QUOTES FROM IQBAL POET, THINKER, HUMANIST
"I have seen the movement of the sinews of the sky,
And the blood coursing in the veins of the moon."
"IQBAL"
MYSTERIES OF SELFLESSNESS
"Since love first made the breast an instrument
Of fierce lamenting, by its flame my heart
Was molten to a mirror, like a rose
I pluck my breast apart, that I may hang
This mirror in your sight
Gaze you therein."
"IQBAL"
"I am but as the spark that gleams for a moment,
His burning candle consumed me - the moth;
His wine overwhelmed my goblet,
The master of Rum transmuted my earth to gold
And set my ashes aflame."
"IQBAL"
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS AT THE ALL INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE SESSION AT ALLAHABAD IN 1930
" I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim State in the
best interest of India and Islam."
"IQBAL"
"But only a brief moment is granted to the brave
one breath or two, whose wage is
The long nights of the grave."
"IQBAL"
BANG-I DARA (1924)
Introduction
First written in Urdu, Bang-i Dara (Caravan Bell) was translated into Urdu by
popular demand. An anthology of poems written over a period of 20 years, is
divided into 3 parts:
1. Poems written up to 1905, the year Iqbal left for England. These include
nursery, pastoral and patriotic verses. Taranayi Hindi (The Song of India) has
become an anthem and is sung in India on Independence Day.
2. Poems written between 1905 and 1908, the period he spent as a student in
Europe. He praises the rationality and pragmatism of the West, but complains
about its overt materialism, loss of spirituality and narrow patriotism, which
promises suffering. (The first world war proved him right.) This situation
strengthened his belief in the universal values of Islam and he resolved to use
his poetry to stir Muslims to their renaissance.
3. Poems written between 1908 and 1923, in which Iqbal reminds Muslims of their
past greatness and calls for the brotherhood and unity that transcend
territorial boundaries. He urges the ummah to live a life of servitude to God,
of sacrifice and of action so that they may attain once more the high
civilisation that was once theirs. Yam Awr Syair (The Poet and the Cradle),
Shikwa (Complaint to God), Jawab-i-Shikwa (Response to a Complain), Kiczr-i-Rah
(Guidance) and Tulu'i Islam (Light of Islam) are considered among the greatest
Islamic poems. Love and the Self reverberate as important themes throughout this
BAL-I JIBRIL (1935)
Introduction
Bal-i Jibril (Gabriel's Wing) continues from Bang-i Dara. Some of the verses had
been written when Iqbal visited Britain, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, France, Spain
and Afghanistan.
The work contains 15 ghazals addressed to God and 61 ghazals and 22 quatrains
dealing the ego, faith, love, knowledge, the intellect and freedom. The poet
recalls the past glory of Muslims as he deals with contemporary political
problems.
ZARB-I KALIM (1936)
Introduction
This, Iqbal's third collection of Urdu poems, has been described as his
political manifesto. It was published with the subtitle "A Declaration of
War Against the Present Times." He argues that modern problems are due to
the godlessness, materialism and injustice of modern civilisation, which feeds
on the subjugation and exploitation of weak nations, especially the Indian
Muslims.
As such the Zarb-i kalim (The Blow of Moses' Staff) was meant to rescue Muslims
from the ills brought on by modern civilisation, just as Moses had rescued the
Israelites.
ARMAGHAN-I HIJAZ (1938)
Introduction
This work, published a few months after the poet's death, is a fairly small
volume containing verses in both Persian and Urdu. It is incomplete, although
this is not readily apparent to the reader; for Iqbal left some gaps in the book
which he intended to fill when he made the pilgrimage to Mecca. The title means
"Gift from the Hijaz." He had long wished to undertake the journey to
the Arabian Peninsula to perform the Hajj and to visit the tomb of the Prophet,
but was prevented from doing so by continuous illness during the last years of
his life. Iqbal began composing the Armaghan as a gift to take to the Hijaz,
intending to publish it on his return to India as a "Gift from the Hijaz"
to his countrymen.
In this, his last work, we find the poet more withdrawn and introspective than
previously. The poems are shorter and more personal. The impression left is that
the author is taking a last look at the world around him before leaving it
behind. The themes are largely the familiar ones, but the treatment is as fresh,
forceful and delicate as ever. Iqbal's outspokenness, even when addressing God,
in criticizing human evils and in his hatred of injustice and oppression and his
devotion to the Prophet and his companions, all remain undiminished. As a
summing-up of the ideas and feelings of a great thinker, the Armaghan merits a
special place among the literary classics of the twentieth century.
It is divided into two parts, the first containing Persian, the second Urdu
poems. The Persian verses, all in ruba'i form, are divided into five groups and
present God, the Truth, the Prophet, the Muslim nation, Mankind and the
"Companions on the Path to God."
The second part comprises Urdu poems composed between 1935 and the time of his
death and include a poem describing the ideological confusion of the poet's time
and its impact on Muslims.
In this work, Iqbal touches on practically every question with which he had been
preoccupied during his life of intellectual striving and literary achievement.
The poems which comprise this final work give the impression that the writer has
at last found the tranquility he had for so long sought:
The song that has gone may come again - or may not.
A fresh breeze may come from Hijaz - or may not.
The days of this poor humble man are ended;
Another knower of secrets may come - or may not.
PERSIAN WORKS
ASRAR-I KHUDI (1915)
Introduction
Considered by many to be Iqbal's best book of poetry, Asrar-i Khudi is concerned
with the philosophy of religion. In a letter to the poet Girani, Iqbal wrote
that the ideas behind the verses had never been expressed before either in the
East or in the West. R.A. Nicholson, who translated the Asrar as The Secrets of
the Self, says it caught the attention of young Indian Muslims as soon as it was
printed.
Iqbal wrote this in Persian because he felt the language was well-suited for the
expression of these ideas.
The Asrar explains the importance of the ego and the clarification of the self.
Iqbal believes the answers to essential questions regarding the ego are
important in determining morality for both the society and the individual.
UMUZ-I BEKHUDI (1918)
Introduction
Also in Persian, this group of poems has as its main themes the ideal community,
Islamic ethical and social principles and the relationship between the
individual and society. Although he is true throughout to Islam, Iqbal
recognises also the positive analogous aspects of other religions.
The Rumuz complements the emphasis on the self in the Asrar and the two
collections are often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-i-Rumuz. A.J.
Arberry's famous English translation of the Rumuz first appeared in 1953.
Rumuz-i-Bekhudi is addressed to the world's Muslims. Iqbal sees the individual
and his community as reflections of each other. The individual needs to be
strengthened before he can be integrated into the community, whose development
in turn depends on the preservation of the communal ego. It is through contact
with others that an ego learns to accept the limitations of its own freedom and
the meaning of love. Muslim communities must ensure order in life and must
therefore preserve their communal tradition. It is in this context that Iqbal
sees the vital role of women, who as mothers are directly responsible for
inculcating values in their children.
ZABUR-I 'AJAM (1927)
Introduction: This collection begins with this Davidic psalm:
I pray to the Lord, to me impart,
Within my breast a conscious heart,
Illuminate my lifeless clay,
With anthem David used to play
There are four sections. The first two are sequences of ghazals in the classical
form and the other two are single long poems. Iqbal forcefully expresses his
inner convictions and urges the reader to advance himself to achieve progress
and prosperity by discovering and strengthening the self. For his ghazals, Iqbal
has been compared with the great Persian poets Attar, Hafiz, Sa'di and Jami.
The first of the two longer poems is the Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid (New Garden of
Mysteries). It alludes to the Gulshan-i Raz, the treatise on Sufism written in
Persian verse by Sa'd ad-Din Mahmud Shabistari. Here Iqbal poses and answers
nine questions on philosophical problems such as the nature of discursive
thought, of the self, and of the relation between the eternal and the temporal.
The subject of the second poem, the Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery) is the loss
of freedom, particularly spiritual freedom, of an individual or society, and its
consequent evils. It is divided into several sections and touches on the music
and other arts of enslaved people, their religious tenets and the art of
reconstructing free men.
ZABUR-I 'AJAM (1927)
Introduction: This collection begins with this Davidic psalm:
I pray to the Lord, to me impart,
Within my breast a conscious heart,
Illuminate my lifeless clay,
With anthem David used to play
There are four sections. The first two are sequences of ghazals in the classical
form and the other two are single long poems. Iqbal forcefully expresses his
inner convictions and urges the reader to advance himself to achieve progress
and prosperity by discovering and strengthening the self. For his ghazals, Iqbal
has been compared with the great Persian poets Attar, Hafiz, Sa'di and Jami.
The first of the two longer poems is the Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid (New Garden of
Mysteries). It alludes to the Gulshan-i Raz, the treatise on Sufism written in
Persian verse by Sa'd ad-Din Mahmud Shabistari. Here Iqbal poses and answers
nine questions on philosophical problems such as the nature of discursive
thought, of the self, and of the relation between the eternal and the temporal.
The subject of the second poem, the Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery) is the loss
of freedom, particularly spiritual freedom, of an individual or society, and its
consequent evils. It is divided into several sections and touches on the music
and other arts of enslaved people, their religious tenets and the art of
reconstructing free men.
JAVIDNAMA (1932)
Introduction: Javidnama is often considered to be Iqbal's magnum opus. It
contains close to 2,000 couplets which express a fear that if Muslims dicho-
tomise under the cultural impact of the West, the spiritual and the
temporal--the vital contact between their life and the fountainhead of their
spiritual values--will be broken and Islam as a complete way of life will be
stifled.
Inspired by the Night Ascension of the Prophet, the poem describes a spiritual
journey from this world to the heavenly spheres of the Moon, Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and from there beyond the bounds of creation towards
the Divine Presence. Beginning with the loneliness of the poet in his earthly
abode of separation, and the potentiality of Man who is but a mere handful of
dust, the poem reaches its climax when the journey ends in absorption in the
contemplation of Divine Majesty and Beauty.
ARMAGHAN-I HIJAZ (1938)
Introduction: This work, published a few months after the poet's death, is a
fairly small volume containing verses in both Persian and Urdu. It is
incomplete, although this is not readily apparent to the reader; for Iqbal left
some gaps in the book which he intended to fill when he made the pilgrimage to
Mecca. The title means "Gift from the Hijaz." He had long wished to
undertake the journey to the Arabian Peninsula to perform the Hajj and to visit
the tomb of the Prophet, but was prevented from doing so by continuous illness
during the last years of his life. Iqbal began composing the Armaghan as a gift
to take to the Hijaz, intending to publish it on his return to India as a
"Gift from the Hijaz" to his countrymen.
In this, his last work, we find the poet more withdrawn and introspective than
previously. The poems are shorter and more personal. The impression left is that
the author is taking a last look at the world around him before leaving it
behind. The themes are largely the familiar ones, but the treatment is as fresh,
forceful and delicate as ever. Iqbal's outspokenness, even when addressing God,
in criticizing human evils and in his hatred of injustice and oppression and his
devotion to the Prophet and his companions, all remain undiminished. As a
summing-up of the ideas and feelings of a great thinker, the Armaghan merits a
special place among the literary classics of the twentieth century.
It is divided into two parts, the first containing Persian, the second Urdu
poems. The Persian verses, all in ruba'i form, are divided into five groups and
presents God the Truth, the Prophet, the Muslim nation, Mankind and the
"Companions on the Path to God."
The second part comprises Urdu poems composed between 1935 and the time of his
death and include a poem describing the ideological confusion of the poet's time
and its impact on Muslims.
In this work, Iqbal touches on practically every question with which he had been
preoccupied during his life of intellectual striving and literary achievement.
The poems which comprise this final work give the impression that the writer has
at last found the tranquility he had for so long sought:
The song that has gone may come again - or may not.
A fresh breeze may come from Hijaz - or may not.
The days of this poor humble man are ended;
Another knower of secrets may come - or may not.
BIOGRAPHY - IQBAL WORKS - IQBAL'S ENGLISH WORKS - IQBAL LETTERS -
IQBAL THE VISIONARY - IQBAL AND POLITICS - IQBAL AND THE QUAID i AZAM
IQBAL IN YEARS - IJTIHAD AND ISLAMIC MOVEMENT BY IQBAL
ETHNIC, RACIAL ISLAMIC REVOLUTION