened, the only course open to that community is to defend itself against the forces of disintegration. And what are the ways of self-defence?

Controversial writings and. refutation. of the claims of the man who is regarded by the parent.com munity as. a religious adventurer Is it. then fair to preach toleration to the parent community whose in tegrity isthreatened and to allow the rebellious group to carry on its propaganda with impunity, even when .I the propaganda is highly abusive?

If a group, rebellious from the point of view of parent community, happens to be of some special rvice to Government, the latter are at liberty to reward their services as best as they can. Other corn-munities will not grudge it. But it is too much to expect that a community should calmly ignore the forces which tend seriously to affect its collective life. Collective life is as censitive to the danger of dissolu. tion as individual life. It is hardly necessary to add in this connection that the mutual theological bicker ings of Muslim sects do not affect vital principles On which all these sects agree with all their. differences in spite of their mutual accusations of heresy.

There is one further pointwhich demands Govern ment’s special consideration. The encouragement in India of reliEious adventurers, on the ground of modern liberalism, tends to make people more and more indifferent to religion and will eventually com pletely eliminate the important factor of religion from the life of Indian communities. The Indian mind will then seek some other substitute for religion which is likely to be nothing less than the form of atheistic materialism which has appeared in Russia.

But the religious issue is not the only issue which is at present agitating the minds of the Punjab Muslims. There are other quarrels of a political nature to which, according to my reading, Sir Herbert Emerson hinted in his speech at the Anjuman’s an niversary. These are, no doubt, of a purely political. nature, but they affect the unity of Punjab Muslims as seriously as the religious issue. While thanking the Government for their anxiety to see the Punjab Muslims united. I venture to suggest a little self- examination to the Government themselves. Who IS responsible, I ask, for the distinction of rural and urban Muslims—a distinction which has cut up the Muslim community into two groups and the rural group into several sub-groups constantly at war with one another?

Sir Herbert Emerson deplores the lack of proper leadership among the Punjab Muslims. But I wish Sir Herbert Emerson realised that the rural-urban djs tinctioncreated by the Government and maintained by them through ambitious political adventurers, whose eyes are fixed on their own personal interests and not on the unity of Islam in the Punjab, has already made :the community incapable of producing a real leader. It appears to me that this device probably originated in a desire rather to make it impossible for real 1eadership to grow. Sir Herbert Emerson deplores the lack of leardership in Muslims; I deplore the continuation by the Government of a system which has crushed out all hope of a real leader appearing in the province.