- Some factors
For one I am no scholar of Urdu, Persian or Arabic, but in my own way and at my level of comprehension the first language I learnt was Swahili (the E African lingua franca) the second was English. Urdu came after my Senior Cambridge in 1940. When we look at the way we treated our titans how can the rest of us expect anything better? Language has been no barrier to my understanding his message of the Quran or Allama Iqbal’s thoughts.
Sir Syed Ahmed, the doyen was the first to draw our attention to our long lost friend i.e. knowledge and indeed converted his thinking into practice setting up MAO College in Aligarh (now Aligarh Muslim University) which provided the intellectual output, in large measure to the formation of Pakistan. Sir Syed was castigated and called “naturee”. Allama Iqbal was also pilloried and called a kafir.
The late intervention by the Supreme Court may be “too little too late” because they do not either have enough time to get to the roots of differences to assure common agreement
It was his genius that he could see the seeds of destruction laid by the West, based on the setting up of nation states and misunderstanding that there is no basic unity to humankind. Look what apartheid resulted in.
However, the germs planted by Sir Syed were vision formulated by the Allama in his 1930 address to the Muslim League as President. He had the foresight to see Jinnah’s capability to set up a new state. The Quaid-e-Azam took on “Mission Pakistan” and delivered. Delivery was based on the top intellectual level through a consistent honest approach with attention to institutional legal detail. Merit is what counted and see how it worked yet he was called Kafir-c-Azam! In contrast in the West they venerate their heroes by finding ways and means not always above board, to achieve their ends.
Alfred Lord Tennyson in Ulysses says ‘to strive, to seek, to find and never to yield”. It is basically the Allama’s “khudi”. The Allama gave his message to in Persian. He knew how proficient we were in pulling the rug from under one’s feet. We yet have plenty of Sadiqs and Mir Jaffars – just look around. The poet laureate (Tennyson) also echoes Rumi in his poem on the death of A.H.H;
‘I hold it truth with who sings To one dear harp in diverse tones That men may rise on stepping stones Of their dead selves to higher things. ”
The Allama’s genius went far further, he found it somewhat difficult to explain Islam in their language because of the limited etymological meaning of “religion” without an overarching discipline which formed the result of rendering unto Caesar what was Caesars, and rendering unto God what was Gods. In the same way the use of this word Secular had its limitation when applied to Islam. The setting up of the city state of Madina provided a practically functional working arrangement through an agreement with all the stakeholders. Today we do not do this openly. If we can be truthful with a diplomatic approach, it can yet be made to work.
In Pakistan no stakeholder finds it difficult to accept the others words without giving it several twists. Who is it who doesn’t know what is going on? We prefer to fool ourselves clothing words which they were not meant to mean. The late intervention by the Supreme Court may be “too little too late” because they do not either have enough time to get to the roots of differences to assure common agreement. When a legislative approach is made depending on interpretation of man defined laws the Allama said we are a “spiritual” democracy. We deliberately don’t show flexibility when required. This is brought out beautifully in the Quran in Sura Yusuf on evidence as follows:
“the competency and the credibility of the witnesses. Broadly speaking, evidence may be (1) direct or hearsay; (2) circumstantial. But circumstantial evidence can be acted upon only if it is of a conclusive nature. For instance, if a person is seen coming out from anybody’s house in fear and anxiety with a knife covered with blood in his hand and in the house a dead body is found with a throat cut, these facts will be regarded as a proof that the person who was seen coming out committed the murder (Sir Abdur Rahim ,Muhammadan Jurisprudence, pp. 381-2), Hadrat Yusufs innocence was established by circumstantial evidence” (xii, 26-27).
Crimes & La ws (M. Sharif, Institute of Islamic Culture)
However, how can this be done in the technological world? Conflicting thoughts, because of cultural differences come to the top. Reading Allama’s and Mahmud Ahmed’s rendition of Javid-nama/pilgrimage in eternity, the former with his Victorian background and knowledge of industrialization in Dickensien times spoke of the West in terms of science and technology; whereas M. Ahmed’s rendition of the same is “art” and technology (I admit introducing technology is also an art out here). The Allama understood the strength of West in the sense how it was in his times. His genius was he also saw the seeds of destruction it left behind. The Allama also predicted the future of our area depends on what happens in Afghanistan. It is proving to be as correct as an uncle of mine said Saadat Hasan will die but Manto will live on and on. And this has happened fifty years after his death!
