IN Rome, a former pontiff gave a Muslim poet and philosopher some words of wisdom. He said: “Every nation prepares the recipe for its own destruction. You, the Muslims, were destroyed by your worship of fatalism. We, the Romans, were destroyed by our worship of rationalism.” This was said by the Roman pontiff to Muhammad Iqbal, who presented it at the end of his book entitled The Gift of Hijaz (Armaghan-e-Hijaz), which was published shortly after his death in 1938, under the heading "To Humanity (Compulsion and Option)" in the following words: In the city of Rome a pontiff told me, A word of wisdom I like to tell thee. Every nation makes her death's own source, To thee the fate, to us the planning course. Upon receiving an invitation to visit Jordan, which was once part of the Roman Empire, I thought of Iqbal who had never visited Jordan. However, the flight of his imagination reached far and wide, and he discussed the Roman Empire in many places. I came across this meeting of Iqbal with the Roman, while studying the Kuliyat-e- Iqbal (Iqbal's complete works). In this address, Iqbal has advised nations to adopt the middle path from the two extremes of fate and prudence. It was Allah's prudence to send me to Jordan and knock with Iqbal's message at the loving hearts of the Jordanians. Accordingly, the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Jordan, arranged an international Iqbal conference. The theme of the conference was "The Arab World and the Unity of the Ummah". Abul Razzaq Sabir of the University of Jordan sent me the invitation to present a paper in the conference. Moreover, the active and dynamic director of the Iqbal Academy of Pakistan Muhammad Suhail Umar also became his proponent. The joint effort, concern and invitation of these two gentlemen persuaded me to fly from Cairo to Amman. Landing at the small but beautiful Queen Alia International Airport of Amman, where there were not many formal procedures, gave me a feeling of freshness. After a long drive from the airport into the University of Jordan, we came out of the university and in front of us, suddenly, was the hotel in which the Jordan University had arranged our stay in collaboration with the Iqbal Academy Pakistan. Renowned scholar and poet from Pakistan Khurshid Rizvi and the Iqbal Academy deputy director Tahir Hamid Tanoli were already there, and waiting for me. The presence of these intimate faces in the land of Jordan gave me unusual delight. At night, I put the final touches to the paper, which I had to present in the morning, and viewed the PowerPoint presentation. I slept very late, but managed to be ready along with my two companions and all three of us reached the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Jordan University together with our host. Jordan University, which was established in 1962, is the largest and most prestigious university of modern Jordan. In addition to their teaching duties, its 1086 academic staff are associated with newspapers, radio and television. Most of them are poets, short-story writers, novelists and critics. As well as serving their own country, their services are spread to other countries as well. The 18 faculties of the university offer 3.500 different courses, which include 30 doctoral programmes, eighty-one Master's degree programmes and 16 higher specialisation programmes. Thirty-eight thousand students are studying in the graduate and the undergraduate programmes. When we reached the Department of Asian languages in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, the first feeling of familiarity came from the bookstall displaying books of the Iqbal Academy, Pakistan. It felt good to see the known books, the names of familiar authors and propagation of Iqbal's name and message. I met the Pakistani Ambassador in Jordan, university professors and some people from the Pakistani community. Fawaz Abdul-Haq presided over the second session, which started at 10:30am. A representative of the Iqbal Academy Khurshid Rizvi, whose Arabic and style was appreciated by all, presented the first paper. Sa'd Abdia, of the Department of Political Science, Jordan University, and Rayad Najam, the former Chairman of the Pak-Jordan Friendship Association, and Ahmed a -Awaisha, Director of The Islamic Cultural Centre, also presented their research papers on Iqbal's thought. This session ended with a speech by Fawaz Abdul-Haq. A significant event occurred in this session when the discipline of the meeting became slightly disturbed due to the commotion caused by the arrival and exit of some students. The president of the session stopped the proceedings and drew the attention of the participants to the fact that the conference had been held with reference to Pakistan and its great poet Iqbal. He asked the participants not to forget the respect and reverence, which the name of Pakistan requires from them. At this, the meeting became and remained completely serene, with no noise or commotion from any side. During the session, I had an opportunity to go outside and look at the university. I saw the library, the administrative block, the main gate, the clock tower, the decorative structures, fountains and most of all the harbingers of a happy and smiling life, the fresh and energetic students. I met the students and asked them about Pakistan and Iqbal. Most of them were absorbed in their own activities. When they knew that I was from Pakistan, they greeted me very warmly. They had good feelings about Pakistan but did not know much about it. Those who knew of Iqbal were few. They would ask me, Iqbal who? I introduced Iqbal to them as a poet who used to call himself the ‘poet of the Arabs '. I drew their attention to the huge banners bearing announcements regarding the conference. Then they would say to one another, let us see what there is in the conference. The first formal session of the conference was followed by a break for lunch, which had been arranged in the university's own spacious and well-appointed restaurant. It was catering for a number of different functions at the same time. One of the faculties was having a farewell party. Music was being played. The participants of differen functions were absorbed in their respective activities. The lunch table was huge enough to accommodate all the guests. Traditional Jordanian dishes poured in at regular intervals. I had interesting exchanges of views with many Jordanians. The deep association and affiliation of the Jordanians with Pakistan was revealed during these conversations, as they possess immense feelings of love for Pakistan. Agroup-photo of the guests was also taken afterwards. The third and final session started at 1:00pm, and was held in English. My paper had been scheduled for this session; its title was "Muhammad Iqbal's passion for the Arab world". Due to the paucity of time, only selected parts of the paper could be presented. Different extracts and verses were explained with the help of the PowerPoint presentation. The paper was listened to with great interest. It presented the gradual development of Iqbal's thought and poetry with relation to the Arab world and the Arabs. Attention was also drawn to the fact that according to Iqbal the religious conscious of the Arabs gave birth to Islam, which unified the various of Asia with remarkable success. Iqbal also believed that the future of Islam is associated with the future of the Arabs. His message is actually meant for the Arabs. Although his heart is fascinated by no -Arab literature, his tone has always been purely Arabic. He lamented the fact that while the East and the West acquired liberty, the Muslims were still comfortable with being enslaved by strangers with their resources and talents being utilised for the construction of others' palaces. In his view, the knowledge and art, which belonged to the Muslims, became very stylish in the hands of the Europeans, but may be brought back to its homeland to provide modesty. In this situation, he compares the plight of the Muslims with that of the daughter of the Chief of the Bani Tay tribe who was brought before the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) after being captured in a battle. Her head was bent with shame. Although the Prophet was the conqueror, he presented his own wrap to the girl for covering her head. Iqbal pleads to Allah that our condition is worse than that of the daughter of the chief of Bani Tay. And, that we are bareheaded before the nations of the world. This was the message of my paper. The daughter of the chieftain of Tai was taken prisoner in battle And brought into that exalted presence; Her feet in chains, unveiled, And her neck bowed with shame. When the Prophet saw that the poor girl had no veil, He covered her face with his own mantle. We are more naked than that lady of Tai, We are unveiled before the nations of the world. (Showing that the self is strengthened by love. Translated by R.A. Nicholson) After this one-day conference, we visited a whole range of historical, religious and spiritual places of Jordan, such as Petra, Mount Nebo, the Dead Sea, war Mauta battlefield, tomb of the Prophet Shoaib (AS) in the valley of Shoaib. We also visited Amman's amphitheatre, fort, museum and other Roman remains, cave of the suret el- Kahf people and graves of companions of the Prophet, Abdul-Rahman b. Auf, Abdullah b. Rawaha, Jafar Tayyar, Zaid b. Harisa (RA). However, details of these visits will be presented to the readers on some other occasion. Amir is a regular contributor to The Egyptian Gazette and its weekly edition the Egyptian Mail. He is an author of 28 books included three anthologies of his poetry and has a PhD in Oriental literature. Presently he is working as scholar and visiting professor, Chair in Urdu & Pakistan Studies at Al-Azhar University, Cairo. [email protected]
