Poet Iqbal's Dynamism

POET IQBAL’S DYNAMISM

DR. M. SAFDAR ALI BAIG, M. A., Ph. D.
Lecturer, Osmania University

The human ego carries in itself unlimited mental and spiritual powers. If man understands his real self he shall find that he is a universe in himself. Mysterious godly powers have been given to him to conquer the forces of Nature; and it is the lot of the universe to surrender itself to him. The Quran says:

“See ye not how God hath put under you all that is in the Heavens, and all that is on the earth, and hath been bounteous to you of His favours both in relation to the seen and the unseen?” (31:19)

“And He hath subjected to you the night and the day, the sun, and the moon, and the stars too are subject to you by his behest; verily in this are signs for those who understand.” (16:12)

Dr. Iqbal says that, “This immensity of time and space carries in it the promise of a complete subjugation by man whose duty is to reflect on the signs of God, and thus discover the means of realising his conquest of nature as an actual fact. According to him, “Such being the nature and promise of the universe, what is the nature of man whom it confronts on all sides? Endowed with a most suitable mutual adjustment of faculties he discovers himself down below in the scale of life, surrounded on all sides by the forces of obstruction; and how do we find him in this environment? A ‘restless’ being engrossed in his ideals to the point of forgetting everything else, capable of inflicting pain on himself in his ceaseless quest after fresh scopes for self-expression. With all his failings he is superior to nature.”

“When attracted by the forces around him, he has the power to shape and direct them; when thwarted by them, he has the capacity to build a much vaster world in the depths of his own being wherein he discovers sources of infinite joy and inspiration. Hard his lot and frail his being, like a rose-leaf, yet no form of reality is so powerful, so inspiring and so beautiful as spirit of man! He continues, “Thus in his inmost being man is a creative activity, an ascending spirit who, in his onward march rises from one state of being to another. It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to shape his own destiny as well as that of the universe, now by adjusting himself to its forces, now by putting the whole of his energy to mould its forces to his own ends and purposes. In this process of progressive change God becomes a co-worker with him, provided man takes the initiative. If he does not take the initiative, if he does not evolve the inner richness of his being, if he ceases to feel the inward push of advancing life, then the spirit within him hardens into stone and he is reduced to the level of dead matter.”

Man is the vicegerent of God, and has been sent to dominate the universe. Before the advent of Adam every particle of the universe was in search of its object in the unlimited space. The battle-field of life was in need of a Herculean attack. The soul of the universe was yearning to embrace its beloved. Suddenly the trumpet was blown and the destiny of the universe changed. Man, the lightning of the heavens fell in the bosom of the universe. The sound of the eternal music spread in the heavens, and the soul of the universe welcomed man saying:

Khol aankh zamin dekh jalak dekh faza dekh,
Mashriq se ubharte hoo-e-soorej ko zara dekh;
Hain tere tassufooj main ye badal ye ghatain,
Ye, gombade aftak ye khamoosh fazain;
Ye koh, ye saizfa, ye samandar, ye hawain,
Theen peshe nazar kal to jarishton ki adain,
Aaeena-e ayyam main aaj upni ada dekh;

(Open your eyes and see the universe, the heavens and earth, the sun and the light. Now the clouds, the sky and silent surroundings, the mountains, the jungles and the oceans all under your command. Till yesterday you were seeing the angels. Now behold your own self.)

It continues:

Khoorshid-e-jahan tab ki zao tere sharur main,
Abad hai ek taza jahan tere hoonar main;
Jachte naheen bakshe hoot firdaos nazar main,
Jannath teri pinhan hai tere khoone jigar main
Aai paikare gill koshishe paiham ki jaza dekh.

(The light of the sun is hidden in your spark. Your dexterity shall create a new world. The paradise that is offered is not welcome. Create your own paradise by your own sweat, O! a handful of mud! reap the fruits of your own efforts.)

Man afterwards finds that the force’s of nature themselves become obstacles in his way and obstruct his progress. Should man then lose courage and surrender himself? Iqbal argues that opposing forces should exist, for, the conflict of forces creates new capacities and powers which is impossible otherwise. In his own words, “The intellectual effort to overcome the obstructions offered by them, besides enriching and amplifying our life, sharpens our insight, and thus prepares us for a more masterful insertion into subtler aspects of human experience. It is our reflective contact with the temporal flux of things which trains us for an intellectual vision of the non-temporal. Reality lives in its own appearances; and such a being as man, who has to maintain his life in an obstructing environment, cannot afford to ignore the visible.

The mental and spiritual powers well assist man in conquering and controlling the forces of nature. This renders a thorough knowledge and completes supremacy over the universe, which isinevitable. Otherwise, the material forces will overrule mankind and wipe out his existence from the face of the earth. So Iqbal says:

Badhe ja ye kohe giran tor kar,
Tilisme zaman O makan tor kar,
Khudi shere maula jahan uska saed,
Zamin uski saed aasman uska saed;
Jahan aur bhi hain abhi be namood,
Ke khali nahin hai zameere wajood,
Har ek muntazar tere yalghar ka,
Teri shookhi-e-fikr-o-kirdar ka;
To hai fatehe alame khoob-o-zisht,
Tujhe kiya bataoon teri surnivisht.

(March on breaking the mountains in the way and fetters of time space.

What is man’s ‘ego’? a tiger, and the universe its prey. The heavens are its prey and the earth is its prey. Still there are a number of worlds hidden from your sight; for, the bosom of existence is not empty. Everything is awaiting your attack and the shrewdness of your thought and action.

You are the conqueror of the world of vice and virtue I do not know how to interpret your lot).

A question arises as to whether man has complete freedom to act according to his will, or his hands are bound by the strong fetters of destiny which are impossible for him to break. Iqbal says:

Tagdir shikan khoowath bakhi hai abhi usmain,
Nadan jise kahte hain taqdir ka zindani.

(Man whom ignorant people think to be bound by the strong fetters of destiny has the strength of breaking all such fetters.)

It is necessary here to understand his conception of fate. In the “Reconstruction of religious thought in Islam,” he says, “It is time regarded as an organic whole that the Quran describes as ‘Taqdir’ or the destiny. Destiny is time regarded as prior to the disclosure of its possibilities. It is time freed from the net of casual sequence–the diagrammatic character which the logical understanding imposes on it. In one word, it is time as felt and not as thought and calculated. Time regarded as destiny forms the very essence of things. The destiny of a thing then is not an unrelenting fate working from without like a task master; it is the inward reach of a thing, its realisable possibilities which lie within the depths of its nature, and serially actualise themselves without any feeling of external compulsion.”

This clearly means that the fate of anything is not predetermined. Otherwise Iqbal says, “It reduces the universe to a mere temporal reproduction of a pre-existing eternal scheme of structure in which individual events have already found their proper places, waiting, as it were, for their respective turns to enter into the temporal sweep of history.” This naturally implies that the fate or destiny takes the place of rigid determinism, leaving no scope for human or even divine freedom. If so human activity is pre-determined in the sequence of time the question of good and evil does not arise, and naturally the reward for human activities will be meaningless.

Freedom only can create good and evil. Iqbal says that, “A being whose movements are wholly determined like a machine cannot produce goodness. Freedom is thus a condition of goodness. To create or uproot vice or virtue a thorough knowledge of the thing concerned is inevitable. If one is aware of the pros and cons of a thing one can abstain from it or adopt it. The Quran points out:

“Clear have we made our signs to men of knowledge. Clear have we made our signs for men of insight.” (6:95)

But the responsibility of knowing lies on man’s shoulders. Knowledge is not imparted to man directly by God but through prophets, saints and avtars. The Quran says:

“It is not for man that God should speak with him, but by vision or from behind a veil; or He sendeth a messenger to reveal by His permission what He will.” (42:50)

To create virtue knowledge alone is insufficient, a firm determition and a constant struggle against the environment together with the devil inside is necessary.

Marde Momin zinda-o-ba khood be-jung,
Bar khood uftad ham chu bar aahu Palung.

(A man of faith fights against his own self, and attacks his “self” as a leopard attacks a deer.)

By completely overthrowing the, devil, by creating godly qualities and strictly carrying out the orders of God, the human ego strengthens and becomes perfect. Faith in God, sincere effort and a hard struggle brings about a revolution in it. The Outcome of this revolution is a complete change of one’s fate,

Teri Khudi main agar inqilab ho jae,
Ajab nahin hai ke ye char soo badal jae.

(If your ego undergoes a revolution there is no doubt your fate will be changed.)

According to the Quran:

“Verily God will not change the condition of men, till they change what is in themselves.” (13:12) Not only is fate changed and subjected to the desire and will of man, but God himself acts according to man’s will, in other words man conquers the will of God.

Khudi ko kat bulund ithna ke hur taqdir se Pahle,
Khuda bunde se khood pooche buta teri raza kiya hai.

(Develop your ego so much that God may first take your consent to frame your destiny.)

If you are bored with one destiny you can request God for another, for undoubtedly God can offer another.

Gar ze yuk taqdir khoon garded jigar,
Khah as Haq hukme taqdir-e-digar;
To agar taqdir-e-now khaki ravasth,
Zanke taqdirathe Haq la inte-hasth.

(If your fate hurts your feelings ask the Almighty to change your fate. It suits you to desire a new destiny, for God’s plan of destinies knows no bounds.) The Bible says:

“Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

If even after asking continuously it is not given, Shakespeare says, “We ignorant of ourselves beg often our own harms which the wise powers deny us for ourgood.”

The dynamic philosophy of life is the essence of Iqbal’s conception of fine arts as well. He says fine arts, whether it is poetry, music, painting or sculpture it should serve the purpose of life and ego. Man’s ego should display itself in every kind of art, otherwise he says it is a mere frivolity.

He believes that art is a creation and not a recreation. It is inevitable here to discuss the two kinds of art, that is constructive and destructive. The constructive art creates higher aspirations, courage and bravery and puts a new life into the dead body of a nation. It conveys a particular message of life and creates higher ideals and aims. It strengthens the ego of individuals as well as the nations. It induces an active force in individuals and nations. The destructive art consists of two kinds, nakedness and pessimism. Both the things Iqbal says undermine the strength of activity of a and the nation gradually falls into degeneration and is wiped out from the face of the earth. Thus he once said that an artist can build a nation or can ruin it. The degenerated conscience of an artist ravages a nation more than the forces of Attila and Chengiz, particularly if it has an attracting capacity.

Lastly about his own poetry he says:

Aashnae mun ze mun beegana rafth,
Az khumistanum tahi paimana rafth;
Man shikohe khusravi oora dehum,
Taje kasra zire pae oo nehum;
Oo hadise dilburi khahud zemun,
Rango abe shari khahad zemun;
Kum nazar bitabi-e-janam na deed;
Aashkaram deed-o-pin hanun na deed.

(My friends left me without knowing me. Carried away their empty pots without my wine. I want to give them the glory of kings. I want to put the crown of Khusro at their feet. They want romantic stories from me. They are sightless for they did not see my restless soul. They saw me as I appear and not as I am.)