Sabaq Phir Parh Sadaqat Ka, Adalat Ka, Shujaat Ka Liya Jaye Ga Tujh Se Kaam Dunya Ki Imamat Ka Read again the lesson of truth, of justice and valour! You will be asked to do the work of taking on responsibility (Imamate) for the world. --- Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani Poet in (Bang-e-Dra-163) Tulu-e-Islam (طلوع اسلام) (The Rise of Islam)
Tasawwuf is always the sign of decline of a nation. Greek mysticism, Persian mysticism, Indian mysticism - all are signs of decline of these nations; the same is true of Islamic mysticism. . . . Any philosophy or religious teaching that prevents the blossoming of the human personality is worthless. --- Mohammad Iqbal (1876-1938) (Image: Wazir Khan Masjid, Pakistan)
Fight not for the interpretation of the Truth, When the Truth itself is in danger. --- Mohammad Iqbal, on sectarianism
All life is individual; there is no such thing as universal life. God himself is an individual: He is the most unique individual. [...] Obviously this view of man and the universe is opposed to that of the English Neo-Hegelians as well as to all forms of pantheistic Sufism which regard absorption in a universal life or soul as the final aim and salvation of man. The moral and religious ideal of man is not self-negation but self-affirmation, and he attains to this ideal by becoming more and more individual, more and more unique. The Prophet [pbuh] said, 'Takhallaqu bi akhlaq Allah.' 'Create yourselves in the attributes of God.' Thus man becomes unique by becoming more and more like the most unique Individual. --- Mohammad Iqbal, Secrets of the Self (Image: Pottery, Anatolia)
Like Buddhists and some Hindus, the sufis fostered the goal of the self’s annihilation in the Supreme Being, using the simile of a drop losing itself in the ocean. But [Mohammad] Iqbal wanted man to be a pearl, not a drop of water, a servant of God, not merged with God. He sought conquest for man, not effacement. Prayer could enable the individual personality to “discover its situation” in relation to God, but union (wisal) with God, was neither possible nor desirable. —- Rajmohan Gandhi on Muhammad Iqbal, Understanding the Muslim Mind
Tasawwuf is always the sign of decline of a nation. Greek mysticism, Persian mysticism, Indian mysticism - all are signs of decline of these nations; the same is true of Islamic mysticism… Any philosophy or religious teaching that prevents the blossoming of the human personality is worthless. —- Mohammad Iqbal (1876-1938)
