Naqshbandiya Foundation for Islamic Education

The Naqshbandiya Foundation for Islamic Education (NFIE) is a non-profit, tax exempt, religious and educational organization dedicated to serve Islam with a special focus on Tasawwuf(Sufism),

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Hazrat Syed Ali Hamdani (RA) in poetry of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Hazrat Syed Ali Hamdani in poetry of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Hazrat Syed Ali Hamdani was a saint of great spiritual eminence. He was born at Hamadan in Iran in 1314 AD. In 1373 along with a number of scholars and other followers the saint came to Kashmir. The ruler of Kashmir Sultan Shahabuddin welcomed him and offered him all facilities. The saint established his Khanqah in Srinagar and organized a campaign for the promotion of Islam. It was through the efforts of the saint and his followers that most of the non-Muslims In Kashmir were converted to Islam. The saint died in 1385.

In “Javid Nama in the course of their celestial journey Rumi and Iqbal meet the spirit of Hazrat Syed Ali Hamdani. Rumi introduces the saint Hazrat Ali Hamdani in the following terms:

“The Syed sublime, noble of nobles,
Ghazali himself learned the lesson of ‘God is He’
And drew meditation and thought from his stock,
Guide he of that emerald land,

Counsellor of prince and dervish and sultan;

A king ocean-munificent, to that vale
He gave science, crafts, education, religion,
That man created a miniature Iran With rare and heart-ravishing arts;
With one glance he unravels a hundred knots.”

As Hazrat Ali Hamdani can unravel a hundred knots with one glance, Rumi advises Iqbal to put his difficulties before the saint and seek his advice. Iqbal asks Hazrat Ali Hamdani:

“How is it that God wants us to do good, and at the same time he created Satan who presents the evil in a beautiful form and tempts us to do evil and disobey God? O saint, tell me, why did God create Satan?”

Hazrat Ali Hamdani replies to the question as follows:

“God has created Satan, so that Man may resist his blandish¬ment, and as a result realise his ‘Self’. If a man falls a victim to the blandishments of Satan he is undone, but he who can wrestle with Satan wins glory. Man is like sword, and Satan is like whetstone. You should strike against Satan with full force, and the harder the stroke the sharper will be your sword. It is thus because of Satan that Man can realise his ‘self’, and rise to perfection.”


Syed Hamdani and Allama Iqbal 

Then Iqbal talks to Hazrat Ali Hamdani about Kashmir and its people. Iqbal says that his soul burns for the people of Kashmir. They are a clever and handsome people. Their dexterity is proverbial. Yet they have lost their selfhood and have become strangers in their own land. Through servitude their aspirations have died, but they were not always like that. At one time they were very valiant, heroic, and ardent in battle.

The mountains of Kashmir are clothed with snow. The chinar trees are red. In the spring time the valley is drenched in colour. Iqbal tells the saint that he happened to visit the beautiful Nishat garden in Srinagar. There he saw a bird perched on a tree which sang that because of the servitude of the people the spring was not worth a penny. Then Iqbal sighs and says that all such servitude is because the British sold the land of Kashmir by the treaty of Amritsar to Gulab Singh for a paltry sum of Rs. fifty lakh. Addressing the wind Iqbal says:

“Zephyr, if you should pass over Geneva Speak a word from me to the League of Nations:
They have sold farmer and cornfield, river and garden,
They have sold a people, and at a price how cheap.”

Shah-i-Hamdan addresses Iqbal as follows:

“My son, I will tell you of a subtle mystery. The body is of clay, and it must perish some time. The soul is an illumination; it is from God, and it will not perish. If you suppress the soul, you die even when you are alive. If your soul is illumined with vision you live even after your death. The people who are in bondage have their souls suppressed. If you want to break these chains, let your soul assert itself.”

The message that the saint gives is ‘Discover your self”. He says:

“Not to discover one’s self is not to exist,
To discover is to bestow the self on the Self.”

Then Iqbal puts another question to the saint. The question posed

“We are poor men, and the ruler demands tribute;
What is the origin of the sanction of throne and crown?”

Shah-i-Hamdan says that the origin of authority Is either the con¬sent of the people or conquest in war. Shah-i-Hamdan praises Iqbal for his stimulating poetry, and gives a message of hope. He says: 

“Your cry is a bell urging the caravans;
Why then do you despair of the dwellers of the vale?
Their hearts are not dead in their breasts;
Their embers are not extinguished in the ice;
Wait till you see, without the sound of the Trumpet;
A nation rising out of the dust of the tomb.”

Shah-i-Hamadan assesses Iqbal and his poetry in the following words;

“Though your lancet has pierced men’s hearts,
None has perceived you as you truly are;
Your melody springs from a poet’s song,
But what you utter transcends poetry.”

Javid Nama English Translation by Arberry: http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/persian/javidnama/translation/index.htm

Source:https://kashmirsufis.wordpress.com/tag/kashmir-sufis/

Javid Nama Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javid_Nama

Excellent Article:http://www.peacewatchkashmir.com/articles/9-durr-hazur-e-amir-e-kabir-mir-syed-ali-hamdani.html

Sufism and the Emergence of Islamic Identity in Kashmir:https://www.hilal.gov.pk/eng-article/sufism-and-the-emergence-of-islamic-identity-in-kashmir/MzcxNQ==.html

                            A M I R - E - K A B I R   S Y E D   A L I   H A M A D A N                            :                                          https://shahhamdan.wixsite.com/aksah/single-                  post/2016/09/27/hazrat-shah-e-hamadan-ra-socio-political-views

                              https ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Sayyid_Ali_Hamadani

    English Translation Javid         Nama: https://www.amazon.com/Other-World-Persian-        English-Translation/dp/150085977X




Saturday, February 27, 2021

The 3 Integrals of a True Scholar - Tahajjud, Ijtehad & Jihad :Sayyid Muhammad Alawi alMaliki (RA), Minhaj ul Quran University, Lahore, Pakistan-1995

 Youtube Link to Lecture in Arabic with English Subtitles 

 https://youtu.be/cvLyBQdEe3c

















Detailed Biography at Imam Ghazali Institute.


Al-Sayyid Muhammad bin ‘Alawi bin Abbas al-Maliki al-Hasani was one of the foremost traditional Islamic scholars of contemporary times, and without doubt, the most highly respected and loved scholar of the holy city of Mecca and the entire Hijaz region (Western Arabia).

The Shaykh is a grandson of the Prophet ﷺ, a leader of the Ahl al-Bayt, the Imam of Hadith in our age, an authority of the four Madhhabs, a spiritual leader of the highest calibre, a caller to Allah par excellence, and unparalleled in his standing in the world of traditional Islamic scholarship.

Visiting him was considered imperative for the Ulama who would visit Mecca.

His Writings & Publications

The Sayyid was a prolific writer and produced close to one hundred works. He has written on a variety of religious, legal, social and historical topics and many of his books are considered masterpieces on the subject and are prescribed textbooks in Islamic institutes around the world.

We mention here some selected works on various subjects: 

HIS WRITINGS IN ‘AQIDAH

  • Mafahim Yajib ‘an Tusahhah (Notions that Must Be Corrected), perhaps the most important contemporary statement of Ahl al-Sunna on the “Salafī” heresy. In this book Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Alawi establishes the proofs and positions of the Imams of Ahl al-Sunna on the topics of taṣawwuf, tawassul, the Prophet’s s intercession, the celebration of his birthday (mawlid), the Ash’ari School, etc. with extensive documentation including the sources claimed as authoritative by the “Salafīs” themselves -Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab.

  • Manhaj al-Salaf fi Fahm al-Nusus  (“The Methodology of the Predecessors in Understanding the Texts: Theory and Practice”), his latest work, a continuation and update of the Mafahim.

  • Al-Tahzir min al-Takfir 

  • Huwa Allah (“{He is Allāh} (112:1)”), a statement of Sunni doctrine in refutation of the aberrations of anthropomorphism

  • Qul Hadhihi Sabili (“{Say: This Is My Way} (12:108)”), a concise manual of Islamic doctrine and morals.

  • Sharh ‘Aqidat al-’Awwam 

HIS WRITINGS IN TAFSIR

  • Zubdat al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur'an 

  • Wa-Hiwa bil Ufuq al-A’la  (“{When He was on the uppermost horizon} (53:7)”), the most comprehensive commentary to date on the Prophet’s ﷺ night journey and ascension, summing up over forty works devoted to the subject. A companion to the Shaykh’s al-Anwar al-Bahiyya, the book contains a detailed commentary of the verses that pertain to the vision of Allah and a full documentation of the authentic relevant narrations.

  • Al-Qawa’id al-Asasiyya fi ‘Ulum al-Qur'an (“Basic Foundations in the Sciences of the Qur’ān”), a useful primer and introduction to Dr. Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr’s ‘Ulum al-Qur’an al-Karim (“The Sciences of the Noble Qur’an”).

  • Hawl Khasa'is al-Qur'an 

HIS WRITINGS IN HADITH

  • Al-Manhal al-Latif fi Usul al-Hadith al-Sharif 

  • Al-Qawa’id al-Asasiyya fi ‘Ilm Mustalah al-Hadith 

  • Fadl al-Muwatta wa-Inayat al-Umma al-Islamiyya bihi 

  • Anwar al-Masalik fi al-Muqaranat bayna Riwayat al-Muwatta lil-Imam Malik 

HIS WRITINGS IN SEERAH

Shaykh GF Haddad’s translation  “The Prophet’s Night Journey & Heavenly Ascent” , republished by IGI in Rajab 1442/2021, is an excerpt from the Sayyid’s  al-Anwar al-Bahiyya w’al-Mi’raj Khayr al-Bariyya

Shaykh GF Haddad’s translation “The Prophet’s Night Journey & Heavenly Ascent”, republished by IGI in Rajab 1442/2021, is an excerpt from the Sayyid’s al-Anwar al-Bahiyya w’al-Mi’raj Khayr al-Bariyya

HIS WRITINGS IN USUL

  • Al-Qawa’id al-Asasiyya fi Usul al-Fiqh (“Basic Foundations in the Principles of the Law”), a useful primer and introduction to Dr. Wahba al-Zuhayli’s two-volume Uṣul al-Fiqh al-Islami

  • Sharh Manzumat al-Waraqat fi Usul al-Fiqh 

  • Mafhum al-Tatawwur wa al-Tajdid fil Shari’ah al-Islamiyya (“What is Meant by Growth and Renewal in Islamic Law”)

HIS WRITINGS IN FIQH

The Sayyid’s work on the legality of the Mawlid has been translated by IGI as  On Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet ﷺ

The Sayyid’s work on the legality of the Mawlid has been translated by IGI as On Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet ﷺ

  • Al-Risalat al-Islamiyya Kamaluha wa-Khuluduha wa-‘Alamiyyatuha (“The Message of Islam: Its Perfection, Immortality, and Universality”).

  • Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk 

  • Al-Ziyarat al-Nabawiyya bayn al-Shari’a wa-al-Bid’iyya 

  • Shifa' al-Fu'ad bi-Ziyarat Khayr al-’Ibad  (“The Healing of Hearts Concerning the Visitation of the Best of Human Beings”) which establishes the proofs and positions of the Imams of Ahl al-Sunna on the subject of travelling to visit the Prophet ﷺ in order to obtain blessings (tabarrukan) and inter-cession (tashaffuʿan)

  • Hawl al-Ihtifal bi-Zikra al-Mawlid al-Nabawi al-Sharif (On Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet ﷺ) a meticulous summation of the proofs adduced by the scholars for the permissibility of celebrating the mawlid.

  • Al-Madh al-Nabawi bayn al-Ghuluww wal-Ijhaf  (“The Panegyric of the Prophet ﷺ Between Extremism and Fairness”), a study of the genre with examples from the Qur’ān, ḥadīth, commentaries, and poetry showing that praising the Prophet ﷺ is part of the perfection of one’s Islam and not, as some enviers have claimed, a contravention of the ḥadīth: “Do not over-extol me (lā tuṭrūnī) the way Christians over-extolled ʿĪsā ibn Maryam e; [i.e. by divinizing him].”

HIS WRITINGS IN TASAWWUF

  • Al-Mukhtar min Kalam al-Akhyar 

  • Abwab al-Faraj (“The Gates of Deliverance”), a descriptive manual of supplications and devotions for various occasions from the Qur’an, the Sunna, and the Imams of Islam together with a description of the manners of supplicants. It contains a valuable prescription for reciting the Fatiḥa frequently.

  • Shawariq al-Anwar min Adiyat al-Sadah al-Akhyar (“The Epitome of the Rising Lights Taken From the Supplications of the Elect Masters”), a manual of devotions taken from the Sunna and the Imams of Islam. It contains, among other precious supplications, the devotion (ḥizb) of Imam al-Nawawi which begins with the words:

“In the name of Allāh, Allāh is greatest! I say upon myself, my Religion, my spouses, my children, my property, my friends, their Religion and their property, a thousandfold “There is no change nor power except with Allāh the Exalted, the Almighty.”

  • Al-Husun al-Ma’niyya (“The Invincible Forts”), a booklet of personal devotions selected from the Sunna and the practice of the Salaf.

  • Mukhtasar Shawariq al-Anwar 

  • Azkar Nabawiyya wa-’Adiyyat Salafiyya 

  • Al-Bayan wal-Ta’rif fi Dhikra al-Mawlid al-Sharif (“The Exposition and Definition of the Celebration of the Noble Birthday”), a concise anthology of texts and poems related to the subject.

HIS WRITINGS ON OTHER SUBJECTS

  • Fi Rihab al-Bayt al-Haram (History of Mecca) 

  • Al-Mustashriqun Bayn al-Insaf wa al-’Asabiyya (“The Orientalists Between Fairness and Prejudice”), a brief survey of the pitfalls of literature on Islam by non-Muslims.

  • Nazrat al-Islam ila al-Riyada (Sports in Islam) 

  • Al-Qudwat al-Hasana fi Manhaj al-Da'wah ila Allah (“The Excellent Examplar in the Method of Calling Others Unto Allah”). 

  • Ma La ‘Aynun Ra'at (Description of Paradise) 

  • Nizam al-Usra fi al-Islam (Islam and Family) 

  • Kashf al-Ghumma (Virtues of helping fellow Muslims) 

  • Al-Da’wat al-Islahiyya (Call for Reform) 

  • Al-Muslimun bayn al-Waqi' wa al-Tajriba (Contemporary Muslim world) 

  • Fi Sabil al-Huda wal-Rashad (Collection of speeches) 

  • Sharaf al-Ummat al-Islamiyya (Superiority of the Muslim Umma) 

  • Usul al-Tarbiyyat al-Nabawiyya (Prophetic methods of education) 

  • Nur al-Nibras fi Asanid al-Jadd al-Sayyid ‘Abbas (Set of Grandfather's Ijazahs) 

  • Al-’Uqud al-Lu'liyya fil Asanid al-’Alawiyya (“The Pearl Necklaces: ‘Alawi’s Transmission Chains”), in which the Shaykh lists the transmission chains he received from his father, Sayyid ‘Alawi ibn ‘Abbas. 

  • Al-Tali’ al-Sa’id al-Muntakhab min al-Musalsalat wal Asanid (“The New Moon of Happiness: A Selection of Similarly-Narrated Ḥadiths and Chains”). 

  • Al-’Iqd al-Farid al-Mukhtasar min al-Athbat wa al-Asanid (Set of Ijazahs) 

This is a selected list of the published works of the Sayyid. There are many other publications that were not mentioned and many works that are still to be published.

We also did not mention the numerous important classical works that the Sayyid has located, researched and published for the first time, with notes and commentary. All together, the Sayyid's contribution in this field has been great.

Many of the Sayyid's works have also been translated into foreign languages. 

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Allama Iqbal's Famous Poem " Masjid e Qurtaba "-Grand Mosque of Cordoba, Spain - English Translation & Commentary + Listen to Ghulam Ali with English Subtitles

Allama Iqbal's Famous Poem " Masjid e Qurtaba "-Grand Mosque of Cordoba, Spain - English Translation & Commentary 


Link to YouTube : Ghulam Ali singing this beautiful Poem with English Subtitles-

https://youtu.be/suSq_P4OqrA








In 1933, Iqbal visited Spain and also went to see the Mosque of Cordoba. It was not an ordinary sightseeing trip by a tourist interested in ancient monuments but a pilgrimage to an outstanding symbol of faith by a faithful Believer and a warm-hearted poet. It was a pilgrimage of love and loyalty by a celebrated Muslim to pay homage to the spiritual legacy of Abdul Rahman el-Dakhil and his companions.

Iqbal was greatly moved by the magnificence and solemnity of the Mosque and the deep emotional responses its awe-inspiring sight evoked in him found expression in the immortal poem called Masjid-i-Qartaba (The Mosque of Cordoba). Iqbal saw it as a cultural landmark of Islam and in its architecture and engravings he saw a moving portrait of the Believer's moral excellence and aesthetic refinement as well his high-mindedness, sincerity, piety and devotion.


The Mosque reminded Iqbal of its builders and their keen appreciation of artistic beauty, and of the noble ideas and appreciation, call and message, they upheld in life and propagated in the world. Its tall, stately minarets revived the memory of the spellbinding Azan that once used to rise from them and which people heard every day at the beginning and the end of the stresses of life. The Azan is a symbol of the unity and solidarity of the Muslim Millet.

The call it gives and the message it conveys may, indeed, be described as the National Anthem of Muslims and it is unique to their community. At one time the soul of the universe trembled and the foundations of the citadels of falsehood shook at the sound of it. It was the Islamic Azan that announced the dawn of a new morning and dispelled the gloom that had enveloped the world in the 6th Century A.D.

Iqbal recalls the Divine message and the celestial guidance the Azans used to carry to the four corners of the world and the depth and intensity of their significance. The more he ponders over it the more is he convinced that the Millet which is endowed with this eternal call and lives according to this everlasting message is, also, imperishable.

The beautiful yet poignant scene, the historical monument, the splendid Mosque (whose pulpit for centuries had remained deprived of sermons, courtyard and arches of genuflexion and minarets of Azan) touched every chord of his heart and reactivised the unhealed wounds. The ocean of his feelings was stirred and waves if faith and awareness, ardor and eagerness and music and melody, mingled with those of pain and disappointment, grief and anguish, began to rise in it. It was in these circumstances that the enthralling poem, Masjid-i-Qurtaba, was conceived, part of which was written in Cordova itself and the rest was completed during his stay in Spain.

The poem is a masterpiece of poetic inspiration and artistic expression. For beauty of diction and richness of emotion it is unsurpassed. In it Iqbal says that the material world is not everlasting. It is transitory, and,


with it, all the wonders of art and architecture, historical buildings and ancient monuments, are heading towards ruin and destruction. But such constructions are an exception that are touched by the messianic hand of a man of God and a devoted Believer and shine with the radiance of his love.

Chain of days and nights-artificer of all events
Chain of days and nights –fountain of life and of death!

Chain of days and nights=thread of two-colored silk
Of which the Being makes the robe of His Attributes!

Chain of days and nights-sigh of eternity’s music
Where He of all possibility sounds the height and depth!

Thee it puts to test and me it puts to test,
Day and night in procession, testers of all this world.

If thou art of less value and it I am of less value,
Find in death our reward and in dissolution our wage.

Of your day and night what other meaning but this-
One long current time, devoid of dawn and sunset?

All those masterpieces of Art, transitory and impermanent;
All in this world is of sand, all in this world is of sand!

Death the beginning and end, death to the visible and hidden;
New be the pattern or old, its final halting-place is death.

Yet in this design of things, something unending endures,
Wrought by some man of God into perfection’s mould;

Some high mortal whose work shines with the light of love,
Love is the essence of life, death to which is forbidden.

Long current of Time, string and swift though it is,
Love itself is a tide, stemming all opposite waves;

In the almanac of Love, apart from the present time,
Other ages exist, ages which have no name.

Love is the breath of Gabriel, Love is the Prophet’s heart,
Love the envoy of God, Love the utterance of God;

Under the ecstasy of Love our moral clay is bright,
Love is an unripe wine, Love is a cup for the noble.

Love is the legist of Harem, Love is the commander of hosts,
Love is the son of travel, countless its habitations;

Love is the plectrum that plucks songs from the chords of life,
Love is the brightness of life, Love is the fire of life.

After this long prologue Iqbal turns to the Mosque and addresses these words to it: “O Mosque of Cordova! For thy existence and thy glory thou art indebted to love, to the tender passion that is immortal. In this way, thou, too, art eternal.

“Philosophy, art and poetry, or any other form of literary or artistic activity, is shallow and insincere if it is not fed with the blood of the heart. It is no more that an empty structure of word and sound, paint and oil, or brick and stone, possessing neither life nor beauty nor freshness. Works of art, of whatever excellence they may be, cannoth endure without the intensity of inner passion, depth of love and profundity of earnestness. When a drop of love’s warm blood falls upon a piece of marble it turns it into a bearing heart and if even a man’s heart is destitute of love it is a slab of stone.

“O magnificent Mosque! In love and eagerness we both are alike. There is a mystical affinity between you and me. Man, in his creation is a handful of dust but his heart is the envy of the ninth heaven. The human heart is also lit up with the luster of Divinity and the joy of Presence. Angels, indeed are famous for unending genuflexion but the warmth and delight of human prostration has not been granted to them.Referring to his Indian and Brahmin origin, Iqbal says, “Look at the fervour and earnestness of this Indian infidel! He was born and brought up in the house of infidelity but his lips and heart are constantly engaged in prayer and invocation, benediction and salutation. On meeting you in this strange land, he has become a picture of intentness and devotion. There obtains a complete uniformity and understanding between your soul and mine!”

Oh shrine of Cordova, thou owes; existence to love.
Deathless in all its being, stranger to Past and Present.

Color or brick and stone, speech or music or song,
Only the heart’s warm blood feeds the craftsman/s design;

One drop of heart’s blood lends marble a heating heart,
Out of the heart’s blood flow out warmth, music and mirth.

Thine the soul-quickening air, mine the soul-quickening verse,
From thee the pervasion of men’s hearts, from me the opening of men’s hearts.

Inferior to the Heaven of Heavens, by no means the human breast is,
Handful of dust though it be, hemmed in the azure sky.

What if prostration be the lot of the heavenly host?
Warmth and depth of prostration they do not ever feel.

I’ a heathen of Ind, behold my fervour and my ardour,
Salat!
 And Durood fill my soul, Salat ad Darood are on my lips!

Fervently sounds my voice, ardently sounds my lute,
Allah Hu
, like a song, thrilling through every vein!

On beholding this marvel of architecture, Iqbal is reminded of the real Muslim, the true Believer, whom only Islam can produce and, with it, the mighty Ummat also emerges on the surface of his mind from which the splendour of the Mosque is.

In Iqbal’s view the Mosque of Cordova, in the totality of its appearance and effectiveness, is a material manifestation of the Momin. In its beauty and elegance, height and width, gracefulness and solidity, fineness and strength it is his exact replica. Its imposing pillars remind Iqbal of the oases of Arabia and in its balconies and latticed windows he sees the gleams of Heavenly effulgence. He regards its towering minarets to be the descending points of Divine mercy and the halting places of the angels. Overcome with the emotion, he cries out: “The Muslim is imperishable, he shall not die, because he is the bearer of the message of Abraham and Moses and of all the Divine Apostles.”


Study of Baal e Jibril with Professor

 Moin Nizami Session 7- Urdu - Excellent Commentary on above Poem: https://youtu.be/Rv1k5envcFU

Iqbal asserts that the Mosque of Cordova is a true symbol of the beliefs, thoughts and aspirations of the Muslim Millet, and just as the Muslim Millet is free from all the narrow and unnatural concepts of race and nationality it, too, represents marvelous synthesis of Arab and Persian cultures and typifies a remarkable supra-national fraternity. The Muslim is above territorial limitations. and his world is boundless. The beauty and warmth of his message is pervading.

The Tigris and the Euphrates of Iraq, the Ganges and the Jumna of Indiam the Danube of Europe and the Nile of Egypt are but a wave in his shore-less sear.

 His achievements are unequalled in history. It was the Muslim Millet that gave the command to the outworn ages to depart and ushered in the modern world. Members of the Islamic Millet are the torch-bearers of compassion and fellow-feeling and true specimens of faith and fraternization.

Thou, in beauty and dignity, man of God’s witness,
He is the beautiful and dignified, thou art beautiful and dignified.

Firm are thy foundations, numberless are thy pillars,
Soaring like ranks of palms over the Syrian desert.

Light of the Valley of Peace gleams on thy walls and roof,
On thy minaret’s height Gabriel stands in glory.

The Muslim shall not perish for by his Azan,
The secret of Moses and Abraham is revealed.

Limitless in his world, boundless his long horizon,
Tigris and Danube and Nile but a wave in his sea.


His times are wondrous, his legends are strange,
To the ages outworn he gave the command to depart.


Saqi
 of men of taste, horseman of the realm of desire,
Pure and unmixed his wine, tempered and glittering his steel.


Warrior armed in the mail of La Ilah,
Under the shadow of swords succored by La Ilah.

The poet, again, says to the Mosque that “you are the interpretation of the Momin’s dreams in the world, the exposition his high-mindedness and the exemplification of his soul in brick and mortar.

“The hand of Momin, in power and dominance, in the dispersal of difficulties and the fulfillment of needs, is the Hand of God and an instrument of Providence. Apparently, he is born of clay but in reality, he has the nature of Light. There is the reflection of Divine Attributes in his being. He is indifferent to the allurements of the world. His desires are few but his aims are high. He is the embodiment of grace and strength, love and sternness. He is gentle of speech but warmth in quest. In peace he is soft like silk but in war he is hard as steel.
“The faith of the Believer is the pivot on which the world turns. His existence is the essence of creation and all the rest an illusion. In him thought and intellect and faith and love find their highest expression.

Strength and felicity in life and beauty and elegance in the world owe their presence to him. He is the end and object of the pilgrimage of love and heart and soul of the universe.”


Behold is thy stones are all the Believer’s secrets,
Fire of passionate days, rapture  of melting nights.


High is his station and great his thoughts are,
Ecstasy, burning desire, self-abasement and pride.


The hand of the Momin is the Hand of Allah-
Dominant, resourceful, creative, ensuring success.


Fashioned of dust and light, slave with the Master’s attribute.
His heart is indifferent to the riches of the worlds.


His earthly hopes are few, his aims are high.
Courtesy in his men, gaining all hearts with his glance;


He is soft of speech but fierce in the hour of pursuit,
In war and in peace, pure in thoughts and in art.


The point of God’s great compass the Believer’s firm faith,
All this universe else-shadow, illusion, deceit.


He is the goal of love, he is the end of Love,
He, in the circle of the firmament, sets all spirits aglow.

Iqbal proceeds to pay a tribute of never-fading charm to the Mosque. “Thou art the Mecca of the seekers of the Art.”, he says, “the place of pilgrimage for the devotees of love and the symbol of the glory of Islam. Thanks to thee, the soul of Cordova is vying for sacredness and elevation with the heavens. If anything can compare with thee it is the heart of the true Believer.” Here Iqbal loses control of his feelings. He looks in the distant past and centuries roll back in his imagination. He begins to live in the Muslim ascendancy in Spain. Combining romanticism with classicism he asks, “Where are the Moorish horsemen, the men of virtue, the embodiments of faith and the champions of truth? Where has their unrelenting caravan stopped? Where have the Arab rulers, the precursors of European Renaissance, gone whose government was another name for social justice and public welfare?”

Iqbal feels that Spain still bears the floral imprint of Arab blood. Oriental charm, hospitality and sincerity can even now be seen among its people. Its air is filled with the scent of Najd and Yemen and the the music of Iraq and Arabia reverberates in the atmosphere.

Shrine of the seekers art! Glory of the manifest Faith!
Thou Andalusia’s soil sacred as Mecca hast made,


If there is underneath the sky beauty equal to thine,
Nowhere shall it be found but in the Muslim’s heart.


Ah those champions of Right, those fearless horsemen of  Arabia,
Bearers of high morality, knights of the truth and faith!


By their rule this strange secret to all was revealed,
Men of pure hearts hold away, not to enslave but to serve.


East and West by their eyes gained instructions,
In the darkness of Europe their minds showed the path.


Even today Andalusia, rich with their blood, is seen,
Gay and friendly of heart, simple and bright of face;

Even today in this land, eyes like the soft gazelle’s,
Dart their glances, giving pleasure to the hearts;

Even today in its breeze fragrance of Yemen endures,
Even today in its song echoes subsist of Hejaz.

In the midst of these sorrowful recollections Iqbal’s imagination is fired with the desire for change. He says that through the land of Andalusia enjoys the high position of the heaven it has not heard the Azan for ages and in spite of the fact that winds of revolution are blowing in the world there is no evidence of a ripple in its stagnant waters. Martin Luther’s movement of Protestant Reformation in Germany not only led to the decline of Papal authority and the extinction of the hegemony of the Church but it also made its impact on language, literature and civilizations and paved the way for the cultural revival of Europe.

The philosophy of Rousseau and Voltaire brought about the Revolution of France and set the stage for the emergence of the industrial era. Conservative Italy, too is showing signs of regeneration. Against his background Iqbal yearns for an Islamic revolution. He believes that the revolutionary spirit of Muslims is also uneasy but one does not know when it is going to assert itself. To Vadi-El-Kabir (Guadalquiver)  he says: “On your bank a stranger is seeing the image of the future in the mirror of the past. Fascinating though the dream is, it is so intolerable to Europe that it cannot listen calmly to my plain-speaking.”

 The destination of nations is forged in strife and revolt. Those who watch their steps carefully and analyze their feelings and keep an eye on their mental process are successful in life and make their mark in history. About art and thought, poetry and literature, Iqbal once again emphasizes that a philosophy which is not written with the blood of the heart is no more than a mental exercise. The vital flame, the breath of life, is missing from it. Likewise, the greatest works of art fade into oblivion if the blood of the artist does not flow into them and music that does not spring from the depths of the soul is transient and superficial. This is Iqbal’s concept of art as well as of life.

Thy land is like the heavens in the sight of the stars –
For ages, alas, thy atmosphere has remained bereft of the Azan.


In what dale and glen, in what stage of the journey,
Love’s undaunted caravan now happens to be?


Germany saw, long ago, Change and Revolution-
Obliterating the old ways, sweeping away every
trace;


Holiness of the Pope fast became an erroneous word,
Thought in its fragile boat launched on its dangerous course;


The eye of France, also, has seen Revolution rage,
That overturned the world, the Westerners had known;

The Roman nation, old and tired with ancient traditions,
With the joy of Rejuvenation discovered again her youth

Now that tempest has seized even the soul of Islam,
A Divine secret it is whose meaning cannot be told by the tongue.


Watch! from the surface of this ocean what portents finally emerge,
What new turn the blue revolving dome takes!

Drowned in the twilight is the cloud in the mountain gorge;
The sun has left behind heaps of the rubies of Badakhshan,


Running water of Guadalquiver! on your bank is a stranger,
Lost in his thoughts, dreams of another age,


Behind the Destiny’s curtain the new world is yet concealed,
But to mine eyes its dawn already stands unveiled.


Were, I to lift the veil from the face of my thoughts,
Europe could not endure the burning heat of my songs.

Death, not life, is the life in which no revolution takes place,
Strife and revolt are the sustenance of nation’s souls.


Keen as a sword that nation is in the hand of Fate,
Which at every moment takes account of its works and deeds.


Works of creation are incomplete without the heart’s warm blood,
Music, an immature frenzy, without the heart’s warm blood.

Link to Full Article with Urdu Text of Poetry: 

http://www.allamaiqbal.com/webcont/406/web_pages/cordova_mosque_1.htm