INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In this introduction Iqbal has tried to emphasise four points:

(1)       He is greatly indebted to Rumi from whom he has learnt

(a)       that societies cannot be made active except through what Iqbal calls jadhb (sukr), junun (madness), which stand for Love or the vital way of appropriating the universe (see Reconstruction, p 109), and

(b)       that a true believer should be characterised by active pursuit of ideals, but his dynamism must be intimately related to the fundamental spiritual background of our life.

(2)       Unfortunately, the present age has forgotten that spirit is primary and more important than matter. Mere reason cannot be of great use here. One should illumine one's eye "with the lamp of the heart".

(3)       The world is in need of learning once again the true value and significance of religion and politics and their intimate relation in the life of human societies.

(4)       The ideal of life for an individual is to live soulfully, i.e. in ever-fruitful contact with God, and then to diffuse the fruit of this contact among the people around him so as to bring about a better social order.