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Dr Iqbal's poetry


  • Faisal Hanif
    Sep 21 11:42 AM
    Reply
    Most of us, poetry lovers or others, have read Allama Muhammed Iqbal at least some of him somewhere. To many he remained hard-to-understand philosopher poet. Iqbal has written pure poetry too which is equally remarkable. I like Dr Iqbal, one my favourite poets. I find his poetry the most interesting, most intriguing and most touching. It leaves an indelible mark on reader's mind. I vitalize his style also his gift for conciseness and frugality.

    This is the poetry of Iqbal very much in the usual sense. Looks like the great influence of traditional style of poetry exercised over Iqbal's mind. This appeals to the lighter mood. Simplicity combined with reasonable depth..Isn't it beautiful?

    Gharz nishat hay shughel-e-sharab se jin ke
    halal cheez ko goya haram kartay hain
    bhala nibhay ge teri hum se kyonkar ay waez
    ke hum tu rasm-e-mohabbet aam kartay hain
    ju be-namaz kabhi parthay hain namaz Iqbal
    bula ke deer se mujh ku imam kartay hain

    Iqbal was a philosopher poet, not a pure poet and he freely borrowed ideas from different schools and systems in accordance with the demand of his poetry. One of them is the transformation of Nietzsche's Ubermensch into 'shaheen bacha' and 'mard-e-mouman' but they carry Iqbal's very own colour. Borrowing ideas does not mean that his thoughts are incoherent or entirely visionary, in point of fact his poetry is a historic product rooted in the intellectual climate of an age which witnessed the Indian war of independence and new era for Muslims of India. To write about the regeneration of the Muslim ummah in such an age was by no means a quixotic venture.


    Tha zabt boht mushkil iss sail-e-ma'ani ka
    keh dalay qalander nay israr-e-ketab aakhir

    The couplet above is a typical Iqbal-type. Those who read Iqbal's poetry at once recognize in him a devout and ardent Muslim/Easterner defending the Islamic and oriental values against the supremacy of Western culture. He certainly moralises his 'songs' and he succeeds proving true to what he advocates mostly in his poetry. But Iqbal has other 'colours' too. In Iqbal's poetry I have noted that Iqbal imitated Akbar Allahabadi's style of writing. I quote a few of Iqbal's qata'at below that show influence of Akbar in the meaning of the themes, words, the syntax, and even the division of sentences. I personally believe that if this sort of poetry had been written entirely in a different style it would have been a failure as a poetry and if had been written in Iqbal's own style it would have lacked the 'desperate sense of humour 'necessary for making it worth reading. Please see..

    Shaikh saheb bhe tu parday ke koi hami nahe
    mufta main college kay larkay unn se badzan hogayay
    wa'az main farma diya kal aap nay yeh saaf saaf
    "Parda akhir kis se ho jab mard he zan hogayay

    There is an abundance of humour and fun in Akbar's poetry and yet this is another ingredient by which Akbar added novelty to the classical poetry of his time. Iqbal succeeded in establishing the similar tone but obviously could not apply Akbar's elevated style to the trivial subjects which make the poetry humourous and elegant at the same time, though we do recognize the grand style as having a mock-serious motive whereas he too used vivid and startling language which is colloquial rather than conventional. Fortunately, yes I am saying fortunately this style of poetry did not work for Iqbal as it did for Akbar.

    Iqbal achieved his effects largely through the generalization of his descriptions working on the readers sensitivity to the religion and union being one ummah. If we object Iqbal's poetry consists of all the obvious ideas of Islam, and thoughts enveloped in a characteristic atmosphere of philosophy then we are recognizing his symbolic appropriateness, which is at its best and beautifully sustained at every point in his poetry. He avoided the smooth easy pattern of most of his predecessors e.g. Dagh, Ameer Meenai etc. and his contemporaries preferring to arrest attention rather than to lull the senses.

    He is essentially a philosopher poet whose primary concern is purposefulness. See...

    Main sh'er kay israar se mahram nahe lakin
    ye nukta hay tareekh umam jis ke hay tafseel
    wo sh'er ke paigham hayat-e-abdi hay
    ya naghma-e-Jibraeel hay ya baang-e-Israfeel

    His poetry is inspired by religious thoughts, philosophical conceptions and the role assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence. He directs his readers to where to look for the truth. Iqbal is aware of the clash between the old and the new, the world of faith and the world of reason and the clash between the civilisations. He combined this with two elements; the fantastic in form and style and the 'incongruous' in matter and manner.

    I read somewhere that AbdurRehman Bajnoori once said that there are two divine books of India: The holy Vedas and Dewan-e-Ghalib. But no doubt Iqbal as a poet is the greatest after the mighty Ghalib, and as a thinker and philosopher among the very greatest. His poetry is pure inspiration, a thing of lightness, melody and grace. His ideas are incomparable. He remains a philosopher poet, the greatest that sub-continent or perhaps the modern East has produced. There is no doubt that Iqbal's poems represent the highest achievement of philosophical poetry.

    Written by: Faisal Hanif, Doha, Qatar

  • I-Like-Rhymes
    September 23 ↑
    Reply
    Thank you for sharing these thoughts with us and adding to our knowledge of this poets work. It is nice to hear from people who appreciate the works of some of the poets represented here.
    I would like to place your thoughts into our essay pages where they would get wider readership if you have no objections.
    To assist with this it would help if we had translations to go with the lines you quote for those, like me, whose knowledge of the original language is almost non-existant.
    Jim

  • Faisal Hanif
    October 1 ↑
    Reply
    Hi Jim, Thanks for your encouragement. You may please go ahead and post my note into your essay pages.

    I did not translate the couplets of Iqbal I quoteed above for two good reasons: first, I think translation kills the essence of the poetry, second if it has to be translated for people of other languages, the translation should be 'perfect' to convey most of what poet actually meant. I realized that I would not be able to do justice with Iqbal's ideas with my translation skills.

    Thank you for your understanding.

    Kind Regards,
    Faisal Hanif

    Guzergah-e-Khayal - Urdu and English Forum
    http://guzergah-e-khayal.groups.live.com/

    • I-Like-Rhymes
      October 2 ↑
      Reply
      I'm having problems loading new essays at the moment.
      I'll try again later. OR you might like to have a go yourself.
      Click on the essays link at the top of any Oldpoetry page and then click on the add column link on the Right Hand Side of the next page. Then just type in or cut and paste your work.
      Jim

  • Ahkam
    November 6 ↑
    Reply

    Very Nice

    Thank you very much for sharing your ideas. Iqbal is no doubt a very great poet and philosopher and his poetry cannot be translated to any other language in true sense yet it is good to translate as much as we can. At least some of his ideas could be interpreted in this way.

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