The Iqbal Academy, in co-operation with the Pakistan Academy of Letters, has brought out a voluminous book about Iqbal under the title, Iqbaliyat Ke Sau Saal.

It is compiled by Dr Rafiuddin Hashmi, Suhail Qmar and Dr Wahid Ishrat. The 1,143-page volume is meant to be a representative selection of articles from the ton of writings on Iqbal published in the past hundred years.

The selection starts with an introductory article on Iqbal written by Sir Abdulqadar in 1902. In fact, the galaxy of writers who have written on Iqbal come from different walks of life. So we see here a number of religious scholars as well, such as Syed Sulaiman Nidwi, Syed Abul Hasan Nidwi and Syed Abulaala Maudoodi. But eventually, for the appraisal of Iqbal as a poet, we will have to turn to the literary critics. And we see here a number of our leading critics discussing the poetic merits of Iqbal’s poetry.

What appears very significant in the eyes of Majnoon Gorakhpuri is the fact that Iqbal made a start as a ghazal writer and chose to seek guidance from Mirza Dagh as his ustad. Gorakhpuri is of opinion that though famous as a nazam writer, Iqbal was basically a ghazal writer. All Iqbal’s poetic works are steeped deep in the tradition of Taghazzul. Iqbal is, says Gorakhpuri, innovative in the sense that he employed the age-old styles in a new way. He was a classicalist and a modernist at one and the same time.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz in his piece says that Iqbal was a multi-dimensional poet whose verses are many layered. It is up to the reader to see which layer has something to offer him.

Saleem Ahmad in his article quotes Mohammad Hasan Askari saying that “Masjid-i-Qurtaba” has the status of Taj Mahal in the history of Urdu poetry. Ahmad then offers his own analysis of the poem and concludes by saying that it appears like a miracle of art.

But Dr Yusuf Hasan Khan’s approach to Iqbal is a bit different from these critics who are all praises for the poet. He too is an admirer of Iqbal but his approach is analytical and objective. In his article, Khan discusses Iqbal in the context of the controversy which flared in consequence of his adverse comments on the poetry of Hafiz.

Khan takes note of these comments in an impartial way and arrives at the conclusion that Iqbal in his harsh criticism of Hafiz is one sided in the way he is in the case of Plato. But he hastens to point out that in spite of the criticism of Hafiz, Iqbal was very much under his influence. And he adds that Iqbal himself had made a confession to this effect. On one occasion he told Khalifa Abdulhakeem, “at times I have a feeling that the soul of Hafiz has transmigrated in my inner being.”

But Khan has an argument in favour of this seemingly contradictory situation. He says that it is quite possible for two artists to develop differences on one level and yet discover common ground. And Khan discovers much that is common to both, Hafiz and Iqbal.

So thanks to Khan, we get some clue at least about one controversy surrounding Iqbal. But we don’t know the line of argument of the defenders of Hafiz. The compilers of the book did not think it fit to provide space to the poet’s critics.

None of the critics, who criticised Iqbal and differed from what he said, were accommodated in this volume. Were they afraid that the inclusion of such writings in this volume will tarnish Iqbal’s image? But that would not have been the case.

After all, Iqbal had appeared with a new vision and a new thinking which could hardly reconcile with the thinking of the conservatives and the orthodox clerics. His ideas and reformative zeal was bound to provoke all such elements. The clash was inevitable. The reference to those controversies and inclusion of a few critics reacting to Iqbalian thought would have helped the readers to see Iqbal in the perspective of his times and in the social environment he was fated to live in.

And now, let me refer to a piece of writing where Iqbal, apart from his persona as a poet and a thinker, appears as a father. What a lovable portrait of a father, who after the sad departure of his wife, is trying to play the role of a mother to his two children, a son and a daughter. Dr Javid Iqbal deserves full praise for this exquisite piece of writing.