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| November 10, 2003 | Monday | Ramazan 14, 1424 |
Youth urged to interpret Iqbal’s message
ISLAMABAD, Nov 9: The Pakistani youth need a fresh interpretation of Allama Iqbal in sync with the spirit of the new millennium, and not the old-fashioned ones which were no longer valid, Justice Javed Iqbal (retired) said on Sunday.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on the ways in which Iqbal’s thought could inspire the Muslim Ummah in the 21st century organized by the Pakistan Academy of Letters to observe the 126th birth anniversary of the great poet-philosopher.
Justice Javed Iqbal stressed on the youth to study the collected writings of the great poet in-depth so that they could better attempt a more logical and rational interpretation than they have done hitherto. They need to rely on his collected writings, particularly his lectures on the reconstruction of religious thought and less on poetic works which, as Iqbal said, was used as vehicle for conveying the Allama’s political thought.
About the lectures, he said, Dr Iqbal was not trying to reconstruct the religion anew but was simply presenting a new pattern of thought to seek a rational interpretation of religion to so that the Muslims could gain greater understanding of Ijtehad. “Time flows like a stream and does not stop at any moment. Hence more the reason that our notion of religion as a life renewing force is enriched and the conventional views are revised and the conflict between religion and the spirit of changing times is harmonised”.
In Javed Iqbal’s view Muslims found themselves a prisoner of old and conventional ideas, which was the foremost cause of unrest among the Ummah. Bound with these old methods the Ummah could not yet adopt an elective method of governance that promises democracy, a lack which was a major cause for its ignorance and poverty.
Referring to the confusion about an Islamic system of government, he said he found no mention of such a system either in Quran or Hadith. He mentioned the obscurantist view found at the higher level as another reason for the backwardness of the Ummah.
“You could be liberal but at the same time a moderate, because there was no contradiction of sorts. This prevented us from extricating ourselves from the influence of ‘jehadi’ parties”.
He said we believe firmly in the right to self-determination for the people of Kashmir and for this reason we could not abandon our principle or forego our support to them.
He said in the last century God Almighty gifted us with five unsurpassed leaders in the person of Shah Waliullah, Sir Syed Ahmad, Jamaluddin Afghani, Allama Iqbal and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But that flow of leaders had now ceased and therefore the need of the hour was to create a think tank to come up with innovative ideas in keeping with the march of the time. He explained his urging for new interpretation of Iqbal first to create a middle class welfare society in Pakistan, and then additionally to find out a means of bettering the fortunes of the Ummah.
Continuing in the same strain the former dean of Iqbaliat at the Allama Iqbal Open University, Prof Siddique Shibli was confident that Allama Iqbal’s message would once again energize Muslims to come out of the crisis situation in the 21st century.
In a comprehensive paper read on the occasion Mahtab Akbar Rashdi surveyed the economic reasons that had brought out the downfall of Muslims since the 19th century. She regretted that 800 Muslims out of a population of 1.3 billion were denied education, and termed the lack of education among Muslims as the dominant reason for political wilderness in which the Ummah now found itself.
The seminar was also addressed by scholars such as Prof Dr Ayub Sabir from the NWFP as well as Director Balochistan Study Centre Dr Abdur Razzaq Sabir. Anjum Khaleque moderated the proceedings of the seminar.—Jonaid Iqbals
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