M. Irfan Iqbal throughout history, prophets, poets and philosophers have appeared to remind human beings of their true nature: a nature that consists of a temporal as well as a celestial element. They attempted to revive in human beings the Divine Spark which is an integral part of their constitution. Speaking of this Divine Spark, the Quran notes that when Allah (SWT) created the first human being, He breathed His own spirit into this new creation (Al-Hijr 15:29 and Al-Sajdah 32:9). Consequently, human nature is not "human", it is a "humanity" that has a divine element within it. But after being created "in the best conformation" (Al-Teen 95:4), the human being was reduced "to the lowest of the low" (Al-Teen 95:5). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The question that now arises is whether the human individual can again rise to the original noble heights in which he was created. In the 20th century, no Muslim thinker explored this question more insightfully than the great poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938). Iqbal formulated his philosophy of khudi to express his ideas on this topic. The following quatrain illustrates the motive behind his spiritual and intellectual endeavors as well as the essential core of his philosophy: Why should I ask the wise what is my beginning? What really worries me is my ultimate fate. T Iqbal's Philosophy of Khudi 49 Raise your khudi to such heights that before every decree, God Himself asks you: ''Tell me, what is your desire?'' Iqbal's philosophy essentially revolves around the question of progression of 'human being, or ascent of the ''self'' or ''ego'' --- the Iqbalian khudi --- in the direction of attaining great heights --- the heights at which Almighty Allah (SWT) himself begins to take the desires, hopes, and aspirations of the human being before formulating His decree. Iqbal argues that the khudi is the root of all existence, an entity that may seem perishable but can achieve immortality. The human ego or “I” has the potential to achieve permanence as an element in the constitution of the universe provided it adopts a certain way of life. The ego can evolve, progress and succeed as well as degenerate, atrophy and fail. The Quran expounds these two possibilities as follows: “He who causes this (self) to grow in purity has indeed achieved success; and he who is negligent towards this (self) has indeed completely failed.'' (Al-Shams 91:9,10). The human ego has the ability to grow by absorbing the elements of the universe, of which it appears to be an insignificant part, as well as the ability to incorporate the attributes of Allah (SWT). Muslim Sufis advised: Create within yourselves the attributes of Allah. If the human ego were able to do this, it would become worthy of being God's vicegerent on earth. Iqbal argues that the human ego has a central place in the universe, while being, at the same time, intimately linked to the Ultimate Ego, or God Himself. Iqbal notes that through the entire gamut of being runs the gradually rising note of the ego until it reaches perfection in man. This is why the Quran declares that the Ultimate Ego is closer to man than the vein in his neck. To reach these noble heights of perfection, the ego must pass through three stages which Iqbal describes in Asrar-e-Khudi. These three stages can be seen as the different spiritual phases through which the ego must pass on its journey of spiritual ascension: Ita'at, or obedience to Divine Law; Dabt-e-Nafs, or self-control, which is the highest form of self-consciousness or egotism; Niyabat-e-Ilahi, or vicegerency of God. Although these three stages in the spiritual progression of the human egosuperficially resemble Nietzsche's three stages of metamorphosis of the spirit, they are not the same thing. In fact, Iqbal himself deemed it ''necessary to warn the reader of Asrar-i-Khudi that Nietzsche does not believe at all in the spiritual fact that I have described as khudi...''. The fact that Nietzsche does not even believe in accepting the reality of the human ego is itself the most pressing proof that the three stages in the development of the Iqbalian khudi are not identical to the three stages in the development of the Nietzschean spirit. Nietzsche argues that the human "I" is a fiction, and Iqbal accepts the argument that this is indeed true if the matter is viewed from a purely intellectual point of view. This position of Nietzsche echoes Kant's argument in the Critique of Pure Reason that the notions of God, immortality, and freedom cannot be demonstrated on intellectual grounds, however useful such notions may be for practical purposes. But Iqbal goes on to note that the existence of the "I" cannot be rejected just because it cannot be proven on intellectual grounds, since the human ego is not a purely intellectual entity: its existence is also rooted in inner experiences. Bradley ( 1846-1924) also noted that when one overcomes the limits of purely intellectual thought and views the matter from the perspective of "inner experience", the "I" is no longer a fiction but an indubitable fact. Iqbal notes that Leibnitz, in stating in Iqbal's Philosophy of Khudi 51 that the “I” is an ultimate fact, was closer to the truth than either Kant or Nietzsche. But Leibnitz regarded the human ego as something closed or windowless. Iqbal, however, notes that this statement is contradicted by our experience that the “I” can grow and evolve through the educational process. In light of this, the most pressing question for Iqbal is not whether the human ego is a reality or not – it certainly is – but whether this weak, created and dependent ego or “I” can survive the shock of death and become so a permanent element in the constitution of the universe. As Iqbal argues in Asrar-e-Khudi, the human ego can achieve immortality if it adopts a certain way of life through which it can come into contact with the Ultimate Source of existence, the Ultimate Ego. Since achieving permanence depends on perfecting the self and bringing it into accord with Divine Will, Iqbal appropriately urges one to “know” one's inner self. ''Know thyself'' is an exhortation already made numerous times by many others; the problem is not in the exhortation itself but in its approach. According to Iqbal, all typically philosophical problems have the ultimate solution in the self, but, unfortunately, it is precisely this self that is still ignored. The reason behind ignorance of the self is the fact that the self is thought of as a material entity. But the human being is not just a material being, he also has an immaterial component. Iqbal says that “the unit called man is body when we consider it as an agent with respect to what we call the external world; it is mind or soul when you consider it as acting with respect to the ultimate purpose and ideal of that context.'' In other words, there is an element in the composition of the human being that manifests itself and experiences reality very differently from the corporeal element of the human composition---this incorporeal element is the human soul. Together, the body and soul exist as one unit. Thus, the Iqbalian “self” is an entity in which the body and soul must work together. Both must grow together and work in harmony if an individual's personality is to be strengthened. The body and the soul are indispensable for each other's needs, as Iqbal notes: ...the body is not a thing located in an absolute void; it is a system of events or acts. The system of experiences that we call the soul or ego is also a system ofacts. This does not erase the distinction between soul and body; it only brings them closer to each other. The characteristic of the ego is spontaneity; the acts that make up the body are repeated. The body is an accumulated action or habit of the soul; and as such inseparable from it. 4 Iqbal expresses the same point in a couplet: Naming body and soul separately is the requirement of speech. But seeing (or knowing) body and soul as separate entities is heresy. According to Iqbal, the soul is that element in the constitution of the human being which can only be explained in the sense that it is a Divine Spark in the human being: The atmosphere of the Divine Light is enveloped in this very (body of) clay, O careless person! You are much more than a sentient being! Modern secular thought has lost all knowledge of this Divine Spark. Ignorance of this spiritual reality has led to the degeneration of human beings to subhuman levels of existence, despite numerous scientific, technological and economic achievements. Le Compte Du Noüy concludes his book Human Destiny with these words: And may he [man] above all never forget that the divine spark is in him, and in him alone, and that he is free to ignore it, or draw closer to God showing a desire to work with Him and for Him. When the human being forgets this Spark of inner Divinity, he becomes prey to the false sense of personal freedom, a freedom which, in reality, is the worst form of slavery. Having lost sight of the internal Divine Spark, the human being inevitably loses sight of all higher moral and ethical principles and, consequently, his life becomes totally subservient to the animal instincts of bodily flesh. If one neglects the awareness and realization of the Divinity within, the Divine Spark fades and eventually becomes extinct entirely. This leads to an unbalanced life in which the individual exists only as an animal, a Homo sapiens, and loses all sense of his humanity. In light of these facts, the following observation by Le Compte Du Noüy takes on further significance: Man must free himself from a slavery that is normal for the animal and therefore harmful to him. The soul of man demands complete dominion over the flesh. The Age of Enlightenment, the subsequent Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent era of Marx, Darwin, and Freud, as well as others like them, appear to be milestones in the evolution of man. human thought. But these and other milestones mean progress and development only in a limited sense: the progress and development of technological and mechanical culture. Despite claims that humanity has “progressed” enormously during the modern age, the reality is that moral and spiritual development has been virtually static while technological and mechanical development has proceeded vigorously. technological and material progress has come at the expense of moral and spiritual values. Modern secular society has remained fascinated by all this material development, without recognizing the intrinsic destructive tendency towards moral and spiritual values ​​that this development entails. All "progress" has been measured in purely materialistic and Darwinian terms but, as the following observation highlights, this definition of "progress" has nothing to do with ethics and spirituality. Professor R. M. MecIver observes in his book Society: We should not define social evolution as meaning or implying progress. To what extent we find a correspondence between the direction of social evolution and the direction prescribed by our particular concept of social progress is another question. We can properly investigate the relationship between the two. But this can only be done if we define social evolution in ethically neutral terms. Having made the human being incapable of moral self-evaluation, modern secular thought has becomethe greatest contemporary obstacle to human spiritual progress, because it makes the human being unaware of the true nature of human reality as well as the true nature of the reality of the universe. The fatal flaw, the greatest misfortune of modern secular science, philosophy and art is that they have become totally unbalanced, totally focused on the material dimension of reality and unaware of its spiritual dimension. Consequently, it is not surprising that not only has human beings not progressed spiritually during the modern period, but, more tragically, that human beings' moral and spiritual faculties have become numb and practically dysfunctional. However, even though the spiritual faculties have become dormant, they have not died completely. These faculties are waiting for the moment when human beings will recognize the importance of these internal abilities and decide to reappropriate them so that they can fulfill their legitimate role. in the reconstruction of humanity. For the moment, however, modern thought has come to rely exclusively on science (or on a philosophy that is the handmaiden of science) in its search for “objective” knowledge. But, in reality, neither science nor philosophy are in themselves capable of achieving truly “objective” knowledge regarding the actual nature of reality and the actual reality of human beings. Speaking of the limitations of science in the human quest for knowledge, Iqbal notes: Natural science deals with matter, life and mind; but the moment you ask yourself how matter, life and mind are related to each other, you begin to see the sectoral character of the various sciences dealing with them and the inability of these sciences, taken individually, to provide a complete answer to your questions. request. In fact, the various natural sciences are like so many vultures that fall on the corpse of Nature, and each escape with a piece of its flesh... The Natural Sciences are by nature sectional; if it is faithful to its own nature and function, it cannot erect its theory as a complete vision of Reality.8 While the limit of science is that it is by nature "sectional", the limit of philosophy is of a similar nature: philosophy is an intellectual vision of things; and, as such, it does not want to go beyond a concept that can reduce all the rich variety of experience to a system. He sees Reality from afar, so to speak. 9 Due to the obvious limitations of science and philosophy, it is equally obvious that human beings cannot truly realize their humanity if they are left to depend exclusively on their physical and mental abilities. In other words, the human needle, the Iqbalian khudi, cannot realize its true potential if the individual relies exclusively on the resources of science and philosophy. For Iqbal it is only religion that can provide us with intimate and holistic knowledge of man. Reality --- the kind of knowledge that is an essential prerequisite for the realization of our humanity. Iqbal argues: 56 The Horizons of the Quran 3:2 [Philosophy] is theory... [Religion] is living experience, association, intimacy. To achieve this intimacy, thought must rise higher than itself and find its fulfillment in a mental attitude that religion describes as prayer, one of the last words on the lips of the Prophet of Islam. This mental attitude, if only in its most developed and highest form, is the theistic counterpart of Nietzsche's atheistic will to power. Of course, willpower is essential if one is to overcome the temptations of an immoral life, as religion requires. However, the will without the support of faith in something higher and more sublime cannot resist the drive towards carnality and corruption. Khudiit requires the union of will, power and faith, ultimately realizing itself in the form of yaqeen or a deep inner conviction. Indeed, it is an unshakable belief that serves as a pivotal point for the “self” to act and react to the sensual temptations of life. However, this belief will not be realized unless the individual understands that his life has a purpose, and that this purpose has an individual and collective dimension. The evolution and ascension of the ego is not simply a detached, personal process, and individual event---this spiritual development also has a collective dimension that cannot be ignored. Iqbal notes that it takes a great deal of sacrifice and benevolence on a person's part to bring the individual, self-preserving ego into harmony with the collective ego. Consequently, the guiding principle in life cannot be that of conflict between the “self” and other “selves” if the dynamic process of khudi development is to take place. This process can only take place if there is a conscious awareness of the tension between the individual and collective dimensions, an awareness which in turn allows the individual personality to balance this tension. Iqbal defines “personality” as this same state of tension which, if not maintained, will cause indolence to set in, short-circuiting the process of khudi development. The process of self-realization requires tension to be present, since tension is the source of dynamism. The complete freedom of the human being from the limitations of the material world – and from materialism itself – depends on maintaining this tension. In essence, the human being's aspiration to achieve perfection necessarily requires the achievement of a balance between the individual self and the collective self. In Iqbal's words: Ego life is a kind of tension caused by the ego invading the environment and the environment invading the ego. The ego does not stand outside this arena of mutual invasion. It is present in it as a directive energy and is formed and disciplined by one's experiences. This constant interaction between the individual ego and the environment offers the ideal opportunity for self-evaluation. When the individual interacts with their environment, they must constantly evaluate their “self” not only on an individual basis but also in relation to other “selves” in the environment. But one should not lose sight of the fact that the initial emphasis is on the individual ego. Only that individual ego which has achieved a certain degree of self-realization and self-understanding will be able to genuinely understand and engage constructively with other individual egos. This is another way of saying that only that ego that has learned self-respect, self-love and self-awareness. self-affirmation will be able to extend respect and love to other selves, and also affirm one's dignity and autonomy. Iqbal's khudi philosophy presupposes that a mature and developed understanding of respect, love and affirmation on the part of the individual ego requires respect, love and affirmation for every other "self", because only that individual ego which is genuinely sincere. 'anic Horizons 3:2 integrated with its environment and constructively engaged with other egos is truly a conscious self. In the context of Iqbal's philosophy, therefore, the progress of the individual human being depends on his relationship with himself, with his family, with society and, ultimately, with God. The gradual realization of this intricate and delicate network of relationships will bring the individual to realize his or her maximum potential and meaning. Ultimately, with the rise of the ego in Iqbalian terms, the individual can become the architect of human destiny. It is worth repeating the quatrain cited at the beginning regarding the motivation and essence of intellectual and spiritual research: 59