Iqbal's Poetry Reverberates with Our Leader's Message
Examples of Hadith in his Inspiring Poetry
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
The latest crop of munkareene hadith (rejectors of Hadith) has a
commonality with the earlier generation (of Ghulam Ahmed Parvez, etc.)
in
that they claim Iqbal, the Poet of the East, as one of themselves. Such
claims of the munakareen are FALSE.
Iqbal, like all Islamic greats, looked critically at Hadith. Islamic
scholars have always tried that weak hadith should not gain currency
and
authentic hadith too should be put carefully in their Qur'anic context.
Iqbal, particularly in his prose, tackled the issue of application of
Islamic
texts to modern times. People who do not understand the modern era
sometimes
do great harm by picking up Hadith at random and trying to apply them.
Issues of application and political analysis aside, Iqbal's
poetry was
imbued with the revolutionary message of Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh)
hadith.
The most important aspect of Hadith-e-Muhammadi is the IDENTIFICATION
OF
ISLAM WITH THE OPPRESSED and the BREAKING OF THE CHAINS OF SLAVERY.
Even in his early poetry, Allama Iqbal had a poem on BILAL (Allah be
pleased
with him.(See kulliyat-e-Iqbal, page 80, published by his son Dr. Javed
Iqbal
in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1979.) In this poem, Iqbal also refers to
Salman
(Allah be pleased with him) and Uwais (who could not meet the Prophet).
Referring to Bilal's adhan (call to prayer), Iqbal writes: "Azaan uzl
say
taray ishq ka tarana bani." (The call to prayer was your anthem of
exalted
love" (for the Prophet). This "exalted and intense love" (ishq) was to
be a
major theme in Iqbal's poetry.
The point here is that BILAL is not mentioned in the Qur'an. The
only
way Iqbal or any other Muslim can know of Bilal, one of the seminal
figures
in Islamic struggle AGAINST SLAVERY, is through Hadith where his life
is
carefully documented.
Then for one of his major themes, Iqbal quotes an actual Hadith
of
the Prophet (pbuh): "Al-faqr fakhri." ("Poverty is my pride") In his
vibrant
"Khitab ba jawanan-e-Islam" (address to the youth of Islam), Iqbal
describes
a characteristic of the golden era of Islam with the actual words of
that
Hadith:
"samaa al-faqr fakhri ka ruha shane imarat main/
'bab-o-rang-o-khal-o-khat chay hajat ruway zeba ra.' " (In their
prosperity
and power, they (the Muslims) were epitomes of al-faqr fakhri/'what
need does
a beautiful face have of make-up and paint?) (Kulliyate Iqbal, p.180)
The point of the Hadith is that the Prophet (pbuh) took
self-imposed
poverty as his lifestyle. The true Muslim does not live in grandeur and
wealth when the world is suffering from scarcity, exploitation and
oppression. Even a well-to-do Muslim does not take pride in his wealth
because mentally he/she is with the poor and the downtrodden.
(There are clear Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) that he wanted to
be with
the poor in this world and in the Hereafter. In his book Maqame Hadith,
Parvez tried to ridicule hadith about the Prophet's identification
with the
poor. Thus the munakareene Hadith are actually in strict opposition to
Iqbal,
though they claim Iqbal is on their side.)
Iqbal knew that there cannot be an academic (Qur'an only) Islam
from
which the idol-shattering army of Muhammad (pbuh) and the sahaba (Allah
be
pleased with them) has been removed. In his jawabe shikwa, in which
Allah
metaphorically answers the Muslim's complaint, Iqbal puts the exalted
love of
Muhammad (pbuh) as the centerpiece of his message:
"Quwwate ishq say hur past ko bala kar day
dahr main isme Muhammad say ujala kar day"
(With the power of exalted love {ishq} raise up all the
downtrodden
Bring light to the world with the name of Muhammad)
Iqbal's understanding of Allah's message is that without Muhammad
as the
leader and the central example of the ummah, there can be no hope for
the
Muslim world's renaissance. He puts God's words metaphorically:
"ki Muhammad say wafa tunay to hum tayray hain
yeh jahan chiz hay kiya, loh-o-kalam taray hain"
(If you are faithful to Muhammad, I ({God} am with you
This world is nothing: destiny itself {the tablet and the pen} is
yours)
(kulliyate iqbal page 207 and 208)
The reference to the Hadith "Poverty is my pride" which Iqbal
quoted in
Bange Dara, became a strong motif for his poetry in Bal-e-jibreel. Only
when
one, like the Prophet, takes poverty, rather than wealth, as his pride,
does
one become a revolutionary who can transform the world. It's the
attitude of
the Prophet towards this world (recorded in Hadith) which is the esence
of
Islam. Iqbal says:
"Faqr ka maqsood hay iffate qalbo nigah
'ilm faqih-o-hakim, faqr masih-o-kalim."
(Faqr ([self-imposed poverty] aims at purifying the heart and the
vision
'knowledge can make one a scholar and a healer, but faqr is essence of
Christ
and Moses.) (kulliyat page 369)
Iqbal then goes on to bring together the concept of FAQR and his
key
concept of KHUDI or selfhood (taken from sura al-'araf). Thus the
Qur'an and
the Hadith come together in his poetry, as they should in the best
Islamic
thought.
It might shock the munkareen to know that Iqbal even took hadith
which
are not mainstream into his poetic cadences (like the one about
LAULAK).
So don't let anyone say that in his best thougbt Iqbal rejected
Hadith. Of course we must use understanding and wisdom in the
application of
Hadith. There is no alternative to serious study.
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Remember, dear readers, Hadith is under attack from the Zionists and
their
running dogs, along with some innocent dupes. Goldziher and Schacht
started
this assault. Our younger munkareen do not know that these attacks have
already been defeated.
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2000-09-25 Mon 13:08ct