Iqbal, Poet, and Thinker
By Mustansir Mir

Contents: 1. Life, Personality, and Works, 2. Major Themes of Poetry, 3. Poetic Art, 4. Philosophical Thought, 5. Social and Political Thought and, 6. Iqbal’s Legacy
Pages: 157 | Publisher: IAP

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Preface

This book aims to introduce Muhammad Iqbal (1938-77), a pre-eminent poet and philosopher of South Asia, to general readers in the English-speaking world. There is a respectable number of works on Iqbal in the English language, but very few of them set out systematically to acquaint the reader with the heart or substance of Iqbal’s own writings.

Within its limits, this volume tries to fill this gap. Based on a direct study of Iqbal’s writings, it assumes no prior familiarity with Iqbal’s works on the reader’s part, and tries to bring into relief—in non-technical language and with substantial textual evidence—the principal contours of Iqbal’s thought. It takes an expository and analytical approach to the subject. As such, it does not attempt to provide an account of the divergent critical constructions that
have historically been placed on Iqbal’s thought with a view to identifying Iqbal as a propounder or upholder of a certain philosophy or system of thought. Neither does it deal exhaustively with Iqbal’s personal life or with his practical involvement in the social and political affairs of India. Finally, with a few exceptions, it does not discuss at length the question of Iqbal’s sources and originality. Several works written on Iqbal (see Further Reading) will enlighten the reader on these and other matters. Two more clarifications are in order. First, I have approached Iqbal’s writings synchronically. This, of course, leaves open the question of development and change in Iqbal’s thought. Iqbal’s views on certain issues— for example, those of nationalism and mysticism—did change significantly over time. But, even if we take the period of his stay in Europe (1905-8) as the turning point in the evolution of his thought, Iqbal’s writings in the post-Europe period show remarkable consistency. A comparative study of Iqbal’s talks, writings, and statements belonging to the years immediately following his return from Europe with those of the last few years of his life will show that Iqbal’s thought on major issues of life did not change materially, though it certainly unfolded and grew in line with the inner logic of his fundamental convictions.

Furthermore, there are grounds for presuming that the seeds of Iqbal’s post-Europe thought were sown in his pre-Europe period. It must nevertheless be admitted that a detailed diachronic study of Iqbal’s works is essential to understanding Iqbal’s thought in all its rich variety.

Second, the book treats Iqbal’s prose writings separately from his poetical writings: Chapters 2 and 3 deal with Iqbal’s poetry, Chapters 4 and 5 with his prose. This approach would seem to be premissed on the understanding that Iqbal’s prose works are different in content and character from his poetical works. This, I should state clearly, is not my position. I believe that Iqbal’s prose and poetical works, taken as a whole, are marked by a deep unity. A careful reader of even this short volume will not fail to notice a generic identity
and a basic coherence between Iqbal’s thought as expressed in his prose and his thought as expressed in his poetry. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to elaborate on this matter any further here, but I intend to show in a subsequent study that the frequently raised question of the relationship between Iqbal’s prose and poetry—with the attendant debate as to which of the two is to be accorded primacy for a general interpretation of Iqbal—is completely gratuitous. I have discussed Iqbal’s poetry and prose in separate sets of chapters partly for convenience and partly because Iqbal’s stature as a poet warrants a focused
treatment of his poetical works. Furthermore, given the differences between the discursive nature of the prose medium and the rhetorical nature of the poetical medium, Iqbal was able to treat certain issues at length only in prose, so it made sense to reserve discussion of those issues in chapters devoted to Iqbal’s prose.

Here is an outline of the chapters:
Chapter 1 provides a brief life-sketch of Iqbal. It draws mainly on Zindah-Rud (‘The Living Stream’ (see Further Reading)), the Urdu biography of Iqbal by his son Javed Iqbal.
An attempt is made in the chapter to bring out the significance of the different phases of Iqbal’s intellectual development. The two concluding sections of the chapter consist of notes on, respectively, Iqbal’s personality and his individual works. Chapter 2 presents, in several sections, many of the major themes in Iqbal’s poetry, though without laying claim to exhaustiveness of treatment. Chapter 3 analyzes some aspects of Iqbal’s poetic art. Chapter 4 discusses two of Iqbal’s philosophical works in prose, The Development of Metaphysical Thought in Persia and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, focusing on the latter. A summary of the chapters, or lectures, of the Reconstruction is followed by a discussion of several of the major foci of the book. The concluding section compares the Metaphysics with the Reconstruction. Chapter 5 reviews Iqbal’s social and political thought as expressed in some of his other prose works. In the interest of offering a manageable treatment of the subject, I have used Latif Ahmed Sherwani’s compilation of Iqbal’s writings, speeches, and statements as my main reference (see Further Reading), and have only occasionally cited from Iqbal’s poetical works, which, to be sure, are an important source of Iqbal’s social and political views. (Chapter 2 partially atones for this omission.) Chapter 6 offers observations on Iqbal’s legacy.Iqbal, Poet, and Thinker By Mustansir Mir Contents: 1. Life, Personality, and Works, 2. Major Themes of Poetry, 3. Poetic Art, 4. Philosophical Thought, 5. Social and Political Thought and, 6. Iqbal’s Legacy Pages: 157 | Publisher: IAP Price: Rs. 400 (Book Price 250 + Delivery Rs. 150) * Free Delivery on orders above Rs. 600 To order, please send us your name, phone number, complete address and email and we will send the book to your home within 3-5 business days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preface This book aims to introduce Muhammad Iqbal (1938-77), a pre-eminent poet and philosopher of South Asia, to general readers in the English-speaking world. There is a respectable number of works on Iqbal in the English language, but very few of them set out systematically to acquaint the reader with the heart or substance of Iqbal’s own writings. Within its limits, this volume tries to fill this gap. Based on a direct study of Iqbal’s writings, it assumes no prior familiarity with Iqbal’s works on the reader’s part, and tries to bring into relief—in non-technical language and with substantial textual evidence—the principal contours of Iqbal’s thought. It takes an expository and analytical approach to the subject. As such, it does not attempt to provide an account of the divergent critical constructions that have historically been placed on Iqbal’s thought with a view to identifying Iqbal as a propounder or upholder of a certain philosophy or system of thought. Neither does it deal exhaustively with Iqbal’s personal life or with his practical involvement in the social and political affairs of India. Finally, with a few exceptions, it does not discuss at length the question of Iqbal’s sources and originality. Several works written on Iqbal (see Further Reading) will enlighten the reader on these and other matters. Two more clarifications are in order. First, I have approached Iqbal’s writings synchronically. This, of course, leaves open the question of development and change in Iqbal’s thought. Iqbal’s views on certain issues— for example, those of nationalism and mysticism—did change significantly over time. But, even if we take the period of his stay in Europe (1905-8) as the turning point in the evolution of his thought, Iqbal’s writings in the post-Europe period show remarkable consistency. A comparative study of Iqbal’s talks, writings, and statements belonging to the years immediately following his return from Europe with those of the last few years of his life will show that Iqbal’s thought on major issues of life did not change materially, though it certainly unfolded and grew in line with the inner logic of his fundamental convictions. Furthermore, there are grounds for presuming that the seeds of Iqbal’s post-Europe thought were sown in his pre-Europe period. It must nevertheless be admitted that a detailed diachronic study of Iqbal’s works is essential to understanding Iqbal’s thought in all its rich variety. Second, the book treats Iqbal’s prose writings separately from his poetical writings: Chapters 2 and 3 deal with Iqbal’s poetry, Chapters 4 and 5 with his prose. This approach would seem to be premissed on the understanding that Iqbal’s prose works are different in content and character from his poetical works. This, I should state clearly, is not my position. I believe that Iqbal’s prose and poetical works, taken as a whole, are marked by a deep unity. A careful reader of even this short volume will not fail to notice a generic identity and a basic coherence between Iqbal’s thought as expressed in his prose and his thought as expressed in his poetry. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to elaborate on this matter any further here, but I intend to show in a subsequent study that the frequently raised question of the relationship between Iqbal’s prose and poetry—with the attendant debate as to which of the two is to be accorded primacy for a general interpretation of Iqbal—is completely gratuitous. I have discussed Iqbal’s poetry and prose in separate sets of chapters partly for convenience and partly because Iqbal’s stature as a poet warrants a focused treatment of his poetical works. Furthermore, given the differences between the discursive nature of the prose medium and the rhetorical nature of the poetical medium, Iqbal was able to treat certain issues at length only in prose, so it made sense to reserve discussion of those issues in chapters devoted to Iqbal’s prose. Here is an outline of the chapters: Chapter 1 provides a brief life-sketch of Iqbal. It draws mainly on Zindah-Rud (‘The Living Stream’ (see Further Reading)), the Urdu biography of Iqbal by his son Javed Iqbal. An attempt is made in the chapter to bring out the significance of the different phases of Iqbal’s intellectual development. The two concluding sections of the chapter consist of notes on, respectively, Iqbal’s personality and his individual works. Chapter 2 presents, in several sections, many of the major themes in Iqbal’s poetry, though without laying claim to exhaustiveness of treatment. Chapter 3 analyzes some aspects of Iqbal’s poetic art. Chapter 4 discusses two of Iqbal’s philosophical works in prose, The Development of Metaphysical Thought in Persia and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, focusing on the latter. A summary of the chapters, or lectures, of the Reconstruction is followed by a discussion of several of the major foci of the book. The concluding section compares the Metaphysics with the Reconstruction. Chapter 5 reviews Iqbal’s social and political thought as expressed in some of his other prose works. In the interest of offering a manageable treatment of the subject, I have used Latif Ahmed Sherwani’s compilation of Iqbal’s writings, speeches, and statements as my main reference (see Further Reading), and have only occasionally cited from Iqbal’s poetical works, which, to be sure, are an important source of Iqbal’s social and political views. (Chapter 2 partially atones for this omission.) Chapter 6 offers observations on Iqbal’s legacy.

Iqbal - Poet and Thinker