tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87519642794203081912024-03-05T21:32:54.767+05:00The Republic of Rumi BlogThe Republic of RumiKhurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.comBlogger380125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-60478970423483749192014-06-01T18:44:00.003+05:002015-06-28T20:40:41.017+05:00Renan and Iqbal: the Spiritual Principle of Nationalism<div style="padding-left: 60px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><b>By Khurram Ali Shafique</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/477">Originally published at the Website of Marghdeen Learning Centre</a></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>Man is enslaved neither by his race nor by his religion, nor by the course of rivers, nor by the direction of mountain ranges. A great aggregation of men, sane of mind and warm of heart, creates a moral consciousness which is called a nation. </strong>(Ernest Renan, quoted by Iqbal in the <em>Allahabad Address</em>)</span></div>
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<a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/5318141650_983fdae0ed.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-482" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Ernest Renan" class="alignright wp-image-482 size-full" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/5318141650_983fdae0ed.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ernest Renan (1823-1892) was a French Orientalist who was regarded highly until the Second World War. Since then, he seems to have fallen out of favor with the academia. Still, his principle of nationalism is so powerful that modern students of social sciences find it impossible to ignore it completely, in spite of their reluctance to consider it for application. Curiously enough, there is a connection between him and Iqbal and it is one that makes them indispensable to each other. Renan's passionate plea, which he made in the "Introduction" to his <em>Collected Speeches </em>in 1887, can take a completely new meaning if we read it in the light of Iqbal Studies. Renan had referred to his 1882 lecture "What Is A Nation?", and had said:</div>
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"I hope that these twenty pages will be recalled when modern civilization flounders as a result of the disastrous ambiguity of the words: nation, nationality, race."</div>
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Those "twenty pages", which Renan had hoped would save the world, became the intellectual premise for Iqbal's proposal about the birth of a new state. In his <em>Allahabad Address, </em>Iqbal quoted from this lecture of Renan in a manner which makes his own writing – also comprising of some twenty pages – a sequel to Renan's lecture, and could easily be subtitled "What Is A Nation? Part 2". Hence, the passionate warning of Renan that his lecture should be used for averting disasters may now be seen as directly addressed to Pakistanis (and by that implication to Bengalis and Indians in so far as the creation of Pakistan is a fact of their history too). They people cannot afford to disregard the warning of Renan even if the rest of the world forgets him. In their history, those twenty pages have played an actively role unlike anywhere else in the world. The key for understanding this is to consider three crucial references to Renan in the writings of Iqbal.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iqbal1910.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-145" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="iqbal1910" class="alignright wp-image-145" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/iqbal1910.jpg" height="531" width="300" /></a>An independent critical attitude</h3>
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"Our duty is carefully to watch the progress of human thought, and to maintain an independent critical attitude towards it." This is the advice which Iqbal offered to his readers at a certain stage, and it reflected a practice which he had followed throughout. A very good example of this "independent critical attitude" is his engagement with the thought of Renan.</div>
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Renan was a confirmed racist who believed colored races to be inferior and possibly unfit for self-rule. He also had serious disagreement with the Christian Church. His writings also concealed a hostility towards Islam (which did not go unnoticed by Iqbal). Yet, one of the notes which Iqbal jotted down in his private notebook, apparently as a reminder to himself, was about the need to see beyond such observations:</div>
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There are some people who are sceptical and yet of a religious turn of mind. The French Orientalist Renan reveals the essentially religious character of his mind in spite of his scepticism. We must be careful in forming our opinion about the character of men from their habits of thought. (<a href="http://selfless-devotion.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/scepticism-and-religion.html" target="_blank">Stray Reflections, p.73</a>)</div>
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The benefit of this approach becomes evident when we look at how it helped Iqbal to engage with the powerful mind of Renan in a creative and original manner as we shall see now.</div>
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Religion as a people-building force</h3>
<a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/syed.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-609" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sir Syed Ahmad Khan" class="wp-image-609" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/syed.jpg" height="411" width="300" /></a><br />
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In his 1882 paper, Renan had shown conclusively that geography, race, language or religion did not make a nation. About Islam, he had written somewhere that it was going to "lose the high intellectual and moral direction of an important part of the universe". Quoting this statement in his paper "<a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/21">T</a><a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/21" title="The Muslim Community–A Sociological Study">he Muslim Community</a>" (1911), Iqbal called it "a veiled hope" on Renan's part that Islam should thus fizzle out.</div>
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Yet he bypassed such quibbles and managed to meet Renan on the grounds of common principles. The first principle which Iqbal seems to have discerned from the writings of Renan was that any community, society or nation which hoped to hold itself together merely through belief in certain propositions of a metaphysical import was indeed standing on an extremely unsafe basis, especially before the advance of modern knowledge, with its habits of rationalism and criticism. (Iqbal, "<a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/21" title="The Muslim Community–A Sociological Study">The Muslim Community</a>").</div>
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Acceptance of this empirical truth did not deter Iqbal from pursuing that new orientation of Islam which was gradually evolving in Muslim India: "Islam has a far deeper significance for us than merely religious." (Iqbal, "<a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/21" title="The Muslim Community–A Sociological Study">The Muslim Community</a>"). This was the sum total of the cultural activities of the Indian Muslims since 1867 as well as of their social activism, their daily reality and their most valuable intellectual output, including the writings of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Syed Amir Ali, Maulana Shibli Numani – not to forget the poetry of Maulana Hali and Akbar Allahabadi, and the writings of young journalists like Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Zafar Ali Khan. The same collective will had also manifested in the recently formed All-India Muslim League, although the significance of that political organization was yet to be tested by history. Consequently, Iqbal made the very far-sighted proposition that the unity of religious belief in the Muslim community was supplemented by the uniformity of Muslim culture:</div>
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Mere belief in the Islamic principle, though exceedingly important, is not sufficient. In order to participate in the life of the communal self, the individual mind must undergo a complete transformation, and this transformation is secured, externally by the institutions of Islam, and internally by that uniform culture which the intellectual energy of our forefathers has produced.</div>
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Renan had described the evolution of modern European nations to show that diverse factors had gone into their making. Iqbal showed that in Asia, such factors had been provided by Islam, which had been working as much more than a religion. The vision of Islam which he offered was neither a set of metaphysical beliefs nor a two-dimensional study of "lived religion", but was through and through a people-building force (see "<a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/21" title="The Muslim Community–A Sociological Study">The Muslim Community</a>").</div>
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This is important because Iqbal made a clear distinction between two very different roles of religion in a society. The first is what Renan had called "the absolute distinction between men in terms of their religion", and had shown to be inadequate for making a nation. Iqbal gave an implicit assent to this by stating, "Mere belief in the Islamic principle, though exceedingly important, is not sufficient," but he made an exception for religion as "a people-building force" – a phenomenon which Renan may not have realized because it was not manifested as clearly in Islam outside India as it did in Islam in India (and Renan was an authority mainly on the Middle East). As Iqbal was going to state very boldly in the <a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/20" title="Presidential Address, 1930"><em>Allahabad Address</em></a>:</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that India is perhaps the only country in the world where Islam, as a people-building force, has worked at its best.</span></div>
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This subtlety is obviously ignored by those who seek to reinforce the Islamic identity of Muslim societies in South Asia by introducing more rigid models of Islam from other parts of the Muslim world. It also seems to be forgotten by those who hope to make these societies more tolerant and enlightened by importing esoteric and metaphysical wisdom from abroad. At least in the case of Pakistan, this observation is also being ignored by those who propose to impose unpopular secularist oligarchies. All these reformers and adventurers would perhaps benefit by considering what Iqbal stated elsewhere: "The flame of life cannot be borrowed from others; it must be kindled in the temple of one’s own soul. This requires earnest preparation and a relatively permanent programme." (The <a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/19" title="Presidential Address, 1932"><em>Lahore Address</em></a>, 1932).</div>
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The most interesting aspect of the connection between Renan and Iqbal is that it helps us restore Renan's principle of nationalism as a workable solution not only in Iqbal's society but perhaps also elsewhere in the world, and points in the direction of that empirical evidence which may qualify Renan's principle for being called, truly, "the spiritual principle of nationalism."</div>
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The spiritual principle of nationalism</h3>
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<a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/watniyat.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-508" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Iqbal's poem refuting the territorial basis of nationalism in 1911" class="alignright wp-image-508 size-large" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/watniyat-445x1024.jpg" height="640" width="276" /></a>We have seen that Renan, in his 1882 lecture, had refuted the presumptions of some earlier thinkers that nations could be formed on the basis of geography, race or language. This should be of special interest to the learners of Iqbal Studies, who very well know that Iqbal launched an ideological attack against these theories of nationalism, but most of them do not realize that Iqbal did so on a premise already established for him by another great thinker.</div>
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We have also seen that Renan's assumption that religion could not provide a feasible basis for nation-building was modified by Iqbal on the grounds that this could be true about a certain conception of religion but not about another conception that was most peculiarly evidenced among the Muslims of India.</div>
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Now we may come to consider the question that if geography, race, language or "absolute distinction between men on the basis of religion" does not define a nation, then what does? The answer which Renan provided was the spiritual principle of nationalism. It had two postulates. The first explained how modern nations were formed. The second answered how they could be sustained.</div>
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What makes a nation?</h4>
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Renan claimed that it was an empirically verifiable fact that a modern nation was formed on the basis of two things:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">To have performed great deeds together; and</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">To wish to perform still more.</li>
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To form a nation on any other basis – even on the basis of an "absolute distinction between men on the basis of religion" – would mean disregarding the consent of the individual, and hence a negation of free will and soul, and would fail. In the words of Renan:</div>
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A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form. Man, Gentlemen, does not improvise. The nation, like the individual, is the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice, and devotion. Of all cults, that of the ancestors is the most legitimate, for the ancestors have made us what we are. A heroic past, great men, glory (by which I understand genuine glory), this is the social capital upon which one bases a national idea. To have common glories in the past and to have a common will in the present; to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more—these are the essential conditions for being a people.</div>
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What sustains a nation?</h4>
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Once we accept that nations are founded on the basis of will, it follows naturally that they can only be sustained through consent, whether obtained implicitly or explicitly:</div>
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A nation's existence is, if you will pardon the metaphor, a daily plebiscite, just as an individual's existence is a perpetual affirmation of life. That, I know full well, is less metaphysical than divine right and less brutal than so called historical right. According to the ideas that I am outlining to you, a nation has no more right than a king does to say to a province: "You belong to me, I am seizing you." A province, as far as I am concerned, is its inhabitants; if anyone has the right to be consulted in such an affair, it is the inhabitant. A nation never has any real interest in annexing or holding on to a country against its will. The wish of nations is, all in all, the sole legitimate criterion, the one to which one must always return.</div>
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The Allahabad Address</h4>
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This was the principle which Iqbal invoked while delivering his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League at Allahabad in December 1930. At that hour, when civilization was indeed floundering as a result of the disastrous ambiguity of the words nation, nationality, race, Iqbal may have been the only one, perhaps in the whole world, to actually turn to those twenty pages of Renan (among other things), as he stated:</div>
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“Man,” says Renan, “is enslaved neither by his race nor by his religion, nor by the course of rivers, nor by the direction of mountain ranges. A great aggregation of men, sane of mind and warm of heart, creates a moral consciousness which is called a nation.” Such a formation is quite possible, though it involves the long and arduous process of practically re-making men and furnishing them with a fresh emotional equipment. It might have been a fact in India if the teachings of Kabir and the Divine Faith of Akbar had seized the imagination of the masses of this country. Experience, however, shows that the various caste units and religious units in India have shown no inclination to sink their respective individualities in a larger whole. Each group is intensely jealous of its collective existence. The formation of the kind of moral consciousness which constitutes the essence of a nation in Renan’s sense demands a price which the peoples of India are not prepared to pay.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NehruMountbattenandJinnah1.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-515" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="NehruMountbattenandJinnah1" class="wp-image-515" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NehruMountbattenandJinnah1-300x225.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>"If doubts arise regarding its frontiers, <br />consult the populations in the areas under dispute."<br />Only one of the men in this picture could have felt happy<br />that Renan had said such a thing.</b></span></span></td></tr>
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Conclusion</h3>
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Renan did not offer his proposition as "a theory". He propounded it as an empirical principle and challenged his detractors to put it to empirical test. He was also aware that his European contemporaries were likely to discard his principle as "a fine example of those wretched French ideas which claim to replace diplomacy and war by childishly simple methods." Ruefully, he observed:</div>
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This recommendation will bring a smile to the lips of the transcendants of politics, these infallible beings who spend their lives deceiving themselves and who, from the height of their superior principles, take pity upon our mundane concerns.</div>
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It could be very rewarding to apply Renan's principle to a case study of the history of South Asia from 1887, and see what empirical evidence turns up. For this, we shall need to add the twenty pages of the <em>Allahabad Address </em>to the original twenty of Renan's <em>What Is A Nation. </em>Such a study has not been undertaken until now and still awaits some insightful and bold scholar.</div>
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<a href="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cover.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-434" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="cover" class="alignright wp-image-434 size-thumbnail" src="http://marghdeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cover-150x150.jpg" height="150" width="150" /></a></h3>
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Further reading</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nationalismproject.org/what/renan.htm">Essential excerpt from English translation of Renan's paper "What Is a Nation?"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20110827065548/http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html">Complete English translation of the paper</a></li>
<li><a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/20">Iqbal's <em>Allahabad Address</em></a></li>
<li>'The Uniformity of Muslim Culture' in <a href="http://marghdeen.com/iqbalbiography"><em>Iqbal: His Life and Our Times </em>(2014) by Khurram Ali Shafique</a></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://marghdeen.com/archives/477">Comments can be posted directly at Marghdeen Learning Centre.</a></span></b><br />
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Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-20883835254612376452014-05-10T07:06:00.002+05:002015-06-28T20:40:57.870+05:00New Biography of Iqbal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Iqbal: His Life and Our Times</i>
<br />by Khurram Ali Shafique
<br />has been released on May 8.<br />Buy it online from <b><a href="https://www.createspace.com/4780451" target="_blank">CreateSpace</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Iqbal-His-Life-Our-Times/dp/0957141661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399684646&sr=8-1&keywords=iqbal%3A+his+life+and+our+times" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iqbal-His-Life-Our-Times/dp/0957141661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399684664&sr=8-1&keywords=iqbal%3A+his+life+and+our+times" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></b> or <a href="http://www.amazon.in/Iqbal-His-Life-Our-Times/dp/0957141661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399684555&sr=8-1&keywords=iqbal%3A+his+life+and+our+times" target="_blank"><b>Amazon India</b></a> (among others).<br /><br />
This is a joint publication of Iqbal Academy Pakistan and the Cultural Institute of the Economic Cooperation Organization. The international edition has been brought out by Libredux UK. A Pakistan edition is expected by the end of May.
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Continued support will be provided to readers and those interested in Iqbal Studies through this website and the <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/iqbalbiography" target="_blank">Facebook Page of the Book</a>.</b></span></blockquote>
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2014/05/new-biography-of-iqbal.html">Originally published on Marghdeen Learning Centre.</a></span> </b></div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-88182379339927496212014-05-05T04:52:00.001+05:002015-06-28T20:41:06.659+05:00Iqbal: His Life and Our Times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design <a href="http://mellowatts.com/" target="_blank">MelloWatts</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2014/05/iqbal-his-life-and-our-times.html"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Originally published at Marghdeen Learning Centre</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mind of Goethe,
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The heart of Rumi,
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The message of the Quran.
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This was the unparalleled legacy of the poet-philosopher credited with birthing a nation and a state, and at no other time has the world been more ready to embrace his ideas than it is right now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story of his mind, and what he taught, as told herein from a new and compelling angle, leads us on a trail of discovery towards a new way of life. You're invited to approach this as a handbook for implementing his life-giving ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The above-quoted blurb reflects the spirit in which my new book, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Iqbal: His Life and Our Times, </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is being offered. The book is a tribute to Iqbal by ten sovereign states, since it is being published jointly by Iqbal Academy Pakistan and the Cultural Institute of the Economic Cooperation Organization, which is the successor organization of the RCD and now includes </span>Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The international edition is being brought out by Libredux, UK, on behalf of the original publishers. It will be available from Thursday, May 8.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It can be ordered from the page on the <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4780451" target="_blank"><b>Createspace Website</b></a>. It will also be available on other websites, including Amazon. The Pakistani edition is hopefully coming out by the end of this month.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Much has been written about Iqbal but this book may turn out to be different (even from my earlier writings) because it presents Iqbal with a special focus on how his ideas can be implemented today - especially in Pakistan and the Muslim world, but also elsewhere - by individuals as well as societies. I have kept it less than 200 pages, so that it may serve as a compact handbook.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Until the book comes out this Thursday, I offer you following introduction written by two people for whom I have deep respect and gratitude.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">by </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan;</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">and Iftikhar Arif, Director, ECO Cultural Institute (ECI)</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) is the only poet and thinker in the history of world literature who has been credited with the birth of a new nation and a new state. It is therefore very befitting that a handbook about his life and thought should be brought out by an organization comprising of ten member states. The Economic Cooperation Organization’s Cultural Institute (ECI) is pleased to bring out this publication jointly with Iqbal Academy Pakistan.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In addition to his unique status in Pakistan, Iqbal also happens to be either a national poet or a household inspiration in several other countries including Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and India. In Turkey, his symbolic grave stands in the compound of the mausoleum of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi. In the universities of Heidelberg and Cambridge, there are chairs or fellowships in his name. Roads, buildings and monuments have been named after him in other countries too, including Mauritius.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Iqbal: His Life and Our Times fulfils the need for a simple and reliable introduction to the life and work of this unmatched genius, highlighting the practical relevance of his ideas for those who wish to consider them for implementation. The author, Khurram Ali Shafique, is well-known in the field of Iqbal Studies. The awards which he has received for his previous publications include the coveted Presidential Iqbal Award.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The present volume includes many findings that are the outcome of the author’s original research. Of special interest to the general readers as well as the experts would be the evidence, presented here for the first time, which establishes a historical connection between the political ideas of Iqbal, the American thinker Mary Parker Follett and the Bengali visionary C. R. Das. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We are hoping that this volume will offer much by way of looking at the present times from new avenues. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is shown here that the views expressed by Iqbal in his poetry and prose formed a coherent system of thought, and the same was implemented by him through political and social action. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is to dispel the myth which has been preventing a deeper understanding of Iqbal’s thought until now, i.e. the false but widely perpetuated assumption that the ideas presented by Iqbal were either inconsistent with each other or they kept undergoing such perpetual changes throughout his life that they cannot be considered for implementation in any other time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The system of his thought and its underlying principles are being presented here, perhaps for the first time. It is also being shown that in spite of its inner coherence, the system of Iqbal’s thought kept pace with the evolution of the collective life of his community. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This evolution can be studied by dividing the intellectual life of the poet-philosopher into three stages: inquiry, discovery and transcendence. The duration of each stage has been established here on the basis of biographical and textual evidence, and the book has been divided into three chapters accordingly. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Each of these three stages started in his mental life when his community adopted a new goal collectively. The goals, their relevance to the world and humanity, their implications for Iqbal, and his contribution towards achieving them are issues which are being discussed here in a fresh light. This may turn out be one of the most significant contributions which this book will make to the subject.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If nations of the world desire to come closer in their hearts and minds, they cannot ignore to learn about the ideas, emotions and visions of each other. The Economic Cooperation Organization’s Cultural Institute (ECI), formed through a charter at the third summit meeting of the countries of ECO held at Islamabad in 1995, aims at fostering understanding and the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of its members through common projects in the field of the media, literature, art, philosophy, sport and education. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The present volume is being offered in line with this vision, and with the conviction that it is important for everybody to be informed about the ideas of Iqbal, since they may be counted among those cultural forces which have gone into shaping a significant part of our world.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This conviction is shared by Iqbal Academy Pakistan, a statutory body of the Government of Pakistan, originally established through an act of parliament in 1951 and reinforced through an ordinance in 1962. The aims and objectives of the Academy are to promote and disseminate the study and understanding of the works and teachings of Iqbal. The Academy has been translating its objectives into action and activity through a number of measures including publication programme, IT projects, outreach activities, Iqbal Award Programme, website, research and compilation, audio-video, multimedia, archive projects as well as exhibitions, conferences, seminars, projection abroad, research guidance, academic assistance, donations and library services.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We hope that the readers will benefit from the book which we are offering here jointly, and this will go a long way in achieving our common objectives.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><a href="https://www.createspace.com/4780451" target="_blank">Order online from Thursday, May 8</a></b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><i><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2014/05/iqbal-his-life-and-our-times.html">Comments on this post can be made directly at the website of Marghdeen Learning Centre.</a></i> </b></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-22749735043342638732014-04-01T19:20:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:41:15.247+05:00Ayaz Amir: between ignorance and dishonesty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">By </span>Khurram Ali Shafique<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2014/04/ayaz-amir-between-ignorance-and.html">Originally published at Marghdeen Learning Centre</a></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.thenews.com.pk/28-03-2014/Opinion/3-28-2014_240709_l_akb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images.thenews.com.pk/28-03-2014/Opinion/3-28-2014_240709_l_akb.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ayaz Amir.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image from <i>The News International</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I have read with great interest the recent
article <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-240709-Poet-of-the-soul-thy-occasional-silences" target="_blank">‘</a></span><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-240709-Poet-of-the-soul-thy-occasional-silences" target="_blank">Poet of the soul, thy occasional silences’ by </a><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-240709-Poet-of-the-soul-thy-occasional-silences" target="_blank">Ayaz Amir published in The NewsInternational on Friday, March 28</a>. I am surprised to see that the esteemed
writer is so unfamiliar with facts about the life and writings of Allama Iqbal,
and has based his writing on sheer sentiment at the cost of truth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">He complains
t<span style="font-family: inherit;">hat ‘</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">in all his work, so much of it transcendent,
there is no mention of Jallianwala Bagh, an event which shook India. Nor did
Iqbal take a public position on it.’ </span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thi</span>s is not true. Iqbal wrote a short but very moving poem in Urdu, in
which he advised the reader not to withhold tears on the plight of those
‘martyrs’. The poem was published in newspapers at that time and has been
included in several anthologies and biographies since then. It can also be
found on page 460 in my Urdu biography of the middle years of Iqbal’s career, <i>Iqbal:
Darmiani Daur, </i>which covers the period 1914-1922.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I am copying the poem here along with an
English translation done by my friend, Akhtar Wasim Dar:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">جلّیانوالہ باغ امرتسر</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.8in; margin-right: 1.8in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ہر زائرِ چمن سے یہ کہتی ہے
خاکِ پاک</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">غافل نہ رہ جہان میں گردُوں کی چال سے</b></span></div>
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">
<b></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><b><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">سینچا گیا ہے خونِ شہیداں سے اس کا تخم</b></b></span></div>
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><b>
</b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><b><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">تُو آنسووں کا بخل نہ کر اِس نہال سے</b></b></span></div>
<span dir="LTR" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 1.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">[Translation]:</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i>Jalianwalla Bagh Amritsar</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
The sacred land urges
to every pilgrim of the garden<br />
Not to remain
inattentive in this world to the ways their destiny works.<br />
Its seed has been
watered by martyrs’ blood<br />
Do not withhold your tears from its saplings.</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Yet, Mr. Amir chooses to call the poetry of Iqbal ‘poetry at the same time
silent on such a tragedy as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre’! We understand that
it is really too much for some Pakistani journalists to stop telling lies, but
one wonders what happened to the old-fashioned editorial discretion. I mean,
seriously, does <i>The New International </i>not have even one well-informed
person in its editorial team, who could have taken a look at Mr. Amir’s
writing before it went to press?<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Mr. Amir is partially correct in suggesting
that the holocaust which occurred in Punjab in 1947 was only indirectly linked
to the partition of India and was more directly a result of the partition of
Punjab. Yet, again I wonder from where did he get his information that Iqbal
and the founding fathers of Pakistan did not foresee it (as he says, ‘</span>Mention
should also be made of a failure of the imagination or a failure of foresight,
on Iqbal’s part as on that of the League leadership as a whole…the failure to
see that if ever the demand for a north-west Muslim state was met, it would
surely and inevitably entail the partition first of Punjab and then only of
India’).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Talks about the partition of India, and the
partitions of Punjab and Bengal, had started in the early 1920s. Therefore, it
required neither imagination nor foresight on part of Iqbal and his club to see
it – but of course it requires general knowledge and hindsight on part of Mr.
Amir to know this (and how much we wish that Mr. Amir was in possession of
either of these).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Ironically enough, the person who initiated the discourse about
these partitions in 1921 was none other than Hasrat Mohani – the same about
whom Mr. Amir has wished so melodramatically that there <span style="font-family: inherit;">were ‘</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">a few more Hasrat Mohanis’. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mohani made some bold suggestions to
this end in his presidential a</span>ddress to the annual session of All-India Muslim
League in 1921, and followed them up with even more radical propositions along
these lines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Lala Lajpat Rai, in sync with Hindu Mahasabha, answered
Mohani by demanding the partition of Punjab as well as the partition of Bengal,
and a partitioning of India between ‘a Hindu India and a Muslim India’. Rai did
that in a series of thirteen articles, collectively titled ‘The Hindu-Muslim
Problem’, which were published in November-December 1924 (apparently in view of
the impending annual session of the Indian National Congress, since the annual
sessions for the two preceding years had been consecutively presided over by
advocates of Muslims nationalism, i.e. C. R. Das in 1922 and Maulana Muhammad
Ali Jauhar in 1923, and their views were anathema to obscurantist leaders like
Rai). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Hence the Hindu demand for the partition of Punjab and Bengal was already
on the table by the time Iqbal came out with his proposition for a consolidated
Muslim state in 1930. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Mr. Amir complains that Iqbal did not say much
about Bhagat Singh. Here, one cannot overlook the macabre irony that Bhagat
Singh was out to take revenge for the death of the same Lala Lajpat Rai, who
had originally demanded the partition of Punjab which Mr. Amir loathes so much
(and given the overall quality of scholarship reflected in Mr. Amir’s writing,
we cannot be sure if he is even aware of these facts). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">On a more serious note,
while it is true that Iqbal did not say much about Bhagat Singh, many other freedom-fighters
were also silent on that issue but this is not usually considered as sufficient
ground for questioning their bonafide. Even Gandhi didn’t do much to save Bhagat
Singh, and this does not bring down Gandhi from his high pedestal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It seems that the underlying issue which Mr.
Amir is trying to reach here is whether Iqbal was sufficiently opposed to British
imperialism, and whether Iqbal did something to that effect. It is well-known
even to the detractors of Iqbal that he took a very well-defined stand against
colonialism, not only as a poet but even as a politician and social activist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Granted that his stand was in keeping with his
worldview, and anybody who disagrees with that worldview, like Mr. Amir does, is
welcome to question whether Iqbal’s stand was effective or not. Unfortunately,
such an exercise pre-requires a wider range of reading than Mr. Amir seems to
be capable of, and therefore he takes the easier path of misleading his readers
by stating, in clear contradiction to known facts, that Iqbal did not take a
stand against colonialism at all. This is where Mr. Amir crosses the line
between ignorance and intellectual dishonesty, in the direction of the latter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">In the passing, I would like to mention just
one anecdote about Iqbal’s well-known opposition of British imperialism. The declassified
documents in the archives of the former princely state of Hyderabad Deccan have
revealed that when the ruler of that state was considering a proposal for
granting patronage to Iqbal, he was advised by his counsellors against it on
the grounds that Iqbal was too well-known for opposing British imperialism, and
any patronage to Iqbal would displease the foreign rulers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Pakistan is not suffering today because its founding
fathers lacked moral courage or foresight, as Mr. Amir has tried to insinuate.
It suffers today because a large majority of our educated class and our
intelligentsia is unaware of the basic facts of our history, and Mr. Amir
happens to be one sorry example of this. Maybe he is too old to change his habits
now and start getting his facts right, but the younger lot should rise up to
their moral duty and find out those truths about our history which need to be
known.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><i><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2014/04/ayaz-amir-between-ignorance-and.html"><b>Comments can be posted directly at the website of Marghdeen Learning Center.</b></a></i></span></div>
</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-86036881301224863052013-05-19T08:17:00.002+05:002015-06-28T20:41:38.232+05:00The Election Aftermath: an Iqbal Studies Perspective <div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFYzypJZLuBR-WqxNAxVi1KeqUmMFn2ogOdls7UC5T11AsJ1f8EKn5IvjoUlq6FIZUDxn2-t41XQ13aWl4pJUHnIy9mBTo669lZBkWkP02DwdhEfxn79W3moDwsWKDCVGEIUeTfdpRAtq/s1600/Elections_2013_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFYzypJZLuBR-WqxNAxVi1KeqUmMFn2ogOdls7UC5T11AsJ1f8EKn5IvjoUlq6FIZUDxn2-t41XQ13aWl4pJUHnIy9mBTo669lZBkWkP02DwdhEfxn79W3moDwsWKDCVGEIUeTfdpRAtq/s1600/Elections_2013_logo.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"An election which is only a partial expression of the people’s will is null and void." (Hazrat Umar Farooq, r.a.) </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This saying of the second caliph was cited by Iqbal in his paper '<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/political-thought-in-islam.html" target="_blank">Political Thought in Islam</a>' (1908). How do the recent elections stand in the light of this saying? - blatantly rigged, voters stopped from voting or forced to vote against their will, and so on.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The purpose of beginning this post with that quote is to remind us that Islam of the free people is different from the religion of the slaves. It is comparatively more concerned with freedom of nations and civic liberties than worrying about the wardrobes of women or teaching the victims to show "compassion" to their oppressors. "Democracy, then, is the most important aspect of Islam regarded as a political ideal," according to Iqbal ('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/islam-as-moral-and-political-ideal.html" target="_blank">Islam As A Moral and Political Ideal</a>'; 1909).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If Iqbal were alive today, he may have eagerly declared that the present protests against rigging were a step in the direction of establishing a truly Islamic society - and perhaps the most important step in that direction since 1949. It would not have mattered to him that the protesters are not using the name of religion. He would have repeated his words from some other occasion: "The Muslim [of this country], I believe, instinctively realizes the peculiar nature of the circumstances in which he is placed..." ('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/12/islam-and-ahmadism.html" target="_blank">Islam and Ahmadism</a>'; 1935).</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Iqbal's advice to the political activists in Pakistan may have been the same which was offered by him to the political reformers of other Muslim countries in 1908:<br />
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
"They would certainly impress [their people] more if they could show that their seemingly borrowed ideal of political freedom is really the ideal of Islam, and is, as such, the rightful demand of free Muslim conscience." (<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/political-thought-in-islam.html" target="_blank">Political Thought in Islam</a>').</blockquote>
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The cornerstone of this ideal, according to Iqbal, is "the idea of universal agreement". On the basis of the above-cited quote from Hazrat Umar, Iqbal stated in his 1908 paper: "The idea of universal agreement is in fact the fundamental principle of Muslim constitutional theory."<br />
<br />
Let's try to understand what he meant by "universal agreement" and how it can help us analyze the current situation in Pakistan.<br />
<br />
Iqbal believed that society was like an organism, and "if one portion reveals a certain organic craving, the material to satisfy that craving is almost simultaneously produced by the other." ('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/12/the-muslim-communitya-sociological-study.html" target="_blank">The Muslim Community - A Sociological Study</a>'). The example which he offered for explaining this was that the modernism of the Aligarh Movement was complemented by the healthy conservatism of Akbar Allahabadi. It is possible to conclude from this example that if we desire to find out what the Muslim community of British India collectively wanted in that period, we would have to place the ideals of the Aligarh Movement side by side with the poetry of Akbar Allahabadi.<br />
<br />
There was no "agreement" between the two, but the collective will of the community resided in the point where these two contradictory ideas converged: preserving and strengthening the national character. Hence, this was the point of "universal agreement" even though the two schools of thought in the community appeared to be opposed to each other.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRViqSv6Le7X4k2rcDdnXNvIU7h3yeFUjC0yOJuk8YEd9N1dgKfehbAesF6N3c5smqAwP-09bUlyLS8Df6_GB-8h0SmwTlzWh3D3K2C2Bad7n2g0K87apMfLdjhm5fWgZ7wNP_s0Vg6r43/s1600/map-of-pakistan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRViqSv6Le7X4k2rcDdnXNvIU7h3yeFUjC0yOJuk8YEd9N1dgKfehbAesF6N3c5smqAwP-09bUlyLS8Df6_GB-8h0SmwTlzWh3D3K2C2Bad7n2g0K87apMfLdjhm5fWgZ7wNP_s0Vg6r43/s400/map-of-pakistan1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
If we place the results of the recent elections on the map of Pakistan, we see a different political party coming to power in each province. Treating Pakistan as a single organism, we need not stop at this seeming conflict - especially if we have learnt anything from the aftermath of the elections of 1970, whose results may be faintly reminded to us by these ones.<br />
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From the perspective of the older democracies, the emergence of mutually exclusive power zones may serve as a threat to the federation. Indeed, they may, if we repeat the mistakes of the past.<br />
<br />
From the perspective of Iqbal Studies, this situation is an opportunity (and so was the situation in 1970-71), for creating a prototype which could serve as the model for "a world-state [whose] structure will be determined not by physical force, but by the spiritual force of a common ideal." This idea, presented by Iqbal in his <a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/political-thought-in-islam.html" target="_blank">1908 paper</a>, perhaps deserves to be explored in greater detail now.</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-32714562458320177092013-05-12T21:39:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:41:47.163+05:00Election Replay<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbP_0phyNciW9GC4wC-q-pgnedqft4KKYSVGcpNVT5rldiHGV7fr8Es9IUk-BBqd-1J5xBJuweOZgu2iIuvVshxUOe_IAldEvYZSgkiGp9xg_9z4w2dlhH3H2QTHm7esYqzZh7mcWqlvdu/s1600/15385-electcopy-1357206705-329-640x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbP_0phyNciW9GC4wC-q-pgnedqft4KKYSVGcpNVT5rldiHGV7fr8Es9IUk-BBqd-1J5xBJuweOZgu2iIuvVshxUOe_IAldEvYZSgkiGp9xg_9z4w2dlhH3H2QTHm7esYqzZh7mcWqlvdu/s320/15385-electcopy-1357206705-329-640x480.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo Source: <a href="http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/15385/elections-2013-a-bomb-about-to-explode-or-be-delayed/" target="_blank">ET Blogs</a></b></span></td></tr>
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People were enthusiastic because an elected government had completed its tenure for the first time in Pakistan and elections were now being held for a democratic transition of government. Unfortunately, news of massive rigging appeared before the process could be completed and some of the contestants announced boycott while demanding re-election on the seats where rigging had occurred. This was May 12, 2013, right? Wrong.</div>
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The first so-called elected government in Pakistan to complete its tenure was the PPP regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977. Elections were held for the national assembly on March 7, 1977, and the results were met with serious allegations of rigging. The opposition boycotted the elections to the provincial assemblies, held on March 10. A deadlock ensued and martial law was eventually imposed on July 5.<br />
<br />
The election day this year was reminiscent of 1977 in some ways, although not as bad. It was different mainly because one major contestant could be trusted not to use rigging and un-democratic methods. Needless to mention, this was Imran Khan with his Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf. This may have made a difference.<br />
<br />
Throughout the past, almost every major contestant has been resorting to some show of force for intimidating their opponents during the elections. Since everybody was involved, it was very easy to blame the political culture of the country and to say that a nation like Pakistan could not have true democracy; that this is the best which we can get. This sentiment has been reflected in the life and work of those intellectuals who have been supporting various political leaders as champions of democracy without asking those leaders to refrain from un-democratic measures for seizing and holding power.<br />
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The same sentiment is reflected in the statements of the election commission, who are congratulating us on a "fair and free" election despite our first hand experience to the contrary. Clearly, these people think and have been thinking that the nation deserves no better.<br />
<br />
The first lesson to be learnt from the recent elections is that we deserve better. We must concede that it is possible to have true democracy in Pakistan. If one political party can rely on purely legal means for securing a considerable share in the national assembly and a sweeping victory in a turbulent and traditionally backward province, why others cannot do the same?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZIdjKLaatR7KQwl4_zefiY0xXK9iG6AsGRaeRZrLg-g_1NZp_lW6FKzKsuq49Poc_MB9KwLbCrQ2DYoXfkxhpTVZSk-Bdt6e0oa6plJJsa_U633Ly53gE8t9e-YeS-O-MuXTJnRusfsh/s1600/2013-05-10T105514Z_307277708_GM1E95A1GF301_RTRMADP_3_PAKISTAN-ELECTION_0.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZIdjKLaatR7KQwl4_zefiY0xXK9iG6AsGRaeRZrLg-g_1NZp_lW6FKzKsuq49Poc_MB9KwLbCrQ2DYoXfkxhpTVZSk-Bdt6e0oa6plJJsa_U633Ly53gE8t9e-YeS-O-MuXTJnRusfsh/s320/2013-05-10T105514Z_307277708_GM1E95A1GF301_RTRMADP_3_PAKISTAN-ELECTION_0.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo Source: <a href="http://www.english.rfi.fr/middle-east/20130510-slideshow-pakistan-s-general-election" target="_blank">RFI</a></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Next post: "Elections Results: an Iqbal Studies Perspective"</i></div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-76401547938872545162013-04-13T02:35:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:42:20.104+05:00Iqbal and the anti-blasphemy law in Russia<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2RR2OqPrwiOCmE8dFZx0r60jND6VhhJZ-SWQBn4WmoybxT8Mx5q7ZunXsDS-c6NgyY1Y6CxMEhHopBHNOpcud20jaJPO6aCCSNPZrVMK8GHH8ocTD-r21pAF8Vc8OUy33vr6HBT4vaP6/s1600/russia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2RR2OqPrwiOCmE8dFZx0r60jND6VhhJZ-SWQBn4WmoybxT8Mx5q7ZunXsDS-c6NgyY1Y6CxMEhHopBHNOpcud20jaJPO6aCCSNPZrVMK8GHH8ocTD-r21pAF8Vc8OUy33vr6HBT4vaP6/s320/russia.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Picture from <i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnv5D1Eca8ZYejsgezi8Wh1pSR1MBUJ5OaPhGbsfK87wQwp6cTfeTjggKrM7DukpVojgnByleUpovUPOCGonYH5jw4ZI1O_dDSlGUYRZ81pMSoXQHbql7Wfklf80su6s2q0CoJooBHg7Zi/s1600/DSCF3620.jpg" target="_blank">See It Through My Eyes</a></i> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Russian MPs have given initial approval to an anti-blasphemy law with tougher jail terms or fines for anyone found guilty of offending religious feelings... The bill says blasphemy could incur up to three years in jail or a fine of up to 300,000 roubles ($9,700;£6,300). (</span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22090308" target="_blank">BBC News</a>)</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The anti-blasphemy law passed by the lower house of the Russian parliament is making headlines these days. This may remind us of what Iqbal wrote long ago, at a time when Russia was the stronghold of Bolshevism and a role model for the atheists. In an open letter to the British author Sir Francis Younghusband, published in <i>The Civil and Military Gazette </i>on July 30, 1931, Iqbal wrote:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.3in;">I do not myself believe that the Russians are by
nature an irreligious people. On the contrary, I think that they are men and
women of strong religious tendencies and the present negative state of [the] Russian
mind will not last indefinitely, for no system of society can rest on an
atheistic basis. As soon as things settle down in that country and its people
have time to think calmly, they will be forced to find a positive foundation
for their system.</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether or not the present anti-blasphemy law is a step towards "a positive foundation" for the Russian system, the bill contains a reference to religions that are </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">"an integral part of Russia's historical inheritance" (i.e. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism). Indirectly, this assertion corroborates Iqbal's basic assertion that Russians are </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">"men and women of strong religious tendencies".</span></div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-12965680722632381782013-04-09T16:33:00.001+05:002015-06-28T20:42:34.624+05:00Two perceptions about Islam<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNhrKkYZ8D7e1J8Lc9K387epzmO51qmuT-3hmXfzOOtG5U_iXpRlWJZzOPo8auDthb-uBUKmo9pHISeXlFPbAnhRxQd1EHIlydc1g-G3XybuIhlNqN5JHGyhq3O_QCLwcvZuAtj3r__c6/s1600/quran01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNhrKkYZ8D7e1J8Lc9K387epzmO51qmuT-3hmXfzOOtG5U_iXpRlWJZzOPo8auDthb-uBUKmo9pHISeXlFPbAnhRxQd1EHIlydc1g-G3XybuIhlNqN5JHGyhq3O_QCLwcvZuAtj3r__c6/s320/quran01.jpg" width="225" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have received very encouraging response to
the emails about spiritual democracy. Before I share my understanding of this
concept, I would like to clarify a basic point. There are two different
perceptions about Islam today, and spiritual democracy is relevant only to the
first.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The first version dominated the Muslim thought from
1887 to 1953. Its followers included Sir Syed
Ahmad Khan, Syed Jamaluddin Afghani, Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Iqbal, Muhammad Ali
Jinnah and many others. On their behalf, Iqbal summarized the purpose of Islam in these words:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
“Give man a keen sense of respect for his own
personality, let him move fearless and free in the immensity of God’s earth,
and he will respect the personalities of others and become perfectly virtuous.”
(<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/islam-as-moral-and-political-ideal.html" target="_blank">Iqbal, 1909</a>)</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This, according to Iqbal, was the unique idea which Islam contributed
to human thought and which did not exist before the advent of Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Since 1953, a different perception has gradually
become dominant in Muslim thought and has also been recognized by the academia in
the West. We may call it conservative Islam, but whatever name it is given, the basic idea behind it is that a human being cannot be let alone and needs to
be constantly supervised by authority figures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This is actually an antithesis of the spirit of
Islam. It is a recycling of the pre-Islamic worldview, if we are to believe
Iqbal, who said: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
“The opposite view, the doctrine of the
depravity of man held by the Church of Rome, leads to the most pernicious
religious and political consequences. Since if man is elementally wicked, he
must not be permitted to have his own way: his entire life must be controlled
by external authority. This means priesthood in religion and autocracy in
politics.”</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It should not surprise us that this pre-Islamic
“doctrine of the depravity of man held by the Church of Rome” manifested itself
in the Muslim world soon after independence: some of our religious elite must
have been influenced by the European masters during the long night of
colonialism (and Iqbal anticipated this as “the religion of slaves” in 1927, in
<i>Persian Psalms</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The difference
between these two perceptions of Islam is important to be remembered. “Spiritual democracy” is “the ultimate goal of Islam” only according to the first perception. This needs to be clarified before any meaningful discourse on this issue can take
place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-91274659285634219742013-04-04T04:05:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:42:57.181+05:005 Principles of Spiritual Democracy<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRESEjoQAYqU8DozNtRTBxFMfdxGb0J8W529hyphenhyphenlpVzlcmcsxJKaxEP7LGkbMVteSVctkffppmdfGUBabpDRJXLL-uvQIieQM87KlrcsoGdMa96QdbvfGlBbRcr-xwyFqT4rCcS1XqdtRAQ/s1600/rrcover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRESEjoQAYqU8DozNtRTBxFMfdxGb0J8W529hyphenhyphenlpVzlcmcsxJKaxEP7LGkbMVteSVctkffppmdfGUBabpDRJXLL-uvQIieQM87KlrcsoGdMa96QdbvfGlBbRcr-xwyFqT4rCcS1XqdtRAQ/s1600/rrcover2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The following five statements, in my understanding, constitute the basic principles of spiritual democracy.<br />
<br />
The statements are simple but they can bring a paradigm shift when understood in context (and that shall be attempted in the future posts). Also, they form a process and must be taken in the order suggested here. For instance, the proposition that Islam does not allow separation between Church and State is well-known but its practical implications would obviously depend upon our beliefs about the individual and his or her relationship with society. Therefore, those concepts must be clarified before attempting this rather advanced proposition.<br />
<br />
More in the future posts. For now, as we go through each of these statements, let's ask ourselves: <i>does it challenge our existing views in any manner?</i></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1. Individual:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The essential nature of man, then, consists in will, not intellect or understanding.” </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/islam-as-moral-and-political-ideal.html" target="_blank">Islam As a Moral and Political Ideal</a>', 1909)<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">2. Society:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The idea of universal agreement is in fact the fundamental principle of Muslim constitutional theory.”</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/political-thought-in-islam.html" target="_blank">Political Thought in Islam</a>', 1908)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">3. Leadership:</span><br />
“By leaders I mean men who, by Divine gift or experience, possess a keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam, along with an equally keen perception of the trend of modern history.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
(<i><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/12/presidential-address-1930.html" target="_blank">The Allahabad Address</a></i>, 1930)<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">4. Religion and State:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The State with us is not a combination of religious and secular authority, but it is a unity in which no such distinction exists.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/11/political-thought-in-islam.html" target="_blank">Political Thought in Islam</a>', 1908)<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">5. Goal:</span></div>
“…the immortality of a people, as Nietzsche has so happily put, depends upon the incessant creation of worths. Things certainly bear the stamp of divine manufacture, but their meaning is through and through human.” <br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
('<a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2012/12/the-muslim-communitya-sociological-study.html" target="_blank">The Muslim Community - A Sociological Study</a>', 1911)</div>
</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-50936788330876187192013-03-31T04:21:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:43:07.506+05:00Spiritual Democracy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8Z-OBGiGmY4moHxYFtpFnaTe8YsQoG46cdxJutFXVChGojTbvYpt0GyHOF6QuJpdXICVdYKXkZq0GxSfGKODh3mM4HXbxpr3Z9I-1_60k2-RBEismezvDuPHUnS_1aqjtABYAdPITgPk/s1600/rrcover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8Z-OBGiGmY4moHxYFtpFnaTe8YsQoG46cdxJutFXVChGojTbvYpt0GyHOF6QuJpdXICVdYKXkZq0GxSfGKODh3mM4HXbxpr3Z9I-1_60k2-RBEismezvDuPHUnS_1aqjtABYAdPITgPk/s1600/rrcover3.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Six years ago, I wrote a fantasy about the great Sufi master Maulana Rumi changing the world after being elected the ruler of a kingdom. From this fantasy was derived the title of my book as well as this blog and the newsletter: The Republic of Rumi.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The inspiration behind that fantasy was the fact that the foremost disciple of Rumi in modern times was Iqbal, and he is actually being recognized as a national hero in several states. Pakistan claims to have been conceived by him. Some of the Central Asian states acknowledge him as a national poet. In Iran also, he is held in high esteem. Hence, through Iqbal, the spirit of Rumi has actually been taking over the affairs of states since the middle of the 20th Century, at least in some ways.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was the meaning of the fantasy which I wrote six years ago. At that time it was not possible for me to show how the message and the influence of Iqbal can be used for actually creating the kind of government, commonwealth or world order that may be called a "republic of Rumi". I think, now I am in a position to share some interesting findings in this regards.</div>
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The keyword is "spiritual democracy". Iqbal stated in the sixth lecture of the <i>Reconstruction </i>(1930) that the ultimate aim of Islam was some kind of a "spiritual democracy". He said that it was to be evolved out of "the hitherto partially revealed purpose of Islam".</div>
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I feel that it may be a good idea if this blog and newsletter could be used mainly for elaborating this concept at least for some time. I hope that this suggestion would be welcome by most of the readers - and I would like to hear from you what you think about it.</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-61071778531662509612013-03-25T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:43:16.654+05:00A Message from the East (2010)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTw49Ly6w3M-tzRG87jSOxxiYeLJcAdj0hisIEhN8_lecCqE9dbPtW3D-EAhiu_3PMBoJYbGDTY6SMg6D7l3EwFfdEfosNXc9UTCyQXvUJnF9nPD-CW8RXhjimKx-QcCQaqcPekr7Psqm/s1600/message01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTw49Ly6w3M-tzRG87jSOxxiYeLJcAdj0hisIEhN8_lecCqE9dbPtW3D-EAhiu_3PMBoJYbGDTY6SMg6D7l3EwFfdEfosNXc9UTCyQXvUJnF9nPD-CW8RXhjimKx-QcCQaqcPekr7Psqm/s1600/message01.jpg" /></a></div>
<i>A Message from the East </i>by Iqbal; translations from A. J. Arberry, Mustansir Mir and Hadi Husain; compiled by Khurram Ali Shafique; illustrated by Natasha Saleem.<br />
<br />
First published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2010<br />
ISBN 978-969-416-445-8<br />
pp.48<br />
<br />
Price: Rs.200<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Order online within Pakistan: <a href="mailto:marghdeen@gmail.com" target="_blank">marghdeen@gmail.com</a> (visit online <a href="http://republicofrumi.blogspot.com/p/bookstore.html" target="_blank">Bookstore</a> for details).</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Iqbal could see the irony that so many of his generation had received inspiration for action from the writings of Western poets and thinkers in order to get rid of that fatalism which had taken roots in the East in the days of its decline. Iqbal was among those who did not stop here but also rediscovered the past masters of the East through research and finally took Rumi, the great Persian poet, as his guide. However, as he now looked back at the West, he found it to be in the grip of the same defeatist mentality which appears in nations in their periods of decline. A Message from the East was compiled against this backdrop. It reflected the best tradition of Persian poetry but also alluded to icons of Western learning. The preface aptly declared the book to be a friendly response to <i>West-Oestlicher
Divan </i>of the great German poet-philosopher Johann Wolfgang Goethe.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The selection offered in this junior edition comprises mainly of translations by A.J. Arberry, Hadi Husain and Mustansir Mir.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Note: Since then, I have switched to "The Message of the East", which conveys the meaning of the original Persian title better. At that time I was following Hadi Husain, who had styled it "A Message from the East" in his translation of the book.</i>Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-61334160872540361882013-03-24T07:20:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:43:35.894+05:00Topline Social Studies (2012)<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><i>Topline Secondary Social Studies Programme</i> (Revised Edition) by Khurram Ali Shafique. This revised edition first published in 2013 in Pakistan by Topline Publishers. </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19nQHcGHgYHo4bJgAA3_D5LC9F6uaBoIU4EpYnSvngN08r-DAuKy3Yi_jk2D9Pc9hB4RjeKqNFs6fsnoZUGJr8DzalPg0SDhKZK19J-uaE4Qdtaw0ygozB2cLbmb5X9YpLHfNWuHv9087/s1600/SST+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19nQHcGHgYHo4bJgAA3_D5LC9F6uaBoIU4EpYnSvngN08r-DAuKy3Yi_jk2D9Pc9hB4RjeKqNFs6fsnoZUGJr8DzalPg0SDhKZK19J-uaE4Qdtaw0ygozB2cLbmb5X9YpLHfNWuHv9087/s320/SST+6.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: medium;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Six</span></b></div>
<div style="font-size: medium;">
ISBN 978-969-567-057-6</div>
<div style="font-size: medium;">
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</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VI9_GnZH3AiPsLSGNvPt8D_WPGommeCVGqF9UiwdklDRBxjzEdhjKZkb2sTl2aEIBGrkgMYkZbsvu-pbDnOh3AxcCJmbdaT7D8dR_8OgOwsSKVA8N6K5CzikkBCYJ_8iGdBo83PsBKy-/s1600/SST+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VI9_GnZH3AiPsLSGNvPt8D_WPGommeCVGqF9UiwdklDRBxjzEdhjKZkb2sTl2aEIBGrkgMYkZbsvu-pbDnOh3AxcCJmbdaT7D8dR_8OgOwsSKVA8N6K5CzikkBCYJ_8iGdBo83PsBKy-/s320/SST+7.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: medium;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Seven</b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: medium;">
ISBN 978-969-567-058-3</div>
<div style="font-size: medium;">
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</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfKfqrxfdGvewAKCh3y976SXpnnOBrxyhTbBeJzW-_CR1f6OrsWaK5WaVdTPK_8zPnZ8Zroe0uvtr1zTvmX3a5YxCkEgjrISYMhGAEPYha_dR90y_riQEXHANEuYF1qoCHLfZndduBSYp/s1600/sst8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfKfqrxfdGvewAKCh3y976SXpnnOBrxyhTbBeJzW-_CR1f6OrsWaK5WaVdTPK_8zPnZ8Zroe0uvtr1zTvmX3a5YxCkEgjrISYMhGAEPYha_dR90y_riQEXHANEuYF1qoCHLfZndduBSYp/s320/sst8.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">Eight</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ISBN 978-969-567-059-0</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium;">
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Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-20907250211621535022013-03-23T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:43:46.442+05:00Javidnama (2006)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbBqXTpn-onY7AntXvFkTesBZRnR0zZBdlKAqG-ZSbkxTPUmlNcbtiwRfOFIgW8gCrsJcchQwL3mamR-R9_binoqLYAgxbm9TRH8n9RLTyGHtVEM5kN2Nv8z7OAtcg_j_lBHAnxlI_JiWN/s1600/javidnamacover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbBqXTpn-onY7AntXvFkTesBZRnR0zZBdlKAqG-ZSbkxTPUmlNcbtiwRfOFIgW8gCrsJcchQwL3mamR-R9_binoqLYAgxbm9TRH8n9RLTyGHtVEM5kN2Nv8z7OAtcg_j_lBHAnxlI_JiWN/s1600/javidnamacover.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Check Urdu Version</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div>
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><i>Javidnama </i>by Iqbal retold by Hina Tanvir; edited by Khurram Ali Shafique; illustrated by Tabassum Khalid.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">First published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in Junior Editions Series in 2006; reprinted several times since then.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">ISBN 969-416-371-4</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">pp.48 (US Letter size; full-color)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">Price Rs.200</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;">Order online within Pakistan: <a href="mailto:marghdeen@gmail.com" target="_blank">marghdeen@gmail.com</a> (visit online <a href="http://republicofrumi.blogspot.com/p/bookstore.html" target="_blank">Bookstore</a> for details).</span></b><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="http://therepublicofrumi.com/iqbal/works/javidnama.htm" target="_blank">Read online (free) on the old website</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On a lonely evening, Iqbal meets Rumi. Together they embark on a journey to the end of the world and beyond - meeting those who cannot be seen, and those who are long gone. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The worlds of spirit and matter combine, leading the poet into the presence of the Divine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<i>Javidnama </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">was described by Iqbal as his "life's work" and can be justly regarded as one of the most important books of the modern times. This abridged edition presents the grand epic in simple contemporary English.</span></div>
<br /></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Note: Since then, I have switched to "Javid Nama" (writing the two words separately) because Iqbal himself wrote it like that. At that time I was following the style of A. J. Arberry who wrote the two words as one in his translation. Khurram Ali Shafique</i></span>Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-41773856973925830942013-03-22T12:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:43:58.428+05:00Stray Reflections (poster)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5suftXccNtUlljSO5M6u27cYM_Qg4tco9b-HSUqIQw-gvnR806aegQCko9R19x-TNVcM0JtD_PJlFRucqaw-AEbmspxFA7aImaCXtqmjJKynMhuWhc8MXOvlowRYr9-8OiYjVHM5St7YK/s1600/stray02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5suftXccNtUlljSO5M6u27cYM_Qg4tco9b-HSUqIQw-gvnR806aegQCko9R19x-TNVcM0JtD_PJlFRucqaw-AEbmspxFA7aImaCXtqmjJKynMhuWhc8MXOvlowRYr9-8OiYjVHM5St7YK/s1600/stray02.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Read about the book</b></span></td></tr>
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<br />Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-58174811515060815962013-03-22T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:44:17.899+05:00Stray Reflections (2006)<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKWETIueOBfTBA18j7NIVbaepcbajoVe8BQAHTu4KDzULpJvlbpTNHJ5NAT-ikqIdbVk7551JLiaiBRQQaliWI6Lvngdibza0F1Yekhip_R1GKA8l1LY4-PznwmsjQt_7Y-AjEuVRAyEa/s1600/stray01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKWETIueOBfTBA18j7NIVbaepcbajoVe8BQAHTu4KDzULpJvlbpTNHJ5NAT-ikqIdbVk7551JLiaiBRQQaliWI6Lvngdibza0F1Yekhip_R1GKA8l1LY4-PznwmsjQt_7Y-AjEuVRAyEa/s1600/stray01.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Stray Reflections: the Private Notebook of Muhammad Iqbal (also includes 'Stray Thoughts'); </i>Edited with Afterword by Dr. Javid Iqbal; Revised and Annotated by Khurram Ali Shafique; Appendix 'A Rare Writing of Iqbal' by Afzal Haq Qarshi</b></span><br />
<i><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></i>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>Published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2006; reprinted a few times since then. Previous editions published in 1961 (reprinted 1987) and 1992.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>pp.264</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>ISBN 969-416-003-0</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>Price </b></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Stray Reflections </i>is the name given by Allama Iqbal to his private notebook, which he kept for some time in 1910 to jot down his random thoughts and reflections. Many of these notes were incorporated in his prose works at that time, and some were later offered for print in newspapers after revision. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The notebook, which offers some insight into the development of Iqbal's mind, was first edited and published by Dr. Javid Iqbal, the poet's son, twenty-four years after the poet's death. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The present revised edition is enriched by comprehensive notes and also includes 'Stray Thoughts', reflections of similar nature published by Iqbal at a later stage. Facsimiles of the original notebook in Iqbal's own hand are also included in this edition, making it a collector's item for anyone who is interested in the development of one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.</div>
</blockquote>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-38465137144140629072013-03-21T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:44:09.189+05:002017: the Battle for Marghdeen (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQtGmuyrlhERrjvNiXUtWx_gt0Ie1J6b6mOiejFb8JHu8a2mazS39iYXG7C-xh8NImmnx_lowOKwySQyg7kqKg_LaN5Ru88IVNoBwKRj6TufZbQxHNtnxEHVEeU2rFfDe1OnoijDI3i1I/s1600/2017_TheBattleForMarghdeen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQtGmuyrlhERrjvNiXUtWx_gt0Ie1J6b6mOiejFb8JHu8a2mazS39iYXG7C-xh8NImmnx_lowOKwySQyg7kqKg_LaN5Ru88IVNoBwKRj6TufZbQxHNtnxEHVEeU2rFfDe1OnoijDI3i1I/s320/2017_TheBattleForMarghdeen.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>2017: The Battle for Marghdeen</i> by Khurram Ali Shafique</b></span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>First published by Liberadux UK</b></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">pp.84</span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></b><b style="color: #134f5c;">ISBN/EAN13 <span style="background-color: white;">0957141637 / 9780957141636</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Price printed version: US$5.00 (from <a href="https://www.createspace.com/3978580" target="_blank">CreateSpace</a>)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>Ebook ISBN <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">9780957141629</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><b>Price ebook: US$1.99 (from <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/214481" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>)</b></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Marghdeen is an ideal society conceived by Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a foremost thinker of modern times. It is a world where life is inside-out, people know their destinies and there is no poverty, neediness, crime or injustice.<br />
<br />
In 2017: The Battle for Marghdeen, the author shows how such a society can be achieved in a short space of time, as long as we are prepared to change our perception about the world we live in. The book presents the basic principles for achieving Marghdeen, illustrated with examples from modern history. There is a special emphasis on societies that already acknowledge Iqbal as their thinker, but these principles can be applied anywhere in the world.</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-64222567083250368952013-03-20T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:44:33.903+05:00Shakespeare According to Iqbal<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoit2O9Hs_bAYTfH93r7Xny2IbkrT3hhKnc-4tPLhHgQfh71tKy6JfMvrvY-8WBMMR_y_wHlRSLeP6wPRs5AaPfbHCLEzay8G86Pwp2_BFsU7qTg4OjXvCOwpDgEVQ8FW1yEHeIlUqwT6/s1600/shakespeare01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoit2O9Hs_bAYTfH93r7Xny2IbkrT3hhKnc-4tPLhHgQfh71tKy6JfMvrvY-8WBMMR_y_wHlRSLeP6wPRs5AaPfbHCLEzay8G86Pwp2_BFsU7qTg4OjXvCOwpDgEVQ8FW1yEHeIlUqwT6/s320/shakespeare01.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;"><i>Shakespeare According to Iqbal: An Alternative Reading of the Tempest </i>by Khurram Ali Shafique</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">First published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2010</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">ISBN 978-969-416-448-9</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">pp. 48</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Price Rs. 70</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Order online within Pakistan: <a href="mailto:marghdeen@gmail.com" target="_blank">marghdeen@gmail.com</a> (visit online <a href="http://republicofrumi.blogspot.com/p/bookstore.html" target="_blank">Bookstore</a> for details).</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) was among those modern thinkers who had tremendous influence on the East, especially the Muslim world. He was also a great admirer of William Shakespeare, and unlike many of his contemporaries, his praise for the Bard was not riddled with skepticism.</span> </div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is a pioneering attempt by historian and playwright Khurram Ali Shafique to revisit Shakespeare in the light of Iqbal's thought in order to discover some revealing connections between the work of Shakespeare and outstanding poets of the East including Nezami Ganjavi, Mawlana Rumi and Iqbal himself.</span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Partly written like an extended parable, this book is meant to be of some interest for the general reader as well as the expert in the field.</span></div>
</blockquote>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-17159536902626373912013-03-19T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:44:44.471+05:00The Beast and the Lion (2007)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhES9s8BbVOWjzw8NXeUIwNF-TS8eRjC1o9QS0g4io692wVPmpPsS0iVttb3NAyySxnsxtKhyphenhyphen5I5s_bmpZy07jbWCeoT5zL90IjKmLH_PMln-5yemjodS4p43q4tnZN6T8j4XykLQzdcXd4/s1600/beast01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhES9s8BbVOWjzw8NXeUIwNF-TS8eRjC1o9QS0g4io692wVPmpPsS0iVttb3NAyySxnsxtKhyphenhyphen5I5s_bmpZy07jbWCeoT5zL90IjKmLH_PMln-5yemjodS4p43q4tnZN6T8j4XykLQzdcXd4/s320/beast01.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;"><i>The Beast and the Lion: Issues of Transcendence in the Poetry of W. B. Yeats</i> by Khurram Ali Shafique</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">First published in Pakistan by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2007</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">ISBN 978-969-416-398-7</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">pp.40</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Price Rs.50</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Order online within Pakistan: <a href="mailto:marghdeen@gmail.com" target="_blank">marghdeen@gmail.com</a> (visit online <a href="http://republicofrumi.blogspot.com/p/bookstore.html" target="_blank">Bookstore</a> for details).</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
The poetry of W. B. Yeats is generally acclaimed to be representing the devastation, despair and decadence of the 20th Century. This groundbreaking study attempts to show that the vision of Yeats was grounded more in his philosophical premise than in the objective reality of his times. Contrary to the common perception of Yeats as a cosmopolitan visionary who has something to offer everyone, this study shows that the terror projected in such poems as "The Second Coming" was a fear of the political reawakening of the East!</blockquote>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-80953688862337719392013-03-18T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:46:06.087+05:00Iqbal: an Illustrated Biography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdFawuMo_3gkXAgRCDjHlC4FRxPSdF2m3ozyBH8qDhIJn3FPNRrqx1ZCYHp0dSSFabI8xZqOmgPXQfFHfbkGXl8xdQ8PbwD78otRQer5uGb_5gnnGXiniKKGbwldCoLq90jw8xxaJOfBo/s1600/pub03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdFawuMo_3gkXAgRCDjHlC4FRxPSdF2m3ozyBH8qDhIJn3FPNRrqx1ZCYHp0dSSFabI8xZqOmgPXQfFHfbkGXl8xdQ8PbwD78otRQer5uGb_5gnnGXiniKKGbwldCoLq90jw8xxaJOfBo/s400/pub03.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Iqbal: an Illustrated Biography </i>by Khuram Ali Shafique</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2006; reprinted 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pp. 208 (US Letter size, full-color coffee-table format)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Price Rs.1000</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recipient of the Presidential Iqbal Award</span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Believing in the elemental unity of matter and spirit, he pointed out that all humanity was one. Anything that divides the human race is evil and must be opposed. The ideal to be achieved is a world free from poverty and tyranny. He believed that it was possible, and offered a spiritual solution to achieve this end. His observations seem strikingly contemporary today.<br />
<br />
This is the fascinating story of the life and times of the man who defied the cynicism of his age and upheld his belief in the future of the humankind, their glory and their possible immortality.<br />
<br />
<i>Iqbal: an Illustrated Biography </i>is arranged like a library of information, visual and documentary records, and memorabilia about one of the most important minds of the modern times.</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: large;">From the comment by Dr. Javid Iqbal</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Printed on the back title</span><br />
<br />
...This book is a commendable effort to bring together the various aspects of Iqbal in an interesting manner with visual embellishment. It is a one-volume encyclopedia of his life, work and times.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: large;">From the comment by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Printed on the back title</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
...The present book is an encyclopedic biography that covers all these aspects of the mind of Iqbal, without removing him from his various contexts: his time, his beautiful expression, and his unconditional faith in a common future for humanity.</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-31717141121133541722013-03-17T23:20:00.001+05:002015-06-28T20:46:38.141+05:00The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality (2007)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UQ5_WV9jpWyPxJkcF_VxhdeSCBv6NW_5Ox2wZu1KHL5sW5Y9lf8z7rV2ysE76GsCoiw29-g3lXzQe9vUXDp_FR6NCwP87dJ1xje5Jp2-sJc-KzeO8geEsla3ZlbCVJIuK2zAR9pp61Z8/s1600/rrcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UQ5_WV9jpWyPxJkcF_VxhdeSCBv6NW_5Ox2wZu1KHL5sW5Y9lf8z7rV2ysE76GsCoiw29-g3lXzQe9vUXDp_FR6NCwP87dJ1xje5Jp2-sJc-KzeO8geEsla3ZlbCVJIuK2zAR9pp61Z8/s1600/rrcover.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality</i> by Khurram Ali Shafique</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0c343d;">First published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan in 2007;</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;"><b>reprinted 2009 and 2012</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">ISBN 978-969-416-388-8</span></b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: inherit;">Price Rs.300</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0c343d;">Order online within Pakistan: <a href="mailto:marghdeen@gmail.com" target="_blank">marghdeen@gmail.com</a> (visit online <a href="http://republicofrumi.blogspot.com/p/bookstore.html" target="_blank">Bookstore</a> for details).</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Inside the Garden lies a secret as old as life itself but you must leave everything outside - even your previous knowledge. This is a fascinating voyage of discovery that stops at nothing short of reaching into the heart of the matter - and spirit.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Iqbal reinterpreted Rumi for our times, and now Iqbal has been reinterpreted for the times to come.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What you will discover here may be of a permanent relevance to your life and life in general, which may be better explained now in terms such as the Five Wisdoms, the Seven Stages of the Journey, the Fountain of Life, Jamshid's Cup, the Dance of the Soul, the Falcon and the Leopard and, of course, Joseph!</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: large;">Comment from Muhammad Suyel Umar, Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan</span></div>
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-small;">Printed on the flap of the dust cover in the book</span><br />
<br />
Khurram Ali Shafique is the first Iqbal scholar to have completed a much-needed requirement in Iqbal Studies that was being pointed out by the scholars for the last few decades.<br />
<br />
It has been said about the Quran that "part of it explains other parts of it" and the internal coherence in the writings of Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) had for long seemed to be inspired from this aspect of the Divine Word. The thread that runs through his poetry and the function of his lectures as an explanation of his poetry were all aspects that were touched in Iqbal Studies briefly but no has ever attempted to articulate the architectural whole of Iqbal's canon in order to show the intricacy of the design intended by the author himself. This is what Shafique has done in <i>The Republic of Rumi </i>through a narrative that is remarkably readable and accessible without losing the depth that should be expected in such a work.<br />
<br />
This is a book for our times and of our times.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: large;">Comment from Ahmad Javed, Deputy Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-small;">Printed on the back title of the book</span><br />
<br />
This book takes you a long way on the path devised by Iqbal in order that Rumi's system of mysteries could seep into the deepest possible recesses of human consciousness.</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-11879433973028181052013-03-17T15:27:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:49:34.027+05:00Javidnama (poster)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8KJH5LPIA4QAS5ix4Jm6JTROl8S1tolaki4Q_tbXj2MOBi3S5mYbNATyneyvZMmgenR91pQZ5F5EuyjRQ3XcwuWI658Q2ZicjDrP5JgeWOU0A4SSzMZAbgjXQ2mUAJKT6LSXH_67tsmL/s1600/jn02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8KJH5LPIA4QAS5ix4Jm6JTROl8S1tolaki4Q_tbXj2MOBi3S5mYbNATyneyvZMmgenR91pQZ5F5EuyjRQ3XcwuWI658Q2ZicjDrP5JgeWOU0A4SSzMZAbgjXQ2mUAJKT6LSXH_67tsmL/s1600/jn02.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-88249614782119622062013-01-28T04:20:00.002+05:002015-06-28T20:48:54.656+05:00C. R. Das and Allama Iqbal<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
اسرار خودی کا ریویو دیکھنے کا منتظر ہوں۔ سی آر داس کا خطبہء صدارت کانگریس آپ نے دیکھا ہو گا۔ اُس نے اسی روحانی اصول کو سیاسی رنگ میں پیش کیا ہے۔
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
("I'm awaiting the review of Asrar-i-Khudi. You must have seen the presidential address to the Congress by C. R. Das. He has presented the same spiritual principle in a political manner.")</div>
(Iqbal, January 6, 1923)</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The excerpt is from a letter written by Iqbal to a young writer, Abdul Majid Dayabadi, in Urdu. The reference is to the presidential address delivered at the 37th session of the Indian National Congress held at Gaya on 26th December 1922.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDbGaZ21jgYUo0NE7lCZecaDkFCDL2OBE8k_9OdLeWz6bvkX_EplcVFwfsn1DAHSI_GuauNupQNSmcT_-Bayz8rw-nMWM0g2N5Thd2Oxvy30Ihnsxdydn0ypamXmbJpxJyB3bIn4MYfjR/s1600/ChittaranjanDas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDbGaZ21jgYUo0NE7lCZecaDkFCDL2OBE8k_9OdLeWz6bvkX_EplcVFwfsn1DAHSI_GuauNupQNSmcT_-Bayz8rw-nMWM0g2N5Thd2Oxvy30Ihnsxdydn0ypamXmbJpxJyB3bIn4MYfjR/s1600/ChittaranjanDas.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chittaranjan Das, better known as <b>C. R. Das (1870-1925)</b>, was one of the most prominent Indian leaders from Bengal. Just like Iqbal, Das was also a barrister, poet and politician. He became known as "Deshbandhu" (Friend of the Country) after successfully pleading the case of Indian militants in 1909. He was later persuaded by his close friend Muhammad Ali Jauhar to join the non-cooperation movement initiated by Gandhi in 1920, but he retained some of his own terms. These were explained by him most elaborately when he presided over the Gaya session of the Congress two years later while Gandhi was in jail. Notable among the younger admirers of Das were Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy (later prime minister of Pakistan) and Subhas Chandra Bose, the beloved "Neta Ji" whose charisma was practically irresistible even for those who disagreed.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The presidential address of Das, to which Iqbal referred in the excerpt quoted above, may be summarized into four basic themes. The first of these may not be completely in sync with Iqbal's ideas, but the other three are among the finest elaborations of their common ideals:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. "Law and order" is a fallacy promoted by tyrants and despots for enslaving people.</b> Incidentally, this is an antithesis of what Iqbal had been promoting as "Islamic principles" of politics since 1908 (see, for instance, 'Political Thought in Islam' and 'Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal' by Iqbal). A detailed comparison of the ideas of these two great contemporaries may, in my opinion, give us insight into the roots of some very puzzling issues that face us even today.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>2. It is impossible to attain freedom by violent means. </b>Das quoted several examples from history to show that revolutions brought through violent means did not result in freedom: Magna carta, French Revolution and the Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution. Iqbal must have agreed most completely with this thesis (and it fully resonated in Iqbal's poem 'The Dawn of Islam' written less than three months later).<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>3. Individual, society, nation and humanity are interconnected in a spiritual manner.</b> This is mainly the idea in which Iqbal noticed an affinity to his own philosophy. Of course, Iqbal did not presume that Das was in any way "inspired" by him or even familiar with his works (although Das was almost certainly acquainted with some of the works of Iqbal). Das actually quoted at length, with acknowledgment, from <i>The New State </i>(1918)<i>, </i>a groundbreaking book by the American writer Mary Parker Follett. Follett had proposed a blueprint for a "spiritual" kind of "new democracy" in America, and a comparison of her book with the writings of Iqbal can bring a few more surprises (as I hope to show in the fourth book of Iqbal's biography which I am writing in Urdu these days).<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>4. A new plan of work for Congress. </b>Das suggested seven fresh items for updating the original programme of non-cooperation. The first among these was "a clear and emphatic confirmation" of Lucknow Pact to safeguard the distinct identity of Muslims. Another interesting proposition was "the great Asiatic Federation" which, of course, would practically consist of a majority of Muslim countries. Das believed that "the Pan-Islamic movement which was started on a somewhat narrow basis has given way or is about to give way to the great Federation of all Asiatic people". Knowingly or unknowingly, Das was lending support to what Iqbal had stated a few months earlier in his Urdu poem 'The Khizr of the Way' (Khizr-i-Rah): "The salvation of the East lies in the unity of the international Muslim community, but the peoples of Asia are still unaware of this point"- </div>
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<b><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">ربط و ضبط ملت بیضا ہے مشرق کی نجات
</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">ایشیا والے ہیں اس نکتے سے اب تک بیخبر</span></b></div>
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: justify;">Postscript: This post is far from comprehensive. It is just meant to point out some resources for further study: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://www.marghdeen.com/2013/03/freedom-through-disobedience-1922.html" target="_blank">Complete text of the presidential address by C. R. Das</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.preservearticles.com/201104235825/short-biography-of-c-r-das.html" target="_blank">Short biography of C. R. Das</a></b></li>
</ul>
</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-37141706548213882922012-11-12T22:32:00.001+05:002015-06-28T20:49:03.493+05:00My "Iqbal Week" on Express Tribune<div style="text-align: justify;">
November 9 was the birth anniversary of Iqbal, which I spent mostly revising my second Urdu biography of Iqbal for a reprint. However, two of my articles were published in <i>The Express Tribune, </i>and I hope that they would be of some interest to those interested in the "applied" side of Iqbal Studies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1SFZunjVGIRWMffzVI2DPPSVGFhqqbULr0hfj4A26uqKlwroqa4DJXpIQ0kUHJDkK9LSvaPeJCp0JjRaz9t7pEY-62YVOJ7cGRb9Qi_zmDiH5Xmm1xicTbtynhp8kFaiByhJyKeY-Wfs/s1600/iqbal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1SFZunjVGIRWMffzVI2DPPSVGFhqqbULr0hfj4A26uqKlwroqa4DJXpIQ0kUHJDkK9LSvaPeJCp0JjRaz9t7pEY-62YVOJ7cGRb9Qi_zmDiH5Xmm1xicTbtynhp8kFaiByhJyKeY-Wfs/s320/iqbal.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/463092/re-reading-history-who-wants-to-be-enlightened-by/" target="_blank">Artwork from <i>The Express Tribune</i></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/463092/re-reading-history-who-wants-to-be-enlightened-by/" target="_blank"><b>1. Re-Reading History: who wants to be enlightened by Iqbal?</b></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>(published November 9): "<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Iqbal's philosophy is a tool for training the minds for looking into the conscience of nations and humanity." This is how the editor captioned the gist of the article (rightly in my opinion). <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/463092/re-reading-history-who-wants-to-be-enlightened-by/" target="_blank">You can read the complete article on ET's website</a>, and also post comments. Personally, I was particularly amused by two of the comments because, while I disagree with them, they are succinct and honest expressions of that approach with which I beg to differ in all my writings:</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;">Whatever message iqbal wanted to convey he did through his poetry. No need for further enlightenment." (Posted by ZQ)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; text-align: left;">Anybody should think twice before buying an idea, any idea</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; text-align: left;"> '</span><em style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">for which <strong>even the least enlightened man</strong> among us can easily lay down his life.'...</em><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em; text-align: left;">" (Posted by Cynical). </span> </span></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHhA4AIfuLq_l5gRFlkow9Eubr-s1bnp3TktRdtA9gWL0zl9LdN6Jh1zcdemmy0pvqLrLZSxKrQk4GN_xm-LdjPphcSS3TI4Ya6ee4C_naZZ7L4Yxb09HLaQ5Z2lWjrMdT5V5JNmubGAu/s1600/deewar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHhA4AIfuLq_l5gRFlkow9Eubr-s1bnp3TktRdtA9gWL0zl9LdN6Jh1zcdemmy0pvqLrLZSxKrQk4GN_xm-LdjPphcSS3TI4Ya6ee4C_naZZ7L4Yxb09HLaQ5Z2lWjrMdT5V5JNmubGAu/s320/deewar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Artwork from <i><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/462731/breaking-down-the-wall/" target="_blank">The Express Tribune</a></i></span></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><b><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/462731/breaking-down-the-wall/" target="_blank">2. Breaking down the Wall</a> </b>(Published November 11): The editor's introduction for this piece is, "</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">If Ravi is India, then who is Vijay? Khurram Shafique revisits the 70s’ Bollywood blockbuster <i><a href="http://youtu.be/XkUU_nN6YsU" target="_blank">Deewar</a></i>, a film which has constantly been the subject of analysis, and juxtaposes it with the current state of the subcontinent." Iqbal also features in this article, as he does in the movie itself (through his lyrics). I hope that the regular readers of this blog would be able to guess that the title of the article, however, was not suggested by me, but I think its good because it can draw more readers. I was particularly drawn to one of the comments posted there by a very polite reader, Manish, but I won't copy it here because it would be out of context then. <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/462731/breaking-down-the-wall/" target="_blank">You can read the article and comments on the website of ET.</a></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-91343013216702153892012-11-02T00:00:00.000+05:002015-06-28T20:49:13.891+05:00Prologue to 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>2017</i> published by<br />Libredux, UK</span></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Dear friends, </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The clouds of war linger over the East and while some people there may suspect the hand of "Western powers", the people in the "West" are themselves harrowed by myriad problems, some of which are essentially similar to those elsewhere. Is it not the time for taking the first practical step towards a meaningful action based on the certainty that regardless of the odds, the intentions may not, would not and cannot fail eventually?</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>It is not possible for any individual to outline the course for such action, but the first step towards discovering it collectively has to be a common understanding about our past - a simple and optimistic overview of the recent history of humanity highlighting some ideals on which nations have already agreed and may cooperate in future. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>This is the aim of this serialization of my recent publication, </i>2017<i>, which will appear in weekly instalments on this blog on Fridays, so that input may be gathered from everyone as "comments", and possibly also related posts on other blogs.</i><span style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"> </span></div>
</blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The first instalment is just an attempt to raise the question: can we reclaim the goal of "an age of plenty" for "all the nations" that was a commonly held dream in a recent past?</i></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i>Regards,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i>Khurram Ali Shafique </i></div>
</blockquote>
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On March 5 1946, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill visited Westminster College in Missouri, USA. In his speech, which later became famous for several reasons, he said:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
The United Nations Organisation must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force… It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organisation, while it is still in its infancy… Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organisation with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organisation [i.e. the United Nations].</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
…If the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the world, certainly in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience… there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty.</blockquote>
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Churchill may have been stamping his authority as a world power rather than making a prediction, but the dreams embedded in his words were being dreamt by so many at that time, even more ubiquitously outside the English-speaking world of the British Prime Minister. Less than seventy years later, those dreams not only seem to have failed but also to be forgotten. It was said that only folly or sub-human crime could prevent an age of plenty.</div>
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Instead, we now find ourselves to be in an age where even the remembrance of such promises seems to be sub-human folly, if not also crime. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: #444444;">The promised paradise may not have happened until now, but can it be reclaimed soon? Why or why not? Post your answers as comments.</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Further "reading":</span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfFeY-B16tk" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Complete recording of Churchill's speech (with text) as video on Youtube</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Text of Churchill's speech as web page</span></a></li>
</ul>
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Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8751964279420308191.post-48555203091385425542012-10-27T06:15:00.002+05:002012-10-29T03:53:02.029+05:00Eid Mubarak, Mr. Bond<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgon0V4KrZN5_CbZS2h6z6_H5CzXQKWFRTARgDFZrS344dDw2yZgKDl4JfJd22ij2tWG1wVWgKe4js8pemRCqePFtf-xiYOpuaj7jbU3TSfGw-5CuDAP-yTxTZ9iyQKxibVcDIgvbtwK60/s1600/queenBond_2290989b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgon0V4KrZN5_CbZS2h6z6_H5CzXQKWFRTARgDFZrS344dDw2yZgKDl4JfJd22ij2tWG1wVWgKe4js8pemRCqePFtf-xiYOpuaj7jbU3TSfGw-5CuDAP-yTxTZ9iyQKxibVcDIgvbtwK60/s320/queenBond_2290989b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Earlier this year, James Bond escorted<br />Her Majesty the Queen to the Olympics in London.</b></span></td></tr>
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The Muslim community in Britain celebrated Eid-ul-Azha on October 26. It was also the 50th Anniversary of James Bond movies. The latest, <i>Skyfall, </i>was released to mark the anniversary.</div>
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It may not be a coincidence that the first James Bond novel was received in the same year when Sir Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower directed their secret agents to topple an unfavourable government in Iran.<br />
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Creative artists can sometimes assimilate a deeper current in the lives of their societies, and this may have happened to Ian Fleming. The secret agent created by him can be seen as an embodiment of the complications embedded in the post-colonial vision of the West, and perhaps also some of its apparent self-contradictions. Moreover, the continuous evolution of the famous spy also seems to be consistent with the evolution of that vision, and the present resurrection is a candid example.<br />
<br />
In the new century, a burning issue for Great Britain has been whether it should see its participation in the much-needed action against terrorists as "a war on terror" (as believed by the American allies), or whether terrorism should still be regarded as a mere "crime" and dealt with accordingly.<br />
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The twenty-third official adventure of James Bond seems to be addressing this issue (and the high-point is the speech delivered by M to a group of decision-makers, where M ends up reciting lines from Tennyon's poem 'Ulysses').</div>
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It is beside the point whether this was actually the intention of the team who created this film. Being a creation of several minds, even a one-off film is a mystery that could be explored forever. The complexity increases where the film involves a legend that has been evolving for half a century and has brought out 22 predecessors.</div>
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As such, the surface of a popular film's narrative can always be scratched to reveal something about the collective consciousness of its parent society. What may have always lurked beneath the surface of the 007 legend has perhaps come out most succinctly in the 80-second "official teaser trailer" of <i>Skyfall</i><i> </i>(embedded below).<br />
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<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">James Bond: pride of a wounded empire,<br />or apprehensions about the future?</span></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<ul>
<li>"Country?" "England."</li>
<li>"Gun?" "Shot."</li>
<li>"Agent?" "Provocateur."</li>
<li>"Murder?" "Employment."</li>
<li>"Skyfall?" "[Silence]."</li>
<li>"Skyfall?" "Done."</li>
<li>"Some men are coming to kill us. We gonna kill them first."</li>
</ul>
<br />
Is this how the British patrols stationed at Suez Cannal thought in January 1952 when they shot down 49 Egyptian policemen and invoked the wrath of the natives ("Some men are coming to kill us. We gonna kill them first.")? Were these the very words that rang in the mind of the CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt in August 1953, when he saved his job by stirring up riots in Iran that claimed 700 civilian lives and toppled a liberal democratic government ("Agent?" "Provocateur". "Murder?" "Employment.").<br />
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The role of Western powers in the post-colonial era has generated many controversies (not to mention outrage and criticism). <i>Skyfall </i>might be one of the most useful resources for anybody looking for a well-rounded and honest answer, befitting the dignity of a former world power that has been known for its "sense of fact".<br />
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Nevertheless, the answer is disturbing. It gives a basis for asking: Was the immortal James Bond born out of the pride of a wounded empire, or does he stand for apprehensions about the future?</div>
Khurram Ali Shafiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15329916182280619617noreply@blogger.com10