Muhammad Iqbal, Stray Reflections: A Notebook of Allama Iqbal

Notwithstanding the differentiation Gary Morson (2003) makes amongst aphorism, dictum, maxim, hypothesis, witticism, parable, thought, Stray Reflections, a title chosen by the author himself, is probably a synthesis of all. Written as a diary, it began on 27 April 1910 and continued only for a few months. Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), poet-philosopher of India, returned from Europe (with the degree of doctorate) in 1908 to undergo an acute existential unrest, as evident in his letters to Atiya Begum. A year later this unrest flowered into the most known of his poems: “The Complaint and Response to It” (shikva, javab-e-shikva). Given its genre, as well as temporal specificity, Stray Reflections certainly doesn’t constitute Iqbal’s final thoughts. To many readers, some of its entries are already outdated – for instance, his views on women’s education (p. 124). Most, however, invite readers to think and imagine in realms as diverse as art, poetry, philosophy, politics, religion and more. The first entry is: “Art is a sacred lie”. The third one reads: “Human intellect is nature’s attempts at self-criticism”. To the question of whether he believed in the existence of God, Iqbal mused that neither he himself nor the questioner knew what “believe”, “existence” and “God” meant. Iqbal saw Hegel’s philosophy as “an epic poem in prose”. On the continued relevance of metaphysics, he held that “the practical in all its shapes drives me back to the speculative”. In the current climate, the following is probably apt: “Fanaticism is patriotism for religion; patriotism, fanaticism for country”. Moving to poetry, Iqbal remarked: “Matthew Arnold defines poetry as criticism of life. That life is criticism of poetry is equally true”. Let me mention a few more. “The Jewish race has produced only two great men – Christ and Spinoza”; “The French orientalist [Ernest] Renan reveals the essentially religious character of his mind in spite of his References