A beacon in difficult times?

December 22, 2024

The lost conversations of Iqbal and Jinnah

(On right), Jinnah and Iqbal seated together at the Roundtable Conference in London.
(On right), Jinnah and Iqbal seated together at the Roundtable Conference in London.


F

or most of its 77 years, Pakistan has perennially teetered from one crisis to another. Today, as key stakeholders are yet again at loggerheads, the nation seems bereft of ideas to find a way forward. In times like this, it is helpful to retrace the steps to calibrate our direction.

As the Black American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin said: “If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” This would be a good time to look into the minds that charted the course for the creation of Pakistan.

What was their mission? What was their vision?

Jinnah and Iqbal are two sides of a coin, almost. To a Pakistani, the image of these two men remains embedded at the core of the ideology of Pakistan. You cannot walk into any school, government building or army installation without encountering portraits of these two men prominently displayed at the entrance, above anyone else. At my grandfather’s home in Lahore, you would see images of Iqbal and Jinnah before any family pictures.

It is surprising, however, that there is very little information about any direct interaction between Jinnah and Iqbal. It is well known that they communicated, but details about the timing, content and nature of their exchanges remain foggy.

Yet, how did these two men interact? It is clear they met – there are photographs. We know that Iqbal’s famous address at the Allahabad convention in 1930 was heard by Jinnah, who was present. The best evidence we have of their communication are 17 letters – 17 letters written by Iqbal to Jinnah.

These letters were written over a period of just over a year, from May 1936 to November 1937. These letters are short.16 of them were written and signed by Iqbal himself. The last one was written on his behalf by the secretary of the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.

Though they represent one side of a conversation, they present rare evidence of the thinking behind the minds that shaped our history. They reveal the thoughts occupying the minds of prominent Muslim leaders of the time and the social, political, economic and cultural issues plaguing India, as well as their efforts to find solutions.

Sourced from Jinnah’s personal collection, he had no intention of publishing them. However, when convinced of their historical importance, he agreed, and they were first published in April 1943. Jinnah graciously wrote the foreword, in which he acknowledged Iqbal’s role in developing his thoughts that led to the re-organisation of the Muslim League and the eventual creation of Pakistan. Jinnah lamented that his replies to Iqbal were no longer extant – he did not keep copies of his letters, and they were not found in Iqbal’s archives.

It is interesting to note that Jinnah refers to Iqbal as “Sir Mohammad Iqbal,“ whereas Iqbal humbly refers to himself simply as “Mohammad Iqbal“ or “Mohammad Iqbal, Bar-at-Law.

During the course of these letters, it becomes clear that Iqbal was in poor health. By 1937, his eyesight was failing, and it is well known that he suffered from diabetes and other maladies. Jinnah outlived Iqbal by nearly a decade.

The letters focus primarily on the politics of the Punjab (or northwest India), a Muslim-majority region critical for the overall success of the Muslim League, and the League’s struggles to gain prominence against the status quo parties, primarily the Unionist Party led by Sir Sikandar Hayat. While the organisation of the Muslim League in the Punjab remains at the core of Iqbal’s letters, they also veer into fascinating tangents where Iqbal discusses the situation in Palestine, the Islamic economic system and Hindu-Muslim issues.

Iqbal played the role of mediator between the Muslim League and the Unionist Party, which was dominated by wealthy landlord families of the Punjab. He lamented that these families, with their grip on wealth and power, had no connection to the Muslim masses, who felt alienated from the day-to-day politicking of the region. He urged Jinnah to energise these masses and connect with them, emphasising that Muslims were a unique political entity within the subcontinent—a fact he felt was not being acknowledged.

He wanted the Muslim League to focus on Muslim-majority areas, where they could build enough popularity to create a political system friendly to Muslim interests – ideally, a separate Muslim state.

Iqbal’s views were well known. In his famous Allahabad address in 1930, he outlined a vision for Muslims in India. His tone in the letters is not anti-Hindu but pro-Muslim. He argued that Muslims had suffered for more than 200 years under British rule, facing economic and cultural discrimination, and needed a strong voice in the future political system of the subcontinent.

Iqbal realised that this message could only be conveyed by Jinnah, a man of undisputed integrity and popularity. He knew that words coming from Jinnah’s mouth would resonate with the masses.

Iqbal’s breadth of vision and knowledge is evident when he discusses the Islamic economic system, which he believed was consistent with socialism and could address the economic ills of Muslims. He identified social democracy as an anathema to the Brahminism that dominated Hindu politics in India. He also criticised Jawaharlal Nehru’s secular politics, arguing that a secular democratic vision was incongruent with a society deeply rooted in religion. His insights, in many ways, prefigured the eventual division of the subcontinent into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Iqbal wanted Jinnah to leverage the growing concerns of Muslims about Palestine as early as 1937 and align them with the Muslim League’s cause. His letters reveal that the seeds of the region’s turmoil were already sown in the 1930s. These early tensions eventually culminated in the series of calamities we now witness in Palestine.

He described it as “the formation of a Western base at the very gates of the East,“ and as a danger not just to Muslims but to India as well.

In the late 1930s, as British control over India began to weaken, ethnic and communal schisms became increasingly evident. Iqbal frequently referred to Hindu-Muslim riots in his writings, highlighting the simmering tensions in the society. Arguably, he forewarned of the ghastly pogroms of 1947. The British themselves anticipated that the Indian subcontinent would ultimately require some form of partition. Iqbal quotes Lord Lothian, who recognied its inevitability, though the British believed it might take over 25 years to materialise. In reality, the division occurred less than a decade after Iqbal’s letter.

The letters leave me with many questions. How would Iqbal interpret the events in the subcontinent today? Did he fail to fully grasp the entrenched power of the establishment – the feudal and their facilitators – who would never allow a true socialist democratic model to take root in Pakistan? Despite their open resistance to the ideology of the Muslim League, is it any wonder that their progeny still roam the corridors of power—perhaps wealthier and more influential than ever? More importantly, did Jinnah fully buy into his vision, or did he have a version of his own?

More importantly, where did we lose our way?

As I read these letters, I am left wanting more. I regret that Jinnah’s responses are not preserved and that personal interactions between these two men were not recorded.

I recommend everyone to read these letters from Iqbal. They offer a direct insight into the events and thoughts that eventually shaped all our lives. Jinnah and Iqbal were the rare leaders who planted trees knowing they would never sit in their shade. Their vision, efforts and sacrifices altered the destiny of a nation. The nation needs to find its North Star, soon.


The writer is a finance professional based in Dubai. He tweets @travelutionary1

A beacon in difficult times?