Hawzah News Agency- Speaking at the Jamiat al-Urwat al-Wuthqa in Lahore, Naqvi said Iqbal's intellectual legacy rests on self-belief, resistance and standing firm against tyrants, and that these concepts must pass from poetry and theoretical debate into the awareness and practical behavior of society.
Referring to Iqbal's intellectual system, he said that in Iqbal's thought, religion possesses a coherent and comprehensive framework whose interconnected components are monotheism, the system of prophethood and imamate. In this system, the "self" and the spirit of resistance and steadfastness hold a central place and are the main pillars of this intellectual structure.
Citing the historical experience of the Indian subcontinent, Naqvi said Iqbal, by rereading the region's history, showed how a small minority from a land thousands of kilometers away was able to rule over a large majority, seize their land, sovereignty, authority and educational system, and drag a people into the chains of colonialism and domination. This situation arose when society abandoned the spirit of defense, resistance and steadfastness and submitted to foreign domination, he said.
Raising a question about the current state of the Islamic world, the Pakistani scholar asked: Today the same question faces the entire Islamic ummah—out of the world's eight billion people, how many stand against oppression, aggression and domination? Despite the unity of religion, the Quran and Islamic teachings, why is the collective behavior and performance of the Islamic ummah devoid of the spirit of resistance and confrontation with oppression?
Referring to the role of Iqbal's thought in awakening the younger generation, Naqvi noted that Iqbal acquainted the youth of the non-Arab world with the secret of resistance and steadfastness, and they, by accepting this message, took steps toward realizing it. Yet the question remains why in Pakistan—the land of Iqbal—awareness of the culture of resistance and its practical manifestation in the social and political arena is not what it should be.
In conclusion, Naqvi stressed that today more than ever there is a need for Allama Iqbal's message and thought to transcend the confines of poetry, literature and theoretical debate and become part of collective awareness, public culture and the practical behavior of society—because the realization of Iqbal's message depends on self-belief, awakening and practical steadfastness against oppression and domination.
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