The opponents of Pakistani state, which surely has Islamic ideology as its basis since the day one of its creation in 1947, always use to misinform and distort the guidelines of M.A. Jinnah in the past and present. The element of surprise for me however is this that no doubt Mr Jinnah should be given the required importance and space to this great statesman but was he the only formidable force behind that push for Muslims independence in British India?
None of these haters and opponents of Pakistan’s Islamic identity ever give any iota of importance to that influential personality of Indian subcontinent who became a strong source of inspiration for Mr Jinnah himself in their misleading debates over the futuristic goals and line of actions of this troubled unfortunate state of South Asia. That gigantic personality is none other than Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal who was a luminous visionary and spiritual master for the entire Muslim elite of the then enslaved Indian Muslim community of subcontinent.
In rather mysterious circumstances Iqbal has been gradually phased out from the national curriculum of Pakistani schools and Universities to such extent that even if a tiny point of reference is present in the current syllabus of (compulsory) Pakistan studies and Pakistani ideology then it only conveys the trivial philosophical points of Allama sahab. Allama’s main themes of Islamic renaissance, national integrity, respect and Muslim communal honour (Positive ego) are virtually non existent in the current Pakistani academic, electronic & print media, strategic and other incumbent state institutions.
Even if someone dare to mention the name of Dr Iqbal in such important forums then usually the “Liberal Fascist Brigade” of Pakistan normally feels irritant and sick to their guts to the extent of abjectly downplaying the major contributions of this man of letters who was not only that imaginative & intellectual force behind the creation of not only one of the two ideological states of last century but also which was the major instigating factor behind the Islamic revolution of Iranian state, as admitted by their powerful clerical and intellectual circles in later years.
Normally the haters of Islam and every divinely inspired & organised major faith of this world use to raise following salient points to tarnish the image of the great Iqbal in order to make his credibility dubious in the eyes of those few ideologues in Pakistan who look at Iqbal with utmost reverence and respect;
Iqbal never solicited the view of independent and sovereign Islamic state for the Muslims of Indian subcontinent in clear terms in fact he always talked about the maximum autonomy of the north western (Modern day’s constituent provinces of Pakistan) Muslim dominated region of combined India.
Iqbal had a confused state of mind and there are many contradictions in his own thoughts and views. Especially with regards to the political, democratic and social set up of an incumbent Islamic state.
Iqbal’s primary thesis of “Personal Khudi” (Positive Selfhood / ego) was basically inspired from the views of the liberal fascist and atheist thinkers of the west such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Henri Bergson etc.
Since Iqbal’s central theme of philosophy always hinges on the development of strong egotistic personality of an individual (Powerful individuality) therefore he subtly adopted the western ideology of an independent & careless individual who should always remain in a state of conflict with its surroundings and authority.
Iqbal was always remained actively against the nefarious effects of theocracy and radicalised clergy of Islam therefore he can’t be termed as an out and out blocked minded Muslim fundamentalist thinker rather he was very much aligned towards the liberal stream of thought of Islam.
Iqbal advocated the need of the practise of Ijtihad (In depth legal reasoning to derive independent reasoning free from the shackles of past legal practices) in current times and was always effectively remained Non-Muqalid in his lifespan (Not blindly following any existent specific Legal school of thought of Islam) and therefore the modern Muslims of Pakistan should follow suit of their respected national thinker and should remain indifferent when it comes to the matters of Taqlid in Islamic jurisprudence.
Iqbal never wanted Pakistan to become a “Nation State” rather he was more interested to create a modern ideological Muslim state of the subcontinent under the supervision of the then British colonialists and therefore it’s a grave misconception nowadays to consider him as a “National Poet / Ideologue” of Pakistan.
Hope to see the responses of the admirers and fans of Allama Iqbal, the spiritual father of Pakistan according to my own humble opinion, on this board related to the above mentioned scant accusative points of the liberal fascists of current day’s Pakistan.
