March 13, 2005

THE recent years have seen a flurry of writings from Dr Jawid Iqbal, including Ideology of Pakistan and its Implementation, Zinda Rud (biography of Allama Iqbal), Islam and Pakistan’s Identity and his autobiography Apna Gariban Chaak. These works have given him the identity of an acclaimed analyst of serious issues independent of his lineage, as the son of one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. The book under review, Jahan-i-Jawid, represents the odd and ends of his writings, most of them dating back to his student days of 1940s. The book consists of 17 plays, two short stories, six articles and one rejoinder to one of his articles by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi.

In his autobiography, Jawid Iqbal writes that while working for his MA in English literature, he was impressed by Greek tragedy in great measure, and wrote a number of plays of that genre. Many of them have been included in the book under review. With the exception of two or three comedies and one historical play, all the plays included in the volume depict abnormal characters and macabre situations. Therein dwell heroin addicts (‘Masoom’), drug-smugglers and procurers (‘Tabeer’), a woman who loves filth and feculence (‘Azra’) and a sadist who loves to hear cries of pain (‘Aqa’). In one play, the moon, which comes in and out of clouds a bit too frequently, is used as a metaphor of God Knows What. The plots and the characters in these plays appear to be too contrived to be realistic. With regard to their analogy with the Greek tragedy, the less said the better.

None of them touches the height of the cosmic reality of human misery, which is engendered out of some flaw of a protagonist’s character as depicted in Greek tragedies. One comedy “Boots of crocodile leather”, is, however, good. A stolen pair of shoes from a mosque triggers a host of hotly-debated issues about Islam and the Shariat. The two short stories included in the book represent an amateurish effort of a callow mind, written, presumably, in the author’s younger days.

The article “Aristotle’s reflections on tragedy”, written in 1946, depicts painstaking research but reads as a piece straight from an encyclopaedia. The article on “The issue of ideology” portrays a strait-jacketed and linear view of our author on religion, ideology of Pakistan, literature as an agent of change and propagation of Islam, reducing it to a form of propaganda. Creditably, a rejoinder to this article, written by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, severely criticizing Jawid’s point of view, is also included in the volume.

The last three articles are a far cry from the first one, in which Jawid emerges as a mature, liberal and erudite analyst. Perhaps the variance can be explained by the time that elapsed between these writings. The first article was written in the year 1948 and the last three between 2001 and 2004.

In the article on the sources of inspiration of a poet, he discusses the Islamic point of view of poetry and fine arts in the background of annotations of Maulana Maudoodi, compares it with the points of views of Plato and Aristotle and arrives at the conclusion that the postulates of art for art’s sake or art for life choke up the free expression which can lead to the creation of true art. He ends this article with the startling quotation from Allama Iqbal: “Science, philosophy and religion all have their limits, only art is limitless.”

The most thought-provoking article in the book is the one which attempts to delineate the Islamic form of government, methods of its selection or election, its functions and responsibilities and the roles of Ijtehad and Ijmah in the historical perspective. Here he has mostly elaborated Allama Iqbal’s points of view. According to the latter, process of election is the closest to the Islamic spirit for the formation of a government.

Some of the other views that Iqbal espoused are: through the mechanism of Ijtehad and Ijmah, the government of an Islamic state could enforce birth control, prohibit polygamy, abolish jazya for non-Muslim and treat them as equal citizens. The state is not duty-bound to enforce the observance of the religious rituals (Huqooq-ul-Allah) by its citizenry and the Hudood may not be administered under changed circumstances.

Bank interest, according to Iqbal’s interpretation and that of Maulana Shibli Naumani, did not fall in the definition of riba. The welfare functions of the state, like providing education, health facilities and creating economic opportunities for the masses, were given high priority. For meeting the expenditure to be incurred on the performance of these functions, the state could impose taxes, including income tax on agricultural income. Revolutionary concepts indeed, especially when considered in the context of today’s straitlaced interpretation of Islamic precepts.

The last article deals with the crises, both personal and pertaining to the Muslim ummah, which led Iqbal to compose his famous poem, ‘Shikwa’. When he was bitterly criticized for writing the piece, he was obliged to compose a rejoinder, ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’. According to the author, the latter is a far less compelling composition compared to the former. “It would have been better if ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’ was not written at all,” opines Jawid. He then goes on to describe the plight of Islamic countries all over the world since the fall of the Soviet Union and 9/11. He concludes by stating that the Muslim ummah needs another Iqbal to compose another ‘Shikwa’ or some one who could compose a rejoinder to ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’.

A thorough reading of Jawid Iqbal’s autobiography convinced me of his sound scholarship and intellectual vision. He has endeavoured to reconcile traditional Islamic values with modern liberal ideas with conviction. It is no mean feat indeed. However, a great intellectual is known not just for what he has published but, equally important, for what he has not. He ought to have the discipline to discard what does not fit. Dr Jawid Iqbal would have ranked higher in one’s estimation if his plays had not seen the printer’s ink.

Jahan-i-Jawid
By Dr Jawid Iqbal
Sang-e-Meel Publications,
25 Shahrah-i-Pakistan, Lahore. Tel: 042-7220100
Email: smp@sang-e-meel.com
ISBN 969-3516-03-6
400pp. Rs600

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