Iqbal's Vision

Iqbal foresaw the decline of the West and subsequent Emergence of Islam. An English translation is given below.

Allama Iqbal Academy. A good translation of Shikva and other important poems is available at Columbia University

I have tried many recitations and renderings of these poems but they could not sustain my interest -- until I heard this one --

Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa

Enjoy - If it speaks to us, imagine its power over Indian Muslims a hundred years back.

Shahid Alam

in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

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--

والحمد لله، حمداً كثيراً طيباً مباركاً فيه

كما يحب ربنا ويرضى

"Wa'lhamdulellah Hamdan katheran tayyeban mubarakan feeh

kama yohebbo rabbuna wa yardha"

Praise be to Allah, praise much, good and blessed therein

as Allah Almighty likes and be pleased with

Iqbal The Visionary

Iqbal joined the London branch of the All India Muslim League while he was studying Law and Philosophy in England. It was in London when he had a mystical experience. The ghazal containing those divinations is the only one whose year and month of composition is expressly mentioned. It is March 1907. No other ghazal, before or after it has been given such importance. Some verses of that ghazal are:

• 1. At last the silent tongue of Hijaz has

  2. announced to the ardent ear the tiding

  3. That the covenant which had been given to the

  4. desert-dwelles is going to be renewed

  5. vigorously:

  6. The lion who had emerged from the desert and

  7. had toppled the Roman Empire is

  8. As I am told by the angels, about to get up

  9. again (from his slumbers.)

  10. You the dwelles of the West, should know that

  11. the world of God is not a shop (of yours).

  12. Your imagined pure gold is about to lose it

  13. standard value (as fixed by you).

  14. Your civilization will commit suicide with its

  15. own daggers.

  16. A nest built on a frail bough cannot be

  17. durable.

  18. The caravan of feeble ants will take the rose

  19. petal for a boat

  20. And inspite of all blasts of waves, it shall cross

  21. the river.

  22. I will take out may worn-out caravan in the

  23. pitch darkness of night.

  24. My sighs will emit sparks and my breath will

  25. produce flames.

Many verses in Iqbal's poetry are prompted by a similar impulse. A random example, a ghazal from Zabur-i Ajam published in 1927 illustrates his deepseated belief:

• 1. The Guide of the Era is about to appear from a

  2. corner of the desert of Hijaz.

  3. The carvan is about to move out from this far

  4. flung valley.

  5. I have observed the kingly majesty on the

  6. faces of the slaves.

  7. Mahmud's splendour is visible in the dust of

  8. Ayaz.

  9. Life laments for ages both in the Ka'bah and

  10. the idol-house.

  11. So that a person who knows the secret may

  12. appear.

  13. The laments that burst forth from the breasts

  14. of the earnestly devoted people. Are going

  15. to initiate a new principle in the conscience of

  16. the world.

  17. Take this harp from my hand. I am done for.

  18. My laments have turned into blood and that

  19. blood is going to trickle from the strings of the

  20. harp.