Iqbal's social ideas and their contemporary relevance

Allama Iqbal’s social ideas and their contemporary relevance: A sociologicalanalysis. Lone

Ever since the fall of the Mughal Empire in the 18th century and

soon after the death of Aurangzeb- the Muslim people of the

subcontinent have been living through an age of crisis.1

It is not merely a crisis of our own situation in

the subcontinent, but a universal crisis of the Muslim Ummah as a

whole. While in the 18th century we were merely mourning the loss

of our power and glory in India, in the 19th and 20th centuries we

were faced with the prospect of the elimination of our political,

economic, social and cultural independence throughout the world.

One after another the imperialistic powers overpowered the

various kingdoms and states of the Muslims from the far east of

Asia to the far west of Africa. By the beginning of the 20th

century we saw the great Ottoman empire of the Turkish Khalifas

tottering to a fall before the combined onslaught of the west, at

first in Europe and then in Asia and Africa as well. The process

was completed at the end of the First World War, when the

dominion of the Caliphate was partitioned amongst the victorious

European powers.2

What do you relate the story of the Turks and the Arabs for.

The tragedy of the people of Islam is nothing of a secret to me

1 Farganis, James, “Readings in social theory”, (2004, Tata, Mc Graw Hill) p-87.

2 Ibid, p-78.


The period between the two world wars was full of

crisis but their nature was different. From the far west in

Morocco to the Far East in Indonesia, through Africa and Asia

they subjugated. Muslim people were rising in revolt against

their western conquerors. These rebellions, brutally suppressed

again and again, finally attained their objectives in the decade

after the end of the 2nd world war. But the age of crisis for the

Muslim Ummah was not yet over. Weakened, impoverished, divided as

they were by long periods of alien rule and the free play of

internal forces of decay and disintegration, the Muslim nations

have continued to be an easy prey of western intrigue, dictation

and domination. While other nations, even in the 3rd world, seem

to be going ahead and reorganizing themselves for their

independent role in the world affairs, the Muslim people still

seem to be going round and round in circles, and getting deeper

and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion and despondency3.

Iqbal in his book answer to the complaint (jawab shikwa) vehemently

speaks about the misery and chaos within the Muslim nations

around the world:

who erased the dab of falsehood from the pages of history?

who librated the human beings from the chains of slavery?

On to the floors of my kabba who were those who clasped?3 Turner, H. Jonathan, “The structural of sociological theory”, (2003, Thomsonpublications), p--134.


The Quran on to their breasts? Indeed, they were thy fore-fathers;

Tell us what are thyself, we say; with idle hands thou sit and wait

For the dawn of a better day.

In the contemporary world, when there is a general

propensity for scientific reasoning and standards of life, with

an increasing tendency towards materialism, Iqbal’s

Reconstruction of Religious thought in Islam carries great value.

Such a work involves a vast study of the Quran, as well as modern

thought. It is undoubtedly a laudable attempt to reconstruct

Islamic society and thought with due regard to past traditions in

a progressive order.4

The study of Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious thought in

Islam is the scanning of the philosopher’s intellectual horizon

as well as the working of the modern mind of Islam which is

destined to give a lead to a universal movement. The book

comprises seven lectures of the philosopher, Iqbal has discussed

in these lectures the basic of Islam in the language of modern

philosophy, and the reason for such philosophical exposition of

his thought is the tendency of the modern mind to rely upon

external sense and a corresponding inability to appreciate the

value of inner experience. The lectures primarily bring home to

the modern mind the reality of inner perception which gives us a

4 Dr.Abdul Aleem Hilal, “Social philosophy of Sir Mohd Iqbal” (1998, AdamPublishers), New Delhi. P- 78.


clue to the solution of all puzzles about religion, god and the

human ego.5

According to Iqbal during the last five hundred years

religious thought in Islam has been practically stationary. There

was a time when European thought received inspiration from the

world of Islam. The most remarkable phenomenon of modern history,

however, is the enormous rapidity with which the world of Islam

is spiritually moving towards the west. There is nothing wrong in

this movement, for European culture on its intellectual side is

only a further development of some of the most important phases

of the culture of Islam. Our only fear is that the dazzling

exterior of European culture may arrest our movements and we may

fail to reach the true inwardness of that culture. During all the

centuries of our intellectual coma, European has been seriously

thinking on the great problems in which the philosophers and

scientists of Islam were so keenly interested. New points of view

have been suggested, old problems have been restated in the light

of fresh experience and new problems have arisen. It seems as if

the intellect of man is outgrowing its own fundamental

categories-time, space and causality. With the advancement of

scientific thought even our concept of intelligibility has

undergone a change.6 The theory of Einstein has brought a new

vision of the universe and suggests new way of looking at the

problems, common to both religion and philosophy. No wonder then5 Ibid-p-123.

6 Beg, A. Anwar, “The Poet of the East” (2004, Iqbal Academy Pakistan), p-98.


that the younger generation of Islam in Asia and Africa demand a

fresh orientation of their faith. With the awakening of Islam,

therefore, it is necessary to examine in an independent spirit,

what European has thought and how for the conclusions reached by

her can help us in revision and if necessary reconstruction, of

theological thought in Islam.7

Bring forth a wakeful heart, for as long the heart is asleep.

Neither thy blow is effective, nor mine.

Iqbal’s concern for religion permeates the totality of his

writing, whether we turn to the most lyrical of his verses or the

dense systematic discussion of his famous lectures on the

(Reconstruction of Religious thought in Islam) in these lectures

he expresses a profound understanding of Islamic orthodoxy,

enriched by a personal piety which gives authenticity to the

often novel ways in which he restates Islamic tradition for the

modern age. Iqbal’s abiding significance, at least in my

judgment, is that he challenges us all to think of religion not

simply in terms of our own religious confessions or traditions,

important though these were for Iqbal and rightly are for

ourselves. Beyond these, however, he struggled with the meaning

of religion in its universal and cosmic sense, dealing with

issues which challenge religions and religious people everywhere.

Truly he was a man of religion, the breadth of whose thinking

7 Ibid-p-34.


and the depth of whose piety throws light on many of the concerns

we have as Muslims and as Christians today.8

“Is Religion possible?”Asked Iqbal in the last of the

lectures on The Reconstruction of Religious thought in Islam. He

asked the questions in face of the challenge of modern science

and philosophy which has grown immeasurably more powerful in our

own times. Religion’s ultimate possibility, Iqbal argued, rests

not upon adherence to outward form and discipline, valid as these

are in giving direction to the lives of the individual and

communities. Nor is religion validated in ultimate terms by

rational arguments and metaphysics, necessary as these are for an

intelligent view of the universe with God as its creator. What

makes religion possible in the final analysis is the spirit of

discovery, the spirit which gives each of us the courage and

freedom to experience what Iqbal termed direct contact with the

ultimate Reality. “The reality of Religion, and that which makes

it not only possible but necessary, is a search for a larger

life. In this search religion may not immunize itself against the

discoveries of modern science or the discussions of modern

philosophy, but must seek to penetrate through them in the

certainly that the essence of all reality is spiritual”.9

The skirt of Religion being lost, where is unity?8 Ansari, Asloob, Ahmad, “Iqbal-Essays and Studies” (2001, Ghalib Academy, NewDelhi), p-123.

9 Qaiser, Nazir, “Iqbal and western philosophers” (1987, Iqbal Academy Pakistan) p-167.


And if unity has left us, the nation is gone with the winds.

From the proceeding pages it is clear that Iqbal was a firm

believer in religion without which the social system cannot work

properly. That is why he focused his efforts on the revival of

Islam and the protection of Islamic society. He believed Islam to

be the most valuable contribution to world thought. It was a

genuine concern for human destiny that he had the best part of

his life to a careful study of Islam and a content Endeavour to

awaken the Muslims.10

The person who is fully imbibed with the thought of Iqbal,

was aware about the fact that Muslim Ummah went through one of

its most difficult and agonizing phases during Iqbal’s time and

it is obvious that the prevailing conditions of that particular

society are instrumental in shaping the ideas of every social

philosopher who attempts to study it. The Muslim Ummah went

through one of its most difficult and agonizing phases during

Iqbal’s time. One theme that was repeated both in the west and in

east regarding the predicament of the Muslim society was its

reluctance to change. Almost all the scholars of the western and

industrialized were unanimous and that it was a rigid and

inflexible society, its institutions were based on certain old

social laws and that it had closed off all doors which could

bring about a change in its social milieu. Iqbal could not be

oblivious to this issue. He looked at this question as a

10 Ibid, p-67.


historian, as a philosopher, as a spokesperson for the Muslims

and as a keen observer of human behavior and came to the

conclusion that the so-called resistance to change was not

inherent in the intellectual foundations of Islam, but was

imposed upon the Muslim society by a host of historical factors

and political expediencies.11 Iqbal remaining true to the

institutional legacy of the Muslim Ummah, reflected upon the key

factor which could bring about a change that would neither

violate the essence of Islam nor appear alien to the Muslim

polity. This institution was Ijtihad, the doors of which the Muslim

scholars had closed a long time back with the result that an

institution which had acted as the moving vehicle in Islamic

thought had in fact become shackles in the feet of the Muslim

Ummah. Iqbal pleaded for its relevance and urged his fellow

Muslims to bring back that vital force into their social setup

the absence of which had clogged the wheels of the train of

Muslim social thought.12

The place that Iqbal occupies in the hearts and minds of

the people is unparalleled, as is his poetry, even though few

people appreciate the range and depth of his knowledge and

11 Masud Muhammad Khalid “Iqbal’s reconstruction of Ijtihad” (1995, Lahore, IslamicResearch Institute), p-178.

12 Sayid Abdul Wahid “Thoughts and Reflections of Iqbal” (1992, S.H. MuhammadAshraf), Lahore, p-90.


creativity, or his philosophical system. Such are the power and

charisma of his imagination and his pen that he is loved by

millions who might know only a few of his verses but are inspired

and moved by them. Without doubt, Iqbal is the, most quoted

figure among the contemporary orientalistic philosophers, and his

popular verses and favorite symbols, such as that of Shaheen, are

known even to semi-literate academicians.13 However, his

philosophy, articulated through both poetry and prose, which

should be taught in every educational institution of our country,

has been virtually eliminated from the curriculum, and only a

small number of students in specialized disciplines have the

opportunity to study it.14

While some famous verses from Iqbal’s

poems are often cited in isolation, the core message of his

poetry, reflecting his revolutionary spirit, his fearless

imagination and his passionate commitment to justice and the

dignity of selfhood, has been excluded from public discourse.

Iqbal constantly referred to the Quranic verse, ‘verily God will

not change the condition of a people till they change what is in

themselves’ (Quran 13:12). He was fully aware of the despair and

despondency of Muslims who felt powerless to change their adverse

circumstances and turned to prayer for an improvement in their

lives. Iqbal had written much about the value of prayer but he13 Ibid, p-89.

14 Zakaria Rafiq, “Iqbal the poet and politician” (1993, Viking Penguin books)India, p-166.


believed that the way to change one’s destiny was through the

development of Khudi. Iqbal’s philosophy, rich as it is in ideas

and concepts, is fundamentally action-oriented and its goal was

personal and social transformation inspired by the Quranic vision

embodied in the proclamation, ‘Towards God is your limit’ (Quran

53:42).15 Iqbal was thwarted by seeing the plight of present

Muslims he speaks in Jawab Shikwa (Answer to the complaint):

Lord are the utterance that, Muslims, have faded from global face.

We say, that the true Muslims, ever existed at any place?

Thy style is that of Christians, thy culture is of Hindoos;

A Jew would be ashamed to see the Muslims as you.

Thou art the syeds Mirzas, and also are Afgans;

Of course thou art all these, but are thyself a true Musalman.

Today when youth of our community are living in a

society in which there is a gaping ethical vacuum, they are in

critical need of a deep and comprehensive education based upon

Iqbal’s multi-faceted philosophy. Iqbal’s work can be a source of

profound guidance to help young Muslims as they seek to

understand the nature of their own identity and their own

religion. His powerful words challenge them to become a shaheen,15 Khan, Imran, “Pakistan- A personal History”, (2011, Trans-world Publishers), London, England. P-342.


which hunts for its food, rather than vulture, which preys on the

dead.16

That self-deceived falcon, bred amongst

vultures.

How can he be aware of the characteristics of the Eagle.

Iqbal, the undaunted thinker who’s

philosophical thought urged the oppressed masses around the

Muslim world of contemporary times, like, Afghanistan, Iraq,

Chechnya, Kashmir, Burma, Middle East, and particularly the holy

land of Palestine to revolt against all forms of totalitarianism-

religious, political, cultural, intellectual, economic or any

other- was the vital force that was needed to free the Muslims

from their internal shackles’ and external bondage. But his

words, his voice, his message, constituted a grave threat to

those power-wielders in around the world who wanted to keep the

people subservient, so that they would not challenge them or

claim their own rights. To ensure the fulfillment of their

purposes they had to silence Iqbal’s anti-authoritarian voice as

much as possible.17 The relegation of Iqbal’s vision and message

to obscurity was therefore, not by accident, but by design. It is

difficult to find a poet or thinker of Iqbal’s caliber who has

16 Ibid, p-347.

17 Sayyid, Abdul, Wahid, “Thoughts and Reflections of Iqbal” (1975, S.H. Muhammad

Ashraf0, Lahore, Pakistan. P-98.


championed the cause of justice for the oppressed and wronged

people of the world as passionately and consistently as he did.

If we follow Iqbal’s teaching, we can reverse the growing gap

between the westernized rich and traditional poor that helps fuel

fundamentalism.18

The best weapon against fundamentalism is

enlightened Islam. Fanatics on both sides of the argument need to

be told about Islamic history, how other religions and other

points of view were tolerated by Islam in the days when Europe

was ruled by bigotry and ignorance. During what was known as the

Golden age of Islam, from around the mid-eighth to the mid-

thirteenth century, the Muslim world, which stretched from Iberia

and North Africa across to south-west and central Asia, was known

for its spirit of intellectual discovery and religious tolerance.

Islam never knew the savagery of the inquisition. The set of

legal principles stated or implied in the Quran has a great

capacity for expansion and development, as frequently pointed out

by Iqbal.19

The decay and decline in Islamic intellectual thought,

according to Iqbal, set in five hundred years ago when the doors

to Ijtihad, a scholarly debate on our religion and its traditions,

were closed, the Quranic principles- which for Muslims are

eternal principles- needs constantly to be re-interpreted in the18 Khan, Imran, “Pakistan- A personal History”, (2011, Transworld Publishers), London, England. P-349.19 Ibid, p-367.


light of new knowledge. In his lectures on the reconstruction of

religious thought in Islam, Iqbal cites three reasons for this

stagnation. First, around the tenth century, there was

controversy between two schools of thought one rationalist and

one conservative- about issues such as the eternity of the Quran.

The ruling Islamic dynasty of the time, the Abbasids, threw their

weight behind the conservatives, fearing that unrestrained

adherence to a particular type of rationalism could endanger the

stability of Islam as a social polity.20

The second reason was the rise of ascetic

Sufism, which grew partly in reaction to the increasing

conservativism of the Islamic establishment. The Sufis, the

mystics of Sunni Islam, wanted to focus more on inner

spirituality, rather than a rigidity guarded set of rules. But

according to Iqbal, their concentration on other-worldliness

ignored Islam’s role as a means of organizing society and

politics. He complained that ascetic Sufism ended up attracting

and finally absorbing the best minds in Islam. The Muslim state

was thus left generally in the hands of intellectual

mediocrities, and of the unthinking masses of Islam, who found

their security only in blindly following the schools of the great

Islamic jurists such as Abu Hanifa and Malik Abn Anas. Iqbal-

pointing to the Quran’s emphasis on deed- believed it was

contrary to the true spirit of Islam to turn away from the real20 Imran Khan, “Pakistan- A personal History”, (2011, Trans-world Publishers, London), England. P-341.


world, as some Sufis did. He felt that becoming a hermit or

ascetic meant avoiding the joy and struggle of real life.21

The third and probably most decisive factor was

the Mongols destruction in 1258 of Baghdad-the centre of Muslim

intellectual life. Had the Mongol hordes not taken over swathes

of the Muslim world, our history might have been very different.

This legendary tribe from Mongolia laid waste to cities and

decimated populations across central Asia, south Asia and the

Middle East. Their merciless sacking of Baghdad, which, commerce

and learning of the Islamic world, has historically been seen as

the death blow for the Golden age of Islam. With the destruction

of its famous libraries, centuries of learning were lost and this

huge cultural trauma inevitably led to greater conservatism as

Muslims feared the eradication of their civilization. Although

the Mongols has by early fourteenth century converted to Islam,

their autocratic rule clamped down on the capacity of the Ulema (

Muslim legal scholars) for independent judgment. The gates to

Ijtihad were declared closed.22 Unity became key, dissensions

discouraged and foreigners became suspect. Iqbal emphasized on

the Muslim unity, he was furious over the dissentions and21 Nadvi Sayyid Abul Hasan, “Glory of Iqbal” (1977, Progressive Books),Pakistan.p-90.

22 Dekmejian, R.Hriar, “The Anatomy of Islamic Revival” Middle EastJournal, No. 34:1935.


conflict within the Muslim communities, he states in his book

(answer to the complaint) Jawab Shikwa:

One are thou people, profit and loss thou share.

Your prophet and creed is one, the same truth thou declare;

Thy Kabba is one, God is one, and one is the blessed Quran;

Still, divided each from each, lives every Musalman.

There are sects all over, and castes are somewhere.

In these times, are these ways, to progress and prosper?

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century when

Indian Muslims, confronted with serious external and internal

impediments, the rallying cry of the modernist reformers, from

sayyid Ahmad Khan to Iqbal, was ‘Back to the Quran, forward with

Ijtihad, back to the Quran meant the rediscovery of the fundamental

teachings and principles of the Quran, and forward with Ijtihad

meant the mental effort made to form an independent judgments on

a legal point so that normative Islamic principles could be

applied in modern times. Iqbal was acutely conscious of the

stagnation and decadence that had sapped the creative energy of

Muslim societies. Therefore, while strongly advocating a return

to the Quran, which he regarded as the ‘fundamental to Islam,

Iqbal also sought to re-infuse the dynamism of original Islam


through Ijtihad, which he regarded as the principles of movement in

the structure of Islam.23

According to Iqbal, such was fear about the future

of Islam that the conservative thinkers of Islam focused on

preserving a uniform social life for the people by a jealous

exclusion of all innovation in the laws of Sharia as expounded by

the early doctors of Islam. He believed that the ultimate fate of

a people does not depend so much on organization as on the worth

and power of individual men. In an over-organized society the

individual is altogether crushed out of existence. Iqbal felt

that a man lost his soul under the weight of such conformism and

that a false reverence for past history and its artificial

resurrection was no remedy for a people’s decay. He maintained

that the power that counteracts the forces of decay was freedom

of thought, the inner impulse of Islam and that the only

alternative given to us is to tear off from Islam the hard crust

that has immobilized an essentially dynamic outlook on life and

re-discover the original verities of freedom, equality and

solidarity with a view to rebuild our moral, social and political

ideals out of their original simplicity and universality.24

23 Ibid, p-56.

24 Khawaja, Abdur, Rahim, “Iqbal- The poet of Tomorrow”, (2004, Iqbal Academy

Pakistan), Lahore, Pakistan.p-89.


A fresh world takes its appearances from fresh

ideas.

For, stone and brick did not create the worldly scheme of things.

In the context of Ijtihad, Iqbal pointed out in his sixth

lecture- of his outstanding lectures on the Reconstruction of

religious thought in Islam- that in the modern period things had

changed and the world of Islam is today confronted and affected

by new forces set free by the extraordinary development of human

thought in all its directions. He went on to make a statement

that has an extraordinary significance and relevance for us, the

claim of the present generation of Muslims liberals to re-

interpret the foundational legal principles, in the light of

their own experience and altered condition of modern life,

perfectly justified. The teachings of the Quran that life is a

process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation

guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors, should be

permitted to solve its own problems.25

Iqbal once wrote that ‘all searches for knowledge are

essentially a form of prayer’. Far from dismissing western

scientific advances, he believed we should study them and

incorporate their positive content in our paradigm for a new

country that would be informed by Islamic ideals as well as

25 Ibid, p-97.


modern knowledge. Instead, we allowed our Ummah to stagnate.26

The westernized elite who took over from the departing British

colonial rulers had little interest in seeking this fusion of

Islamic ideals and scientific progress. Rather they adopted a

system that allowed them to perpetuate themselves in power, never

allowing true democracy to flourish. Our reactionary mullahs

promoted a medieval attitude to religion that grew ever more

distorted as Islam was hijacked as a political tool. Iqbal

stressed the need to use Ijtihad with a view to rebuild the Law of

Sharia in the light of modern thought and experience. He had

pointed out that just as the European Renaissance and reformation

were inspired by the acquisition of knowledge from the Muslim

universities of Spain and the Middle East during the Crusades,

contemporary Muslims should use western knowledge in their

reconstruction of their own religious thought.27 This ever

agitating wish of Iqbal as to the revival of Islam takes the form

of a prayer:

O god! Grant a living desire to the Muslims heart.

That warms the heart and agitates the soul!

Take the stray deer to the Kabba once again.

Give to the immured in the city the vastness of the Sahara.

26 Umar Muhammad Suheyl “Iqbal Review Journal of the Iqbal” (1997, Iqbal Academy

Pakistan), p-46.

27 Ibid, p-78.


Today the Muslim Ummah is in dire need of

reclaiming the vision and wisdom of the modernist Islamic

reformers who paved the way for the creation and upbringing of

this Ummah. We need to do this because we badly need cultural,

intellectual and moral renaissance in our community so that we

are able to create societies and communities that are educated

and enlightened, just and compassionate, forward-looking and

life-affirming. We need to utilize our rational faculties and

engage in scholarly discussion and reflection to find a solution

to contemporary issues such as the blending of the positive

aspects of western culture with Islam. The new renaissance must

also offer an alternative to the western materialism and

consumerism that has been totally imbibed by our ruling classes

and which our country cannot afford.28

Iqbal and other modernist reformist thinkers had

been deeply concerned about the reluctance of many Muslims to

respond positively to western culture, in particular the rigidity

of the mullahs whose mindset had been fossilized in medieval

times. The combination of ruling oligarchies and a rigid

religious mindset had stopped the forward movement of rational,

academic and scientific interaction with the changing world,

which would have led to a dynamic Islamic culture. Unfortunately,

that is why the concept of Ijtihad is so absent, not just in our

28 Saddiqui Mazharuddin “Concept of Muslim culture in Iqbal” (1983, Islamic Research

Institute), Islamabad, p-23.


country, but in the Muslim world at large. Democracy and freedom

of speech have been stifled for decades. Moreover education,

research and the quest for knowledge are simply not priorities.

That is why the greatest hope for a true Islamic renaissance lies

with Islamic scholars in the western countries who are neither

afraid of oppressive Muslim regimes nor of the religious bigots

who claim a monopoly on Islam. While western countries forge

ahead in every field of knowledge, the Muslim world seems to have

given up and relies on being spoon-feeding whatever knowledge is

passed on by the west.29

Iqbal called for Muslims to keep their minds

open to re-interpretation of the Quran and Islamic law so that

they remained relevant in a fast-changing world. He was also

strong in his condemnation of the myth-making Mullahs who were

not equipped to answer the questions of the modern Muslims on

contemporary issues. He was apprehensive of their bigotry and

intolerance against science, Art, and original thought and wanted

to set up a university for Ulema and religious scholars to equip

them with the modern tools of knowledge. Iqbal believed that

rather than spurning the discoveries of the modern world as un-

Islamic the Muslim world should use the technological and

scientific discoveries of the west without subordinating itself

29 Masud Muhammad Khalid “Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Ijtihad”, (1995, Islamic Research

Institute), Lahore.p-90.


to western values and culture. Iqbal has a special significance

for young men who often lack the virtues of their forefathers and

possess none of the good qualities of the dominating races of

Asia and Europe. They have forgotten all about Islam as well as

the golden history of their past glory and general prosperity.30

Iqbal speaks in his poetry:

Hast thou ever thought, O young Muslim?

What universe was it, of which thou art a shooting star?

Iqbal being a thorough revolutionary knew that

these tasks could not be accomplished without a re-interpretation

of the received Islamic doctrines. Much of his poetry and the

whole of his prose is an attempt at such a re-interpretation.

Unfortunately this essential aspect of his work has not been

given the attention it deserves, especially by the younger

generation. The task has to be undertaken if we are to emerge

from the slough of despondence into which we have sunk on account

of repeated failures of the Muslim Ummah to meet the challenge

of the time. Instead it is the only way, Iqbal did not believe

in any rigid system of philosophy simply conceived as the result

of abstract reasoning, Iqbal turned from the decadent old system

and looked for a personality that could build a new world31:

30 Ibid, p-89.

31 Dar Bashir Ahmad, “Articles on Iqbal” (1994, Iqbal Academy Lahore), Pakistan.

P-123.


Today the world stands in need of such a Mehdi

Whose glance could cause an upheaval in the realm of thought?

Notes and Refernces:

Ahmad Aziz, “Iqbal and Recent Explosion of Islamic Political Thought”Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, 1950.

Ahmad Khursheed, and Zafar Ishfaq Ansari “Islamic perspectives—studies in honour of Moulana sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi” the Islamicfoundation,UK 1979.

Ahmad, Aziz “Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan” Oxford, 1967.

Ansari Asloob Ahmad, “Iqbal-Essays and Studies” Ghalib Academy,New Delhi, 2001.

A. Anwar Beg, “The Poet of the East” Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2004.

Bausani Alessandria “Classical Muslim philosophy in the world of Muslimmodernist” Mohammad Iqbal, Arch philosophic, Berlin, Vol,XllII, 1960.


Bausani Alessandria “The concept of time in the religious philosophy ofMuhammad Iqbal” Die Welt Desn Islam, Leiden new series II,1954.

Chaudari Muhammad Ashraf, “The Muslim ummah and Iqbal,”National institute of historical and cultural researchIslamabad, Pakistan. 1994.

Dr.Abdul Aleem Hilal, “Social philosophy of Sir Mohd Iqbal” AdamPublishers, New Delhi.

Dr.Ehsan Ashraf, “Critical exposition of Iqbal’s philosophy” AdamPublishers, New Delhi, 2003.

Dekmejian R.Hriar, “The Anatomy of Islamic Revival” Middle EastJournal, No. 34:1935.

Dar Bashir Ahmad, “Articles on Iqbal” Iqbal Academy Pakistan.

Don Martindale, “The nature & types of sociological theory”Rawat publications, Delhi, 2001.

W.watts Miller, Durkheim Morals and Modernity, Mc Gillpublications, 1996.

George Ritzier, “Classical sociological theory” Mc GrawHill, 2005.

Henderson, “Max Weber” Macmillan publishers, New York, 1964.

Iqbal Muhammad “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”Lahore, S.H. Muhammad Ashraf.

Iqbal Muhammad “Pas Che Bayad Kard Ay Aqwam-i-Sharq” ( What shouldbe done, O People of the East)


Iqbal Muhammad, “Asrar-i-Khudi” (Secrets of the self) Lahore,1915.

Iqbal Muhammad “Mysteries of selflessness -Rumuz-i-Bekhudi” Lahore,1918.

Iqbal Muhammad “Armaghan-i-Hijaz” (Gift of Hijaz) Lahore, 1923.

Iqbal Muhammad “Zabur-i-Ajam” (Persian Hymns) Lahore, 1927.

Iqbal Muhammad “ Payam-i-Mashriq” (Message of the East) Lahore,1923.

Iqbal Muhammad, “Javid Namah” (Book of Eternity) Lahore,1932.

Iqbal Muhammad “Bal-i-Jabril” (Gabriel’s Wing) Lahore, 1936.

Irving M. Zeitlin, Rethinking Sociology, Rawat Publications,1987.

James Farganis, Readings in social theory, Mc Graw Hill,2004.

Jonathan H. Turner, The structural of sociological theory,Thomson publications, 2003.

Masud Muhammad Khalid “Iqbal’s reconstruction of Ijtihad” Lahore,Islamic Research Institute, 1995.

Masood Ali Khan, theories of sociology, Arise publishers,Delhi, 2006.

Peter M. Blau, Social structure, open books, London, 1976.


Nadvi Sayyid Abul Hasan “Glory of Iqbal” Progressive Books,1977.

Nahvi Bashir Ahmed (Iqbal: Religio-philosophical ideas-Essays and Studies)Iqbal institute of culture and philosophy, university ofKashmir.

Nilanjana Majumdar, Marxist theory and socialist states,Kalpaz publications, 2005.

Qaiser Nazir “Iqbal and western philosophers” Iqbal AcademyPakistan, 1987.

Sayyid Abdul Wahid “Thoughts and Reflections of Iqbal” S.H. MuhammadAshraf, Lahore, 1992.

Saddiqui Mazharuddin “Concept of Muslim culture in Iqbal” IslamicResearch Institute, Islamabad, 1983.

Sayyidian K.G, “Iqbal’s educational philosophy”

Tariq A.R. “Speeches and statements of Iqbal”. Lahore, 1973.

Vahid S.A. “Introduction to Iqbal”, Karachi. 1954.

Razzaqi Shahid Hussain “Discourses of Iqbal’ Iqbal AcademyPakistan, 1979.

Zakaria Rafiq, “Iqbal the poet and politician” Viking Penguin booksIndia, 1993.

Journals:


Dr. M. Rafiuddin, “Iqbal Review journal of the Iqbal” Iqbal AcademyPakistan. 1963.

S. Mahidihasan, “Iqbal Review, Journal of the Iqbal” Iqbal AcademyPakistan. 1978.

M.M. Saraf “A journal of the Bazim-e-Iqbal” 1958.

Muhammad Suheyl Umar, “Iqbal Review journal of the Iqbal” IqbalAcademy Pakistan. 2004.

Muhammad Suheyl Umar “Iqbal Review Journal of the Iqbal” IqbalAcademy Pakistan, 1997.

Websites:

www.disna.com www.iqbalacademypakistan.com www.iqbalreview.com www.iqbal academyhydrabad.com

http://www.iqbal/

http://www.iqbalreview.com/

http://www.iqbalacademypakistan.com/

http://www.disna.com/

Iqbal's social ideas and their contemporary relevance

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