The International Symposium On "Democracy And The Eastern Scholarship"
24 May 2013
By Saeed Qureshi
The international symposium held on May 18 in Garland,
Texas, under the auspices of South Asia Democracy
Watch (SADEW) was a brain storming event and provided
enormous intellectual food to the audience that had
come to attend it in sizeable number.
The symposium was split into three sessions. The first
part was dedicated to pure debate and dialogue on the
topic of the evening. The second was for the dinner
that was delicious and sumptuous. The third part was
allocated to music. The famous Gazal (ode) singer
Ustad Salamat Ali Khan thrilled the guests with his
inimitable skill and profound mastery at singing this
genre of oriental music.
The organizers had planned it meticulously and in very
orderly manner. I am highly grateful to our dear
mentor and friend Syed Fayyaz for inviting me to this
august function and benefit in a huge way from the
output of the invaluable debate and discussion.
The main topic of that unique event was, "the
Democracy and the Eastern scholarship: Allama Iqbal".
The other two topics or issues to be deliberated and
discussed were first: "Democracy in South Asia". The
second was subtitled under Panel discussion: "Allama
Iqbal and the cotemporary world".
I had certainly come to grips with the expression
"democracy" but about the second part "eastern
scholarship" was rather vague for me to understand.
With the colon in between this phrase and Allama Iqbal
meant that perhaps the author of the pamphlet wanted
to convey that Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a proponent
of democracy and that democracy was part of eastern
scholarship. Or vice verse.
It concisely spelt out that Allama Iqbal was the
embodiment or a product of the democracy and eastern
scholarship. But the fact is that in his poetry he
seldom took a chartable view of democracy.
Unfortunately I missed this part of the discussion
that must have been animated and soul stirring. I was
a late comer for unavoidable reason.
The second title of the debate participated by eminent
scholars and intellectuals was captioned as "Allama
Iqbal and the contemporary world". I was trying to
figure out as a student of sub-continental history of
the post 1857 war of independence till the creation of
two dominion states of Pakistan and India in 1947 with
a question mark which could the contemporary history.
When we correlate Allama Iqbal with the contemporary
world then it must be the era until 1938 when that
great poet of the East and an outstanding scholar
departed from this transitory abode of the world. If
the cotemporary world means our time period in which
we are living then it would be out of place to relate
it to Dr. Iqbal as he was not understandably a
contemporary of the ongoing times.
The rectangular hall of the Holiday Inn in Garland TX
was filled to its capacity. But by the time the music
session started it was almost depleted by a half. The
reason is obvious that those who had come for purely
the symposium on democracy must have thought it
expedient to depart due to paucity of time left at
their disposal.
I must admire the scholastic profundity and acute
insight that many speakers had demonstrated in their
speeches or the presentations. However, I was
immensely carried away by a candid and academically
lecture delivered by Iranian ambassador Dr. Mohammad
Mahllati from Oberlin College Ohio. His introduction
was only one liner given in the leaflet that was
provided to the guests. But I would be eager to know
if he was a former ambassador or the incumbent one and
which country he has been serving.
Also one would be curious to find out, was he teaching
at Oberlin College Ohio or was a student there. In
such brochures the detailed profile is always helpful
for the audience to be abreast of the background of
the speaker. It is also helpful for a novice
journalist like me to write a report or note for
media. Although a curtain raiser was given by our
friend Raj Muzaffar in his brief introductory address.
But to retain the verbal enunciation in the memory is
some time difficult.
It was an electrifying address that succinctly
established the intimate and abiding spiritual, poetic
and intellectual link between Allama Iqbal and Iran.
He informed the audience that Allama Iqbal (in Iran
fondly called as Iqbal-e-Lahori) is as popular and
venerated figure as the celebrated Iranian classical
poets.
He also narrated his visit to Lahore and his presence
at the Allama's tomb in front the Grand mosque (Badshahi
mosque). He recited the Persian couplet written on the
grave of the sleeping laureate of both Urdu and
Persian poetry.
He revealed by way of retracing the history of
intellectual revolution and surge in Iran that Ali
Shariati, one of the leading scholars in Islamic
theology was greatly influenced by the philosophy and
vision of Allama Iqbal.
Dr. Nyla Ali Khan was another distinguished speaker in
this seminar of great significance. She was the
keynote speaker. She has the honor of being the
granddaughter of the legendary Kashmiri leader Sheikh
Muhammad Abdullah (also called Lion of Kashmir)
She was extremely vocal on the burning question of
liberation of the enslaved and colonized people around
the world. She was distressed to point out the inhuman
conditions under which her fellow Kashmiris were
living. She is the author of several books including
"Between India and Pakistan".
She talked at length about the Allma Iqbal's ancestry
from Kashmir by espousing the deep pain of that great
poet for the people of Kashmir who during his times
were under the tutelage of Dogra rule. They have been
suffering for ages and she hoped that one day the
trails of the Kashmiris would come to an end.
She voluminously quoted the verses of Allama Iqbal in
which he described the pitiable conditions of the
Kashmir people. She vigorously established that Allama
was against the sectarian discords and wanted a
unified creed and faith among the Muslims. She
maintained that the same time he was an ambassador of
peace between Hindus and Muslims.
The symposium ended with a note of thanks by the
organizers.
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