Dr. Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din MA. Ph.D; D.Litt. Translated Byiqbalcyberlibrary.net/pdf/3521E.pdf · 18...

THE PHILOSOPHY OF IQBAL

(A detailed and systematic exposition ofIqbal’s philosophy of the self in the light ofhis poetical works)

By

Dr. Mohammad Rafi-ud-DinMA. Ph.D; D.Litt.

Translated By

S.D Mahmud

IQBAL ACADEMY PAKISTAN

Dedication

The scientific facts furnish a conclusive evidence thatthe process of evolution which cannot be stopped byanyone from continuing will bring about the existence ofa permanent world state that will be founded on thephilosophical interpretation of Islam called ThePhilosophy of the Self.

I dedicate this book with the highest respect andregard for those lovers of the beauty of the Essence whose

spirits will initiate this state.1

Muhammad Rafi-ud-din

1 This is a translation of the text of the “dedication” the authorrevised and added with his own hand to his personal copy of theprinted first edition of the Urdu Book.

IN LOVING MEMORY

OF

MY FATHER

DR.MOHAMMAD RAFI- ud-DIN

WHOSE DEVOTION TO ISLAM CONTINUES TO

INSPIRE ME

Ĩ 䜱 ä⁏Ĩ ėäìþᜯĨ ą⧞ Ĩ ąĆ⇤

Ĩ 䜱 ä⁏Ĩ ė⌵ĈäĨ 䚽 Ĩ 䆀 ïĨ 䚽

㊠ Ĩ îä⇤ äĨ 䮨 äĨ 㽮 ǌ˄Ĩٱ ėþĄì䯆 Ĩ ąရ

�ǖƮ ƕĄŝǔƴĨ ėä䇪Ĩ 䗃Ĩ ïäîĨ ė䬛䯀Ĩ ïä

䯀äĨ ęì⸗Ĩ äٳǌɟĨ ėäὛ Ĩ ąᭅ

䯀äĨ ęì⸗Ĩ ἼĨ ïäîĨ ąû㯎

�ǖƮ ƕŇǔưĨ 䣘㍉Ĩ 㽮 Ĩ 〪 Ĩ ě ïäîĨ ⸘ Ĩ 䝅

∵ Ĩ 䔙Ĩ 㸑 Ĩ îìĨ 㽮 Ĩ ą⭐ Ĩ 䛋1

Come if thou would’st know the secret ofeverlasting lifeCome, if thou would’st win both earth andheaven.Heaven taught me this lore,I cannot hide it from comrades.The Fountain of Life hath been given to me todrink.I have been made an adept of the mystery of Life.No one hath told the secret which I will tellOr threaded a pearl of thought like me. (AR)

1 The last four verses which have been star marked have been addedby the author to the verses in the printed first edition of hispersonal copy of the Urdu book with his own hand.

ABBREVIATIONS USED

AH ARMUGHAN-I-HEJAZ (P & U)

AR ASRAR-O-RUMUZ (P)

BJ BAL-I-JIBRIL (U)

BD BANG-I-DARA (U)

JN JAVED NAMA (P)

MK MATHNAVI PAS CHEH

BAYAD KARD (P)

PM PAYAM-I-MASHRIQ (P)

ZA ZABUR-I-AJAM (P)

ZK ZARB-I-KALIM (U)

Contents

INTRODUCTION 15

THE PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR 21

FOREWORD 27

CHAPTER I 29

A GLANCE ON IQBAL’S PHILOSOPHY 29

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE IDEA OF THE SELFIN IQBAL'S PHILOSOPHY 29

CHAPTER II 149

REALITY OF SELF 149

CHAPTER III 219

SELF AND CREATION 219

CHAPTER IV 307

SELF AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY 307

CHAPTER V 331

SELF AND MERCY TO THE NATIONS 331

CHAPTER VI 391

SELF AND INTELLECT 391

CHAPTER VII 399

SELF AND OBSERVATION OF NATURE 399

CHAPTER VIII 413

SELF AND SCIENCE 413

CHAPTER IX 455

SELF AND ZIKR 455

CHAPTER X 471

SELF AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF MORALITY 471

CHAPTER XI 493

SELF AND ART 493

CHAPTER XII 527

REVOLUTION IN THE SELF 527

CHAPTER XIII 611

SELF AND THE ADVOCACY OF GOD’S UNITY 611

CHAPTER XIV 629

SELF AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF POLITICS 629

CHAPTER XV 717

SELF AND SOCIALISM 717

CHAPTER XVI 843

SELF AND THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCES 843

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THEBENEFICIENT AND THE

MERCIFUL

INTRODUCTION

After years of Iqbal's study, I came to theconclusion that his concepts are scientifically andrationally quite spontaneous, forceful, correct andirrefutable. Although they are scattered here and there inhis poetical and prose writings, yet they are all rationallyand intellectually inter-related. The reason is that they arederived from a single concept called by Iqbal the conceptof Khudi or Self. Therefore, Iqbal's exposition shouldmean that the rational and intellectual relationship of allhis other concepts with the central concept of Khudishould be made clear. If any exposition of it is offeredwithout doing so, it will not be completelycomprehensible to and satisfactory for Muslims in generaland non-Muslims in particular. In fact, the cause of all themisunderstandings which exist among Muslims and non-Muslims about Iqbal’s concepts even today is alone thattheir rational and intellectual order and organization hasnot been provided. In other words, my conclusion was

16 The Philosophy of Iqbal – Dr. M. Rafiuddin

that Iqbal's philosophy, like all other different mainphilosophies of the world, is potentially a complete andcontinuous philosophy of man and universe thedistinguishing feature of which is that its concepts areintellectually and logically ordered and organised whichmakes it effective and convincing and, therefore,it isextremely important that Iqbal's thought is given theform of a philosophical system by unravelling therational order and organization latent in it so that itbecomes completely comprehensible in Pakistan and canalso be assured of its place in the world's intellectualcircles as the final world philosophy repudiatingfalsehood. Therefore, I decided that an attempt should bemade to accomplish this task with God's help, as far aspossible. Obviously, it was extremely important that inthe book to be written to accomplish this task thefollowing guiding principles should be kept in mind fromthe very beginning.

Firstly, a philosophy or a philosophical system is notbased upon the evidence of individuals, but depends uponintellectual facts and rational logic. No one of its conceptsis accepted because someone is supporting orrecommending it, but because it consists of scientific factswhich are known and established or have a forcefulrational logic behind them which leaves no room fortheir refutation. If a proof or an evidence is offered inphilosophy, it can only be for the purpose of a furtherconfirmation of its results after an effective intellectualand rational argument---even that too not of thephilosopher himself, but only of those other persons theloftiness of whose thought is already established. Just asHegel or any other philosopher has never offered his ownstatement as a proof to establish or get any of his ownphilosophical points accepted by the people, similarly we

Introduction 17

too can not offer any of the statements of Iqbal as aproof to establish or get any of his philosophical pointsaccepted by the people. Iqbal himself also never offeredany of his statements as a proof to establish the truth ofhis ideas, but has alluded to the laws of nature andscientific facts. Therefore, any book to be written toconstruct the philosophy of Iqbal should have noreference to Iqbal, rather,the soundness and rationality ofhis ideas should be proved with the help of only thescientific facts and rational logic.

Secondly, in order to organize and systematise Iqbal'sideas scientifically and intellectually, and to explain theirsoundness and rationality, it will be necessary to untilizethose scientific facts together with their intellectual andscientific foundations which have been discovered tilltoday and confirm his ideas, whether their discoverer is aphilosopher or a scientist who belongs to any part of theworld.

Thirdly, all those philosophical concepts and theorieswhich come into a conflict with Iqbal's thought and itsimplications should be proved wrong scientifically andintellectually because they are, in fact, not correct and canbe proved wrong in the light of rational logic, otherwise acomplete and thorough explanation of the correctnessand rationality of Iqbal’s own philosophical ideas will notbe possible , and the people will be unable to know if it ishis point of view about some particular philosophicalproposition or that of the theories opposed to his thoughtwhich is correct. And if it is Iqbal’s point of view whichis correct then what are its scientific and intellectualreasons?

Fourthly, the book should be in English so thatIqbal’s philosophy can be read and analysed in theworld’s intellectual circles, its scientific importance can be


determined in comparison with other philosophies and itsrationality and superiority can be acknowledged.

In the light of these guiding principles the book Iwrote by God's help and guidance to construct Iqbal'sphilosophic system is entitled Ideology of the Future. Thisbook was completed in June 1942 and was published inAugust 1946. After about 20 years of the publication ofthis book, I wrote another book on educationalphilosophy by a further explanation and extension of achapter of this book in the light of these very principleswhich is called First Principles of Education. In fact, all mybooks have come into existence1 as a further explanationand extension of the ideas and subjects of Ideology of theFuture (i.e., Iqbal’s organised and continuous2

philosophy of the self).Since, Iqbal has given an exposition of the Islamic

Philosophy itself through his Philosophy of the self, andthe Philosophy of the Self is nothing but the Philosophyof Islam, if my book Ideology of the Future is Iqbal'sphilosophical system, it is at the same time also Islam'sphilosophical system. But, since this book is outwardlypurely philosophical with no reference either to Iqbal orto the Quran and Hadith, its readers have been studyingit generally as a book on pure philosophy and not onIqbal's Philosophy or on the Philosophy of Islam.Therefore, even after the publication of this book, thestudents of Iqbal had to complain that none fromamongst those who wrote on him presented hisPhilosophy of the Self in the form of a continuous

1 This is a translation of the words added by the author to hispersonal copy of the printed first edition of the Urdu book withhis own hand.

2 Ibid.

Introduction 19

rational system or explained it fully. On the other handthose interested in Islam also continued to say that topropagate Islam to those educated Muslims and non-Muslims who had repudiated it during the modern times,to explain the intellectual and rational foundations ofIslam and to present it as a philosophical system wasextremely necessary which had not yet been realised1.Therefore, I thought that in view of the interest of ourpeople it was extremely necessary to write two morebooks on Iqbal’s Philosophy of the Self one of whichshould present this philosophy as the Philosophy of Islamwith references to the Quran and Hadith and the otherthis philosophy as Iqbal's Philosophy with references toIqbal. I am thankful to God that He gave me the guidanceto write both these books. The first book entitled Qurān aur ilm-e-Jadeed was written by me in 1950 for theInstitute of Islamic Culture, Lahore. The second bookentitled Hikmat-e-Iqbal is being presented by me now. Inshort, I have written these books, to whatever extent Iwas helped and guided by God, in such a way that I hopethat those friends who wish to study Iqbal's Philosophyof the Self or the philosophy of Islam in the form of apure and organized philosophy or science will find thestudy of my book Ideology of the Future2 useful. And thosewho wish to study the Philosophy of the Self as thePhilosophy of Islam will find my second book Qurān aur

1 This is a translation of the line added by the author to hispersonal copy of the printed first edition of the Urdu book withhis own hand.

2 The publisher of the third edition of this book is SheikhMohammad Ashraf, Kashmiri Bazar, Lahore.


ilm-e-Jadeed of considerable interest1. Similarly, thepresent book entitled Hikmat-e-Iqbal will serve thepurpose of those who intend to study the philosophy ofthe Self as Iqbal's philosophy in the light of references toIqbal.

It is hoped that my friends who study these threebooks will find that they make up the deficiency of eachother too as a detailed explanation of the Philosophy ofthe Self.

(Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din)

1 This is a translation of the line added by the author to hispersonal copy of the printed first edition of the Urdu book withhis own hand.

THE PREFACE OF THETRANSLATOR

The philosophy of Iqbal is an English translation of theUrdu book entitled Hikmat-i-Iqbal authored by myfather Dr.Mohammad Rafi-ud-din , a dedicated Muslimand a systematic Islamic thinker of our time who isregarded by some eminent philosophers and thinkers asthe greatest philosopher after Allama Mohammad Iqbalin the sub-continent.

Dr.Mohammad Rafi-ud-din wrote several books andarticles (both in English and Urdu) all of which are, infact, a continuation of an intellectual tradition set byAllama Iqbal. Hikmat-i-Iqbal of which this is a translationis the last in the series of these books and articles.

The first edition of this book was published by IlmiKitab Khana, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, in early 1969 or late1968.When I read this book I found it remarkable for itscontinous systematic elaboration and elucidation ofIqbalian thought.In fact, before the appearance of thisbook, no work on Iqbal was available which presentedhis ideas which are scattered throughout his poetic worksin fragments as a continous system written out in a singlevolume, though the list of works on his thought is quitelarge. In fact, most of them, or rather, all of them are animitation of one another or deal with different aspects ofhis philosophy in isolation from one another. None ofthe writers of these works has been able even to grasp thetrue nature of the concept of khudi which is the coreconcept in Iqbal’s philosophy, though some of them were


close to him during his life. Thus, this book marks thebeginning of the development of Iqbal’s thought in asystematized form and is a great service not only toknowledge and learning, but also to humanity at large.It’s this fact which has inspired me to translate this bookinto English so that the English reader interested instudying Iqbalian thought in the form of a system ofphilosophy may benefit by it.

The translation is based on the author’s personalcopy of the first edition of Hikmat-i-Iqbal in which he hasmade some additions and improvements at differentplaces with his own hand obviously with the intention ofpublishing its second edition by incorporating theseadditions and improvements etc. But, unfortunately,before he could realize his wish, he died of a road accidentin Karachi on November,29,1969.This personal copy wasavailable only recently. Therefore, the improvements andchanges made in it by the author could not beincorporated in the second edition of Hikmat-i-Iqbalpublished by the International Islamic University,Islamabad in 1996.

My father had expressed his wish to ChaudharyMuzzaffer Hussain, his close confidant and the academicdirector , All Pakistan Islamic Education Congress , Lahore( an organization set up by him to Islamize education)that his writings should be preserved after his death.Chaudhary Muzzaffar Hussain carried out his wish inletter by doing appreciable work not only to preserve butalso to advance his thought as long as he lived. After hisdeath the responsibility to continue the work started byhim was taken up by me. Consequently, I have alsotranslated into English two of his other books --Rooh-i-Islam and Quran aur Ilm-i-Jadeed for the benefit of theEnglish reader before taking up the translation of

Preface of the Translator 23

Hikmat-i-Iqbal into English. These translations havealready come out.

The translation of the additions and improvementsmade by the author in his personal copy of Hikmat-i-Iqbalhave been highlighted in bold words, and the fact that itis their translation has also been mentioned in the footnotes in each case.

The author has deleted from the title page of hispersonal copy of the Urdu book the official title of thejob of director, Iqbal Academy, Pakistan, held by himbefore his retirement in 1965. Therefore, this official titlehas been removed from the title page of this translationtoo.

An English translation of such a book as Hikmat-i-Iqbal was a difficult task because of its high intellectualstandard, miraculously eloquent expression at differentplaces and difficult diction. It was particularly irksome totranslate his personal copy containing the additions andimprovements as it required a lot of understanding andhard work to identify their relationship with the relevantsections of the printed text. But a determined effort wasmade with the help of Allmighty God to identify theirrelationship with the running text, and I hope that I havesucceeded in my effort to a large extent. It has also beenensured that the translation manages to be faithful to theoriginal as far as possible.

The author has not mentioned the sources of theexcerpts taken by him from various books in themajority of the cases. Therefore, it was also normally notobligatory for me to mention these sources in thistranslation. But I have made an attempt to mention themin the footnotes in the majority of the cases leaving outthe rest whose sources could not be available despite mybest efforts.


The sources of all of Iqbal’s verses have been given inthis translation. Their translations have been takenmostly from a collection of Iqbal Academy,Pakistan,entitled “Iqbal, collected poetical works (Englishtranslation)” edited by Muhammad Suheyl Umar. Incertain cases (which are only very few) neither the sourceof the verse nor that of its translation was available .Hence, its mention had perforce to be left out of thetranslation.

This translation contains the Quranic ayah atdifferent places. Their translations have been takenmostly from two main sources, viz, The Noble Quran byDr.Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al Hilali and Dr.Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Islamic University, AlMadinah Al Munawwarah and the Holy Quran (text,translation and commentary) by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Areference to it is contained in the footnotes in each case.There are some ayah in the translation whose translationshave been taken from other sources . This fact has alsobeen explained in the footnotes in each case. Thetranslation of some ayah in this book is a translation ofthe Urdu translation of these ayah by the author.

The translation contains Hadiths at a number ofplaces. Though the author has not mentioned theirsources, yet in this translation an attempt has been madeto fill this deficiency by mentioning their sourceswherever possible leaving the rest whose sources couldnot be available.

In a translation it is hard to meet the academicrequirements of a bibliography. This translationtherefore, does not contain bibliographic references, butonly footnotes all of which show to the reader where aparticular piece of information comes from.

Preface of the Translator 25

Lastly, I must thank Dr. Muhammad Khalid Masood,ex chairman Council of Islamic Ideology and ex academicdirector, ISIM, Leiden, the Netherlands, for reviewingthis translation and making highly valuable suggestions toimprove it. He has also very kindly written a foreword tothis translation for which I owe a debt of gratitude tohim.

I hope that the translation will be found veryreadable and will particularly benefit the English readerwho is interested in studying Iqbal’s thought in the formof a continuous and integrated philosophical system.

(Salah-ud-Din-Mahmud)

Foreword

This English translation of Dr MohammadRafiuddin’s Hikmat-e-Iqbal is a welcome addition to thegrowing field of Iqbal studies. Critics of Iqbal who foundhis thought unscientific, unsystematic and apologeticprompted Dr Rafiuddin to write Hikmat-e-Iqbal as arejoinder to this critique. He suggested three principles tojudge Iqbal’s contribution. First, to evaluate if acontribution is systematic one must analyse Iqbal’sarguments, not selected extracts and poetry. Second, onemust not evaluate Iqbal’s philosophy on the basis of thephilosophical thought whose weakness he exposed. Hiscontribution need to be analysed within Iqbal’s owncontext. Third, one must critically appreciate Iqbal’scritique of his contemporary thinkers, not simply to findcontradictions but to judge whether his critique wasscientifically sound and consistent.

Iqbal’s philosophical thought is not found in onebook or poem; it permeates in his prose and poetrythroughout. It need to be studied comprehensively andcollectively. According to Dr. Rafiuddin the core conceptin Iqbal’s philosophy is Khudi or Autonomy of the Self,developed in two larger contexts: his contemporaryphilosophical thought related to Self and modernity, andthe Islamic philosophical context. Dr Rafiuddin wrote thefollowing books to make Iqbal’s philosophyunderstandable; Ideology of the Future, to elaborate Iqbal’s


core philosophy and its logic in the contemporarycontext; Qur’an awr ‘Ilm Jadid, to elaborate the Islamiccontext and its contemporary relevance, and FirstPrinciples of Eduction, to explain epistemology andpedagogy. He wrote Hikmat-e-Iqbal as an introduction toIqbal’s philosophy. It is an introduction but by a studentof philosophy who had studied Iqbal extensively,benefited from his wisdom passionately and written onhis thought comprehensively.

Three contemporary trends cried for its Englishtranslation. First is the trend of appropriating Iqbal toreader’s own ideology; modernists, liberals and Islamistsall have sculptured him to their own images. Second isthe trend of disassociation with Iqbal; Puritan secularists,nationalist and Marxists find it hard to accept Iqbal. Thethird is the trend of worshippers of orthodox Urdu andreligion who find his unorthodox diction and theologyunforgivable. Iqbal responded to the challenges ofmodernity, scientism, secularism, orthodoxy andMarxism as he faced them in his everyday life.

These challenges survive in various stages of socialprocess of evolution. An English translation of HikmatIqbal by Dr. Salahuddin Mahmood would greatly helpyoung researchers who wish to study Iqbal without anyprops. As explained by him in his preface the translatorhas put lots of effort in making this Introductionaccessible to younger generation. I am sure students ofIqbal Studies in Pakistan and abroad will warmlywelcome this English translation.

Muhammad Khalid MasudIslamabad

May 23, 2016

CHAPTER I

A GLANCE ON IQBAL’SPHILOSOPHY

The importance of the idea of theself in Iqbal's philosophy

All the philosophical ideas of Iqbal have their rootin one concept alone to which he has given the name ofKhudi or “Self”. All his other ideas are derived only fromthis one concept and are scientifically and rationallyrelated to it. This means that all the ideas of Iqbal arethemselves also rationally and intellectually mutuallyrelated, and his thought is in the form of a philosophicalsystem, each concept of which derives an intellectual andscientific support and confirmation from the rest.Therefore, unless we understand the nucleus of thisphilosophical system, that is, the concept of “Self”correctly, we cannot appreciate any of his ideas tooproperly. Conversely, unless we understand each one of


his various concepts which, according to him, are nomore than the ramifications and implications of the basicconcept of “Self”, a proper appreciation of the basicconcept of Self itself would be impossible. Thus, for aproper appreciation of Iqbal’s philosophy, it is necessarythat instead of trying to study his ideas piecemeal, weshould treat the sum total of his ideas as an organicwhole.

Now, if each one of Iqbal’s ideas is just a part or aconstituent of the entire system of his thought, which inits turn, provides an exposition and explanation of eachone of his ideas, then a proper understanding of anysingle idea is possible only by treating it as a part of thisentire system and not as an isolated and separate idea.Similarly, no adequate understanding of any of his ideaswould be possible even if a single aspect of that unifiedthought-system is ignored or brushed aside as irrelevantand unimportant. Any estimate of any of Iqbal’s ideas,which is not formed in the light of his entire thoughtsystem and in the context of the rest of his ideas, wouldturn out to be anything but Iqbal’s concept. That couldvery well be our own pet concept but certainly notIqbal’s. Iqbal’s concept could be only that which thewhole and not a part of his system of thought determinesand defines. If we isolate a concept from the thoughtsystem of which it is a constituent part, it is bound tobecome as lifeless as a limb torn away from an animalorganism. This principle is the key to the understandingof Iqbal. If students of and writers on Iqbal ___ Muslimsas well as non-Muslims, Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis ___are suffering from a number of misconceptions aboutIqbal or if acrimonious controversies are raging aroundhim or if attempts are being made to exploit Iqbal inorder that each one could find support for his own ideas,

A Glance on Iqbal’s Philosophy 31

it is all very largely because this principle has beenignored.

In a philosophy, all of whose ideas are derived fromonly a single principle or basic idea, real inconsistenciesare impossible. In such a case, inconsistency can possiblyexist in the mind of the reader but not in that of thephilosopher. The Taj Mahal Mausoleum is a beautiful“whole” or a “unity” which has no inconsistencyanywhere and every brick of which is harmonious withits complete whole. Suppose that it accidentally breaksinto scores of pieces which scatter far and wide. Ifsomeone, who has never seen the Taj Mahal Mausoleumin the form of a well-knit and an organized whole,happens to pass by it, he may understand the mutualrelationship of some of these pieces, but there would bemany of the pieces which he would be compelled toconsider as meaningless and incongruous, though therewould be none among them which would not fit in oneor another corner of this shredded beautiful building.Such is also the case with Iqbal's philosophy. All of itsconcepts have an intellectual relationship between them,but lie scattered in the present situation. We can doubtinconsistency in Iqbal's philosophy only when we areunable to understand any of his concepts to an extent thatwe come to know what is its intellectual and scientificrelationship with its basic or central idea of the Self, andhence what is its place in his whole philosophy.Evidently, when an average student of Iqbal will not haveIqbal's philosophy with him in an ordered and organizedform, such occasions must arise for him repeatedly duringthe course of the study. This makes it clear howimportant is it to present Iqbal's philosophy in asystematic and organized form in order to explain andelucidate it.


The nature of and need for philosophyThe question is, what is the nature of philosophy

itself. And why do we need it? Moreover, why is thatIqbal's thought takes the form of a philosophical system?Why is that Iqbal has based all his ideas only on a singleidea? Was this attitude essential or is it merely accidental.And what is the importance of Iqbal's thought itself thatits organization, exposition and interpretation should beconsidered as necessary? We could have easily set thesequestions aside, but for the fact that for a properunderstanding of Iqbal’s thought these questions mustneed be raised and answered.

Ever since man has reached the level of self-consciousness, he is constantly trying to know the Realityof the universe in which he finds himself present all sosuddenly. This is so because unless he discovers theReality of this universe, he cannot know his own realityand the nature of his relationship with the universe. Thediscovery of the universe is an essential step towards self-discovery, for man is himself an important part of theuniverse. He is keen to find out the reality about himselfto be able to know how he should spend his life, what isthe supreme goal of his life and how he should shape andbuild his practical life so that through it he can obtain inthis world itself and in the world hereafter (if such a lifedoes really exist) the best kind of results for himself. Heknows that if he succeeds in finding out satisfactoryanswers to all the questions which arise about theuniverse, he will also succeed in finding out satisfactoryanswers about himself, and in the light of these answerswill be able to find correct solutions to all his problemsand to put his life to good use. That is why he fashionshis life extremely carefully according to the idea he formsabout the Reality of the universe. In other words, the


search for the Reality of the universe is neither anintellectual diversion nor is it an issue of a theoretical oracademic significance. It is a serious question oftremendous practical import, a question so profoundlypractical that it determines the minute details of one’s dayto day life. We can no doubt postpone the satisfaction ofour biological needs for some time, but if we postponethis important mental and practical need even for amoment, our mental balance is disturbed, and we sufferfrom mental ailments like insanity, fear, anxiety anddepression. The importance of Iqbal’s philosophy rests onthis fact itself that we have to see whether it is the samephilosophy which satisfies man’s strong mental andpractical need or not.

The generality of philosophyIt is erroneous to think that the ideas and concepts of

the Reality of the universe are peculiar to philosophersand thinkers. The fact is that the human nature is somade that there has never been, and there can never be,any mentally sound and healthy human being, whetherlearned or otherwise, who has had no conception of theReality of the universe, good or bad, right or wrong,scientific or unscientific, elaborate or brief, coherent orincoherent, and who does not fashion his life according toit. What goes to distinguish philosophers and thinkersfrom the non-philosophers is that the former arepossessed of comparatively greater intelligence and betteracumen than the latter, and are, by their attitude andtemperament, more efficient and more capable ofreflecting on the Reality of the universe, of understandingit themselves and of explaining it to others. Quite as somepeople engage themselves in producing food stuffs orcloth, or in providing for others similar needs of humanbeings, philosophers and thinkers keep themselves


occupied with providing for the greatest intellectual andspiritual need of human beings, namely a correct idea ofthe Reality of the universe. Their endeavour is to see thattheir own idea as well as that of others concerning thereal nature of the universe should be the most correct onein order that they may themselve and others can fashiontheir practical life in the most correct manner. But theneed for an idea concerning the real nature of theuniverse is so pressing and unable to be held in abeyancethat people never wait for the results of the research andinquiry of the philosophers and thinkers which might beavailable at some future date. What they actually do is toaccept and own one of the current ideas of Reality whichappears to them to be the most satisfactory of all, make itthe basis of their own practical conduct, and bequeath thesame to the offspring. And if the offspring is later onimpressed with another idea of Reality presented by somephilosopher, it re-orientates its outlook and practical lifeaccordingly. Most of the revolutions in human historyhave similarly resulted from the ideas of the philosophers,thinkers and sages.

Unity of the universePhilosophers and thinkers have been born in every

age, and those born in later times have always tried toreform and improve upon the ideas of their predecessors.Thus their differences and disagreements constitute anunending and continuous process. Although they havefailed to present any adequate conception of real nature ofthe universe, they have always believed, on the basis of amysterious intuitive prompting, that the universe is aharmonious whole or unity. In other words, the universe


considered as a space-time entity, is not9 divided intoseparate sectors ruled by conflicting laws of nature. Thelaws of the universe are universal and eternal. They arethe same for all times and climes. This belief in the unityof the universe has been the axiomatic commondenominator of all thinkers, philosophers and scientistswhether idealists or materialists. Although no greatphilosopher or scientist ever demands evidence orargument to support this belief and each one of themsimply assumes it as the axiomatic postulate of histhought, one may ask what argument in its favour couldbe more cogent and convincing than the fact that so far ithas not proved erroneous? Behind all the advances in therealms of science and philosophy lies this idea of theunity of the universe and all these advances, in fact, onlygo to corroborate it. The fact of the matter is that if theseekers after truth and the scientists and researchers hadnot proceeded with the assumption or belief that theuniverse is a unity, and if this assumption had beenwrong, the existence of both science and philosophywould have been rendered impossible. It is this very beliefthat impels the philosopher and the scientist to proceedwith inquiries and researches in their respective domainsand it is only on verification from this belief that theyfeel satisfied in regard to their conclusions and proceedfurther. It is obvious that if the philosopher or thescientist were ever to feel that the scientific factdiscovered by him is one of a merely transient and localvalidity and there do exist, or might come to exist infuture, several parallel and alternative scientific truths (forexample, if he is made to believe that water boils at the

9 This is a translation of the word inserted by the author in his personalcopy of the first edition of the Urdu book with his own hand.


same place sometimes at one degree temperature andsometimes at another or at the same height from the sealevel some-where at one degree and some-where atanother) he will simply abandon the result of his inquiryas worthless. Now for a thinker with religiousinclinations, the concept of the basic unity of the universeis a sine qua non, because he is convinced that the Creatorof the universe is one and that it is His purpose which isbeing fulfilled throughout the entire universe. Similarlythe philosophical attitude of an idealist too demands thesame sort of faith in the unity of the universe. What,however, is particularly significant is the fact that evenKarl Marx and other materialist thinkers like him cannotafford to do away with this conviction.

Implications of the unity of the universeThe axiomatic truth about the unity of the universe

leads us to a number of conclusions:-Firstly, that unity in plurality is impossible without

some sort of order; and order being unthinkable withouta central principle, there must needs be some conceptwhich should constitute the principle of the unity of theuniverse, a principle to serve as the bond that unifies theplurality of the universe into a single whole.

Secondly, that the principle of the unity of theuniverse should be the Ultimate and Fundamental realityof the universe and all other scientific facts should be itsmere phenomena. The reason is that if they are not itsphenomena, the Ultimate Reality would not be able togive them unity and order nor would such factsthemselves, because of the inherent conflict in theirnature, admit of any order or unity.

Thirdly, that the unity of the universe should berationally comprehensible. Therefore, all the scientificfacts must be bound rationally to one another and also to


the Ultimate Reality of the universe, and this bond orrelationship should render them into a chain the first andthe last link of which must be the same Ultimate Realityand all the links of this chain should lead to the next. It isthis sort of chain of facts which the philosopherdesignates as a “philosophical system”.

Fourthly, that if we explain the cause of any of thescientific facts of the world, that explanation itself, whileexplaining that particular fact, would bring out a numberof questions seeking an answer. Then the answer to thesequestions would generate further questions and thiswould go on. If the universe were to be taken as a unitythen it would be necessary that the ultimate answer tothese questions, coming up one after another, and theultimate explanation in respect of each fact, must be noother than the nature of that Reality which is the Realityof all Realities.

Fifthly, that while thousands of ideas in respect ofprinciple of unity or the Reality of the universe could beentertained, there could be only one idea and not two ormore which would be the correct one or else the unity ofthe universe would vanish. It is necessary that all thegenuine facts of the universe are scientifically andrationally related to that idea alone and not to any wrongidea of the Reality of the universe. Furthermore,whenever the correct philosophical system emerges, itsfundamental or pivotal point must necessarily be thisvery correct idea of Reality Should there remain even asingle scientific fact which is out of tune with aphilosophical system, it would only mean that, thatparticular system is based on some wrong concept ofReality. Similarly, if a scientific fact which is consideredto be so, is not in harmony with a philosophical systembased on a correct idea of Reality, it would mean that


such a scientific fact would not conform to the truestandards of science and reason and would not be a truescientific fact. Wrong ideas cannot find place in a correctphilosophical system and, vice versa, correct ideas cannotfit into the frame work of a wrong philosophical system.A correct philosophical system, however, has thecapability, in every age, to assimilate all correct ideas andconcepts, and herein lies the test of its soundness.

Sixthly, that the unity of the universe implies theexistence of a rational system and organisation in the factsof the universe and this creates an affinity between all theknown and the unknown facts and enables us to go ondiscovering the hitherto unknown facts with the help ofknown facts until all the facts of the universe, in theirrationally systematised form, are grasped by us. Scientistsand philosophers are both engaged in this task and, as aresult of their efforts, the number of known facts isincreasing day after day. With the increase in theirnumber, their scientific relevance to the one true idea ofthe Reality of the universe will increase andcorrespondingly their relevance to all the false ideas of theReality of the universe will decline. Then with the help ofour intuition we shall be able to state as to which of theideas of the Reality of the universe is in harmony withthese facts and which of them is not. Thus we shall beable to approach the true idea of the Reality of theuniverse and come closer to the true philosophical systembased on this idea.

Seventhly, that in the initial stages of its emergence,the range of this true philosophical system will, ofnecessity, be limited. Subsequently, as the quantity ofknown facts increases and is assimilated by that system,the system will move towards greater degree ofperfection. ___ a process which will continue till eternity,


for there is no limit to the scientific facts. As a result ofthe support that it will receive from the ever newdiscovered scientific facts, the system will become moreand more elaborate, systematic and rational and inproportion to this development, all false philosophicalsystems will go on losing their rational support until theentire intellectual world will be forced to acknowledgethat this system alone is correct and satisfactory. Afterthe emergence of this philosophical system all newadvances in the various branches of human knowledgewill perforce support this system or else they will notprove to be any advancement at all.

Source of belief in the unity of the universeMan's unconscious intuitive belief in the unity of the

universe stems from the urge of his nature to accept somebeing as the creator of the universe and that Creator beOne, and this urge of his nature is not meaningless.Arrangement for the complete satisfaction of natural urgealready exists in Nature. Since, as a result of theinvestigations of the philosophers and scientistsconducted up to this day, the universe has been proved tobe a unity there is some principle at work in it whichmakes it a unity. The Holy Quran says that this principleis God Who is the Creator of the universe, who is onlyOne, and without an associate. The Holy Quran hasdrawn attention of mankind in forceful words to theunity of the universe as a proof of the fact that its Creatoris only One. Says that Book of All Time:

䶓 �朂 �ǴÃǉÅȠüȆÄǉ�✼ �✒ �ⲅ �❩ �㨤 �❠҂�會 �✼ �㨤 �⸓( 3)

月 �⠿ �❔�朇 �揝 �✺ �朆 �朅 �䶓 �朄 �⠺( 4)“No discordance wilt thou see in the creation of the

Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again. Seest thou any


flaw? Again turn thy vision a second time : thy visionwill come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a stateworn out”10. (67:3-4)

䨕 �⹇�❠�崂 �✑ �⟱ �✼ �㯋 �⠚�㯝 �⨔�❕ �❊ �❵ �❘ �

⡵ �❴ �崃“Say: Do ye see what it is ye invoke besides God?Show me what it is they have created on earth, orhave they a share in the heavens?” 11(46:4)

In other words, had there been any partner of God inthe creation of the universe, there must have been somemanifestation in the heaven and the earth where differentset of natural laws would have been in operation. It isobvious that the disbelievers could not point out, withany degree of reasonableness, to any part of the universein reply to this question of the Holy Quran and say: -“This is the creation of the sharer with God in creation inwhom we believe”. The reason is that when natural lawsoperating in one part of the universe are exactly the sameas those operating in the rest of it, how it can be said thatits Creator is not exactly the same as the Creator of therest of it. The Holy Quran has stressed the unity of theuniverse as one of the proofs of the fact that this universehas One and only One Creator.

勸 �❎ �⠪ �䁎 � �⡿ �⟅If there were, in the heavens and the earth, othergods besides God, there would have been

10 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)11 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)


confusion in both12. (21:22)This means, in other words, that since there is no

diarchy, dis-order or inharmony any-where in theuniverse and we cannot even think of this disorder butautomatically consider the unity of the universe and thecontinuity of the natural laws as one of our axiomatictruths, is it then not a proof that the Creator of theuniverse is also only One? Since, the axiomatic truthabout the continuity of the natural laws is a proof of theunity of the universe, and the unity of the universe is aproof of the unity of God and further, since, the HolyQuran wishes man to adjust himself to the natural laws,therefore, in order to convince him that these laws aredependable, the Holy Quran invites repeated attention totheir permanence and immutability:

孤 �✑ �崒 �㙳 �⨗No change wilt thou find in God’s way (of

dealing)13 (35:43)

��¦��º �̈�§�W �B��"6��D $ �k ��_ �O �B�� No turning off wilt though find in God’s way of

dealing14 (35:43)Like the other philosophers, Iqbal also considers the

universe to be a unity despite its rich variety anddiversity. Says he;

�ǎ äĨ 䔙㩕ï �ǎ äĨ Ĩ ç 䣪ⵇĨ ǎ äĨ ç Ἴ

؎ǌٶǎ̔ٶ Ĩ þĨ 䬚ⱎĨ ⱸ Ĩ Ěࠧ Ĩ ౹ Ĩ 䞈 Ĩ ú⽄

Time is one ,life is one,

12 The Holy Quran (text, translation and commentary) by AbdullahYusuf Ali (volume II)13 Ibid.(volume III)14 Ibid.(volume III)


And the universe is one:It is the height of folly this talk of old and new.15

ZIt is because of this that Iqbal's philosophy is a

system of thought as is that of the other philosophers.There is, however, one basic difference between Iqbal andthe other philosophers. This difference lies in the factthat, according to Iqbal, as the Holy Quran puts it, theprinciple of the unity of the universe, or the Reality ofthe universe which turns this variety into a unity, is Godwith all His attributes, as embodied in the teachings ofthe Last of the Prophets (peace be upon him). On theother hand, the philosophers have fancied quite differentideas of the Reality of the universe. God being theprinciple which unites the whole of the universe, the truelover of God accommodates the whole universe in hisheart. Human self is a unity, but its externalmanifestations are many. It is hidden, but its actions aremanifest. In the same way, God is one, but He hasmanifested Himself in the variety of the universe. He ishidden but the creation of the universe has made Himmanifest. In other words, the nature of the human selfleads to the nature of God.

䤈䅡Ĩ ㌍ Ĩ 䮨 äĨ 䤈㑔ٱǌ˄Ĩ þĨ ൡ Ĩ 䮨 ä

䤈 Ĩ 䛮 Ĩ 䮨 äĨ ǌ˄Ĩٱ ◸ ⣇Ĩ ú䯁Ĩ ŔǌťٶǔƷŃ

⾸ Ĩ äþĨ ě 䎁 Ĩ ì⁏Ĩ ǌɟĨٳ 䤈ᣅĨ úïäĨ îä⇤ ä

䤈äမ Ĩ þĨ 䤈 Ĩ Ěîٱǎǌˑ Ĩ þĨ 䤈䩽

This depth, this altitude, and the heavens: all

15 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)


these, with their vastness, are absorbed by theheart of the lover.O thou who seekest the secrets of eternity ! cast aglance at thyself; thou art one and thou art many,thou art manifest and thou art hidden.16

Mutual relationship of the urge for beautyand knowledge

I have mentioned above the term "scientific fact"۔ Foran elucidation of this term, and to tell what is the realityof knowledge, what capacity has been bestowed by Godupon us to acquire it and how does it function, it isnecessary to say that not only is the whole of the universea unity, but also every part of it that we comprehend orcan comprehend is a unity; at least we can comprehend itonly as a unity and in no other way. Were it not a unity,we would not be able to comprehend it, and it would beabsolutely meaningless for us. The peculiarity of a unityis that it is meaningful. That is why we can know it.Were it not meaningful it could not be a unity nor couldwe know it. A number of minor unities go to make abigger unity and then these unities form a still biggerunity until we come to the biggest unity, the universeitself. None of these bigger unities is merely aconglomeration of small unities. It is to be found in theform of a whole which is always greater than itsconstituent elements put together and which cannot becomprehended merely by taking the sum total of itselements. For instance, an animal organism is not merelythe sum total of certain organs. To cite another example,the charm of a beautiful piece of art does not dependupon its different parts; it emanates from the whole ofthat piece of art and from an expressible mysterious

16 Ibid.


integration of its parts. The innate capacity of man tocomprehend a unity is our desire for Beauty which Iqbalalso calls Love. The desire for Beauty is generally calledintuition when it is in the cognitional process. Theintuition of a unity assumes the form of a feeling orbelief. Our knowledge is organised merely out of ourintuitive concepts or beliefs and its validity or otherwisedepends wholly on the validity or otherwise of thesebeliefs.

Senses and reason both assist urge forbeauty or intuition

It is generally understood that we comprehend alsoby means of our senses and our intellect, and that in hisquest for truth the scientist largely depends upon theintellect. However, as a matter of fact, both the intellectand the senses are there to assist our intuition or thedesire for Beauty. They neither comprehend nor are theycapable of comprehending unities. It is intuition whichcomprehends them with the help of the two. It is truethat intuition is liable to error also. It should be borne inmind, nevertheless, that intuition alone is capable ofcomprehension which is free from error, hence, as seekersafter truth and as men of normal understanding, intuitionis simply indispensable for us.

Far away in front of me at the other end of the roomin which I am sitting at this time, there is a chairalongside a green wall. But the fact that it is a chair is theresult of my intuition which is in the form of a feeling orbelief and absolutely not my observation. I do notperceive the chair, but a colour quality, which would besomething meaningless without the intervention of myintuition or belief. If I were to say that I have seen orperceived the chair with my own eyes this would be an


incorrect statement. It is quite possible that my inferencethat the said object is a chair might prove to be quitewrong and it might turn out to be merely a painting onthe wall. Even though I have fully reflected upon theunity which I call the chair and have used my intellect todiscover the relationship between all the minor unitieswhich goes to compose this unity, and although myintuition has finally inferred that these unities can blendto make nothing else than a chair, the possibility of erroris undoubtedly there. I am not seeing the whole chair, butonly its upper surface facing me. In fact, I am also notseeing that surface but a meaningless colour quality. Myconclusion that this colour quality is a part of the surfaceof some chair, and then this conclusion that it is not onlya part of the surface of the chair but the whole chair, isonly an internal feeling or belief to create which thetestimony of my observation is not enough. Even whenour senses are functioning quite normally, we dofrequently fall a prey to erroneous intuitive inferences.The same is true of all our sense experiences whether theyare due to seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling or touching.None of them can come into existence without myintuition and except in the form of a unity. The HolyQuran also points towards the same reality in the parableof Hazrat Suleman and the queen who worshipped thesun.

塼 �塻 �⯗ �❲Ҁ�墁 �⣪ �墀 �❔�塿 �塾 �塽 �⩭ҁ��⢟ �⡋

墄 �❂ �境 �墂Ҝ��✔ �⫃ �⣎ �⮾ �✝�㥕 �墅 �⡎ �✕ �㇀

��✖ �✕ćć~She was asked to enter the lofty Palace, but whenshe saw it, she thought it was a lake of water, andshe (tucked up her skirts), uncovered her legs. He


said; “This is but a palace paved smooth with slabsof glass.” She said: "O My Lord! I have indeedwronged my soul.I do (now) submit (In Islam)with Solomon, to the Lord of the Worlds”17

(27:44)The summons of Hazrat Suleman to the queen to

believe in the Lord of the worlds had already beenconveyed to the Queen. The Queen saw that it was notunlikely that in the same manner as she had erroneouslybeen mistaking the glass for water, she might also becommitting an error of judgement in respect of her realobject of worship and might be quite wrong inconsidering the Sun to be her deity. Hence, she at onceannounced that she had accepted the true creed.

The purpose of this anecdote is to stress that prophet-hood is a Divine provision to prevent human intuitionfrom falling into error in respect of essential matters.

Function of reasonThe function of what we call reason is merely to

analyse the mutual relationship obtaining among wholeswhich have been accepted by intuition so that in the lightof this relationship intuition may know one other biggerunknown whole which is consistent with these knownwholes and of which these wholes may be parts orconstituents or it may know many such different smallunknown wholes which may be as parts and constituentsof a bigger known whole. The former process is called"synthesis" while the latter "analysis". In order to knowthe mutual relationship of wholes reason moves from thefirst whole to the second, from the second to the thirdand from the third to the fourth and gropes around for

17 The Holy Quran (text, translation and commentary) by AbdullahYusuf Ali (volume II)


the mutual relationship of all of them. The only functionof reason is to give a spur to intuition to grasp a whole. Itmerely reflects on the constituents of a whole; it cannothave a feeling of a complete whole. Feeling or knowledgeof a whole is not its function. By the time our intuitiongrasps a certain whole, reason has parted company with italthough we are quite unaware of it. Reason shows us theway towards our goal. To reach the goal is the functionof intuition alone.

î䔘Ĩ 䮪Ĩ 〪 Ĩ 㑒 ĈäĨ ╌ Ĩ ⥘ Ĩ ᜯĨ î䯅

䞈 Ĩ 䔽 Ĩ ú㿇 Ĩ 䞈 Ĩ ęäîĨ ÷ä䯐

Go ahead leaving intellect behind ,for this light ismerely a road lamp not the destination .18

䞈 Ĩ ࠧ Ĩ ♵ þîĨ þîĨ ęäîĨ ╌ Ĩ ìٳǔؼ

䞈 Ĩ î䯅 Ĩ ęîĨ ą÷ä䯐Ĩ 䞈 Ĩ ㅏĨ ìٳǔؼ

ㅏĨ ㅏĨ 䞀 Ĩ 䆇䜙 Ĩ 䔙ὟĨ ąüþîì

䞈 Ĩ ὡ Ĩ ㅏĨ 〨Ĩ î䯅 Ĩ ęîĨ ą÷ä䯐

Intellect provides light to the eyes of thewayfayrer.What is intellect? No more than the road lampThe tumult that goes on inside the house,How can the road lamp the aware of it?19

Although reason is not away from the destination oflove, yet it cannot enter into its region.

䔽 Ĩ îþìĨ ╌ Ĩ ėĈäĨ Ĩ ㍉Ĩ ⥘

18 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)19 Ibid.


䔽 Ĩ îẟ Ĩ 䯎Ĩ 䆀 Ĩ ⱘ Ĩ ㅎĨ ð ä

Though reason to the portal guide, Yet entry to itis denied.

Iqbal does not differ even with it if it is said thatwithout the desire for Beauty or intuition it is notpossible to analyse the mutual relationships of wholes, forexample, to tell that the digit of 9 is bigger than that of 4,hence, why should it not be said that reason is anothername for that specific state of the desire for Beauty orintuition when it is moving among wholes so that it maydiscover their mutual relationships. He concedes thatreason is also love. It is not free of the impulse or love forBeauty. But he does say that the activity of reasonremains limited to movement aimed at groping aroundfor the mutual relationships of wholes. It daren’t stop,like a lover, to observe or study the wholeness or Beautyof a whole and change its movement into rest onbecoming enamoured of some manifestation of Beauty.Consequently he says:

䕬 Ĩ䔙ఙ Ĩę䑘ĨùþíĨïäĨþĨǖח äĨ⤉ Ĩ䚽 Ĩ⥘

䕬 Ĩ䔙ä䯀îĨç ĎäٳǌؼĨėĈäĨäîĨęîᨴĨ౹ Ĩ䮨 äĨ㨉

Intellect is passion too,And it knows the Joy to view,But the poor unfortunateDares not as the inebriate.

As soon as we start having a feeling of some whole aswhole instead of analysing the mutual relationships ofintuition or begin to feel that we have reached someknowledge or have come to know about a thing, theactivity of our reason stops at once and that of ourintuition begins.


Explanation for relationship betweenreason and intuition by an example

In order to consider the relationship between reasonand intuition (or the desire for Beauty) suppose a manwith bandaged eyes left to grope his way towards aparticular room in a big house already familiar to him tosome extent. As he feels with his hands the walls, thedoors, the enclosures of passages and other such marks inthe course of his walk, he can picture to himselfcompletely the part of the house he has reached at anytime. His hands enable him to see only a part of hissurroundings, that part which he actually embraces indarkness but the complete guidance is supplied to him byhis imagination which recalls the full picture of every partof the house that he visits. Reason is, to us, like thegroping hands of the man revealing to him only certainmarks of his passage and intuition, feeling or faith like hisimagination by means of which he is able to picture thewhole of his surroundings. Just as the cause of bandagedman's helpful imagination is his previous familiarity withthe house, so the cause of our intuition or directjudgment is our innate desire for Beauty.

Iqbal's opinion about configurationpsychology

A school of German psychologists called Gestaltpsychology or configuration psychology providesextremely forceful and convincing experimentaltestimonies as a proof that human knowledge about theexternal world assumes the form of wholes. This schoolof thought is of the view that a deep study of the egoreveals that in it cognition functions beyond senseperception. This cognition is the knowledge or judgmentof the ego about the material or causal relationship of


things, i.e., the human ego chooses certain things out ofan unsystematic totality of different things which make awhole according to its purpose. About this school ofpsychology, Iqbal writes:

“There is, however, some relief in thinking thatthe new German psychology, known asConfiguration Psychology, may succeed insecuring the independence of Psychology as ascience, just as the theory of Emergent Evolutionmay eventually bring about the independence ofBiology.”20

The emergence of Behaviourism and LogicalPositivism and other similar superficial philosophieswhich are growing like mushrooms in this age of world-wide decline of philosophy, is merely due to the fact thattheir proponents and advocates who deny consciousnesshave not been able to grasp the intuitive basis of man’ssense experience. Since the cause of our intuition is ourdesire for Beauty, Iqbal has also designated intuition withsuch other appellations also as love, “or (love’s) madness”or insight.

ęäîĨ 㴴 Ĩ 䞈 Ĩ ä䜫Ĩ ⍜ Ĩ 〨Ĩ ⥘ Ĩ 䔙㩕ï

ĕ äîìäĨ ǌ̵ ⛭ Ĩ䞈 Ĩ Ĩėᢴ Ĩ〪 Ĩὡ ĨƾơĹ

The world regards intellect as the road lamp.Who knows that (love’s) madness itself has thegnosis of reality.21

20 The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Edition 2007,(New Typesetting), P: 111, Published by Sheikh Mohammad Ashraf,publishers-Booksellers-Exporters, 7-Aibak Road, (new Anarkali),Lahore21 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)


BJ.

䔽 ĨîþäĨ⸁ ĨäĨ㈉ Ĩὡ Ĩð Ǎ˄Ĩ㈉ٱ Ĩìٳǔؼ

䔽 Ĩ îþäĨ ⸁ Ĩ äĨ ㈉ Ĩ 䎁 Ĩ é⥲Ĩ äٳǖɟ

Intellect has nothing but information:The remedy of thy ailment is nothing else thaninsight.22

BJ.

⤉ Ĩ ąǖǎҍ 㑔þĨ ïäĨ û䒭 äĨ ǌɟĨٳ ęïٱ

ǖĨ˄ ąęp

�ǖח äĨ ìٳ

ǔĨçؼ þĨïäĨě ῗ ĨûṡĨîìĨ〪

Fresh forces am I raising from the realm of love,For the Haram is menaced by the revolt of theintellect.23

MK.

äîĨ þäĨ ỉ Ĩ 䯀ä䯀Ĩ 䝅Ĩ 䔙㩕ï

�ǖח äĨìٳ

ǔĨؼ

ǖ֫ Ĩėþï䁡Ĩ〪 Ĩ

ǖח ⰖĨėᢴ

Little does this age know the reality of (love’s)madness: It is the garment which fits the intellectperfectly.24

MK.

Science and intuitionWhen the scientist has known a certain number of

“observed facts” (which actually take shape due to ourintuition) he feels the necessity of an assumption or atheory or an intuitive or credal concept to explain them.To put it differently, in order to systematise or organise

22 This translation has been taken from the author’s article entitled Thephilosophy of Iqbal which appeared in Iqbal review Journal of the IqbalAcademy, Pakistan (October 1961 issue)23 Ibid.24 Ibid.


these facts or to give them the form of a unity, he inventsan intuitive hypothesis which is, in fact, a metaphysicalspeculation. If it does really offer a rational explanation ofall those facts, i.e., if it proves capable of organising andordering them into a unity, then such a hypothesis has tobe reckoned as much of a scientific fact as any otherscientific fact which is regarded by the scientist as“observed” even though this fact might not have beensubjected to his observation in the usual sense. The reasonis that in such a case no other hypothesis is capable ofexplaining these facts and replacing this hypothesis. Inother words, the scientist has to believe in the existence ofsomething unobserved on the ground of its effects andconsequences. The same is known as a belief in the“unseen” which is mentioned in the Holy Quran in thefollowing words.

✲ �✱Who believe in the Unseen.25 (2:3)

Need for intuitive hypothesesNot the scientists alone but, in fact, all of us do make

assumptions and create hypotheses in our daily life, thatis, we frequently resort to belief in the unseen in regardto many a concept, for instance, when I say that “the sunwill rise tomorrow” or “my friend is generous” etc.Although the rising of the sun today is certainly anobserved fact, its rising tomorrow is a mere hypothesisafter believing which we perform many a deed. Similarly,my friend might have performed several deeds ofgenerosity up to this day, but my knowledge thatgenerosity is a part of his nature, and he will perform

25 The Holy Quran (text, translation and commentary) by AbdullahYusuf Ali (volume I)


some deed of generosity even after this day is not at all anobserved knowledge: it is an assumption or an intuitiveknowledge. All our practical life depends upon similarunseen meta-physical or intuitive facts. Metaphysics is thesoul of our practical life. Without it we cannot go a stepfurther in our life. Some people hate metaphysics for noreason. They think that their practical life depends uponobserved or ground facts, though, if metaphysics is takenout from their practical life for even a moment, most oftheir movements and gestures would stop at once. Everyfact that we believe in is originally a hypothesis, andsubsequently the discovery of newer data goes tostrengthen this hypothesis and it goes on assuming theshape of a “fact” for us so much so that our faith in itbecomes unshakable. If a hypothesis is not vindicated andcorroborated by the facts that we discover subsequently,we abandon the hypothesis as erroneous. The “atom”provides a fine example of the scientist’s belief in theunseen. The “atom” has hitherto remained unseen in thenormally understood sense of the term. The atom waspostulated centuries ago only as a hypothesis, but theexperiences we have had of its effects and consequences,that is, of the unities which have been rendered into anew unity by means of intuitive concept of the “atom”have now established it as an undeniable fact. And theknowledge of this fact is so patently effective andmeaningful as to have enabled man to reduce Hiroshimaand Nagasaki to ashes quite in a moment. The scientistcannot afford to treat the hypothesis or the assumptionby means of which his “observed facts” are explained orordered as a less scientific fact in comparison with these“observed facts.” He cannot contend that while the“observed facts” constitute science, the hypothesis whichexplains these facts is not “science”. And quite often this


hypothesis is of more use to him than these detachedobserved facts in so far as it is this hypothesis whichfurnishes him with the basis for proceeding with andcontinuing his scientific inquiry and research as also forgrasping and comprehending the ever new observed facts.But for this hypothesis his observed facts too would be oflittle significance.

Mutual relationship of science andphilosophy

The need of forming intuitive assumptions felt by thescientist is also due to the fact that a number of minorunities go to make a major one and we are forced by thenature of the universe, as also by our own nature, toknow and comprehend facts as unities. This compellingfeature of our nature will force the scientist sooner orlater to a stage where the facts discovered by him will beexplained only by an assumption or intuitive and credalconcept, which synthesizes and integrates the facts of theentire universe. And when even the scientist will explainthe facts of the universe by such an assumption orhypothesis, it will matter little whether we call him ascientist or a philosopher. For, the philosopher alsoexplains the facts of the universe supplied by the scientistwith the help of some universal intuitive concept which,in his opinion, integrates the facts of the entire universeinto a unity, whether this concept of his is spiritual ormaterialistic. It is thus sufficiently clear that there isessentially no difference between a philosopher and ascientist. Both operate in the same sphere of knowledgeand both depend for their knowledge and investigationon one and the same human capacity, intuition.

Science in its higher stages has got to become aphilosophy, for unless it becomes a philosophy, it must


lose all meaning. As chance would have it, during the20th century science has achieved those highest stages ofits progress where it has got to become philosophy andwhere an explanation of the scientific facts discovered byit can be made only by an intuitive idea or a belief whichunifies and organizes all scientific facts. We know thatthere are three realms of creation; the world of matter,the world of animals and the world of man.Corresponding to these are three major categories ofscience: Physics, biology and psychology. The discoveriesof physics in the present century have compelled thephysicists to make the intuitive assumption that theUltimate Reality of the universe is Consciousness. Theyhave been forced to come to this conclusion because thehypothesis to which they had stuck so far, viz, that theultimate Reality of the universe is matter has failed toexplain the new discoveries in the realm of physics. Toexplain this new theory physicists of no less a stature thanAdding ton and James Jeans have written books, whichalthough evidently books of physics, are at the same timebooks of philosophy as well. In the same way, thebiological facts discovered during the course of thiscentury have forced the biologists to the conclusion thatthe Ultimate Reality of the universe is Consciousness andnot matter. It is significant that the book written by J.S.Haldane to elucidate this theory is entitled ThePhilosophical Basis of Biology. The facts newly discoveredin the realm of psychology also corroborate the sameview point. It is on the whole gratifying that the expertson physics, biology and psychology are revealing the factsfor the rational and convincing explanation of which noother concept except that of God can be of any use,though the westerners are suffering from a long standingintellectual prejudice against this concept at present.


Direction of change in the scientifictheories

Changes in the concepts of philosophers andscientists are useful as well as essential as they movetowards truth through a process of trial and error. Whennew scientific facts are discovered and some old idea,which had previously been regarded as adequate toexplain the previously available quantum of knowledge, isfound to be inadequate to explain the new scientific facts,philosophers and scientists are forced to replace it by anew idea which would satisfactorily explain the entirestock of human knowledge, both old and new.

The theory of the waves of light which was firstpropounded by Hooke in 1665 is an example of it. Thistheory continued to explain all those facts of the later twocenturies which came before it, even those discoveredwith regard to the x-rays of light by Von Laue till theyear1914 for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Butin 1922, hardly nine years after he was awarded the NobelPrize, a new scientific fact that the x-rays are diffused wasdiscovered. Since the old theory of the waves of light wasunable to explain it rationally, a theory of light called thequantum theory was discovered. This theory can nowexplain all the old and new scientific facts rationally. IfHooke's intuition had been sharp enough to grasp thisfact or had someone with a better intuition of scientificfacts told him that light is not in the form of waves butatoms, this theory of light would have sufficed to explainthe scientific facts not only of that period but also for allthose discovered till today. Nevertheless, it is clear fromit that, as the number of known and established scientificfacts gradually increases, our intuitive idea of the realityof things also becomes increasingly correct and that the


true idea of the reality of things can alone explain allscientific facts rationally and completely. It also makes itclear that, because of the progress of scientific facts, wemust ultimately reach an intuitive idea of things which isperfectly correct and is able to explain all those scientificfacts of the entire universe rationally and perfectly whichmay continue to be discovered to the end of time.

Relationship between intuition and logicalreasoning

It is generally thought that while trying to interpretthe universe rationally a philosopher arrives at hisconclusions by a process of pure logical reasoningwithout allowing his own feelings or sentiments tointerfere with this process. But this is a false view of theprocess of reasoning. What actually happens is that, in thelight of the facts of the universe known to him, he formsan intuitive concept concerning the Reality of theuniverse and then employs logical argumentation in orderto give a rational and scientific explanation of thisconcept, or to put it differently, in order to show that itis this concept which is the principle of the unity of theuniverse and organises and integrates all the knownscientific facts. The conclusion of the philosopher is notthe outcome of his reasoning. On the contrary, hisreasoning is the outcome of his conclusions. He knowshis conclusion well in advance and orientates hisreasoning with all his mental capacity and eloquence inthat direction. No philosopher, whether big or small, canpossibly deviate from this principle. Not only aphilosopher, but a scientist and an expert mathematiciantoo first feels a fact intuitively, and then proves it byexperiments or reasoning. The Newtonian Law ofGravitation was also felt intuitively on seeing the fall of


an apple from the tree and was proved later throughexperiments. Similarly, the Pythagorean Theorem wasalso first an intuitive concept which was later provedmathematically.

Explanation of the nature of Iqbal'sphilosophy by the example of amathematician

The mathematical fact which a mathematicianintuitively feels remains only as a fact whether he provesit or not, and can prove it or not, but he proves it so thathe may associate others too in his intuition. Everymathematical fact is first felt intuitively as a unity andthen logically and rationally analysed to prove it, which amathematician starts with certain mathematical axioms.He then draws a conclusion from these axioms, which isin the form of an equation. Hence, this equation alsoenters into the mathematical axioms. He then drawsanother result from this result or equation. In this way,he forms another equation, which also becomes amathematical axiom, and so on. He continues with thisprocess until he reaches the mathematical axiom which hewishes to prove. This process produces a chain made upof links of the results or equations which we designate asthe proof of this mathematical fact. The reason is that bythis process, it gets proved or established as amathematical axiom of the people, and it is this chainitself which we describe as the explanation orinterpretation of this fact.

If the basic intuitive concept of the mathematicianfrom which he starts, and which he wishes to prove, iscorrect, his proof is also correct. The result is that wekeep going along with him step by step, for at no step isany of his results wrong and in-comprehensible. If we


recede on the path of the proof of the mathematician stepby step by accepting his intuitive fact as correct i.e., movebackward by starting from the last link of the chain ofproofs, we again reach the very same mathematical axiomfrom which he had started. This process also proves thesoundness of the mathematical fact. In other words, toreveal or to actualise whatever are the results orimplications of the initial fact all of which are included init and in every result of it potentially, is not otherwisethan to prove, explain or interpret or include that fact inthe axioms of the people. In the case described above, theproof is not only continuous and complete, for its linksare not only complete in quantity, but they have alsobeen kept in a logical order.

Organized and brief proofBut, if the intuitive sense of a mathematician is

unusually keen, and he is proving some mathematical factdiscovered by him through his own intuition either forhis own satisfaction or for that of the othermathematicians like him, it sometimes also so happensthat his intuition takes a flying leap and reaches someforward link by omitting certain middle links of hissystem of proofs, leaving a gap in between which is full ofcertain results and implications of this fact and then againreaches some other forward link by omitting certainother links leaving a similar gap in between, and so on.Such a proof is no doubt brief but not wrong. Althoughan ordinary student of mathematics, who is bereft of theintuition of this mathematician, cannot understand thisproof easily, yet it can be completed because all of itsomitted links are present not only in the basic idea of themathematician, but also potentially in the linksmentioned before and after these omitted links. Anothermathematician, who has a complete intuition of this


mathematical fact, can provide the omitted links easilywith its help and with that of the stated links before andafter the omitted links provided that the omitted links arenot so important that it may be impossible to understandthe intellectual and logical relationship of the stated linksin their absence. Thus, in order to explain, that is, toassociate the beginners with the intuition of themathematician, these omitted links are, in fact, provided.In this way, the proof is completed by filling the gaps init and extending and enlarging it to a possible extent andit is thought that every person can now easily understandit. Such a brief proof is also not unorganized, for everylink of the proof which is present in it keeps at its placein relation to the other existing links. The result is that itis comparatively easy to restore the links lost in it to theirplace by discovering them. In this case the proof of themathematician is no doubt organised or continuous but itis not complete.

Unorganized and brief proofNow suppose that while entering the results and

implications of his intuitive mathematical fact, our firstmathematician removes certain results and implicationsconsidering them to be unnecessary because of his keenintuitive sense.Rather, he does not write down even someof those which he enters in an order that they maybecome the links of a systematic and organised proof ofthis fact. On the contrary he goes on writing downunsystematically whatever result of it comes out at anytime in the light of his intuition until he writes down allits different main results and implications similarlyunsystematically. In this situation his proof will not onlybe incomplete, but also incoherent. In such a case, itscomprehension by an ordinary student of mathematicswill be still more difficult. But, for another


mathematician, who is having a complete intuition of thiswhole fact it will still be easy to bring these unorganisedresults and implications in the form of a coherent andcomplete proof. The reason is that all its essential links,despite being unorganised, will be before him. But, inorder to realise this aim, he will now have to performtwo tasks. Firstly, he will have to arrange all theunsystematic links which are before him in a logical orrational order, and secondly, to fill the gaps in betweentheir order with those links which have been omitted dueto the extra-ordinary keenness of the mathematicalintuition of the proponent of the mathematical fact. Andsince, these other omitted links will also need order, andwithout order in the first stated links, their place in thechain of all the links will also not be determinable, he willjustly feel that these two tasks are not of a separate naturefrom one another, but each one of them is dependentupon the other, and both of them are inter related to oneanother, hence both of them can be performed onlytogether otherwise not at all.

Comparison between a mathematician anda philosopher

Just as the proof of a mathematical fact is in the formof a sequence or a system of known and established facts,so the proof of some concept of Reality which aphilosopher offers is in the form of a sequence or systemof established and known facts. We designate it as “thephilosophical system”. The intuitive idea of Reality of theuniverse which a philosopher also forms is also a view ofReality itself for him whether he proves it or not, and canprove it or not as a Reality. But, he tries to prove it sothat he may acquaint others too with his intuition. Hismethod of proving it is also exactly the same as that of a


mathematician. He too starts with our universal facts.These universal facts also consist of self-evident truths,their rational and logical results, the known andestablished scientific and mathematical facts and theirresults and implications. He draws a conclusion by takinga few of the universal facts such as are consistent with hisbasic idea, i.e. imparts them another form and establishesan equation which is comprehensible to us logically, i.e.,according to the laws of our mental process, hence entersinto our universal facts. He then draws anotherconclusion from this conclusion and establishes anotherequation which is comprehensible to us logically, i.e., inaccordance with the laws of our mental process, andhence it too enters into our universal facts. From thisconclusion, he draws yet another conclusion andestablishes still another equation which, if correct, alsoenters into our universal facts, and so on, until hegradually reaches that intuitive concept of the Reality ofthe universe which he wishes to prove to be correct. Ifthe philosopher’s concept of Reality is sound, wecontinue going along with him, for then at no stage is hisconclusion wrong and incomprehensible. In this case, theproof of the philosopher is both continuous and completebecause its links are not only complete in quantity, butare also kept in a logical and rational order.

But if the mental or intuitive sense of the philosopheris unusually keen, the proof of his intuitive concept ofReality which he offers has many gaps and several of itslinks are missing. Most of the different great philosophersare exactly of this kind. That is why their books are notcomprehensible to the people. The philosophy of most ofthe philosophers is continuous, i.e., the links of itsreasoning have been intellectually and logically kept, butbecause of gaps in between them their mutual rational


and logical relationship is not comprehensible to thebeginners and the common man, i.e., despite beingsystematic, it is not complete for the common man.Hence, the expositors of every great philosopher are bornwho fill the gaps in his philosophy by describing theomitted links of his proof,thus bringing it close to thecomprehension of the people.

Sometimes, it also so happens that a greatphilosopher, who has a correct and clear idea of theReality of the universe does not state its results andimplications in the form of a continuous and organizedchain of reasoning or equations and results, but goes onwriting down unsystematically whatever is its result inthe light of his intuition at any time so that he writesdown all its important and different main results andimplications similarly unsystematically, his proof will notonly be incomplete, but also unconnected. In this case itscomprehensibility to the ordinary people will be stillmore difficult. Such exactly is the nature of Iqbal’sphilosophy. But, for a person, who has a completeintuition of the concept of Reality of such a philosopher,it will still be easy to describe the proof of this concept inthe light of the results and implications stated by him bymaking it continuous and organized because, despitebeing unsystematic, all its important links will be beforehim and his intuition will explain their mutualintellectual and scientific relationship for him. But, inorder to achieve this purpose, he will also have toperform two tasks together like the mathematicianmentioned before. Firstly, he will have to arrange allthose unsystematic links which are before him rationallyand scientifically and, secondly, to fill the gaps in betweentheir order with those links which have been omittedbecause of the unusually sharp mental power of the


philosopher. In this way, the idea of Reality of hisforerunner will come before us in the form of acontinuous and complete philosophical system, thusmaking it easy for the people to participate in hisintuition and to come to an agreement with his idea ofReality.

The essentials of the exposition of Iqbal'sphilosophy

The sign of the correctness of a philosophy is neitherthis that all its ideas should be actually and immediatelyin the form of a logical order nor is it that there should beno gaps in their logical system which can be filled withthe known and established scientific facts to an extent.Rather, it is only that , its idea of the Reality of theuniverse should be correct and the other that all itsknown and mentioned ideas are logically and rationallycongruous with this principal idea.These qualities arepresent in the philosophy of Iqbal. In this case, thoughthis philosophy will not be a system of arranged ideas,but of jumbled ideas , yet it will be correct and right, willbe in the form of the system, and all true scientific factsdiscovered till its emergence will already be consistentwith it, or rather, potentially present in it, though theyhave actually and visibly not been attached to it. Despitethe fact that the number of these scientific facts issufficing to organize this philosophy, yet its rationalitywill still not be comprehensible to an ordinary student ofphilosophy whose intuition of its principal idea of Realityis not complete.Since, its internal ideas will not be in theform of a logical or rational order, his firstmisunderstanding will be that these ideas do not bear anylogical or rational connection with each other, and withthe basic and principal idea of Reality of the philosophy.


This will prevent him from making a correct appraisal ofthe rationality of this philosophy. His othermisunderstanding will be that these ideas bear no logicalor rational relationship even with those scientific factswhich are outside this philosophy, with the result that hewill continue to think that these external scientific factsare, in fact, more consistent with the otherphilosophies,i.e, the philosophies which have beenorganised and systematised by chance and in which thesefacts have been integrated after being distorted. In thisway, since he will not find these scientific facts availableto him to reinforce and strengthen this philosophy, itsrationality will remain hidden from his eyes for thisreason. Hence, if we wish to make this student ofphilosophy familiar with the rationality of thisphilosophy, we will have no alternative but :

To arrange all the ideas of this philosophy rationallyand logically by which it may be known that theyare,infact,related to one another and to the principal ideaof Reality of the philosophy.

To fill the gaps occuring in between this sequenceand order with more ideas, i.e, with more known andestablished scientific facts within the bounds of possibility,thus reducing the number and length of these gaps asmuch as possible. The reason is that if we exclude evenone true scientific fact from this philosophical system,we will neither be doing justice to this need nor makingthis philosophical system as rational, as logical and asorganised as it can become in view of the number ofknown and established scientific facts of its times. Sinceeven these ideas which will be utilized to fill in the gapsin the philosophical system, will require order, andwithout order in the previous internal ideas, their trueplace in this whole philosophical system will also not be


determinable, therefore,both these tasks will not be of adifferent nature from one another. Rather, each one ofthem will be dependent upon the other, and will beincomplete without the other. Hence,we will have toperform both these tasks simultaneously. But, in order toperform them simultaneously two conditions will have tobe satisfied:

That the known and established true scientific factshave progressed in respect of their nature and number tosuch an extent that when an attempt is made to arrangethe internal ideas of this philosophy in a rational order,and these scientific facts are used to fill in the gaps in thissystem, the number and length of the gaps may decreaseto such an extent that the arrangement may becomecomprehensible to every individual easily after trulyassuming the form of a continuous logical and intellectualsystem, because of this position of it.

That this philosophy already has in itself some ofthose known and established scientific facts actually andclearly integrated into it because of which the scientifi

Dr. Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din MA. Ph.D; D.Litt. Translated Byiqbalcyberlibrary.net/pdf/3521E.pdf · 18...

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Transcript of Dr. Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din MA. Ph.D; D.Litt. Translated Byiqbalcyberlibrary.net/pdf/3521E.pdf · 18...