Allama Iqbal

 Iqbal by Umar Nawaz Attal

When talking about a poet we have to look at two aspects:

1) The subject matter or the thoughts expressed

Here we see confusion and transition from the universal to parochial. I would stop short of calling him intellectually dishonest but that is what it appears. This is a typical feature of intellectuals representing the political ideas of the elites.

First he praises democracy (sultani e jambhoor ka aata hai zamana / jo naqsh e kohan tum to nazar aaye mita do) and later mocks it (jambhooriat ik tarz e hukumat hai jis mein / bandon ko gina kartay hain tola nahi kartay)

And the guy who said "tu shab aafridi, chiragh aafridum" and "Bay khatar kood para aatish e namrood mein ishq" later on yearns for "aik hon muslim haram ki paasbaani kay liye".

From universality he comes down to parochialism.

Iqbal on the whole is regressive in his thoughts and pro status-quo.

Actually his poems "Aazadi e Niswan" and "Aurat aur Taleem" are quite horrible.

2) Artistic beauty (How well those thoughts are expressed - poetic beauty).

Iqbal is among the MASTERS of Urdu poetry. Anybody who thinks otherwise is simply being inobjective.

The flow, the march of words, the rhyme, the vocabulary, the meter, the ebb and flow of simplicity and complexity, imagery, metaphor, certainly makes him a master of the craft.

Teray ishq ki inteha chahta hoon

Meri saadgi dekh kya chahta hoon

Mohabbat hi wo manzil hai kay manzil bhi hai sehra bhi

Jaras bhi, kaarwan bhi, rahbar bhi, rahzan bhi.

Umar Nawaz Attal.

Read More at Samiullah Khatir blog