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Allamah Muhammad Iqbal's Concept of Muslim

Nationalism in India
By RIZWAN MALIK

It is well known that it was Allamah Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) who articulated Muslim
political separatism in his presidential address to the annual session of the All India Muslim
League at Allahabad in 1930. He expressed the wish that: 'I would like to see the Punjab, North-West
Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within
the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West
Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West
India.'

The enunciation of this political objective was the genesis of the two-nation theory when Iqbal's
vision was adopted by the Muslim League in its Lahore Resolution of March 1940. The philosophical
moorings of the two nation theory suggest that a separate Muslim homeland, as viewed by Iqbal,
was essential to a healthy development of both the major communities in the Indian subcontinent.
In his Allahabad address, Iqbal stated that a separate state for Muslims would be in the best
interests of India and of Islam. He explained: 'For India it means security and peace resulting
from an internal balance of power; for Islam an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that
Arabian imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilize its law, its education, its culture, and to
bring them into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times.'

Based therefore on this concept of a 'Muslim state', he expressed the desire to see an independent
Muslim state in the north-west of India. Explaining the rationale behind this demand, Iqbal
observed that since each community has the right to free development according to its own cultural
traditions, Muslim demands should not be viewed as reflecting any feeling of hostility towards
Hindus. He stated that: 'The principal that each group is entitled to free development on its own
lines is not inspired by any feeling of narrow communalism ... A community which is inspired
by a feeling of ill-will towards other communities is low and ignoble. I entertain the highest respect
for the customs, laws, religions and social institutions of other communities.'

Iqbal's articulation of the views set out above suggests the remarkable distance that he had travelled
between his youth and his mature years. Iqbal first gained fame as a nationalist Muslim who
cherished the ideals of a united India like the other great poet from Bengal, Rabindra Nath Tagore. It
was during 1905 and again in 1908, when he was studying in Europe, that he began revising his
thoughts about the principles of territorial nationalism. His studies of Islam and modern
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philosophy gradually and irrevocably caused him to repudiate his earlier views. On his return to
India in 1908, Iqbal ceased to be an Indian nationalist and started deviating from his earlier
views on Muslim-Hindu communal unity. Iqbal attempted to prove that Islam constituted
a millat which could not and should not be identified with any one particular country. He also
emphasized that being culturally different and separate from the Hindus with a precisely defined
political orientation, Indian Muslims did not want to be assimilated into a Hindu-dominated
Indian political nationalism. On the other hand, Iqbal advocated a repudiation of political
nationalism by substituting for it the idea of cultural nationalism. He was clear in his mind that
nationalism, originally a Western concept, demanded affiliation to a territory without having
anything to do with the cultural values of the people concerned. In the West, nationalism was most
generally understood in its political context. The Indian National Congress had also adopted this
concept and defined various communities living in India as one nation merely because they
inhabited a common territory. Cultural nationalism, in contrast, describes people a nation on the
basis of their inwardly felt sharing of religious, racial, or linguistic values. Viewed from this
perspective, Indian Muslims constituted a cultural nationality. Logically then, the creation of an
independent Muslim state was to be an external social organization required simply to guard the
inner and natural needs of its members. Therefore, in Iqbal's vision, the notion of cultural
nationalism as applied to the case of a culturally and religiously defined Muslim nation seeking
a territory to give tangible expression of itself was not antithetical to Islam. In a public statement,
Iqbal elaborated on this point.

Cultural Nationalism

Nationalism in the sense of love of one's country and even readiness to die for its honour is a
part of the Muslim's faith; it comes into conflict with Islam only when it begins to play the role of
a political Islam should recede to the background of a mere private opinion and cease to be a living
factor in the national life. In Turkey, Iran, Egypt, and other Muslim countries it will never become
a problem. In these countries Muslims constitute an overwhelming majority and their minorities,
i.e., Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, according to the law of Islam, are either 'People of the
Book' or 'like the People of the Book' with whom the law of Islam allows free social relations only
in countries where they happen to be in a minority, and nationalism demands their complete self-
effacement. In majority countries Islam accommodates nationalism; for there Islam and
nationalism are practically identical; in minority countries it is justified in seeking self-
determination as a cultural unit. In either case, it is thoroughly consistent with itself.

Nevertheless, the cultural definition of nationalism used by Iqbal as an instrument to prevent the
assimilation of a minority into the majority community, could be interpreted negatively to mean
the unwillingness of Muslim community 'to be ruled by a non-Muslim political power'. But
Iqbal's cultural nationalism was mainly a desire to facilitate his vision of the reform of the
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existing Muslim social and economic order. This, in his view, could be done by mobilizing the
Muslim masses, at least, those in the Muslim-majority provinces of north-west India. It should be
emphasized here that Iqbal did not make the demand for a separate Muslim state as a defensive
proposition against the numerical strength of the Hindus. The logic of cultural nationalism in
Iqbal's case was based on the practical necessity of first acquiring a Muslim state, which would
then make it possible for Indian Muslims to proceed with their experiment of building a society in
accordance with the Shari'a. Should such a state be denied them, Indian Muslims would be bereft of
the opportunity to introduce innovations which the Turks had taken upon themselves. As a student
of Islam, Iqbal contended that a commitment to a progressive reform of the social conditions of
Muslims by the All India Muslim League would, in fact, be a return to the original principles of
Islam. Accordingly, Iqbal wrote to Jinnah, in his letter on 28 May 1937, that it was about time
that the League finally decided whether it has to represent the interests of upper class Indian
Muslims or the Muslim masses. He believed the reason why Muslim masses were not attracted to the
Muslim League was its lack of promise of any improvement in the lot of the average Muslim. As this
ideal could only be achieved in an independent and sovereign Muslim state, in the same letter,
Iqbal wrote to Jinnah that the question of 'Muslim poverty' demanded much more serious attention
than did the 'atheistic socialism' of Nehru.

'Happily there is a solution in the enforcement of the Law of Islam and its further development in
the light of modern ideas. After a long and careful study of Islamic Law I have come to the
conclusion that if this system of Law is properly understood and applied, at least the right to
subsistence is secured to everybody. But the enforcement and development of the Shariat of Islam is
impossible in this country without a free Muslim state or states. This has been my honest
conviction for many years and I still believe this to be the only way to solve the problem of bread
for Muslims as well as to secure a peaceful India.'

On the other hand, Iqbal argued with Muslims about the need to renew Islamic culture. He used his
poetry as an instrument to make Muslims realize that to become once again dynamic, enterprising
and assertive, there was a need for reform of the traditional interpretation of Islam. He exhorted
Muslims to wake up and learn to live with the changed times, considering reform to be effort to
rekindle the dynamism of early Islam.

Turkey

It is relevant to note that Iqbal viewed the activities of Mustafa Kemal in Turkey generally speaking
as positive. The movement of reforms initiated by Mustafa Kemal, Iqbal believed, despite many flaws
that it may encompass, was wholesome in general and to be encouraged as an illustration of how
Muslim thought might be reactivated. Appreciating the decree of the Turkish Grand National
Assembly finally to close the chapter of the Muslim Khilafat, he wrote: 'Let us now see how Grand
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National Assembly has excised this power of Ijtihad in regard to the institution of Khilafat.
According to Sunni Law the appointment of an Imam or Khalifa is absolutely indispensable. The
first question that arises in this connection is this - Should the Caliphate be vested in a single
nation? Turkey's Ijtihad is that according to the spirit of the Islam the Caliphate or Imamate can
be vested in a body of persons, or an elected Assembly. The religious doctors of Islam in Egypt and
India, so far as I know, have not yet expressed themselves on this point. Personally, I believe the
Turkish view is perfectly sound. It is hardly necessary to argue this point. The republican form of
government is not only thoroughly consistent with the spirit of Islam but has also become a
necessity in view of the new forces that are set free in the world of Islam.'

What once had been the symbol of the unity of the Muslim ummah, Iqbal believed, had become an
impediment to the development of Islamic thought. Iqbal never endorsed the contributions of the
Kemalist secular experience, as is sometimes thought, in its anti-mullah and anti-Sufi
interpretations of Islam. To meet the challenges of the modern world, he advocated the use
of ijtihad (fresh thinking and independent judgement). He believed the example of Turkey should be
followed by Muslim countries in order to rebuild and strengthen their states on modern lines. In
the same vein he hoped that with the disappearance of the institution of the Khilafat the unity of the
Muslim world will have to be derived from the independent and sovereign status of individual
Muslim states. Iqbal wrote: 'It seems to me that God is slowly bringing home to us the truth that
Islam is neither Nationalism nor Imperialism but a League of Nations which recognizes artificial
boundaries and racial distinctions for facility of reference only, and not for restricting the social
horizon of its members.'

Religious Ideal

It would be in this 'League' of Muslim countries that Indian Muslims, living in an independent
state of their own, would participate and contribute to the unity and stability of the Muslim
world. Iqbal's vision was that there was a logical connection between the proposed independent
Muslim state in South Asia and the territorially broken up but spiritually united nation-states in
the rest of the Muslim world.

In supporting the rationale of territorial Muslim nation-states based on cultural nationalism,

Iqbal was trying to emphasize Islam as the real foundation of Muslim ummah. In fact, Iqbal
wanted to rescue the principles of Islam from being reduced to a personal affair and its consequent
extinction as a system of life. He stated that the nature of the Prophet's religious experience,
Qur'anically speaking is [of an] individual experience creative of a social order. Its immediate
outcome is the fundamentals of a polity with implicit legal concepts whose civic significance
cannot be belittled merely because their origin is revelation. The religious ideal of Islam, therefore,
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is organically related to the social order which it has created. The rejection of the one will
eventually involve the rejection of the other.

DR RIZWAN MALIK
is a senior research fellow at the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, P.O. Box
1230, Islamabad, Pakistan.

REFERENCES USED

Muhammad Iqbal,
Speeches, Writings, and Statements of Iqbal,
Latif Ahmed Sherwani (comp.).
Lahore: Iqbal Academy 1977
W.C. Smith,
Modern Islam in India,
Lahore: Rippon Press 1947
Aziz Ahmad,
Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan 1857-1964, London: Oxford University Press
1967
Hefeez Malik (ed.),
Iqbal: Poet, Philosopher of Pakistan, New York: Colombia University Press 1971
Anwar H. Syed,
'Was Pakistan intended to be an Islamic State?
Iqbal, Jinnah, and the Issues of Nationhood and Nationalism in Pakistan',
The Indian Review, I,
1 Autumn 1978.
Muhammad Iqbal,
Letters of Iqbal to Jinnah,
Lahore: Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, 1968
Muhammad Iqbal,
Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,
Lahore: Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, 1971
Hamilton Gibb, Whither Islam?, London: Victor Gollancz, 1932