Iqbal’s Views on an Ideal Society for the Growth of an Individual

By, Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak and Hayatullah Laluddin

Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) who is famously called the Poet of the East (Shair-e-Mashriq) was a multi-dimensional personality. Somewhat like the polymath scholars of the Golden Era of the Muslims (750-1258), Iqbal seems to be a versatile scholar who had a mastery over many varied disciplines of knowledge. He was a philosopher, barrister, Sufi scholar, statesman, poet, sociologist, educationist, religious reformer and so forth.

Appeared on the world stage in the era after the fall of the Moghul Empire in 1858, as a young Muslim scholar, Iqbal, studied the problems of the people living in the East and West. After conducting an in-depth analysis, through his philosophical essays known as, ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ and with the use of poetry, Iqbal the great poet-philosopher prescribed the remedy to rectify the situations he had observed in the East and the West. Like a physician, with his discerning mind, particularly for the Muslim Ummah, he suggested solutions for it to attain its freedom from the European colonial powers. His brilliance in analyzing and suggesting solutions won him the title Hakeemul Ummat (the Sage/Physician of the Ummah). Philosophy and poetry are the two vehicles he used as a means to admonish the masses in the West and East.  

His Philosophy

Everything Iqbal said to awaken the spirit in the masses, particularly the Muslim Ummah, was based on the ego philosophy which he had developed. His Ego philosophy mainly had the gist of the moral teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. In addition to that, Iqbal eclectically merged ideas of Muslim mystics and a good part of what comes from Western civilization. Any avid reader of Iqbal’s ideas, without fail, will sense that without any reservation Iqbal used the dynamic ideas from Western thinkers and philosophers. For Iqbal, Western dynamism in science, education and technology is the lost heritage of the Muslims of the past. Iqbal’s openness in borrowing ideas from others runs parallel to the emphasis mentioned in the following Hadith of the Prophet (SAW):

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer. Wherever he finds it, he is most worthy of it” (Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2687).

Many times, Iqbal defended his position of coming up with the elective approach by saying that it has been there in the history of mankind that one civilization learns from the other. Normally, the civilization that comes later will learn from the earlier civilization.

To Iqbal, civilization is a human invention as such it is not perfect like religion that comes from God. As a human product, civilization is bound to rise and fall. In the quote below, Iqbal mentions that Islamic and Western civilizations have benefitted from one another:

There was a time when European thought received inspiration from the world of Islam. The most remarkable phenomenon of modern history, however, is the enormous rapidity with which the world of Islam is spiritually moving towards the West. There is nothing wrong in this movement, for European culture, on its intellectual side, is only a further development of some of the most important phases of the culture of Islam. Our only fear is that the dazzling exterior of European culture may arrest our movement and we may fail to reach the true inwardness of that culture (Iqbal, 1996: 6).

An Ideal Society for the Growth of an Individual

Iqbal paid equal importance to the development of society like the individual. The issue of the individual and the society shows up in many parts of his writings. In studying his ego philosophy, one would discover that though he emphasized a great deal on the Self, he nevertheless, did mention the important fact that the human ego cannot fully develop in isolation without interacting with other egos of the society. Due to this reason as explained by Iqbal through his philosophy, the individual member of a society needs to mingle and interact with other members of the society. In other words, an individual ego blooms and develops to maturity through cooperation and collaboration with other egos of the society.

Iqbal believed that the society in which an individual lives is very important because the society is the place where the ego draws its spiritual strength. For this reason, the individual ego has to participate actively in all social activities organized by the society. In relating to the life of an individual, Iqbal’s ideas on the ego and its relation with the society reflect the fact that an individual becomes weak, powerless and aimless without his association with the society. It is the active participation of an individual in society that gives him a sense of belonging and identity. It is this relationship with society that gives him the vitality to strive for a higher purpose in life. His feelings and aspirations to live within values set by society can enrich the ego of an individual. Iqbal in stressing the importance of the relationship of the ego with society wrote the following:

The Individual exists in relation to the community.

Alone, he is nothing!

The wave exists in the river,

Outside the river it is nothing! (Iqbal in Saiyidain, 1977: 56).

When a word is taken out of its verse,

It causes the sense to be lost.

The green leaf that falls from the branch

Loses all hopes of enjoying the spring.

He, who does not drink from the fountain of society,

Will find that the fire of his melodies dies out in him (Iqbal in Ali, 1988:240).

Again in another place in his poetry, Iqbal returned to the same theme of an individual’s need for society to develop his ego, and it also acts as a platform for the ego to display its hidden potential. Iqbal has also stated that by severing the relationship with society, an individual may not realize his strength and goals in life. Below here is an elongated poem by Iqbal on the relationship between an individual and his society: 

Relation with society is a blessing for the individual because

His potentialities attain perfection through it….

An individual and society are mirrors to each other. It is like the

Relationship of emeralds and thread, the stars and the galaxy…

An individual is respectable because of society. A society possesses

Discipline and decorum on account of individuals…

In his heart the taste for self-expression is planted by society and

The survey of his deeds is possible in society only…

An individual learns to speak in the language of society and follows

The footprints of his forebears…

A lonely person remains ignorant of goals (and achievements).

His strength tends towards dispersal…

Self learns to make sacrifice in a society, this can

Be likened to a rose-petal spreading into a garden (Iqbal in Munawwar, 1985: 114-115).

Besides explaining the importance of a society for the upliftment of the ego, Iqbal also explained the importance of an individual for the existence of a society. The mutual relationship between the individual and the society for strengthening one another has been clearly explained by Iqbal when he said:

The Individual gains significance through the community,

The Community achieves its organization through individuals!

When the individual loses himself in the society,

The drop, striving for expansion, becomes the ocean!

The community inspires him with the desire for self-expression

And sits in exacting judgment on his work!

He speaks the language of his people

And treads the path of his forefathers!

If he does not drink at the Zamzam of the community

The flames of music turn to ashes in his lute!

By himself, the Individual grows indifferent to his purposes,

His powers are inclined to become dormant!

The society invests him with self-discipline,

Making his movements rhythmic like the breeze (Iqbal in Saiyidain, 1977:57)

Iqbal’s idea that states that an individual must have full engagement with society to live a meaningful life as a member of society is very much in line with the Qur’anic teachings. In Islam, an individual who wants to gain honour in this world and the hereafter has to bind a good relationship with Allah and the rest of the creations, especially with his fellow human beings. The following verse is an example from the Qur’an that calls man to have a good relationship with others:

“Overshadowed by ignominy (in every way) wherever they may be, unless they make a covenant with Allah or with man…” (Al-‘Imrān: 112).

Besides stressing the importance of the relationship between the individual and society, Iqbal went on further in his philosophy to expound on the nature of society. According to him, for the human ego to develop healthily, an individual should live or be placed in a very conducive social environment suitable for the growth of the ego. He believed that the nature of society has a great impact on the growth of the ego. Under the influence of a good and healthy society, the human ego develops in a more enriching manner. To Iqbal, the ideal society for the development of the human ego is God-consciousness, which abides by all religious and moral values. On the contrary, when society’s philosophy becomes one that is detached from religious and moral values, it no longer becomes ideal for the development of the ego. The eight criteria of an ideal society given by Iqbal, which he thinks, will be conducive to the growth of the ego are listed below:

a) It must be based on spiritual considerations like monotheism.

b) It must centre around inspired leadership or prophethood.

c) It must possess a code for its guidance.

d) It needs a centre (a common centre for the Muslims is the Ka’bah).

e) It must have a clear goal towards which the whole society should strive.

f) It must gain supremacy over the forces of nature.

g) The communal or collective ego must be developed in the same way as the individual ego is developed.

h) It must safeguard maternity (Vahid, 195_: 34).

Through his Ego Philosophy, Iqbal emphasized that Muslims should not only give preference to the development of the human Self but also the society. Reciprocally the individual and the society need one another for their existence. The individual or the society cannot flourish without the other. Our efforts will be in vain if we only concentrate on one and leave out the other. The scenario will be worse and disastrous if we fail to develop the two. The individual will not have an identity and a definite goal in life.***     

(Dr. Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak is an academic in the Department of Fundamental & Inter-Disciplinary Studies, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences and Dr. Hayatullah Laluddin is an academic in the Department of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, at the International Islamic University Malaysia.)