iqbal should be banned

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  • 8/3/2019 Iqbal Should Be Banned..

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    Though I am a great admirer of Iqbal's creative genius yet in my personal

    opinion, he should be banned. Thank God a part of his poetry has already

    been hidden and utmost efforts are being incorporated in preventing those

    poems of his to access the limelight. For example:

    !

    Rise, and from their slumber wake the poor ones of My world!

    Shake the walls and windows of the mansions of the great!

    On the other hand, our leaders and politicians use the verse:

    "My songs fresh zeal to hearts of men impart,"

    with intact consistency to make the public realize that Iqbal had penned this verse as atribute to their own leadership. But never have I heard any of these 'leaders' mentioningthis verse of Iqbal:

    Find the field whose harvest is no peasants daily bread

    Garner in the furnace every ripening ear of wheat!

    It is a good thing because if the poor of this country wake up they are going

    to shake the affluent few out of their lives of luxury. The earning of theharvest that is being enjoyed by the feudal lords exclusively, every inch of

    that harvest will be in danger of being burned by the laborer. This, in turn, is

    going to damage the capitalist democracy that is the 'guarantee of our

    survival'; the meaningless majority will take over while the elite class, having

    once been on the receiving end of the wondrous perks of this economic

    system, will be at the mercy of those two-penny losers.

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    But hiding just this particular part of Iqbal's poetry is not going to be enough.

    We have to get rid of his entire poetry collection. In attribution to the way we

    lead our lives and how dear our lives are to us, it will be interesting to point

    out that Iqbal perceives such a life as death and thus becomes the cause ofhurting our feelings. For example we are grateful to Allah that not only did He

    make us part of a Muslim family but also He enabled us to follow His

    Commands where we never waver in offering our Salaah or fasting during

    Ramadh'haan. But Iqbal loves to shock us. He attacks those beloved religious

    scholars of ours whom we revere so much and who have assured us that no

    matter how deeply drenched we are in our worldly luxuries, our entry in

    heaven is a done deal. We just have to follow their lead and the guard of

    heaven could do nothing more than be left agape. The entire poetry

    collection of Iqbal is filled with such bizarre admonishments. For example

    That blood of pristine vigour is no more;

    That yearning heart's power is no more;

    Prayer, fasting, haj, sacrifice survive,

    But in thee nature's old dower is no more.

    **********

    The end of Muslim folk I know full well,

    On theoretic points their preachers dwell

    ***********

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    Who knows what tumult The Final Day will bring?

    The mosques and the schools Are silent about that day.

    ***********

    !

    Both you and I arent Muslims true,

    Though we say the prayers due.

    I know the end of wrangle well

    Where mullahs at each other yell

    ***********

    Thy imam is unabsorbed, Thy prayer is uninspired,

    Forsake an imam like him, Forsake a prayer like this.

    ***********

    I care not for the philosopher, Or for The mullah,

    One is the hearts death; The other is death of thought.

    ***********

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    Sufis lack the fire, the passion that consumes,

    But in miracles and in wonders their circles abound.

    On the Day of Judgement, God will be embarrassed

    By the blank book of the Sufi, and the mindless mullah.

    ************

    There are countless other references where he has bruised our hearts and after readinghis words, our acts of worship seem pointless to us because according to him, we have

    ignored the real soul of those worshipping experiences.

    These are not the only reasons why I have put forth the demand to cast out Iqbal. Thereare many more. For instance, we know that our politicians are so God-fearing and howconcerned they are for the welfare of the public and to serve the interests of the countryhow they never hesitate to beg for financial aid from the global donors. But Iqbal doesnot acknowledge their 'efforts' at all. He says: ( )

    This obsession of Iqbal with Khudi has really snatched our mental peace. Can this Khudiconstruct those luxurious mansions? Can this Khudi maintain the 'health' of those Swissbank accounts? Can this Khudi make you 'brave' enough to 'request' aid every now andthen? Needless to say, the approach employed by the Poet of the East is brainwashingour youth and hence he should be discarded to improve the current conditions.

    Iqbal's poetry is not just a danger for us but it also qualifies as a peril for those 'profound'minds who have utilized their genius to take over more than half of the world's resourcesand have installed their personal puppets in important positions to continue with the

    'wonders of their intelligence'.

    He talks about freedom of nations and many Islamic nations have found his messageattractive to the extent that they have broken the chains of slavery as a direct response(big deal!). He is also the enemy of capitalism. Wherever this economic system will beopposed, it will be accompanied by the ideas of Iqbal. Many countries that had been

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    following this doctrine till now, the masses of those countries have unified to raise avoice against capitalism. On certain instances, Iqbal is even found registering his queriesto the One Above about the planet we are living in and the humans living in it who aregradually tearing away the remnants of humanity. He says: ( )

    Since I am not a poet but a columnist, there are certain literary restraints regardingarticle length. If I would not have been precluded by these limitations, I would havepresented further logical arguments as to how expelling the ideas of Iqbal from ouridealogical curriculum is the need of the time in terms of strengthening the currentsystem in Pakistan as well as for the sake of ensuring world peace. A case in point willbe the way he declares thirst for knowledge as the main reason behind the developmentof Europe; the way he mourns about how the Europeans are benefiting from the fruits ofthat tree of intellect and enlightenment that had been planted by our ancestors. That ishow he tries (not hard enough though) to motivate the Muslim youth to follow in the

    footsteps of their ancestors and develop that intense hunger for knowledge in order toregain the glory of the past and lead the world to a meaningful culmination on all levels.To cut a long story short, he is actually saying that we are not doing enough (the nerve!)and that we are ignorant fools. He has the audacity to term our dearth of initiative to gainknowledge (duh we didn't have opportunities to live up to his unrealistic ideals) as themain reason for our decline as an ummah. He is practically insulting our nation.Henceforth without further delay such an uncouth poet should be banned. On mayocassions, Iqbal assumes the role of our defense lawyer and presents our case in theCourt of Allah.

    ( )

    Having quoted him, I don't think there is any further need for reemphasizing my stance.In the end, I'd take your leave by making an attempt to necessitate my perpetualreferences to Iqbal's poetry by once again quoting his words (this time is the last time Ipromise).

    ( )