*

Dr. Aliakbar Samkhaniani Journal of Subcontinent Researches

Assistant Professor of Persian Language& Literature University of Sistan and Baluchestan
Dept, University of Birjand Vol. 5, No.15, summer 2013
(pp.167-190)

Dimensions of Iqbal Lahori’s Islamism in Kolliyat of

Persian Poetry
Abstract
Iqbal Lahouri is one of the distinctive and pioneer Islamists whose
works have great importance regarding their reference to the Holy
Quran, Prophet’s Tradition, and cultural and civil heritage of Islamic
civilization. His Islamism, on the one hand, was a reaction toward the
performance and action of the West, and its intellectual and
philosophical schools, and on the other hand, an ideological rereading
of religious decrees, Prophet’s behavior, and retrieval of intellectual
heritage of Islamic civilization; in sum, a conscious and creative return
to a religious, cultural and historical ego. In this reading, Islam is a
religion of Human Nature and it is not only the route to salvation and
freedom of Muslims but also the prescription of salvation for all
humanity, and its revolutionary dynamics are consistent with the
temporal needs. A great part of Iqbal’s Islamist ideas are manifested in
his Kolliyat (total poems) of Persian Poetry which can be categorized in
5 sections as below: 1. subject of the Holy Quran and Islam’s Prophet,
2. endeavor to promote Islamic unity and Brothership, 3. self-knowing
and primarily attention to intellectual and civil heritage of Islamic
civilization, 4. religious innovation and ideological rereading of

*
Email: asamkhaniani@ Birjandu.ac.ir

www.SID.ir
receipt: 10-8-2012 Acceptance:1-3-2013
 Dimensions of Iqbal Lahori’s Islamism in Kolliyat of Persian 168
Poetry

religious decrees,5) combat against the intellectual discourse and

hegemony of the West culture.

Key words: committed Persian Poetry, Iqbal Lahori, Islamism,

Iqbal’s Kolliyat, religious innovation, Islamic Unity.

Introduction
Iqbal, poet, politician, philosopher, and great Muslim thinker, was
born in 22 February 1873 in Sialkout, Punjab, located in current
Pakistan. (Anoushe, V.4, 2001: 232) Some other sources like
Encyclopedias, Roshd Encyclopaedia as well as Wikipedia mentioned
1877 as the year of his birth. He got an MA in Philosophy in Lahore,
Pakistan; he went to London in 1905 to continue his studies and got his
PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge University and simultaneously got
his BA in Law and a license of attorney; a few years later he got
another PhD in philosophy from Munich University in Germany.
Having returned to his homeland, he started political activities and
became the head of Council and Moslem-League Allah-Abad Party. He
died in 21 April 1938. The beginning of his life was concurrent with
the UK dominance in India and its incorporation with the UK and the
establishment of Britain and India Empire. Since Muslims had been
fighting against the dominance of the UK in the 18th and 19th
Centuries, the UK considered Muslims as its main enemy in India and
designed inhuman and tyrannous plans to suppress and genocide them
and imposed kinds of bias and crimes against Muslims; it also designed
different tricks and plots and extended and provoked racial, factional
and religious differences to build divorcement among Muslims and
Hindus and also sought to exploit India and its other predatory
purposes. Knowledge, and philosophical, and law studies, familiarity
with intellectual, religious and literary heritage of India, Iran and
Islamic Civilization along with experiential recognition of the UK
colonialism made Iqbal a thinker who thought about different
dimensions of human life, especially the undesirable political and social
condition of the Indian subcontinent and
mwowrew.eSsIpDec.iiarlly Muslims, and how to exclude them from
these problems. Familiarity with the thoughts of Seyed Jamal-ad Din
Asadabadi extended his scope
of thought and thus became one of the pioneers and leaders of Islamism
and Pan-Islamism School; however, this term has a defaming character
against Seyed Jamal-ad Din Asadabadi School and the idea of Islamic
unity proposed by the West. Javid Iqbal, in the introductory part of
Kolliyat, says colonialist powers in the East and West never accepted
the unity of Muslims; they called the Seyed Jamal-ad Din Movement
Pan-Islamism and the East and West mass media depicted a dangerous
picture out of this movement for the world and said that it was created
to finish the Christian culture and art (Iqbal, 2010: 43); however,
writing different works, Iqbal tried to publicize the new Islamic
ideology called Islamism and remind the importance of return to ‘Self’
not only to Muslims and Hindus but also to all humanity. His Kolliyat
is one the important sources which is full of thoughts, trends and
insights like Islamism. Iqbal with some decades of experiencing poesy,
rises when many elites, authors and poets of the Islamic World in India,
Turkey (Center of Islamic Government), Syria, Arabia had been in fond
of the Western culture, and some of them resorted to newly-born
schools like Marxism, Communism, Socialism and considered them as
their salvation route, but Iqbal who had known Muslims’ problems in
India and had seen the practical and tyrannical colonialism of the UK
did consider these schools as opponents of religious and civil doctrine
of Islam and even in a critical view considered them as harmful for
human beings. Knowing the dimensions and aspects of Iqbal Islamism
has great importance in introducing his characteristic and progressive-
demanding reading of Islam in India and his original Islamism, so this
essay studies these in his Kolliyat. Another significance of this issue is
that today recessive, aggressive and Neanderthal trends and runs in
Islamic countries are named Islamism, while the Iqbal, Jamal-ad Din
and so on movements were intellectual and innovative.
What is Islamism?
Islamism is a term used to refer to a set of intellectual, cultural,
political and religious movements and trends that introduces Islam as
having different dimensions and capacities which can not only satisfy
the needs of the Islamic communities but also thoswe
wofw.tSheIDw.ihrole
humanity in all times. It is sometimes called Pan-Islamism or Islamic
unity (as vahdat-ol-Islamiya in Arabic) which has an original problem
in this kind of naming; in intellectual interpretation, it is an ideology in
which they try to replace the ethnic, racial and national trends with
unity between Muslims to establish trans-national Islamic unity. (Al-
Ashmawy, 1994: 85)
Islamism from the political sociology view is a return to the cultural
identity of Islamic nations and a mutual reaction to innovation
movements (Renaissance) in Europe. On the one hand, the Islamic
societies need the technology products and progress and even some
new western patterns in different aspects, thus having a modern and
idealistic reading of religion which can satisfy different political,
cultural, economic and so on needs of Muslims in the world of
communications and contracts, and on the other hand, as there have
been some fundamental incongruities and religious and cultural
oppositions between Islam and the West which obliged Islamic
countries to guard their identity, especially because they had
experienced the colonialism and exploitative trends of the western
countries in the Islamic countries from India to Africa, Muslims could
hardly ever trust in imported patterns of the West and East.
Acknowledging this, Ali Shariati believes that the factor to return to
religion (and nationality) is the discouraging of free thoughts as a result
of ideologies which were produced in the 19th century by replacing
religion and emblem of perfect rescue of humanity from all pains but
their practical result was cunningly exploiting the poor and tyrannically
colonizing nations deprived of industry and power in the world.
(Shariati, 1997: 101 & 102)
Therefore, there rose a new generation of scientists, thinkers and
intellectuals in the Islamic countries and tried to revise and propose a
new reading of religion to solve the problems of Muslims and tried to
present religion in a different way via new equations and relations in
which religion is regarded as an ideology. The difference of religion as
an ideology is explained by Shariati, “Faith as ideology is a belief
which is selected consciously and based on the need and concrete
abnormalities and to accomplish the ideals.” (Ibid, 1977: 134) Although
Islamism as a general movement cannot be
awttwribwu.tSedIDto.iorne single individual, most historians like
Morteza Motahari consider Seyed Jamal as the main drive of
reformative Islamic movements
which are called Islamism. (Motahari, unknown: 14) Some call Seyed
Jamal Afghani, and some like Anvaripour consider him as a pure
Iranian from Asadabad, Hamedan (Anvaripour,1968:21) saying that
even today his family live in Hamedan; however, it seems that he hid
his national identity deliberately and this has a great hidden message in
the culmination of nationalistic and ethnic movements after the collapse
of Ottoman caliphate.
Morteza Motahari has summarized Seyed Jamal’s pains and
problems in five subjects: 1. tyranny of governors, 2. ignorance and
unawareness of Muslims and their retrogression in science and
civilization matters, 3. dominance of superstitious thoughts in Muslims’
minds and their separation from original Islam, 4. separation and
schism among Muslims due to religious and non-religious reasons, 5.
dominance of Western colonialism. (Motahari, unknown: 21) He tried
to change Islam to an ideology. (Mojtahedi, 1984: 19)
Some considered Seyed Jamal as the founder of Islamic
Protestantism due to his modernistic view towards Islam. He accepts
the reality of science, intellect-combat and modernism-combat in the
19th century Islamic World, however, he disconnects the outrage
towards intellection, intellect and philosophy from Islam (Rahmanian,
2008: 55) and thought of religious renovation.
Joining of some like Sheikh Mohammad Abdoh and Seyed Qotb
and later Muhammad Iqbal Lahori and Ali Shariati followed by
intellectuals such as Mehdi Bazargan, Mahmud Taleghani and others to
Islamism, or the unaccepted term Pan-Islamism, caused it to spread
extensively. Muhammad Iqbal considers Seyed Jamal as the pioneer
and modernist of this movement. (Iqbal, 2010: 43)
Iqbal rejects the term Pan-Islamism and says: this term is invented
by a French journalist who wanted to create a monster with this term
and thought of Islam as having this feature…. However there is another
way to use this term which is congruent to the Quran Doctrine. Pan-
Islamism, in the recent concept, has no political purpose but it is a
social experience for uniting humans. In this sense, the purpose of Pan-
Islamism is humans’ unity and there should not be usedwPwawn
.iSnIiDt s.iirnce Islam alone suggests the very meaning. (Baqai, 2001:
128)
 Islamist Dimensions in Iqbal’s Thought and Poetry
Islamism is the most important subject in Iqbal’s thought and
poetry. There is a new reading in his poetry from religious doctrines
which gratefully respects the behavior and actions of Islam’s Prophet
and the prophets before him who was iconoclast and the father of
Unitarian nation, i.e. Abraham and also Imams, their pals and distinct
patterns in history and Islamic civilization namely Islamic mystics
especially Molana Jalal-ad Din. Islam, in his view, is an ideological and
current and full of knowledge, movement, motion, and in his term
‘action’. Reviewing the different aspects and dimensions of Iqbal’s
poetry, his Islamism can be categorized in five sections: 1. subject of
the Holy Quran and Islam’s Prophet, 2. endeavor to promote Islamic
unity and brothership, 3. self-knowing and primarily attention to
intellectual and civil heritage of Islamic civilization, 4. religious
innovation and ideological rereading of religious decrees, 5. combat
against the intellectual discourse and hegemony of the West culture.
1. Subject of the Holy Quran and Islam’s Prophet:The Holy Quran
as the most important knowledge source for Muslims is the main core
of Islamism and foundation of religion and Muslims’ unity. Seyed
Jamal’s claim shall be attended, “I don’t believe that there must be one
individual governor for all Islamic countries but I hope the Quran to be
the governor of all Muslims and Islamic nations and the factor of their
unity be their religion.” (Howze advertising Office, 1978: 41) Iqbal had
also a similar view like Seyed Jamal and insisted to the status of the
Quran and its sufficiency for the salvation of this and that world for
Muslims. He, in his Kolliyat, calls for two important things: 1.
reflection on the self of myself, and 2. reflection on the Quran. The self
pointed here is very close to the phenomenological ego, and the poet
wishes the Muslim reader would get an original approach and a
phenomenological ego toward the Quran and its concepts. This attitude
has some important relevance with his philosophical studies in Munich,
Germany, which is the birthplace of Edmund Husserl (who died in
1938 like him) and Phenomenology School. Anyway, he
encourages
Muslims to reflect upon the Quran. In fact, the
Islamicwiwdewol.oSgIyDi.sirthe
result of this revision and rereading:
 (...yhzHQfi_MA y9_u)If you have enthusiasms like Muslims/ Reflect
on your ego and the Quran,
There are Hundreds of new worlds in its verses/ There are lots of
history in its moments,
One of its worlds suffices the contemporary time/ Understand if
you have a meaning-seeking heart. (Iqbal, 2010: 457)
Elsewhere he says:
(...yI¸_e y_¤z)When the role of the Quran applied in this world/ The
role of priest and Pop disappeared,
Explicitly I speak about the hidden of my heart/ This is a thing
beyond usual books,
Destinies of West and East written in it/ Think quickly as fast as
electricity. (Ibid: 466)
He shows Muslims the hidden wisdom in the Quran which is the
factor of life and survival in the wonder and uncertainty conditions of
the poet’s time:
(...˛_zts ˛_Qœ 9_z)You know certainly that what your religion is/ And
what is the secret of your deference under heaven,
That live book, the Wise Quran/ Its wisdom is unending and old,
…. The prescription of secrets of life formation that the inconsistent
would be consistent from its power. (Ibid: 172)
Iqbal considers Muslims’ humiliation due to ignorance of the
Quran:
(...yt ,t9__s)You became despicable due to your ignorance of the
Quran/And you became the moan-meter of running of destiny.(Ibid:
172)
He enriched his poetry due to his familiarity with the concepts,
meanings, interpretations and exegeses, doctrines of the Quran and
presented highly sublime readings of Quranic concepts using his
innovation and ideal attitude for living in the world of today. Another
core of Islamism in Iqbal poetry is the existence of prophets. He
mentions the self and philosophical and Islamic self-
cownwsiswte.nScIeD; .hierart of Muslims is the place of prophets
with the love canon, and their life and understanding:
 (...,fi__MA ‡s ,s)The dignity of Mustafa is in Muslims’ heart/
Our reputation is the result of Mustafa’s name. (Ibid: 81)
(...,_wu ¿_mA)We are drunken of Batha (Mecca area) cupbearer’s
eyes/ we are united like the wine and the glass. (Ibid: 82)
In a phenomenological view, he regards Islam’s prophet the most
important demonstration of self:
(...˛x_mœ ¸_Zşu)The figure of existence is the effect of self (ego)/
Whatever you see is from secrets of self,
… 100 worlds are hidden in His nature/ Others are demonstrated
from his assertion,
Its flames burns 100 Abrahams/ To the light of one Muhammad.
(Ibid: 77-78)
Iqbal mentions one of the key and philosophical aspects of
Muhammad which is action and is very important in understanding the
aspects of his Islamism because ‘action’ is a kind of lodgement in
opposition to inaction and passivity of Muslims. Prophet is the inmate
of action and simultaneously forms Hara, ethnicity, ceremony and
Islamic government:
(...h_ç,9c)Bulrush is grateful to his relaxed sleep/ While Kasra’s tiara
under the foot of his believers (Ummah),
He cloistered in bedchamber of Hara/ And created ethnicity,
religion and government. (Ibid: 82)
(...˛¤b_QA ,hx_u h_z)When the motto of Muhammad was lost/ The
religious nation (Ummah) lost the secret of life. (Ibid: 148)
2. Endeavor to Promote Islamic unity and Brothership:The attention
and emphasis on the unity of Muslims is one of the most important
subjects and purposes of Islamism and its founders so that in Seyed
Jamal’s ideas, three kinds of unity can be categorized by concept and
unity: 1. political unity between Islamic nations in terms of the
government, 2. political and Practical unity between Shia and Sunni
and their cooperation against the foreign colonialism, 3. faith unity
among Muslims in terms of the Quran and consistent
rwelwigwio.uSsIDva.liures.
(Zargarinejad and Raes Tousi, 1997: 388)
 Iqbal refers to history and Islamic civilization to remind his readers
of the mutual background of all Muslims; he denies differences like
race, generation, descent, ethnicity, and language and emphasizes to
trans-national unity between Muslims in a lovely expression:
(... 9 yh_c> yt)We are from Hejaz and China and Iran/ We are the dew
of one smiling morning,
He (Muhammad) denied the privileges of the descent/ His fire burnt
these brushwood and prickles,
Like a flower having 100 leaves we have one similar perfume/ He
is the Soul, Life of this system and He is unique. (Iqbal, 2010: 82)
Iqbal, in a spiritual Quranic interpretation and Hermeneutic
conclusion, mentions that the generation and descent of Muslims refers
to a prophet much before the Holy Prophet, Muhammad, to Abraham
(PBUH) who broke the idols and constructed Ka’ba and founded
monotheism, and who is mentioned 69 times in the Quran:
(... 9 ,şzHQfi_MA h_A)We are Muslims and children of Khalil (Abraham)/
You should find reason from your Father. (Ibid: 126)
In this couplet, your Father refers to Verse 78 of Haj Surah:
,Zşct a¹fiA „¿¸⁄> ¿A ¿ç22t˛e ,Zşfi¥ $xc HA 9 ,shs´xct 9œ o¸shgc ”9> at˛¸e t92œ¸ hc 9
(78 :¿z2t ,yI¸e)...,Zşfi¥ ˝t2şgu ˚‡9w¹¸2t ´y9Zş2 tzœ ˛e 9 ˚$se ¿A ¿şQFIMQ2t e,ZşTQW 9œ T,şœt¸ct
Iqbal, getting revelation from education and pure doctrines of
religion and moral heritage of Islamic civilization especially referring
to the strict text of the Holy Quran, invalidated the conventional
borders of ethnicity, racial and land and referring to the verse,
a_¹fi2t2x¥ ,ZA¸_st ”y¸t t9e⁄,h_xx2 ´$_zhse 9 ˝hc9x_u ,sh_xfixc 9 ˛_´xz˚t 9 „¸_sz ¿_A ,shx¤fis h¹zt...»
(13:yt¸cz2t,yI¸e)«...,Zş´¤z´t
(The Quran, Hojorat: 13) shows us the unity and union of Muslims,
and in a broader criterion, the human ancestry:
Can homeland be considered as the trusty base for the destiny of the
nations?/ Can instauration of the nations be installed at the genealogical
meter as the base? www.SID.ir
(...,s ¿_¹FIA $_Qt)Why should we trace the origin of the nation in
the homeland?/ Why should we worship wind, water, and dust?
 To glorify the descent is ignorance/ It is equal to body and body is
mortal,
Our nation has another basis/ This basis is hidden in our heart,
… Our proof, our wish is one/ The type and size of our dream is
one,We have become brother by his blessing and gifts/ Have one
language and heart and soul. (Iqbal, 2010: 126)
(... 9 ,şzh_xet a_z)We are not Afghan, Turk or Tatar/ We grew up in the
garden as the branches of a unique tree,
Distinction of color and perfume is forbidden to us/ Since we are
created from one new-spring. (Ibid: 200)
Iqbal convinced the existence of racial and ethnic prides and racial
and ethnic sights which were spread in the entire Islamic world,
especially the Arabic countries, and even satirized and considered them
of childish characteristic:
You of child character punish yourself/ You are Muslim-born, leave
your descent,
If the Arab boast about their Red Blood, Vessel and Skin, leave the
Arab. (Ibid: 200)
Iqbal was offended by the strangeness and lack of unity among
Muslim nations and wanted from God, in his prayers, to re-give the
historical trans-national unity to Muslims:
(... y2_>9 áx_u,)When the nation loses the unity thread/ There would
be 100 nodes and problems in its affairs,
We are scattered in the world like stars/ We are our mates but
foreigners for each other,
Again bind these pages/ Again renovate the Affection ceremony.
(Ibid: 113)
As Javid Iqbal mentioned, Muhammad Iqbal reviewed many ways
of fulfilling unity, like government and sovereignty under one single
leadership and/ or foundation of the Federation of Islamic Countries,
coming to the conclusion that the only way which is based on reality is
that Islamic countries should cooperate with each other while
preserving their independence in mass contracts like
cuwltuwrawl,.SecIoDn.oimr ic and military conventions. (Ibid: 44)
Therefore, in an integrative conclusion, the legal government, in view
of Iqbal, is a government
which has religious purposes and preserves the Muslims’ rights and
unity in its political canon. Accordingly, Iqbal considers the separation
of religion and politics harmful though the quality of the religion
presence in the politics arena should be reflected on; however, it seems
that Iqbal believes that the religious purpose wouldn’t be fulfilled if
religion and politics are separated and he is also worried about the
immorality and libertinage in this regard. Iqbal protested against the
West and Turkey for secularism in his New Golshan-e Raz:
(... t, y2_c)When West separated body from the soul/ It separated
government and religion from each other too,
… Accompany wisdom with your heart/ Transmit them to Turkey
instructively.
They left their ego imitating the West/ And see no relations
between religion and politics (Iqbal: 382)
This view is in agreement with the political sight of Ayatollah
Khomeini, the great leader and founder of Islamic Republic of Iran as
he states in his Velayat-e Faghih:
“To provide Islamic unity, and free the Islamic land from the
colonialism and their exploitation, WE have no way but to establish an
Islamic government … to preserve and guard the system and unity of
Muslims, as Hazrat Zahra (PBUH) says in her lecture that Imamat is
needed to preserve the Islam’s system and to change the Muslims’
segregation into unity.” (Khomeini, 2008: 42)
3. Self-knowing and Primarily Attention to Intellectual and Civil
Heritage of Islamic Civilization:Recovering the Islamic civilization
heritage and intellectual returning to historical Islamic Self or ‘Ego’ is
one the most important aspects of Iqbal Islamism. He pays special
attention to intellectual and cultural heritage of the Islamic world:
language, literature, mysticism, morality and salient personalities which
are categorized in the sections as follows:
Returning to the Ego Heritage: ‘ego’ is a philosophical term unique
to Iqbal’s works and is very similar to phenomenological ego. The most
important point in this regard is pending the past look and hindsight
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and reaching an individual definition, and phenomenological ego of
Iqbal also has these qualities: r
 (... ˛x_mœ ¸_Zşu)The figure of existence is the effect of self (ego)/
Whatever you see is from secrets of self. (Iqbal, 2010: 77)
(... ç,9_z áb¤z)The point of lighting one’s name is ego/ Under our soil
is flames of life. (Ibid: 81)
(...yt yh_ş>)Life gets awake from the relief sleep/ Its internal nature
grows like one. (Ibid: 384)
Understanding the dimensions of ego is an important point in
understanding his thoughts and doctrines; however, it should be said
that ego is an existence which is manifested with thinking and action.
Iqbal regrets since Muslims do not think at all, and in fact, their ego is
inactive:
(...s¸_A y ç¸xfiehn)I have not seen anyone more ignorant than a Muslim/
His heart is in the middle of his chest but he is alien to his heart. (Ibid:
273)
He sees it in opposition that Muslims exchanged right and tradition
and prophetic morality with secularism and degenerated:
(...at s9_c as yI)The person whose capital was Allah, on the one hand/
Was lovelorn of the worldly capitals, and strongly fears Jihad and
Death, on the other hand.
He went and there is nothing of his intoxication and blitheness and
happiness/ His religion remained unlearned and non-taught in the book
(the Quran) until he went to the darkness of the tomb.
He says in an allegorical story from a lion who was defrauded; it
left its self (ego), and imitated the sheep tradition, its teeth trenchancy
(figuratively power) was lost, and more surprisingly, it named itself
reformation. This Lion is, in fact, the Islamic, Eastern and Indian
civilization which is forgotten by imitating Western identity and has
become weakened:
(...¤fi¥ yt)His prong teeth were lost due to eating grass / After that its
grandeur of fiery and horrible eyes was lost too,
The heart is lost from the inner chest/ The nature
w wmwir.rSoIrDis.ilrost from the mirror.
of
 Power and will and independence are lost/ Reputation and respect
and fortune are lost,
The conscious lion fell to the ignorance sleep by the magic of the
ewe/ And named his lag and laziness purity and progress of morality.
(Ibid: 88-89)
Islamist Attention to the Persian Language and Literature
To those who do not know the religious status of the Persian
Language in the Islamic civilization especially the Indian Subcontinent,
it may be strange that love in the Persian Language is a significant
manifestation of Iqbal Islamism; however, the fact is that the Persian
Language has been taught for nearly one thousand years in Indian
schools and rostrums as the carrier of religious and mystical sciences.
Iqbal assumes the Persian Language not the language of the nations like
Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan or the subcontinent but the mutual
language of culture, history and great Islamic Indian civilization, and
its content is stage by stage and moment by moment the report of
thinking of the people whose “style, norm and dreams are one” and
have a mutual and cooperative life in an extensive geography from the
Bengal Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and Middle Asia. In fact, Iqbal,
in a scientific, philosophical and exact manner considers language as
the thinking construct, type and norm of thinking and dream. The great
reason of his approach to the Persian Language is that the semantic and
structural aspect of each word is an original narration of the Islamic-
Eastern view. Linguistic studies emphasize this interconnection
between thinking and language. Chomsky, in his Language and Mind,
mentions, “It is possible to understand the acquaintance of knowledge
and belief systems in some regards. The case of language is especially
interesting since it has the key role of human thinking and cooperation
and it is by which that the description of knowledge acquired system
becomes possible.” (Chomsky, 1998: 3) Vygotsky, the well-known
Belorussian linguist, says in this regard, “It is mistaken to consider
thinking and language two separate processes which move alongside
each other and/ or intersect each other in just some points and affect
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each other mechanically … the meaning of word shows a compressed
r to determine
combination of thinking and language so that it is difficult
whether this combination is a linguistic phenomenon or an intellectual
one.” (Vygotsky, 2002: 183-184) Understanding this point, Javid Iqbal
says, “Since teaching the Persian Language is abandoned in Pakistani
schools, we are culturally pending in the air. Cultural values are hidden
in the Persian Language so leaving that language means distancing
from our culture. More than half of Iqbal’s poetry is in the Persian
Language which shows that this language has highly affected Iqbal and
the formation of his thoughts.” (http://jamaran.ghasam.ir) Therefore,
the Persian Language, which has a thousand year history in India, is the
framework of thought and historical mental organization of Hindus and
Muslims; Persian words show the Eastern looking and thinking
approach to different phenomena like natural, social and abstract
phenomena, and Iqbal being fluent in the English and German
Language and some other languages selects Persian, which is the
carrier of culture, moral values, religious and historical sciences of Iran,
the Subcontinent countries, Centeral Asia, Caucasus, and even West
Asia to express and transfer thoughts and feelings, and it is said that
about 7000 verses of his 12000 verses are in Persian. He was absorbed
by the Persian culture since he had found the best Islamic, humanistic
and ego readings in the Persian literature and mysticism, and his
famous poem about loving Iran and the Iranian Youth is in fact a
manifestation of his deep cultural knowledge about Iran:
(...a_2£ ¿t¸_u y9_u)Oh you, Iranian Youth, oath to my soul and oath to
your souls that I will burn in your street like a lamp of tulip,
I soaked a lot in life and experienced my matters to understand deep
and sublime thoughts,
I saw bright thoughts in your land like the Sun and the Moon and
my thought soared to the climax of skies and beyond Pleiades and I
want to establish my Harem (pure utopia) in your infidel-land,
I have an invaluable garnet from your Badekhshan; (means the
Persian language, literature and rich culture)/And it makes me as rich to
help the poor of the East,
Stand around me in the manner of a circle since/ I have a fire (deep
sense and thought) from your ancestors in my heart. (Iqbal, 2010: 364)
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Attention to the intellectuals and the Islamic culture and
civilization: Iqbal reflected on the great characters rof the Islamic
culture and civilization and their thoughts. In addition to Holy Prophet,
he respected Imam Ali (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH) and Zahra
(PBUH) and also Farough; however, among the next figures, especially
literary and mystical characters like Molana, Sa’di, Hafez, Sheikh
Mahmoud Shabestari and mystics like Mir Seyed Ali Hamedani, Mola
Taher Keshmiri and Bidel, he paid special attention to Molana Jalal-ad
Din Muhammad Molavi (Balkhi), known as the Tabriz Thinker, and
also because of his death in Konya (Old Rome) Rumi, Mola, Molaye-
Rome, and versified his poems in secrets of self, secrets of without self,
the message of East, slavery letter, Eternal Letter, and other poems
using Molavi’s rhythm and content in Masnavi Ma’navi. Iqbal often
calls Molavi as Rumi and sometimes as the Tabriz Thinker and is
deeply absorbed in him and refers to him in most comparisons. He
versified hundreds of verses about Molavi’s character and thought and
considered him as his spiritual leader. Iqbal sees Rumi’s Islam and the
Quran and Prophetic teachings and Love as perfect as possible and
considers him as his Muslim model. Rumi (Molavi or Molana) is his
supreme confidant and intelligent guide in his Javidnameh in which he
has a mental and self-travel to the galaxy and the seventh cosmos: the
moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn:
(...˛_A9, .9,)The soul of Rumi (Molavi) appeared like a sun from the
high land/ And opened all the curtains, and secrets were revealed,
The secrets of life were running on his lips and tongue, and he
talked of the secrets. (Ibid: 415)
Come and I would go due to the orgiastic of the Old Wine
(Molavi)/ I brought a heavenly cup of the wine from a fresher grape.
(Ibid: 269)
Religious renovation and ideological rereading of religious decrees:
In addition to the attention Iqbal has to the historical heritage, he pays
exact attention to the training of Muslims and guiding their attention,
especially the youth, towards the cultural heritage. On the one hand, as
we saw, he guides their attention toward the past heritage and self and
on the other, he powerfully combats against petrifaction and restitution,
and warns that distancing from intellection and action causes failure
and retrogression; he also criticizes some laggards www.SID.i
who deny and
r
mistrust every kind of renovation and like an incorrect obscurantism:
 (... 9t yş_s)His faith is to imitate, and his activity is idolatry as Azar
(Abraham’s father or uncle)/ Everything unique is blasphemous in his
religion/ renovation is infidelity in his view and religion,
(... h_œ˛Syh_z)Everything new adds to his doubt and suspect/ He likes
everything old and timeworn,
His eyes are blind and do not see future and his aliment would be in
cemetery like a beggar. (Ibid: 402)
Like Hafez, the great Persian poet, he encourages Muslims to
reflect on the Quran and act lovely matters towards human beings since
the city Sheikhs and traditional Mullahs and Sufis are ignorant of love
and steal good thoughts from people:
(... 2_xc a_c)You are slave of Sufi’s and Mullah’s talks/ And do not get
the Quran’s advice to get life. (Ibid: 249)
(... $_œt yh_wz)The sign of God’s friend is being a lover, do not say
anyone that/ I do not see any of this sign among the City Sheikhs.
(Hafez, 1991: 246)
In his novel conclusion, he regards disrespecting the woman and
demoting her to a mere nurse and excluding her from the context of
Islamic society as a result of incomprehension of the Quran:
(...¿_şs a_Qxz)The instrument of man would sing as a result of woman
pick/ And the honor of man would be doubled via her love,
… A Muslim who considers her just a nurse/ Has not any
understanding of the Quran. (Ibid: 163)
He strongly complains about the inaction, passivity, and laziness of
Muslims which cause retrograding and finally refers to the historical
heritage of Iran and India:
(...,ty yh_xuzI)How much you become lazy due to passivity/ You will
be a dishonor for other Muslims,
Woe to a love whose flame died/ Was born in the Harem and died
in the idol temple,
The clear sighted thought is the guide of action/
Lwiwkewa.SgIlDitt.eirr of lightning before thunder,
 You have mowed some flowers from Iran’s grassland/ You have
seen the new-spring in India and Iran,
Oh who the holy bird, Homa, is honorable from your decoy/ Make
a nest on the high Mountain. (Iqbal, 2010: 91-93)
He warns that the contemporary Muslim must attempt and should
not cringe for the aliment and the West’s attempts since vocation and
action has much value in the Islamic view:
(...yç9_s QY,)Do not seek your aliment in others’ blessings/ Do not
seek water from western fountain,
Wish God to give you high ambition and combat against the
destiny/ Do not affront the face of Muslims. (Ibid: 84)
5. Combat against the Intellectual Discourse and Hegemony of
West Culture: Iqbal introduces Islam as the religion of Human nature,
conscience, and the mother of spiritual concepts like love and affection
and in an ideological conclusion of Islam introduces it as the religion
which determines the destiny, defends human life and wealth and
combats against injustice, cruelty and colonialism and introduces
monotheism as liberator thinking from all evil powers. Islam in this
sense is the religion of salvation for all nations and the capacity to
combat and as Ali Shariati says, opposite to Iqbal, “Islam is the motto
of Meh She Zer of Africa and also the motto of Frantz Fanon in the
Antil Islands.” (Shariati, 1982: 13) Defending life and wealth is legal
and helping aggrieved people is considered Jihad in Islamic thinking;
therefore, Islam is the religion of the aggrieved and exploited, and a
religion to accompany the warrior who fights against cruelty and
rapine. As Shariati claims Frantz Fanon writes in a letter to him, “Islam
often combated against the West and Colonialism more than Asia and
Africa and it alone has more hostility than any yellow and black people
and my compatriots in Latin America toward its two enemies. Islam
has the capacity of anti-colonialism and anti-west more than other
powers and social and ideological institutes.” (Ibid: 6) Since in the first
half of the 20th century the homeland of Iqbal, and many Arabic and
Islamic countries were under exploitation and colonialism of the UK,
and that government was appalling due to tyrannicalwww.SID.i
and predatory
contracts and the sign of imperialism, and other western r powers like
France and German had a same log in Africa and Latin America and
other parts of the world, Iqbal the thinker who was familiar with the
western culture and at the same time, a politician could not stay
heedless to this catastrophe. He, in his reflections, came to the
conclusion that the problem of the West is lack of spirituality; the
knowledge of the West is benefit-based, and it is empty of love,
spirituality and humanity, and colonialism, imperialism, benefit-based
wars, killing the innocents are all, in fact, the results of one lack, and in
this case even the westerners are not free from the harmful effects of
this view. Iqbal was worried since after the destruction of old Europe
there appeared a new calamity- Ideas which were observed in Einstein
and Bergson’s views… Iqbal wrote his book called “Message of the
East” in response to and dialogue with Goethe in his “Western Divan”
in which the West is cold and weak and seeks warmth from the East
chest. (Iqbal, 2010: 179-184) Iqbal criticizes the nihilism and death-
based thinking of the West in many verses of his Kolliyat:
(...2_xç¸eI f_z¸e)West creates different great arts from a deep drop of
the ocean water.
It lines around the thought with the compass of the death and/ Puts
all its knowledge in service of the death. (Ibid: 240)
(...,t2_şc ‡s)A conscious heart wasn’t given to the western scientist/
Therefore, his eye is so worried,
Love is vanished in the West since Intellect bites it powerfully like
a snake/ Even though in the gold bowl, it has delicate garnet (wine).
(Ibid: 336)
(...a_u¸St fz¸e)Although the West opens a knot from your thoughts/ It
adds freak out to you by another shot. (Ibid: 361)
He simulates the West which holds the World Peace Conference on
the one hand, and on the other, kills people as a cunning dancer who
wears silk gloves and in her deadly dancing kills people with a dagger:
(...t, a_cxu 2ş_u9u)It covers its hands with silk gloves/ Absorbed in
dancing shows coquetry of its waist,
This capricious idol temple holds General Peace/
Dwanwcwin.gSwIDith.irthe sound of lute and harp around it.
 When she became infatuate and unconscious due to the song of the
harp and reveals all her internal secrets, I understood that she is nothing
but the killer enemy equal to the ‘bloodshed’ phrase in the Quran.
(Ibid: 251)
In this poem, the ‘lineated’ term refers to this Quranic verse in
which God says to angels:
I chose a competent deputy on the earth for myself but
angels complained about the creation of human to God:
a¤şfis 9,£t˛¸e ˚$¥hc ˛¹z¸t .HA™22t eG¤mç⁄¸ 9 hgşe e2m¤eç ¿⁄A hgşe
˚$⁄xc´z´t t92he
OH God! Do you want to send those who corrupt everything and
bleed?
Iqbal denies East Communism (the Soviet Union) too, since using
two terms like ‘east’ and ‘commonality’ conflicts with the principles of
religion:
(...yt Q¸___wA)East is destroyed by the government of West/
Commonality destroyed the face of Religion and Nation. (Ibid: 454)
And finally he makes his meaning clear via a comparison:
(...,9x_ws ¸_c çt9)Woe to the decree of the West Populace/ The dead
became more dead due to the west trumpet.
Explicit should be the secrets of the Beloved / We are material (for
them) and (there are} lots of trades people.
You, slave of Imitation, Get free/ Get the Quran’s skirt and Get
Free. (Ibid: 460)
In Zaboure Ajam, he contrasts explicitly of the west and Islamic
culture where he resemble west to Genghis Khan the bloodthirsty and
asks Abraham or Islam’s Prophet to repair the Harem and make world a
secure Harem for human, a Harem in which annoying the human is
forbidden and taboo:
(...a_zt¸ç9 a_Qœ ,2h_¥)The whole World is destroyed by the bloodthirsty
West (the soul of Genghis Khan)/Oh You, Architect of the Harem, start
to repair it again,
Awake from your deep sleep, from your deep
sleep,wfrwowm.ySoIuDr .direep sleep,
Awake!
 Awake from your deep sleep!
He simulates the Islamic and East Culture to a tree which was the
old nest of birds and today its leaves had fallen down which is infamy
and dastardliness; it is not fair to leave this nest, but we must help it
again to get leaves, fruits and blossoms. This return is, in fact, an
ideological look:
(...˛sh__u ¿__gs)The Old Branch which grows under His Shade
(Support)/ It is infamy if you leave it when its leaves are falling down.
(Ibid: 366)
Iqbal believes in re-giving Love, Spirituality and Sublime Purposes
to the World of Science:
(...¸_Qh> ¸_Q¥)In the contemporary time, wisdom is like a chain for
foot/ Where is the disturbed soul I have?
…When science does not bear love / It is nothing but the theater of
thoughts. (Ibid: 410-411)
He delicately refers to Sa’di in one poem called ‘Airplane’ which is
the symbol of modern civilization. In the clever birdie, which can be
the symbol of conscience and soul, he warns the poet who boasts and
brags about his new science:
(...¿ŞAy ,hs 9z)Did you make right the earthly matters?/ How about the
sky’s Matters! (Ibid: 250)
But does Iqbal have disgust usually? Never!
Forbearance and tolerance, loving humans, cooperation of Muslims
and infidels in his Islamism is very significant and in opposition to
some misleading Islamists, who name themselves the call of Islam and
extend disgust around the world, Iqbal sees the respect to Infidel and
even affection toward him/her having root in the faith to God:
(...t, 2_c ➢¸>)To tongue the curse is to err/ Infidel and Muslim are the
God Creatures,
Humanity, respect human/ Get awareness of the status of human
The Love Slave, get guidance from God / Become affectionate
toward Muslims and infidels. (Ibid: 561) www.SID.ir
These thinking backgrounds had been existed in the Islamic
civilization history like Nahj-ul Balaghah of Imam Ali (PBUH) and
many poets’ works, and Iqbal was affected by them for sure. The first
Imam of Shia, who is also the fourth caliph of Muslims, says in his
53rd letter to Malik Ashtar:
G_´2 ˚¸_şª´z HTA¸t 9 ¿ç22t˛¸e ⁄G´2 ˚¿˚t HTA¸t ,gzhe ,gfist e,xxxz ˝hç,hQ ˝hxesw ,gşfi¥ ”¿z9Zz£ 9
:yh¤xQ
.9fi´z2t ˛e
Do not be like a predator animal that eats (the citizens under his
leadership) since people are two groups:
One class are your religious brothers and the other class are the
same as you in their creation. (Ali Ibn-e Abitaleb, 1989: 326)
(...¿__2h£ .__s a__Qœ)All people seek Friend whether conscious or
drunken/ Everywhere is the Love House whether mosque or church.
(Hafez, 1991: 80)
(...a_s yI s¿_z a_c)To him who has a sublime soul/ All the world is the
book of Elevated Right. (Shabestari, 2003: 83)
(...yHQçt 9 ¸¤s)Atheism and Theism both are his doorkeepers/ He is the
core and Atheism and Theism as two skins. (Molavi, v.2, 1984: 472)
(...¸_¤s ¸_St s9_s)It is whether Atheism or Theism of human/ It is the
handmade of his Honesty and for God. (Ibid, v.1, 1984: 393)
Conclusion
The results of this study which are fruits of poetry evidences and
analysis show that Iqbal Lahouri devotes many sections of his poetical
attempts to religious renovations and for explaining and preaching the
Islamist concepts and the Quranic doctrines, prophetic tradition,
cultural and civil heritage of Islamic civilization which give his works
referential importance.
His Islamism is in fact ideological and intellectual rereading of the
Islamic history, religious decrees, divine orders, Prophet’s behavior,
and religious characters. In this reading, Islam is the religion of Human
Nature and it is not only the route to salvation and freedom of Muslims
but also the prescription of salvation for all humanity, and its
revolutionary dynamics are consistent with the
temporwal wnwee.dSsI. DM.iarny parts of his Islamist ideas and
thoughts are manifested in his kolliyat. His attention and emphasis on
the Persian Language which is the
carrier of extensive cultural heritage and religious and civil thoughts of
the Islamic civilization, is a conscious selection and one of the
significant dimensions of his Islamism. Reviewing the different aspects
and dimensions of Iqbal’s poetry, his Islamism can be categorized in
five sections: 1. subject of the Holy Quran and Islam’s Prophet as the
most important sources and references for recognition and ideological
references to the Quran and Hadith, 2. Endeavor to promote the Islamic
unity and Brothership based on the Holy Quran, prophetic tradition and
heritage of the Islamic civilization, 3. self-knowing and primarily
attention to intellectual and civil heritage of the Islamic civilization and
noetic achievements of salient characters of the literary history,
mysticism and Islamic thoughts like Molavi, Sa’di, Farabi, Mir Seyed
Ali Hamedani and so on, 4. religious innovation and ideological
rereading of religious decrees and reminding the strengths and
weaknesses of Muslims and combating retrogression and altruism
based on the creation of Allah and Prophet; 5) combating against the
intellectual discourse and hegemony of profiteer West Culture in which
religion, morality, and love are removed from the life and politics and
human communication arena.

www.SID.ir
 References
1-The Holy Quran. With Ottoman Taha handwriting. Translated
by Mehdi Elahi Qomshei, Mashhad: Islam’s Call, 1993.
2-Abitaleb, Amir-al-Momenin Imam Ali. Nahj-ol Balagha. Tr. by
Seyed Ja’far Shahidi, Tehran: Islamic Revolution Publication and
Education, 1972.
3-Al-Ashmawy, Muhammad Saïd. Islam and the Political Order.
London: CRVP, 1994.
4-Anoushe, Hassan. Encyclopedia of Persian Literature in the
Indian Subcontinent. Section 1, vol 4, Tehran: The Publication and
Printing Office of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, 2001.
5-Anvaripour, Rajabali. Seyed Jamal Asadabadi is Iranian.
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Publisher, 2001.
7-Chomsky, Noam. Language and Mind. Tr. by Kourosh Safavi,
Tehran: Hermes, 1999.
8-Hafez, Khaje Shams-od Din Muhammad. Hafez Divan.
Corrected by Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Qani, Tried by Abd-ol
karim Jorbozedar, Tehran: Asatir Publication, 1991.
9-Howzeh of Gom. Seyd Jamal, Jamal-e Howzeh (Seyd Jamal,
the beauty of Howze). Qom: Publication Center of Scientific Howzeh
of Qom.
10-Iqbal Lahori, Muhammad. Koliyat Iqbal Lahouri. By Akbar
Behdarvand, Tehran: Zavvar, 2010.
11-Khomeini, Rouhollah. Velayat-e Faghih. Tehran: Cultural and
Artistic Institute of Ghadr-e Velayat, 2008.
12-Mojtahedi, Karim. Seyed Jamal-ad Din Asadabadi and New
Thought. Tehran: Iran History Publisher, 1984.
13-Molavi, Molana Jalal-ad Din Muhammad. Masnavi Ma’navi.
Corrected by Reynold A. Nicholson. Pourjavadi. Tehran: Amirkabir,
1984.
14-Motahari, Morteza. Islamic movements in
rwecwewnt.ScIeDnt.uirry.
Tehran: Sadra, unknown.
 15-Rahmanian, Dariush. Seyed Jamal-ad Din Asadabadi. Tehran:
The Humanities and Research Institute, 2008.
16-Shabestari, Mahmud ibn AbolKarim. Golshan-e Raz. Tried by
Kazem Dezfoolian, Tehran: Talaeyeh, 2003.
17-shariati, Ali. Human and Islam. Tehran, 1977.
18-Ibid. Islamology. Tehran: Chappakhsh, 1982.
19-Ibid. Recognizing the Iranian-Islamic Identity. Tehran:
Elham, 1997.
20-Shayan mehr, Alireza. The Comparative Encyclopedia of
Social Sciences. Tehran: Keyhan, 2000.
21-Taromi, Hassan, Mahdi, Dashti. New Encyclopedia of Islam
World. Tehran: Kongere, 2009.
22-Vygotsky, Losimonovic. Thought and Language. Tr. by
Behrooz Azabdaftari, Tehran: Forozesh, 2002.
23-Zargarinejad, Qolamhossein, Reza, Raes Tousi. Seyed Jamal-
ad Din, thoughts and combats. Tehran: Hosseinie Ershadm 1997.
- http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013-07-2224.
-http://jamaran.ghasam.ir/fa/news-details/1676/ ¬2013-07-24
-http://rasekhoon.net/software/show/551536/ 2013-07-24

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