Iqbal by Raza Mir

Author:Raza Mir [Mir, Raza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789391149314
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2022-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

8

Live Like Ali, Die Like Husain

Islam ke daaman mein bas is ke siva kya hai

Ik zarb-e Yadullahi, ik sajda-e Shabbiri

Search the whole of Islam and this will always remain

A stroke of Ali’s sword,21 a prostration by Husain22

Iqbal straddles three important fault lines, those between nations, those between religions and those between sects within Islam. In each case, his presence serves to mitigate tensions, to articulate the possibility of peace and dialogue, and to bring people together.

Iqbal is a respected figure both in India and in Pakistan. Both nations claim him as their own, and peace seekers use his work as common ground during periods of heightened tensions between the countries: he was after all the author of India’s most popular national song as well as the poet-philosopher of Pakistan. He is also one of the few subcontinental Farsi poets whose work was wholeheartedly embraced by the people as well as the literary establishment of Iran. His knighthood and the widely circulated translation of his work into English and German provide an opportunity for conversation between Eastern and Western thought.

Iqbal’s poetry contributed a great deal to Hindu-Muslim unity and understanding. I have translated his loving poem on Lord Rama and his poetic interpretation of the Gayatri Mantra in this book. Several other poems speak of Hindu deities, traditions and customs, and extol inter-religious harmony. His ode to Guru Nanak served as an important bridge between Muslims and Sikhs in early twentieth-century Punjab.

Iqbal’s third healing role is as a mediator between different denominations within Islam, especially those between Shias and Sunnis, and also between different schools of thought within Sunni Islam. Iqbal clearly identified as a Sunni of the Hanafi school, but he remains revered by the Shias, and by other Sunnis such as the followers of other jurisprudential schools as well as those who do not adhere to the teachings of any leader, casting themselves as Salafis or originalists. To that extent, he can be a source of harmony between various Muslim groups.

One of the main ways in which Iqbal emerges as an ecumenical Muslim is through his intense affection for Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, and Husain, the grandson of the Prophet. Ali and Husain are beloved by all Muslims. Iqbal’s reverence for both these personalities (as well as for Bibi Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad and the wife of Ali) bordered on worship. For him, these figures not only made Islam the unique religion it was but they also transcended the boundaries of Islam and were revered by all of humanity.

Live Like Ali

Ali b. Abu Talib was the cousin of Muhammad. Sunnis revere him as the first Muslim, and the fourth ‘rightly guided’ Caliph of Islam after the prophet. Shias consider him the first of their twelve Imams. Ali is also the fountainhead of most Sufi orders, and tales of his valour and just governance are the stuff of Islamic legend. One of his appellations was Abu Turaab or Buturaab (The father of the earth), which Iqbal invoked

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