WITH reference to Mr Intizar Hussain’s contribution, How to read Iqbal? May 16, I was disappointed to read his article on Iqbal’s poetry.

While it is true that lqbal’s poetry should be read for pleasure and tracing the influence of classical poetry on lqbal’s style is an interesting exercise, but surely great poetry like lqbal’s is more than just an aesthetic achievement. Poets are said to be the unacknowledged legislators of the world. The interaction between art (including poetry) and socio-political developments is well established. Thus, to read lqbal solely for pleasure is to deprive ourselves of his insights, passions and thought on a wide range of subjects of great significance to our current human predicament.

In Pakistan the public, the media and the establishment have succeeded in killing lqbal’s poetry with kindness. He is treated as an icon, to be worshipped not understood. He is the ideologue of Pakistan, which tends to subordinate his cosmic and universal visions to the narrow nationalistic requirements of the Establishment.

The halo surrounding him obscures his rich and diverse personality, his talent and genius, his weaknesses and flaws. His philosophy, to which he attached great importance, is ignored or misunderstood by his countrymen. The Six Lectures on the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam has been out of print for a long time. It would, in any case, be incomprehensible to most of us because understanding it requires familiarity not only with Islamic mysticism but also Western philosophy (which is popularly equated with atheism). The concept of Self has been interpreted to justify aggressive behaviour ignoring the call for discipline and self-purification.

We seem to ignore the connections between his poetry and contemporary global events. In the West, the appreciation of literary works has been enhanced through study of personal life and experiences of the author. The neglect of this aspect is particularly unfortunate in case of lqbal who with his cosmopolitan education, transnational perspectives and involvement in politics was keenly aware of the global scene and particularly sensitive to the political and economic developments of the day. We are all familiar with his poignant and nostalgic evocation of the great moments of Islamic history but we should also be aware that some of his great verses were inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1919. While the Red Revolution may have failed to fulfil original expectations, the poetry of lqbal, celebrating the human aspiration to build a heaven on earth, remains imperishable. We should also be conscious of some of Iqbal’s weaknesses because no human being is infallible. He was retrogressive in respect of gender equality and was misled, for some time, in supporting Mussolini’s Fascism.

A REGULAR READER OF YOUR COLUMN
Karachi