IQBALS PHILOSOPHICAL CONFUSIONS/LIMITATIONS....... Muhammad Faheem Arshad, Ghulam Haider,Sibghat Ul Haq, (M anticipating a sermon for being misguided) Iqbal, taking a philosophical flight from his (or to escape from) his immediate surroundings, Punjabi Muslims and India, tried to construct an idealistic world in which human will (khudi) can transcend or overpass the historical reality. Allama Iqbal got himself registered as an advance student in the Cambridge University. He wrote a dissertation for this degree. He submitted the same dissertation, The Development of Metaphysics in Persia at the Munich University of Germany. He was awarded Ph.D. on this research. One can see that from very early on Iqbal’s mind was in an abstract Muslim world. Iqbal drew heavily from the German Philosophy, from Arthur Schopenhauer and Fritz Nietzsche. He relied on Schopenhauer because he was the one who based his philosophy on pure ‘will’ which is not determined or bounded by socio-economic realities or history in general. It is noteworthy that he almost completely ignored G. W. F. Hegel whose discovery of dialectics determined the future discourse of philosophy for the next few centuries. Hegel was Schopenhauer were contemporaries but with a difference. The following episode will clarify the standing of both philosophers: “In 1820, Schopenhauer became a lecturer at the University of Berlin. He scheduled his lectures to coincide with those of the famous philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, whom Schopenhauer described as a clumsy charlatan.[9] However, only five students turned up to Schopenhauers lectures, and he dropped out of academia. A late essay, On University Philosophy, expressed his resentment towards university philosophy.” [Wikipedia] Iqbal’s lectures “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” are articulated on the basis of secondary philosophers and scientists without much mention of mainstream Philosophy or science. We all know that after Hegel the philosophical world was divided in two broad camps, Hegelians and anti-Hegelians. Similarly, after Karl Marx the world has been either Marxian or anti-Marxian. But one does not see any shadow of Hegelian dialects or Marxian historical dialectics in Iqbal’s lectures even after he praised Marx in saying “Neesat paighambar wale darad kitab” (He was not a prophet but he came with a scripture). Sajjad Zahir in his Roshani narrates the once he along with other progressive writers met Iqbal and asked him if he had the chance to study Marxism? Iqbal relied that he cannot get his books and therefore he has not studied Marx. Sajjad Zahir and his collegues sent him appropriate books and still did not study them. He was so wrapped up in his Islamic idealism that nothing mattered to him. Iqbal was not a trained social scientist or historian like all the western philosophers (from Aristotle to Hegel) were. He did not understand the implications of scientific discoveries. For example, after discovery of theory of relativity by Albert Einstein, an obscurantist school of Physicist emerged which started claiming that after this theory the reality of ‘matter’ is completely negated. Einstein himself rebutted that he has given a view to look at the matter from a different angle and he has not proven the un-reality of ‘matter.’ The obscurantist school of Physicists and particularly the one quoted by Iqbal became a laughing stock. Nevertheless, Iqbal quoted him to prove his philosophy of ‘will’ or ‘khudi. Again, the reason was that Iqbal was totally oblivion of new philosophies of history and the development of social sciences. For him the philosophical discourse was to prove his system of belief (religion). That is why Ali Abbas Jalalpuri’s book ‘Iqbal ka iml-ul-kalam’ shows that Iqbal was not a philosophers: He was just providing rationale for religion. Ali Abbas Jalalpuri was debated many times in the major literary magazines and he always prevailed. P.S. Every enlightened person should read Jalalpuri’s books. His book “Aam fikri mughalte” should be taught in schools and colleges. If you have not read this book you have not done justice with your
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 10:48:39 +0000
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