Mohammad Iqbal

Introduction

Mohammad Iqbal was widely known as poet, philosopher, lawyer, jurist and spiritual Godfather of Pakistan. He was a versatile genius but "full of inner contradictions in different periods of his life". He proved his poetic talent as a symbol of Indian nationalism during his student days in Sialkot and Lahore, when he composed the song 'Sare Jahan Se Achha Hindostan Hamaara (Our India is best in the whole world) … Mazhab Nahin Sikhata Aapas Me Bair Rakhana'Hindi hain Ham Watan hain Hindostan Hamara (Religion does not teach animosity towards each other, we are all Indians, India is our country) in 1900. 

Sir Iqbal’s contribution

"In the first of his poetic and philosophical statements, Iqbal still took position not of Muslim but of all-Indian nationalism and did not call for the isolation of the Muslims. However, the contradiction of his world view was manifested in the fact that while fighting to overcome religious barriers, he remained overall a Muslim". He therefore, completely negated this initial passion in him for this country, when he turned into a political Islamist and communally divided the people of the region. The turning point in his intellectual perspective therefore, prevented his poetry to become universal, as its appeal took a turn from Indian nationalism to Muslim nationalism. 

Iqbal stayed in Europe (1905-1908) for higher studies and did his Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 1907. He joined the British Committee of All India Muslim League in 1908. before his return to India the same year. By the time he returned from Europe the colonial authorities were preparing for splitting the national force of Hindu-Muslim unity with a grant of separate electorates for the Muslims. But Iqbal never looked back to his initial nationalist outlook to meet the challenge of this divisive game of the British. He was found guided more by his communally biased political thought, which was contrary to his natural poetic intellect. He closely monitored the Muslim psyche and became to a Muslim activist due to his mystic Islamic background and gradually became an ardent advocate of Muslim nationalism at the cost of Indian nationalism. 

By first decade of twentieth century, when Indian National Congress emerged as a political force, Iqbal also joined with political Islamists for political domination of Muslims as they were against a democratic system of governance in the Hindu-majority country. He was however, never rated as a skilful politician despite the fact that he was a political ideologue for Pakistan movement. "Iqbal was not a skilful politician but provided ideological leadership articulating the Muslims' demand for a separate Muslim state …. He must be seen as a political mentor of Jinnah in regard to the creation of Pakistan".  

Against strong opposition of Jinnah to Khilafat movement, Iqbal gave his poetic support to it, his poem along with 'Vande Mataram' of Bankim Chandra formed part of the marching songs during Khilafat and non-cooperation movements. The collapse of Ottoman Empire stirred him to play intellectual role for Muslim politics during freedom movement. His poetic intellect however, never bothered him to react even against the abusive observation against Mahatma Gandhi by Mawlana Mohammad Ali, "who publicly held that a fallen Muslim was better than Gandhi". 

In his presidential address Iqbal demanded a consolidated state exclusively for Muslims. This communal and separatist demand gave him the status of a most important Muslim political thinker of Indian sub-continent, though politics was never his cup of tea. His conversion from an Indian nationalist poet-philosopher to a narrow communal interpreter of socio-political scenario of his time permanently divided the two major religious communities of this land. It was contrary to his earlier stand in 1900, when he composed his most popular song referred to.  

Muslim middle class and feudal section in the community always suffered from a fear complex of Hindu domination over them in British India. They continuously remained in search of a vent for their political frustration. The period when freedom movement under Indian National Congress got momentum Iqbal created a vent to this frustration in his presidential narrative in the Allahabad session of Muslim League by expanding the two-nation theory for its logical conclusion. Satisfying the group in the community that was more interested for sharing power than for spiritual elevation he could successfully create a mad-rage of the Muslims against the Indian National Congress that was regarded by him as an organisation fighting for 'Hindu India'. 

Religion and politics

1qbal introduced religion in politics and gave intellectual interpretation to it. "As a Muslim Iqbal could not accept separation of religion and politics. According to him the foundations of politics must be found in religion. Politics divorced from Din (Islamic faith) amounted to a Machiavelian ethical system". 

The session of the League, which he presided – gave him the status of a pioneer Muslim thinker, who aroused the Muslims against the challenge of democracy. His contribution to arouse the collective communal consciousness of Indo-Pakistani Muslims reached to such a height that the spirituality in Islam became subservient to the political concept of the faith. He prescribed  the two-nation theory as the only political solution for the Muslims to get rid of the lurking majority-Hindu-rule and thereby became founder of communal politics in India. Contrary to the pluralistic character of Indian society, which is a melting pot of various cultural and ethnic groups, Iqbal's thesis made Muslim communalism a reality in India. 

Iqbal's vision for political supremacy of Muslims not only strengthened the centuries-old movement for communal separatism launched by political Islamists in India, it actually gave political ideology to Pakistan movement. The two-nation theory could ignite the imagination of Indian Muslims only when Iqbal enunciated it in his presidential address of Muslim League session. A Pakistani writer questioned him - "Did he (Iqbal) not adopt the very nationalism (akin to tribalism), which the Prophet of Islam had come to destroy?".

The presidential address of Iqbal of All India Muslim League not only turned the course of Indian history but permanently prevented the Indian Muslims from connecting with Indian nationalism based on cultural and religious diversity of this land. He blocked them from striving for a pluralistic Indian society with bondage of cultural Indianism. His address was the motherboard for Muslim national movement, which justified creation ,of 'Muslim India within India'.  

"Unlike Jinnah, Iqbal was consistently committed to separatist tendencies and was unwilling to yield to the Congress for a greater Muslim cause". During I936-37 Iqbal wrote "eight letters to Jinnah emphasising the partition of India into two states" and convinced him with his communal and separatist politics that united Hindu-Muslim nation was not a reality. In one of his letters he strongly opposed atheist socialism of Nehru. When Jinnah failed to bargain for AIML as exclusive representative body of Muslims against Congress insistence on secularism, he adopted the separatist communal politics of Iqbal.  

People are born Hindus or Muslims by accident or conviction might be a debatable issue but the humanistic convictions of intellectuals are never shaded by religious obsession. Intellectual community might have wondered over the intellectual duplicity of Iqbal when his humanistic conviction that 'religion does not teach animosity' got diluted. Even though his two-nation theory gave ideological boost to Pakistan movement, Indian Muslims still revere him. 

 The main contribution of Iqbal in the political context of Islam was that he was instrumental in bringing about intellectual orientation of communal renaissance in the Muslim community of Indian sub-sub-continent. He separated nationalism from patriotism and thereby created an intellectual division between the two though both are two sides of the same coin. His concept of Muslim nationalism however, meant political unity of Muslims in Indian sub-continent under a common geographical boundary. He never thought about the Indian society as a whole with majority of non-Muslims. Contrary to the ushering of modern worldview, Iqbal also regarded the medieval social and political order as only option for the Muslims. 

"Iqbal held that nationalism implies the Indian Muslims to leave aside their faith, their identity in the nationality of other Indian nations or Indianism". He declared that "the formation of the consolidated Muslim state is in the best interest of India". He was not ready to understand that Indian nationalism does not mean domination of Hinduism over other religion. "It is also wrong to characterise Indian Nationalism as an instrument of Hindu domination". 

Iqbal was against secularism. For him "Islam is only an effort to realise the spiritual in a human organisation"."Iqbal emerged from his Europeon stay as a champion of Islam. His early Indian nationalism seemed to have given way to his newly found Islamic universalism".  

The history of Muslim politics in post-colonial India as we see today is deeply rooted to the political philosophy of Iqbal formulated in Allahabad session of All India Muslim League. Even though Islam failed to unify the Arab world, the birthplace of this religion, Iqbal mesmerised the Muslim mass through political interpretation of Islam, which hardly had any spiritual base. The political deprivation of Muslims as they feel today is the legacy of Iqbal they have been going on even after partition of the country.

conclusion

Iqbal died in 1938 but he successfully converted Jinnah, from ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity to a communal Muslim leader. Latter Jinnah adopted a resolution for Pakistan movement in Lahore session of the League in 1940 and made Hindu-Muslim divide a political ideology for Indian Muslims.  Iqbal carried forward the cultural and social legacy of Islamic India and gave political ideology for Muslim separatism. His "most enduring legacy is not his 'reconstruction of Islamic thought' (title of  a book written by him) but his idea of an autonomous homeland for Indian Muslims".  Iqbal  was buried in front of the great Badshahi Mosque in Lahore. Two years later the Muslim League voted for the idea of Pakistan. That the poet had influenced the making of that decision, which became a reality in 1947, is undisputed. He has been acclaimed as the father of Pakistan, and every year Iqbal Day is celebrated by Pakistanis.

Source

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper895#sthash.dewuDFCk.dpuf

http://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-Iqbal