Bret Hawk
Senator (1k+ posts)
On 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] October this year, a rather brief news clipping was circulated among the portals of social and electronic media about the sad demise of Justice (Retd.) Dr. Javed Iqbal. Time seemed to have stood standstill and I was starting to recollect some of the memories of Dr. sahab. Curiosity again compelled me to turn towards his autobiography which was lastly revised in October 2002.
This fascinating book was spanned for thirteen chapters on roughly 300 pages and it’s needless to state here that after a considerable period of time I paid that much attention to almost every written word of Dr. sahab. Though stating the obvious might kill the sense of my perception therefore I thought to share my views on him with my feelings which I implied and construed through subtle lines of his reasoning in this book in a scant manner.
Dr. sahab pretty much glossed about the mystical dimension of his celebrated father Dr. Iqbal where he mentioned about his spiritual encounters with Maulana Rumi and the prolific bard of the subcontinent (Mirza Ghalib) in the last decade of his father’s life. It was like an eerie experience for the young Javed to see his father talking seemingly with the air or empty space in his room.
For almost in his entire life Dr. Javed Iqbal seemed to be captivated with the idea of secularism and soliciting the interpretation of Islam based on forward thinking rather than clinging onto its storied history through Muslim civilizations. For Dr. sahab God is supreme and wise enough to leave the matters of the world on the shoulders and consciousness of Man in that age where He deemed that Man has reached to the level of intellect and consciousness that no further guidance is required from the heavens.
Dr. sahab also used to think that with the rapid pace of scientific and technological development Man’s reliance on God’s help will be further reduced in years to come and thus in this manner religious clergy’s repressive role could further be diminished at least from the central policy making of the states. Religion for Dr. sahab was not the ultimate potion to control the bestial instincts of Man and thus with some degree of control and regulation, religion could be successfully used to navigate the affairs of modern Man rather than thrusting its crude and brute injunctions down his throat.
This thought is however is not expressed explicitly but to my reading it has been implied by Dr. sahab in several of his narrative passages. Dr. sahab to most of his life mainly concerned with the practical aspects of wisdom and philosophy that could shape nations psyche and collective consciousness. Therefore the account of his selection of PhD thesis is also pretty much interesting for me when contrary to the suggestion of his supervisor Dr. Arthur J. Arberry (d. 1969 AD) he adopted the topic of ‘The Evolution of Muslim Political Thought in Indian Subcontinent’.
Once again one can notice the sharp contrast between father and sons when they adopted the topics for their respective PhD theses (Dr. Iqbal chose the topic of The Evolution of Metaphysics in Persia for his doctorate degree in the University of Heidelberg). For years Dr. Javed Iqbal’s mind was captivated with the historical processes of nations’ development and decline which compelled him to think on the lines of adopting secularism for maintaining the internal cohesion of a state in a world which is full of external predators.
All and all Dr. Javed’s autobiography and his views towards the end of his life is simply an indictment against the corrupt and unscrupulous ruling elite and establishment of Pakistan. For Dr. sahab Pakistan over the years has become an antithesis of his illustrious father’s thought where only lip service is devoted for the cause of its ideological base and Islam is being constantly used to achieve the state’s strategic political objectives. Dr. sahab also used to be incensed in all of his life that how different incumbents of Pakistan used to present him as a glowing relic of his father to foreign dignitaries in order to sell them the notion of their ‘unbridled commitment’ to make Pakistan a progressive Islamic republic.
For Dr. sahab Pakistan do require to be governed by those people who are not the remnants of a decayed generation which has further dimmed its fortunes in all of these years. One can sense the level of disappointment of this great intellectual of Pakistan in the last stages of his life but yet he was hopeful that with sticking to the common logical sense the reformed and new ruling elite can turn the fortunes of this unfortunate country with the span of few decades and to make Pakistan a model of ‘Spiritual Democracy’ in line with the political thought of his great father.
In the last chapter of his autobiography Dr. Javed mused rather in a somber manner with the sense of Man’s mortality and the ridiculous short nature of his life on this earth. He described that how much his sexual desires diminished towards the last two decades of his life and how much less relevant he felt with his sense of masculinity. He states that despite of the toll of decades his mind still remained fresh with new ideas and verve but unable to proceed to implement them because of his weak state of physical condition and rather pathetic state of affairs of Pakistan through the clutches of its cruel ruling elite.
Dr. sahab was one of a kind and unique intellectual of this country who embraced modernism as far as its positive aspects are concerned and always used to realize that nations and people develop by adopting the moderate way of life rather than lying on the extremes to fix their issues.
I do feel more vacuous and gross after his sad demise and only pray for his eternal happiness in that mysterious world where he has embarked upon his last journey.
This fascinating book was spanned for thirteen chapters on roughly 300 pages and it’s needless to state here that after a considerable period of time I paid that much attention to almost every written word of Dr. sahab. Though stating the obvious might kill the sense of my perception therefore I thought to share my views on him with my feelings which I implied and construed through subtle lines of his reasoning in this book in a scant manner.
Dr. sahab pretty much glossed about the mystical dimension of his celebrated father Dr. Iqbal where he mentioned about his spiritual encounters with Maulana Rumi and the prolific bard of the subcontinent (Mirza Ghalib) in the last decade of his father’s life. It was like an eerie experience for the young Javed to see his father talking seemingly with the air or empty space in his room.
For almost in his entire life Dr. Javed Iqbal seemed to be captivated with the idea of secularism and soliciting the interpretation of Islam based on forward thinking rather than clinging onto its storied history through Muslim civilizations. For Dr. sahab God is supreme and wise enough to leave the matters of the world on the shoulders and consciousness of Man in that age where He deemed that Man has reached to the level of intellect and consciousness that no further guidance is required from the heavens.
Dr. sahab also used to think that with the rapid pace of scientific and technological development Man’s reliance on God’s help will be further reduced in years to come and thus in this manner religious clergy’s repressive role could further be diminished at least from the central policy making of the states. Religion for Dr. sahab was not the ultimate potion to control the bestial instincts of Man and thus with some degree of control and regulation, religion could be successfully used to navigate the affairs of modern Man rather than thrusting its crude and brute injunctions down his throat.
This thought is however is not expressed explicitly but to my reading it has been implied by Dr. sahab in several of his narrative passages. Dr. sahab to most of his life mainly concerned with the practical aspects of wisdom and philosophy that could shape nations psyche and collective consciousness. Therefore the account of his selection of PhD thesis is also pretty much interesting for me when contrary to the suggestion of his supervisor Dr. Arthur J. Arberry (d. 1969 AD) he adopted the topic of ‘The Evolution of Muslim Political Thought in Indian Subcontinent’.
Once again one can notice the sharp contrast between father and sons when they adopted the topics for their respective PhD theses (Dr. Iqbal chose the topic of The Evolution of Metaphysics in Persia for his doctorate degree in the University of Heidelberg). For years Dr. Javed Iqbal’s mind was captivated with the historical processes of nations’ development and decline which compelled him to think on the lines of adopting secularism for maintaining the internal cohesion of a state in a world which is full of external predators.
All and all Dr. Javed’s autobiography and his views towards the end of his life is simply an indictment against the corrupt and unscrupulous ruling elite and establishment of Pakistan. For Dr. sahab Pakistan over the years has become an antithesis of his illustrious father’s thought where only lip service is devoted for the cause of its ideological base and Islam is being constantly used to achieve the state’s strategic political objectives. Dr. sahab also used to be incensed in all of his life that how different incumbents of Pakistan used to present him as a glowing relic of his father to foreign dignitaries in order to sell them the notion of their ‘unbridled commitment’ to make Pakistan a progressive Islamic republic.
For Dr. sahab Pakistan do require to be governed by those people who are not the remnants of a decayed generation which has further dimmed its fortunes in all of these years. One can sense the level of disappointment of this great intellectual of Pakistan in the last stages of his life but yet he was hopeful that with sticking to the common logical sense the reformed and new ruling elite can turn the fortunes of this unfortunate country with the span of few decades and to make Pakistan a model of ‘Spiritual Democracy’ in line with the political thought of his great father.
In the last chapter of his autobiography Dr. Javed mused rather in a somber manner with the sense of Man’s mortality and the ridiculous short nature of his life on this earth. He described that how much his sexual desires diminished towards the last two decades of his life and how much less relevant he felt with his sense of masculinity. He states that despite of the toll of decades his mind still remained fresh with new ideas and verve but unable to proceed to implement them because of his weak state of physical condition and rather pathetic state of affairs of Pakistan through the clutches of its cruel ruling elite.
Dr. sahab was one of a kind and unique intellectual of this country who embraced modernism as far as its positive aspects are concerned and always used to realize that nations and people develop by adopting the moderate way of life rather than lying on the extremes to fix their issues.
I do feel more vacuous and gross after his sad demise and only pray for his eternal happiness in that mysterious world where he has embarked upon his last journey.
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