Political Thought of Iqbal (an Exploration)

The Ills of Muslim World

Iqbal pointed out that there were three main ills of Muslim society i.e. Priesthood, Monastic Sufism, and Dictatorship. He condemned strongly to these ills of Muslim society. He held that these are the major reasons of decline of the Muslim world. For him these are as dangerous for a Muslim society as the separation between state and Church is harmful for the Western lands. “The ultimate reality, according to the Quran, is spiritual, and its life consists in its temporal activity. The spirit finds its opportunities in the natural, the material, the secular. All that is secular is, therefore, sacred in the roots of its being. The greatest service that modern thought has rendered to Islam, and as a matter of fact to all religion, consists in its criticism of what we call material or natural-a criticism which discloses that the merely material has no substance until we discover it rooted in the spiritual. There is no such thing as the profane world. All this immensity of matter constitutes a scope for the self-realization of spirit. All is holy ground. As the Prophet so beautifully puts it „The whole of this earth is a mosque.‟ The state, according to Islam, is only an effort to realize the spiritual in a human organization. But in this sense all state, not based on mere domination and aiming at the realization of ideal principles, is theocratic.” (Iqbal A. M., 1989:123) Iqbal considers necessary the structuring of a state but he condemns to all forms of state established on the material interpretation of the universe. Even he criticized to all democratic forms based on bare human intellect only. He proposed to spiritual democracy-a form of government whose ultimate end is absolute reality-an Ultimate Spirit. Concluding Remarks

•  For Iqbal the origin and ultimate goal of this universe is ultimate Spirit i.e. God.

•  Human being is a masterpiece of His creation.

•  He held human being as His vicegerent on earth.

•  Human being has to fulfill God‟s will on earth.

•  Human being has two dimensions: both spiritual and material.

•  In respect of his origin human being is spiritual while in respect of his field of action he is material because he has to fulfill Gods will in this material world.

•  From Aristotle to modern ages almost all rationalist and empiricists considered human being a material object only.

•  They interpreted to whole phenomenon of existence on material basis only.

•  So, matter was considered a spring of all individual, collective, personal, social, moral, economical, political, and cultural activities.

•  Resultantly they separated church from state i.e. religion from worldly affairs.

•  Iqbal was of opinion that all problems of humanity in all ages were due to the material interpretation of life and universe.

•  Along with all other harmful issues the most fatal among all is the spiritual crises of modern being.

•  The nature of the problems of Muslim world is different from the West. Majority of the Muslim world is occupied by the most harmful

diseases which corrupt the human societies are Priest Hood, Monastic Sufism, and Dictatorship.

•  For Iqbal democratic form of government is the best way among all other approaches to govern the system but he differentiates between material democracy and spiritual democracy.

•  For him material democracy is as harmful for human societies as are the priesthood, monastic Sufism, and dictatorship. Spiritual democracy is the only option by which we save the future of humanity.

•  For spiritual democracy we will have to admit that the ultimate origin of all existents is spiritual. On the heels of this acknowledgement we will have to develop individuals, build up societies and interpret all phenomenon of creation on spiritual basis with in the material world.