[Reader-list] Two Iqbals & One Faiz and AnalHaq

[Rahul Asthana]

Hi Yasir
That was a very interesting post.Are you saying that
sufism has been interpreted differently by different
scholars,and hence there is no essential nature of
sufism?In my simplistic understanding,sufism is
something very personal;between an individual and
God;to remove every obstacle/diversion between the
two.
Analhaq is a good summary statement of sufism. 
So when you say that Iqbal says "sufism was not an
abstraction but lay in re-engaging with the collective
community",I somehow find Iqbal's redefinition
unpalatable.
For example,as you yourself have said,Maududi cant be
called sufi by any stretch of imagination.
I hope you will excuse my limited understanding of the
subject.
My second question is about anal haq.I somehow find
Faiz's usage of this phrase disingenuous.Faiz would
have known its history,Im sure.What was his intention?
If this is about a movement against dictatorship,why
bring a phrase which has religious overtones and which
is connected with apostasy into it?
Thank you
Rahul
--- yasir ~ <yasir.media at gmail.com> wrote:

> KK and Rahul
> 
> various people - muslim writers/"reformers" - have
> reacted to worked
> through, sufi ideas differently in hindustan. this
> wasn't always to
> reassert orthodoxy of the time, but also a somewhat
> intertwined
> attempt to engage with the collective.
> 
> so you have mujjadid alf saani against chishtis and
> shias, shah wali
> ullah working with various schools including sufi
> and shia,
> 
> iqbal a scholar of arabic, persian metaphysics and
> german idealism of
> goethe, hegel and nietzche saying that the higher
> stage of sufism was
> not an abstraction but lay in re-engaging with the
> collective
> community,
> 
> maududi (the other widely-read/known scholar with
> iqbal) reacting
> against his sufi legacy and the deoband school to
> engage with the
> collective socius and work towards asserting power
> though electoral
> party politics (such as in pakistan),
> 
> and faiz, not unlike iqbal but in his own way)
> re-worked urdu poetry's
> mythological legacy (which is both metaphysivcal and
> sufi) to engage
> with society through his poetry - faiz being a
> founding? member of the
> progressive writers movement/association, whose
> membership in general
> was revolutionary communist.
> 
> i was trying to sketch here, with my ignorance, as
> helpful as that
> might be, to illustrate how people have worked
> variously through/with
> sufi ideas.
> 
> best
> 
> yasir
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 9/6/07, Kshmendra Kaul :
> 
> 
> >
> > For me there is not much of a contradiction. Both
> were revolutionaries. Both
> > had a "sufi" bent of mind. Both seemed to
> celeberate "khudi".
> >
> > In my opinion the seeming contradiction might
> arise out of a limited
> > understanding of Iqbal. More philosopher than
> "Islamist" (also more
> > Philosopher than Poet). A purist (a Salafi???) who
> primarily stuck to the
> > finest precepts from the "Quran" (somewhat a
> Parvaizi). A "Shikvah" is not
> > the work of an ordinary soul subscribing to the
> "expected".
> >
> > In my opinion, Iqbal's politics (the egging on of
> Jinnah) was more towards
> > "a Nation for Muslims" rather than an "Islamic
> (shariah) Nation". The 1940
> > Lahore resolution and Jinnah's Constituent
> Assembly speech are just 2
> > pointers.
> 
> & Rahul Asthana :
> 
> Faiz was a "dehria" communist,if you know what I
> mean.Iqbal was an Islamist.Being a poet and a
> philosopher is not contrary to being an
> Islamist.So,in
> that sense,there can be no greater contrast.
> Iqbal's philosophy of religious existentialism-
> mard-e-momin, khudi etc was based on Islam.I do not
> see the same celebration of "khudi" in Faiz.
> Also,Iqbal was not sufi either.Iqbal wrote a lot in
> Persian.Poetry in every language has a soul of its
> own.When you write in Persian,you cant but help
> poets
> like Hafez and Rumi whispering in your ear;and the
> mysticism rubs off on you.That can be found in Iqbal
> too.But,Iqbal's philosophy has nothing to do with
> sufism.In fact,my impression is that in his dialog
> Iblees o Jibrael, he is deriding sufis-
> "Main khataktaa hoon dile yazdaan mein kaante ki
> tarah,
> tu faqat, alla hoo alla hoo ,alla hoo."
> This IMO, is Nietzsche style existentialism.
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