‘PAS Che Bayad Kard Aye Aqvaam-i-Sharq’ (or ‘Then What Should Be Done O Nations of the East’) is a Persian masnavi by Allama Muhammad Iqbal. It was first published in 1936, but in the same volume Iqbal’s another Persian masnavi ‘Musafir’ was published, too.
Musafir’ was first published in 1934 and was in fact outcome of Iqbal’s journey to Afghanistan that he took in 1933. Muhammad Nadir Shah, the then ruler of Afghanistan, had invited Allama Iqbal, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi and Sir Ross Masood to come over and help him formulate Afghanistan’s educational policies.
The reason behind publishing both the masnavis in one volume was that, as some scholars say, ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ was a concluding portion of ‘Musafir’.
Yousuf Saleem Chishti once remarked that if Iqbal’s entire poetry was the body, ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ was the heart to it. It is a fact that ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ sums up Iqbal’s message in just 530 couplets. It discusses some very important issues faced by the Muslim nations and it severely criticises the West for its exploitative political and economic policies, but in a masterly poetic way and in a wonderfully beautiful language.
‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ has always inspired the intellectuals. Yousuf Saleem Chishti had published a detailed commentary in Urdu on ‘Musafir’ and ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ in one volume in 1957, but it was without translation of text. Ilahi Bakhsh Akhter Awan had translated ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ into Urdu and it was published, along with commentary, from Peshawar in 1960. Rafiq Khawar published a versified Urdu translation titled Pas Che Bayad Kard M’a Musafir in 1977. Sharh-i-Masnavi Pas Che Bayad Kard M’a Musafir is a commentary in Urdu, by Khwaja Hameed Yazdani, on both the masnavis. Published in 2004, it was intended for students, but a shorter version with a slightly different title had already appeared in 1999.
From India, a complete versified Urdu translation had been published in 2006. Titled Masnavi Pas Che Bayad Kard Aye Aqvaam-i-Sharq M’a Musafir, it was rendered into Urdu by Syed Ahmed Isaar. This masnavi by Iqbal has been translated into English and Punjabi, too.
A new, versified Urdu translation of Pas Che Bayad Kard has just been published. Titled Ab Kya Karna Chahiye Aye Aqvaam-i-Sharq and published by Lahore’s Iqbal Academy, it is rendered into Urdu by Prof Dr Tehseem Firaqi. Versified in free verse and carrying a scholarly foreword by Dr Firaqi, it also offers the original Persian text.
Firaqi in his foreword has summed up the historical background against which Iqbal created this great work. Iqbal emerged, says Firaqi, at a historical conjuncture when an alien force had taken over the Indo-Pak subcontinent and greater tragedy was that many in the society had mentally accepted the slavery. Appearance of ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ 13 years after publication of Payam-i-Mashriq (Message from the East) is no coincidence and it has some profound reasoning as the East has been cradle of some of the world’s ancient civilisations and all the Divine religions descended in the East, adds Firaqi. So Iqbal asks the nations of the East to unite and rise.
Iqbal advises the Arab nations, says Firaqi, to keep the West away from your “hauz” (or reservoir), alluding to oil wells. But the West has not only colonised the East, with all its wealth including oil, and has now appeared in the shape of Neo-Colonialism, for which the World Bank and International Monetary Fund work as long arms, adds Firaqi.
Another aspect that ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’ highlights is the clash between materialism and spiritualism. Iqbal says the revival of the East lies in spiritualism. While emphasising morality and ethics, Iqbal had said in his sixth lecture that “Believe me, Europe today is the greatest hindrance in the way of Man’s ethical advancement”.
Firaqi has also described the unfortunate incident that must have caused Iqbal great pain and agony. This took place just after the publication of ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’. Quoting Dr Riaz Ahmed, he says that about a year before the publication of ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’, Iqbal had been suffering from ailment and financial problems. Iqbal’s son Aftab Iqbal and Iqbal’s close friend Sardar Umrao Singh Gul Sher had written to Sir AKber Hyderi who held a key post at the princely state of Hyderabad (Deccan). But the reply from Hyderi had clues that pointed to the fact that some ‘enquiry’ against Iqbal was in progress in Deccan for his severe criticism of the West in ‘Pas Che Bayad Kard’, so any support from Deccan was not possible. Keeping “enquiry” in view, Iqbal returned the cheque for Rs1000 that Hyderi had sent. Iqbal contemptuously refused to accept what he termed as “Zakat”, or alms, in his brief poem, which in fact was a versified letter to Hyderi. The cheque was sent on the occasion of ‘Iqbal Day’, being celebrated by Muslim Cultural Society on Jan 7, 1938. That poem is included in Armughan-i-Hijaz.
In brief, Firaqi’s forward to the book itself is a remarkable piece of writing on Iqbal.
Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2021
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