The spectacle of a revival movement
starting from the tomb of Tamerlane in Chapter
90 in A Novel of Reality is based on Iqbal’s
poem ‘The Tartar’s Dream’ in Gabriel’s
Wing (1935). The poem addresses the developments
in Central Asia, especially two.
The first was “Jadidism”,
the legacy of such nineteenth century reformers as Mufti
Alam Jan (mentioned in Iqbal’s essay ‘Islam
and Ahmedism’ in 1936). It was a movement for modernizing
the religious education in Central Asia. After the occupation
of the region by the USSR, the movement was brutally crushed
and its leading spokesperson, the poet Abdurrauf Fitrat
(1886-1938) was executed.
In the meanwhile, a seventeen-year
old Muslim general Ma Ching-ying (1910-c.1936) put up
a heroic defense of Xinxiang (the Chinese Turkestan) against
the Russian invaders. Apparently, this struggle of the
Chinese Muslims against the Russian invaders was the direct
inspiration of Iqbal’s poem. His detailed and balanced
analysis of the situation, published as a press statement
on May 16, 1933, included the following observations with
reference to Ma:
…his career which, according
to Mr. Petro [sic. Peter Fleming?], may well form the
subject of a modern Odyssey shows that the home of Changez,
Taimur and Babar has not ceased to produce military
geniuses of the highest order.
I do not think that the cause of
this rebellion is religious fanaticism, though in a
movement like this all sorts of human sentiments are
liable to be exploited by leaders. The causes, I believe,
are mainly economic.
The world is also thinking today
in terms of race – an attitude of mind which I
consider the greatest blot on modern civilization. I
apprehend that the birth of a race-problem in Asia will
lead to most disastrous results. The main endeavor of
Islam as a religion has been to solve this problem and
if modern Asia wishes to avoid the fate of Europe there
is no other remedy hut to assimilate the ideals of Islam
and to think not in terms of race but in terms of mankind.
Special
thanks to Iqbal Academy Pakistan
