The plethora of literature that surrounds Iqbal seemingly render further endeavors in this direction redundant. Most of the times, it is not the scarcity of literature but rather its excess that promotes misunderstandings about Iqbal and Iqbaliyat. The reader is caught simultaneously between contradictory narratives so much so that he fails to arrive at any consistent conclusion. But the burden can’t be placed entirely on those who have now and then tried to elucidate Iqbaliyat thought within the contours of their respective understandings. Allama himself must also share a portion of this burden for he himself by virtue of whatever he has written has made himself susceptible to multiple interpretations. It is no wonder that within Iqbaliyat we live the dichotomies like the traditional Iqbal versus revivalist Iqbal, the mystic Iqbal versus theological Iqbal, the pantheist Iqbal versus monotheist Iqbal, the chauvinist Iqbal versus Universalist Iqbal, the poet Iqbal versus the philosopher Iqbal. Couplets over couplets, statements over statements and letters over letters exist in favor of each of the aforementioned dipoles. This lends a paradox, a dichotomy and an insoluble incongruence. What ought to be done to surmount this paradox and to transform it into a paradigm. If we claim a cosmopolitan value for Iqbal’s message, it must be freed of the ideological tensions existing intrinsically within its fabric. This process of resolution brings us into the presence of two of Allama Iqbal’s writings that have for most of the times suffered under-evaluation. First and foremost is that rich legacy of his Persian poetry spanning from Asrar to Zabur that is successively assuming the form of forbidden fruit for our younger generation for their lack of understanding of Persian. Secondly, our negligence about that classical magnum opus of Iqbal “The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam” which is for us no better than a sacred demon, for it deserves academic perseverance that is almost absent among Iqbalian scholars. Without returning to these two springheads in full humbleness and sincerity, there is, but a very little scope that our understanding of Iqbal is going to improve, for the many faces of Qalandar, the beautiful is one he tries to conceal. May be we pick up reconstruction in next column.
Amir Suhail Wani is a freelance columnist with bachelors in Electrical Engineering and a student of comparative studies with special interests in Iqbaliyat & mystic thought.
