Here is a prose translation of Chapter 4, Javid Nama (1932), the epic poem of Iqbal in Persian. The chapter presented here comprises the complete description of Marghdeen, the ideal world of Iqbal. As I would like to explain elsewhere, it is possible to read this chapter as an allegory about a great positive …
Seminar, 3 March 2016 Some widespread beliefs of our times are being questioned here, such as the notion that we are living in an age of spiritual decline. In this paper it is argued that it was no coincidence that between 1887 and 1946, the Indian Muslim community collectively adopted three successive goals and achieved …
‘Iqbal: His Life and Our Times fulfils the need for a simple and reliable introduction to the life and work of this unmatched genius, highlighting the practical relevance of his ideas for those who wish to consider them for implementation.’ This write-up from the renowned poet and scholar Iftikhar Arif and M. Suheyl Umar, former …
Iftikhar Arif and M. Suheyl Umar on ‘Iqbal: His Life and Our Times’ Read More »
The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 25, 2012 “This is our misfortune: we are giving birth to a society where courage has come to be understood as being a bully, and the nobility of character is seen as cowardice. Today, a blood-dripping gandasa has become the icon of our culture and civilisation, instead of the …
Iqbal Review, Volume 52, Number 2, 4. April, October 2011, pp.123-130 The following paper was submitted in December 2010 but has come out only recently in 2018 in a backdated issue of the journal. The ‘Abstract’ that appears in the journal was not written by me and I am not including it here – 25 …
“Kudos for Khurram Ali Shafique for offering an alternative reading of The Tempest, and that too according to Iqbal,” writes Peerzada Slaman in this review of Shakespeare According to Iqbal, originally published in Dawn, Books and Authors on April 5, 2010. They say William Shakespeare created the most of God. The reference is to the …
This article was published in Dawn on March 21, 2010 as ‘The spirit of all human beings’. It was later pointed out by M. Suheyl Umar that ‘soul’ rather than ‘spirit’ is a more appropriate translation of the original phrase used by Sir Syed. The word ‘spirit’ has therefore been replaced with ‘soul’ in the …
Iqbal Review, Volume 51, Number 2, 4. April, October 2010, pp.29-59 The following is part of a document submitted to Iqbal Academy Pakistan in March 2008 for publication as a small book, Iqbal in the Mind of Europe – an overview of the Western interpretations of Iqbal. It was supposed to undergo some further improvement …
Iqbal Review. Volume 48, Number 2. October 2007, p.4 As heavy machinery gets replaced with computers on the frontline of scientific progress and business powered by steam gives way to business at the speed of thought, we find that oversimplified statements about the nature of social conflicts are also giving way to the urge for …
Iqbal Review, Volume 48, Number 2, April 2007, pp.36-57 The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is seen as a problematic writing of Iqbal. The reason may be that although much has been written about the book, it has never been subjected to a linguistic analysis. That is what I intend to do in this …
New discoveries about the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam Read More »