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A Big Lie about Allama Dr. Iqbal
Compiled by: Ayatullah Shaheed Murtadha Mutahhari
Once, a friend called me, “Sir! I am shocked. I have heard something strange. This Dr. Iqbal49 of Pakistan you have held a celebration for has insulted and cursed Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (A.S.) in his book!” I said, “What is this nonsense?” He asked me to take a look at a certain page in a certain book to see for myself. I said, “Have you looked at it yourself?” He said that he had not but a much esteemed gentleman had told him. I was staggered. I was shocked to hear how friends, like Mr Sayyid Ghulam Reza Sa‘idi, who have read the books of Iqbal from the beginning to the end failed to spot such a thing! I said, “Firstly, there was nothing said about a remembrance or a tribute. It was about objective placement. The one we did not pay tribute to was Dr. Iqbal. We placed Dr. Iqbal as an objective for a sequence of Islamic objectives. If you were not present you can see it in the book once it is published.”
I immediately phoned Mr. Sayyid Ghulam Rida Sa‘idi to ask him about this. He was also astonished on hearing this. He said, “No Sir! I have read the book. No such thing is possible.” I said, “But such a big lie cannot be possible.”
An hour or two later when he remembered he came to me and said, “I know what this is about. This is the story: there were two people in India by the names of Ja‘far and Sadiq50. When the British East India Company took over India, the Muslims rose up against them. These two people, however, made peace with the English, stabbing the Islamic movement in the back and destroying it. Dr. Iqbal has reproached them in his book. I assume this is where the mistake was made.” I said, “We shall see.” When I got the book, this was what was in the pages those gentlemen were referring to, Dr. Iqbal says: “Whenever there is destruction in the world, either a Sadiq or Ja‘far is present there.” In the two previous pages, it says, Ja‘far51 from Bengal52, Sadiq53 from Deccan.54
Disgrace to religion, disgrace to the world, and disgrace to the homeland.
He is referring to Ja‘far of Murshidabad in Bengal and Sadiq from Mysore in Deccan. But was Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq (A.S.) from Bengal or from Deccan? We then conducted a historical research. After the English took over India, two great and brave Shi‘ah Muslim commanders by the names of Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah 55 and Tipu Sultan56 (nawab Siraj al-Dawlah was Muslim ruler in Bengal and Tipu Sultan was Muslim ruler based in Mysore, Deccan, Southern India) bravely rose (And Dr. Iqbal greatly praises these two Shi‘ah heroes).
The British East India Company found Ja‘far in Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah’s state and allied with him. He (Ja‘far) was partner with the thieves and a friend of the caravan. In Tipu Sultan’s system, they allied with Sadiq. He (Sadiq) also became the partner of the thieves and the friend of the caravan. They both betrayed their people and the outcome was three hundred years of British colonization by the English.
This led the Shi‘ah to have high regard for Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah and Tipu Sultan, as they were both heroes and Shi‘ahs. They are also respected by the Ahl al-Sunnah Muslims because they were Islamic heroes. Hindus also respect them, as they were also native heroes. But the other two (Sadiq and Ja‘far) are considered as traitors among the Shi‘ah, Sunni and Hindus of India and Pakistan. They are also known for being indecent, hateful and symbols of treachery.
Now that three months have passed since that event, I have rarely been confronted with the question, “Sir! Why has the person, whose poems in praise of Imam al-Husayn (A.S.) you read, cursed Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq(A.S.)?” And the other issue that has become the laughing stock of most non-Islamic circles and is tormenting me is the reflection of this story: the great Pakistani poet Iqbal has implicated the Bengali Ja‘far and the Deccani Sadiq but wherever Muslims go they say Dr. Iqbal has cursed Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq(A.S.)! Take a look at the mind of these Muslims! We feel embarrassed (in these non-Islamic meetings) about the low level of thought among our people!
Notes:
49. Allamah Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), known as Iqbal Lahuri (Iqbal of Lahore) in Iran and Afghanistan. He was an Indian Muslim poet, philosopher and politician, who has poetry in Farsi and Urdu. He is credited with first proposing the idea of an independent state for Indian Muslims, which would inspire the creation of Pakistan in 1947.
50. Mir Ja‘far from Bengal and Mir Sadiq from the Deccan were instrumental in the defeat and the murder of Nawwab Siraj al-Dawlah of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore, respectively, by betraying them for the benefit of the British. Thus, they delivered their country to the shackles of slavery.
51. Mir Ja‘far ‘Ali Khan (1691-1765) was a monarchical ruler (nawwab) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. He succeeded Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah. His rule is widely (though somewhat inaccurately) considered the start of British rule in India.
52. Bengal, known as Bangladesh is a region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent nation of Bangladesh (East Bengal), and the Indian federal republics constitutive state of West Bengal.
53. He was the Muslim prime minister of Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan was defeated by the betrayal of Mir Sadiq and was killed by one of Tipu Sultan’s soldiers, whose name was Ahmad Khan, a short period before Tipu Sultan’s fall.
54. The Deccan Plateau is an elevated area making up the whole of the southern India and extenting over eight states.
55. Apparently his correct name is Mirza Muhammad Siraj al-Dawlah, more popularly known as Siraj al-Dawlah (1733-1757) was the last independent Nawwab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
56. Tippu Sultan, also known as the Tiger of Mysore (1750-1799), ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from the time of his father’s death in 1782 until his own demise in 1799. He was a Muslim Shi‘ah commander.
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