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iven the general disdain Iqbal reserves for Western ideals throughout his poetry, one might assume that if he wrote a book in response to a European writer, it would be essentially oppositional. However, this is not true of Payam-i-Mashriq, a collection of Persian poetry by Iqbal, published in response to Goethe (1749-1832). It is, rather, a tribute to the great German poet, who admired many aspects of Eastern civilisations and with whom Iqbal shared the ideal of elevating the human spirit beyond the narrow boundaries of nations and states.
First published in 1923 and revised significantly in 1924, Payam-i-Mashriq represents Iqbal’s poetic talent at its peak. As 2024 marked the centenary of the final version of the book, literary scholar Dr Tehseen Firaqi published a deluxe edition, accompanied by a detailed introduction that explores Iqbal’s admiration for Goethe, Goethe’s own reverence for Persian poets such as Hafez and Saadi, and how Payam-i-Mashriq echoes and further enriches the themes of Goethe’s West-östlicher Diwan (translated as West-East Diwan), which the German poet wrote in a tribute to the East.
According to Dr Firaqi, in some places Payam-i-Mashriq appears to surpass even Iqbal’s magnum opus, Javed Nama. Although Payam-i-Mashriq is a collection of Persian verse, Iqbal wrote its preface in Urdu.
The deluxe edition not only includes the original Urdu preface, in which Iqbal discusses Goethe and other prominent German poets’ fascination with Persian poetry, but also features its Persian translation by Dr Muhammad Saleem Akhtar. Care was taken not to retype the text; instead, the original transcription by Iqbal’s favourite calligrapher, Abdul Majeed Parveen Raqam, has been preserved. As a result, the book is also a visual delight, showcasing the elegance of the Nastaleeq script, particularly on the pages containing quatrains, where the calligrapher, with more space to work, used a broader nib to enhance the beauty of the four-line poems.
Iqbal himself added the subtitle Dar Jawab-i-Diwan-i-Sha’ir-i-Almanvi Goethe (In response to German poet Goethe’s Diwan) to clarify his intention of revisiting and expanding upon Goethe’s ideas. In his comprehensive introduction, Dr Firaqi explains how several poems in Payam-i-Mashriq correspond to those in Goethe’s West–East Diwan. He writes that Goethe’s Diwan reflects the German poet’s universal approach to art and beauty, as he did not hesitate to admire the great Persian poets and freely borrowed their imagery and metaphors.
Dr Firaqi notes that Goethe wholeheartedly paid tribute to Islamic traditions in his Diwan, even composing a poem that conveys the universal significance of the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the metaphor of a river that brings fertility and renewal wherever it flows. Iqbal’s poem Joo-i-Aab (Stream of Water) in Payam-i-Mashriq, Dr Firaqi observes, is clearly inspired by this poem by Goethe.
Goethe and his followers possessed only a partial understanding of Persian poetry, unable to grasp the depth of Rumi’s mysticism.
Firaqi also draws parallels between Iqbal’s concept of movement in culture and Goethe’s understanding of human evolution. Payam-i-Mashriq opens with a poem addressed to then Afghan ruler Amanullah Khan, to whom Iqbal dedicated the book. This is followed by a series of quatrains, then nazms (poems), ghazals, and finally another set of nazms that conclude the collection.
Many of the poems in the final section of Payam-i-Mashriq bear the names of prominent Western writers, scientists and philosophers, including Einstein, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Bergson and Byron. The book contains numerous couplets and lines that have since attained the status of proverbs in Persian. Even readers with only a limited understanding of the language may recognise verses such as “Soorat na parastam man, butkhana shikastam man” (“I do not worship forms; I have broken the idol house”) or “Tu shab aafridi, charagh aafridam” (“You created night; I created the lamp”), from this collection.
Near the end of his introduction, Dr Firaqi lists several such lines that have entered common parlance as proverbs. The original preface to the book, written by Iqbal himself, offers readers a fine example of his Urdu prose. It is a lucid and accessible piece in which Iqbal reflects on the influence of Persian poetry on Goethe and other German poets.
He does, however, acknowledge having had limited access to source materials while writing the preface, noting that he relied primarily on his memory and a single book available to him at the time. Interestingly, Iqbal observes that Goethe and his followers possessed only a partial understanding of Persian poetry, unable to grasp the depth of Rumi’s mysticism and interpreting Hafez’s verses solely through their own notions of love.
Writing in the 1920s, Iqbal also conveys his optimism about the emergence of a new world order and a refinement of spiritual ideals in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the World War. He argues that Europe, bound by its old traditions, is too entangled to lead humanity into this new era, and predicts that the United States will assume that role in guiding the world forward.
The poet also explains why he chose to dedicate Payam-i-Mashriq to the Afghan ruler Amanullah Khan. According to Iqbal, the Afghan monarch understood the need for Eastern nations to transcend their territorial boundaries and focus instead on moral and spiritual renewal, so that a new kind of human being might emerge from their midst.
In hindsight, some of Iqbal’s predictions proved prescient, particularly his forecast of America’s rise to global dominance, though it took another world war for that to materialise. His optimism about Afghanistan’s future, however, appears, with the passage of time, to have been misplaced.
Payam-i-Mashriq
(Deluxe Edition 2024)
Publisher: Dr Tehseen Firaqi, Bazm-i-Iqbal, 2024
Price: Rs 3,500
The reviewer may be reached at bilal89ahmedgmail.com