Chapter No. 2 - Thought of Iqbal - Dr. Khalifa Abdul Hakeem

 In this context, a joke is told that in the court of a Muslim sultan, poets were invited to appear one day and recite their words. Chobdars collected the poets from their homes and took them in a procession toward Qasr Shahi. Some of the vagrants from the bazaar also followed behind them so that they would get a chance to enter Qasr Shahi and attend the court.

  His trick was successful, he also stood behind the row of poets in the court. The king also considered him a poet. When the poets had recited their speeches, those in the back row were ordered to recite their speeches as well. He said that we are not poets. The king was very angry at this and asked in what capacity you entered here.
One of them, Zarif, replied, "We are Ghawan, the misguided people, and we have followed the poets."

There was a lot of laughter in the court at this, the king's anger subsided and he also got some reward.
If the Holy Qur'an were to say only this about the poets, the matter would have remained incomplete, but the Qur'an has an eye on all aspects of life. There are exceptions, there are some people who are gifted with the sensitive heart of a poet and beautiful expression, but they are not every guru, they are people of faith and have a definite view of life, and thanks to this faith, they are asked to act. Some righteous people are the result of strong conviction, there is no difference in their words and actions, their statements are sincere, they do not tell lies, evil emotions do not emerge in their nature and neither do the listeners. They want to provoke them in their natures.
According to the statement of the Qur'an, the number of such poets will be very few because in this Surah such poets have been presented as an exception.
  This is the reason why the Holy Prophet himself was appreciative of good poetry, provided that it evokes good thoughts and nurtures noble feelings. Hazrat Umar Farooq, as a man of integrity and justice, also appreciated good poetry, he used to urge Muslims to remember good poetry to their children.
How wise is the criticism of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regarding the Imams of Al-Qais, he was also called “Qa’id hum ali al-anar” in addition to calling him “Ash’ar al-Shaaraa” which means that despite being a perfect art, a poet can be devoid of faith and righteous deeds. And with his perfection, he can take the task of inciting vices and leading people to hell. The status of poetry is also like that of knowledge, that knowledge is a powerful but neutral force, by misuse of knowledge, a wicked scholar can destroy himself and others, but with the right use of knowledge, humanity can rise. Is,
Knowledge should be killed by adultery
Knowledge is a life-giving friend
The same is the case with those who have other sources of strength in life.
The same is the case with wealth, wealth is needed to live life just like water is needed to sail a boat, but wealth will sink the boat if it enters the soul:
Money comes from religion
Naam Maal Saleh said the Messenger of Allah
A water block is a boat
Under the boat, the boat is on the back
There have been countless poets among Muslims, but such poets can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand who can meet the standard that the Qur'an has set for a good poet.
Most of the poets are like that who spent their perfection in lust and sensuality. Look at all the mentions of Indian poets and non-Jewish poets, among them, poets like Rumi, Sai, Attar, and Hali will be seen everywhere. It is.
Iqbal's work in poetry cannot be paralleled in the history of Muslim poetry.
The wealth of thoughts in Iqbal's speech is exemplary. Poetry is generally considered a source of pleasure and is not counted among good deeds. Most of the poetry is like that, but there is a type of poetry that raises the troughs and strengthens the hearts of exhausted people. The English poet Nini Sun has rightly said that: Poetry which makes the heart of the nation strong and its courage high should be counted among the highest level of good deeds.
There is no limit to the diversity of Iqbal's thoughts and expressions, but just as there is unity in the multiplicity of the universe, in the same way, Iqbal's thoughts also have unity within themselves. A better way to organize this wealth of ideas would be to organize them under specific headings. Certain subjects have become specific with Iqbal, for each of them a separate chapter will have to be established. For example, although the subject of love is found in Hakama and Sophia in abundance, the points that Iqbal has created in it are not found in anyone else's words. In the same way, the subject of Taqir Nafs and Irfan Nafs is ancient, but Iqbal has presented the philosophy of self in such a loud manner and has looked at it from so many aspects that it has become his special subject.
His vision of Islam is different from that of Sufi, Mullah, and Hakim. Although the beginning of national poetry was done by Hali, how Iqbal has dealt with national issues is not found anywhere else. Hadi Khawani Hali started but seeing Mahmal, and Iqbal made this Hadi Hawani fast and exciting. Iqbal is the inheritor of the best and highest thoughts of the East and the West. Iqbal has not only presented this heritage but has also made great and valuable additions to it. Therefore, it is not compatible with any Hakim or Sufi or Faqih, or traveler.
If the heart of a great thinker is known to be a believer and the mind is a disbeliever, then while praising him, the insightful critic also criticizes him. In his passion for independent research and criticism, he says that no prophet can be a prophet by remaining a poor man of the old lines: Z closed pasta freely
If there is imitation, then it is good
Pembar hum rah jajad rathe
Dozens of books and thousands of articles have been written on Iqbal and countless speeches have been made about him, but this series could not end.
The books on Iqbal are scholarly, very eloquent, and very comprehensive, Dr. Yusuf Hussain Khan's "Soul of Iqbal" and Maulana Abdul Salam Nadvi's book "Iqbal Kamil" read these two books together, then Iqbal's words and his teachings. There does not seem to be any aspect that needs interpretation and thirsty criticism, but there is so much depth, so much flight and so much breadth in Iqbal's thoughts that despite the comprehensive nature of these books, there is no need for further authorship.

Raqim al-Haruf has also written a lot on Iqbal, but it contains some specific subjects. It is impossible to ignore what I have already written in this book, so either the same things said will have to be said in a different way or some passages will have to be inserted into the course. Covering Iqbal's thoughts and presenting the implications of his every thought and every impression is not the work of a single writer, nor can any single work do it justice.
Iqbal has become an integral part of the religious and cultural consciousness of Muslims. It would have been correct if Iqbal had raised the slogan of Anna-ul-Malat. It seems that Iqbal has been declared eternal along with the Nation of Islam, if his thoughts were limited and urgent, then after some time age would have left him behind, but in Iqbal's thoughts and his intuitions there is an endless There is an attribute which is not only wider than time and space but also wider than the boundaries of this nation whose rise and fall was its special subject of thought and whose pain was the capital of its heart and liver.
The study of the stages of evolution in Iqbal's thought in different periods does not present much difficulty. The period of printing is also definitely known, so the evolution of Iqbal's thought from the beginning to the end becomes clear to the reader, and thanks to this chronological order, the evolution of Iqbal's poetry and his thinking also becomes clear.