IQBAL‘S CONCEPTION OF MUSLIM

NATIONALISM

BACKGROUND
1. Western conception of nationalism was divested of religion.
2. Linguistic, ethnic and territorial commonalities.
3. It was secular in nature. No place of religion.
4. Outcome. The world in units in perpetual conflict with each other.
5. The concept become popular as a result of people’s struggle against colonialism and
imperialism. National liberation movements of the people of the colonies to free themselves
from the yoke of colonial and imperialist rule.
6. Slogans of progress, individual liberty and liberation attracted people.
7. Among Muslim nations of the Middle East, the slogan of nationalism was one of the most
important factors in politics.
 INADEQUACY OF WESTERN NATIONALISM

• The idea of a religious community entitling itself as a nation could hardly

fit into the prevalent Western concept of nationalism in which
considerations of race, language or territory occupy an important place.
The Indian Muslims did not come from a single racial stock, nor did they
manifest any linguistic similarity. On the other hand, they comprised a host
of linguistic groups possessing certain well-defined characteristics; they
differed considerably from each other in social customs, food and even
national predilections.
• Iqbal pleaded for a separate Muslim state in India, he was not asking for
the creation of yet another independent territorial unit in the subcontinent.
What he emphasised in his address was that the life of Islam as a cultural
force in India very largely depended on its centralisation in a specified
territory. The driving force behind the concept of Indian Muslim nation-
hood was, therefore, essentially ideological in character.
 IQBAL‘S CONCEPTION OF MUSLIM
NATIONALISM

RATIONALE OF MUSLIM NATIONAISM

1. INSTRUMENTS OF OPPRESSION. The idea of nationalism created groups of

territorial units composed of people in perpetual conflict with each other.
Competing with each other for acquiring more resources , trade and
territory of the world.

2.The Colonial rulers have devised new and creative styles of oppression and
exaltation for the ruled. So much so that Muslims also bought into their
ideas and accepted their principles. And the modern civilization which
was creating for every nation an idea to stand on, also made Muslims to
create a similar one.
 EVOUTION OF IQBAL’S NATIONALISM

Iqbal went through a traumatic experience by moving from a nationalist to a universalist.

He himself admitted in an interview with a representative of the Bomby Chronicle, 17
September — 31 December 1931, during the Round Table Conference in 1931, that
during his student days he was a staunch nationalist, but a change came in his ideas
later on. He wrote:
"There is no doubt that my ideas about Nationalism have undergone a definite
change. In my college days I was a zealous Nationalist which I am not now. The
change is due to a maturer thinking. ( B.A. Dar, Letters and Writings of Iqbal, pp.
58-59.).

• According to Dr Razi Wasti, a famous scholar in his essay, Dr. MUHAMMAD

IQBAL – FROM NATIONALISM TO UNIVERSALISM
• This period terminates with the famous poem "Shikwah aur Jawab-i Shikwah" (The
Complaint and the Answer) which was written in 1911-12. A careful selection was
made and compiled by Iqbal and, along with some later ones, Bang-i tiara was
published in 1924. 
 EVOLUTION OF IDEA OF MUSLIM NATION

• This at that time, appeared to be a novel concept of Muslim nationhood, but its
theoretical foundations had already been worked out by the poet-philosopher Iqbal in
his brilliant Allahabad Address. He said; “Islam as an ethical ideal has been the
chief formative factor in the life-history of the Muslims of India. It has
furnished those basic emotions and loyalties which gradually unify scattered
individuals and groups, and finally trans-form them into a well-defined people,
possessing a moral consciousness of their own.” “Islam as a people-building
force,” he said, “has worked at its best” in no other country than India.
• Sayyed Ahmad Shahid’s Mujahidin movement, uprising of 1857, the Aligarh
movement, the Muslim League and the Khilafat movements were all raised on the
basic assumption that the Indian Muslim community represented a distinct politico-
cultural unit on the broad canvas of India. The words “nation,” “nationality” and
“people” were freely used in the speeches and writings of eminent Indian leaders like
Sayyad Ahmad Shahid, Sayyad Ahmad Khan, Hali, Shibli, Maulana Muhammad Ali
and Allama Iqbal to denote the Indian Muslims and to focus attention on their
distinct, national identity.
 Evolution of Iqbal’s political ideas and Muslim Nationalism

• Disillusionment with Western nationalism. Iqbal was not influenced by

materialistic and atheistic trends in European thought of early twentieth
century. Actually it was during his stay in Europe that Iqbal became
disgusted with pan-theism, secular nationalism and territorial patriotism.

• Iqbal subsequently referred to his own pantheistic and nationalist period

(1895-1905) as "my phase of ignorance and folly".
 Evolution of Iqbal’s political ideas and Muslim
Nationalism
• Iqbal's three years' stay in Europe helped him a great deal in the development of his thought.
The libraries of Cambridge, London and those in Germany were easily accessible and Iqbal
read voraciously and discussed matters with European savants and scholars. His outlook on
life underwent two important changes about this time. He evinced an utter dislike for the
narrow and selfish nationalism which was the root cause of most political troubles in Europe
and his admiration for a life of action and struggle became more pronounced.
• Besides, he had seen the forces of secular nationalism and territorial patriotism active in
Europe and arrived at the conclusion that the construction of human solidarity on the
foundation of race, language, colour and territory, or fighting or dying for it was not only
inhuman but contrary to universally accepted spiritual values of equality and brotherhood of
man.
 Evolution of Iqbal’s political ideas and Muslim
Nationalism
• Thus he developed new ideas which were in effect antithesis of his earlier
political philosophy. He found the idea of nationalism as inadequate to
solve the problems of humanity. The absence of religious sentiments on the
one hand and the presence of hollow nationalism on the other nauseated
him. Greedy and selfish competition between man and man and between
nation and nation could not be the basis of a society which Iqbal was
dreaming. The following lines, composed in 1907, reveal his changed
attitude, in which he warned Europe in lines of prophetic vision of the
abyss towards which her materialism was leading her:
 Evolution of Iqbal’s political ideas and Muslim
Nationalism
•While in London, Iqbal took active part in the nascent Mus­lim political movement. The All-
India Muslim League was formed at Dacca in December 1906. Its London Branch with Syed
Ameer Ali as President was founded in 1908. Iqbal was elected as a member of the Committee
of this branch.
•Iqbal returned to Lahore in August 1908 and joined the Government College as a part-time
Professor of Philosophy and English Literature. He started practising law. He wrote poems
which he recited at the functions of Anjuman-i Himayat-i Islam. He was now looking at
Indian politics not as an Indian but as a citizen of the spiritual realm of Islam.
•"Iqbal's political arena was the Punjab. He had to deal with the political and economic
equations as they then existed."[But the Hindu revivalist movements, anti-Partition of Bengal
movement and the activities of extremist Hindu leaders also affected his thoughts. Between
1910 and 1923 Iqbal took no active part in politics. He even refused to serve on the Khilafat
Committee as he did not favour the methods adopted by the sponsors of the Khilafat
Movement. He devoted himself to bringing an intellectual and spiritual revolution. Iqbal was
convinced that Muslims had a destiny of their own inside as well as outside India. He realised
that Islam was confronted with serious difficulties. A solution of its problems required a
mustering of its own strength, the closing of its ranks and the union of its worldwide forces.
Unity of Muslim countries rather than unity of different communities had now be-come his
obsession.
 Ottoman or Khilafat question

• Designs of European powers against Muslim countries of the Middle East

and North Africa, particularly Italy's attack on Tri­poli (1911), the Balkan
Wars (1912-13) and the policies of the British Government which led to
the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, compelled Iqbal to revolt against
this concept of militant nationalism. He himself wrote:
• "Very early from the writings of the European scholars I had come to know
that the basic scheme of Western Imperialism was to dismember the unity
of the Muslim world by popularizing territorial nationalism among its
various components.“ REF” Syed Abdul Vahid Mu'ini, Ed., Maqalat-i
Iqbal (Lahore, 1963), p. 222. Translated from Urdu.
 Iqbal’s vision of Islam as dynamic force

1. In Islam Iqbal saw action at once dynamic and responsible, creative yet
never divorced from an overriding cosmic perspective and authority. He
rebelled violently, therefore, against un-Islamic passivity and self-
effacementThis disillusionment from European culture made Iqbal feel the
need of seeking inspiration exclusively from his own religio­cultural tradition.
Loyalty to the national idea was soon to be re-placed by spiritual loyalty to the
world of Islam. He had gone to Europe as a nationalist. He returned as an
earnest Pan-Islamist. A deeper study of Islamic history led him to the
conclusion that it was pantheism, among other destructive forces, which had
killed the will to act in the Muslim peoples and resulted in the decline of
Islamic civilization.
 ISLAM AS THE BASIC CONSITUENT OF
NATIONALITY

• On 15 December 1932, in a speech delivered before the National League,

London, Iqbal stated:
"Islam does not recognize the difference of race, of caste or even of sex. It is
above time and above space, and it is in this sense that mankind are
accepted as brothers.“ REF ( B.A. Dar, op. cit., p. 76)
 ALLAHBAD ADDRESS AND MUSLI M NATIONALISM
(Monday 29 April 1931 25th annual AIML session)

•  Iqbal said: “I propose not to guide you in your decisions, but to

attempt the humbler task of bringing clearly to your consciousness the
main principle which, in my opinion, should determine the general
character of these decisions”. The main theme of the speech was Islam
and its place alongside nationalism in India. According to Iqbal, ‘India is
perhaps the only country in the world where Islam, as a people-
building force, has worked at its best. I entertain the highest respect
for the customs, laws, religious and social institutions of other
communities. Nay, it is my duty, according to the teaching of the
Quran, even to defend their places of worship, if need be.’
 ALLAHBAD ADDRESS AND MUSLI M NATIONALISM
(Monday 29 April 1931 25th annual AIML session )
• OPPOSITION TO WESTERN MAJORITARIAN DEMOCRACY. Iqbal and Muslim
intelligentsia of the time was united in opposing democracy because in their conception,
democracy meant the rule of majority over a hapless minority. They considered democracy to
be a system in which Muslim voices would be confined to the status of a permanent minority
within United India..
• Iqbal’s solution to this problem was establishment of a Muslim state within United India. He
declared: ‘I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and
Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire,
or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian
Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West
India.’ It is worth mentioning that Muslim-majority areas of India were present in Hyderabad
and East Bengal as well and Iqbal was not interested in those parts becoming consolidated
states. He, however, realised that this idea might alienate non-Muslims living in ‘North-West
India’ and assuaged their worries in the following words: ‘The idea need not alarm the Hindus
or the British. India is the greatest Muslim country in the world.’ Further in the speech, he
proclaimed: ‘Nor should the Hindus fear that the creation of autonomous Muslim states will
mean the introduction of a kind of religious rule in such states.’
 Iqbal-Father of Pakistan Idea or not

• The most interesting comment has been made by Dr. K.K.

Aziz, who states that:
• "It is grossly misleading to call him the originator of the idea of
Pakistan or the poet who dreamed of partition. He never talked of
partition and his ideal was that of a getting together of the Muslim
provinces in the northwest so as to bargain more advantageously
with the projected Hindu centre. It is one of the myths of Pakistani
nationalism to saddle Iqbal with the parentage of Pakistan.“ (REF:
K.K. Aziz, The Making of Pakistan (Islamabad, 1976), p. 54)
 Iqbal-Father of Pakistan Idea or not
• Iqbal theorised ‘North-West India’ as a frontier region between India and
any foreign invaders (since India had historically faced attacks from the
Western side). He gave the numbers of Muslim personnel enrolled in
Indian army (a legacy of British Racism in the form of the ‘martial races’
theory developed after 1857) and assured that this Muslim force would
defend India. In his words, “the North-West Indian Muslims will prove the
best defenders of India against a foreign invasion, be that invasion one of
ideas or of bayonets.” It is safe to assume that Iqbal was referring to
growing Influence of Soviet Russia in parts of Asia and his proposed state
‘within or without the British Empire’ would stop invasion of Communist
forces and ideas.
 Iqbal-Father of Pakistan Idea or not
• Furthermore, Iqbal wanted a redrawing of India’s map before the constitutional
scheme proposed by Simon Commission was to be implemented. He proposed:
‘In view of India’s infinite variety in climates, races, languages, creeds and social
systems, the creation of autonomous States, based on the unity of language,
race, history, religion and identity of economic interests, is the only possible way
to secure a stable constitutional structure in India.’ The Simon Commission
report had mentioned that ‘India’s defence cannot be regarded as a matter of
purely Indian concern’ necessitating presence of British officers in Indian Army.
Iqbal spoke against this imperial policy and demanded further integration of
Indian officers in the army. He reminded the audience that ‘If a Federal
Government is established, Muslim federal States will willingly agree, for
purposes of India’s defence, to the creation of neutral Indian military and naval
forces. Such a neutral military force for the defence of India was a reality in the
days of Mughal rule. Indeed in the time of Akbar the Indian frontier was, on the
whole, defended by armies officered by Hindu generals’.
 Iqbal-Father of Pakistan Idea or not
• At the end, Iqbal diagnosed two major problems facing the Indian Muslim
community: ‘want of leaders’ and ‘factionalism’. He finished by
expressing his gut feeling ‘that in the near future our community may be
called upon to adopt an independent line of action to cope with the present
crisis. And an independent line of political action, in such a crisis, is
possible only to a determined people, possessing a will focalised by a
single purpose.’ As it turned out, that ‘single purpose’ was creation of new
state/s as theorised by All India Muslim League’s resolution passed ten
years after Iqbal’s death, a few hundred metres away from his final resting
place in Lahore.