Dr. Nazeer Ahmed
Mention Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa, and the ears of any Urdu-speaking person perk up. Composed by Allama Iqbal between 1909 and 1913, the two poems marked a high point in Urdu poetry. Their audacity, eloquence, penetrating vision, historical reach, spiritual depth, rich imagery, and powerful language shook the literary world of the subcontinent. Their message remains relevant more than a century later. Rendered by masterful Qawwals, such as the Sabri brothers, the poems continue to move the believing heart.
Iqbal’s poetry is a deep ocean. To navigate this ocean, one needs a depth of understanding in the Qur’an, the Seerah of the Prophet, Tasawwuf, Philosophy, History, Science and Politics. What we offer here is but an introduction to the thinking of this great man.
Shikwa means “a lyre.” Jawab-e-Shikwa means “answer to the lyre.” There is a subtle difference between “a lyre” and “a complaint”. A lyre is for someone you know, honor, respect and love. A complaint does not have these linguistic or cultural constraints. At a deeper level, Shikwa is the lament of a sensitive soul before Divine compassion. The lament is ratcheted back in the Divine mirror, transformed into Jawab-e-Shikwa. The latter becomes an ode to the inner Self of the poet and a marching call for his people.
Shikwa was composed in 1909. It caused considerable controversy among Indian Muslims. Some religious scholars regarded it as irreverent and even pronounced it kufr. How could a believer complain before God, the Compassionate and Merciful? Iqbal’s poetic lyre required a deeper reading. It expressed the anguish of a sensitive Muslim witnessing the continuing decline of his civilization.
Four years later, Iqbal published Jawab-e-Shikwa. The historical circumstances were turbulent. British power dominated India. The Ottoman Empire faced financial pressures, rebellion, and foreign invasion. Iran was undergoing constitutional upheaval. Iqbal had studied in Europe and had witnessed the technological progress and prosperity of European nations. He also saw Muslim societies burdened by poverty, internal division, and fatalistic inertia. His complaint became a summons to awaken.
Shikwa and Jawab e Shikwa can be read as a dialogue within Iqbal himself. He was a consummate poet, not an anointed saint. His journey resembles the search undertaken by Farid al-Din Attar in Mantiq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds, circa 1200 CE). In this classic, the seeker journeys toward the Simurgh and ultimately encounters its reflection in himself.
Iqbal summarizes the Divine response to his Shikwa:
Ki Muhammed Se Wafa Tu Ne To Hum Tere HaiN;
Yeh Jehan Cheez Hai Kya Luh Wa Kalem Tere HaiN
If you are faithful to Muhammed, We are yours;
Meager is this world, the Preserved Tablet and the Exalted Pen are yours.
The verse echoes the Qur’anic command:
“In kuntum tuhibbunallaha fattabiooni.”
If you love Allah, then follow me.
Love of Allah finds expression through fidelity to the Prophet. Fidelity to the Prophet becomes a path toward Divine love. Iqbal identifies love as Ishq-e-Haqeeqi, the love of God. It is like the love of a moth for the candle. Iqbal inherited this tradition of Ishq from the great Sufi master, Mevlana Rumi (d 1274).
The central question therefore becomes: Who is Muhammad (pbuh), and what does fidelity to him mean?
The Qur’an describes the Prophet as Light from Allah, a mercy to all worlds, the Messenger of God, a person of exalted character and the Seal of the Prophets. The Prophet combines Noor and Bashar, Light and humanity. These dimensions belong together. His Nooriat signifies his spiritual luminosity. His Bashariat affirms his humanity.
There are many threads in this question. We will delineate here but a few.
Iqbal’s poetry repeatedly returns to the contrast between contemporary Muslims and Muslims of yore:
He declares:
“Tujhe Aaba Se Apne Kuch Bhi Nisbat Ho NaheeN Sakti.”
There can be no comparison between you and your forefathers.
And, most pointedly:
“Thay To Aaba Woh Tumhare He Magar Tum Kya Ho.”
Your forefathers, indeed, they were. But what are you?
The question is historical and spiritual. How did Muslims who once shaped history become marginalized by history? Iqbal locates the answer in the loss of fidelity to the Prophetic model, or Meethaq-e-Risalat.
Shariah, Civilization, and Science
The Prophet established the foundation of a civilization based on Tawhid. Aisha (r) described him as “an embodiment of the Qur’an.” His Seerah provided the roadmap. His Sunnah became the behavioral model. His Hadith provided an exposition of the Qur’an.
The Companions continued this work. Abu Bakr (r ), Umar (r ), Uthman (r ), and Ali (r ) became exemplary transmitters of the Prophetic legacy. The generations that followed expanded the civilization across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
As Islam encountered Greek rationalism, Persian traditions, Hindu thought, Buddhism, and Chinese intellectual traditions, Fiqh emerged as the historical application of the Shariah. Shariah represents the enduring Divine framework. Fiqh represents the continuing human effort to apply that framework within changing historical circumstances.
The dynamism of this process helped generate intellectual creativity. The Islamic Golden Age produced major advances in mathematics, astronomy, optics, medicine, chemistry, engineering, and philosophy. Al-Khwarizmi advanced algebra. Ibn al-Haytham transformed the study of optics and emphasized experimentation. Al-Razi and Ibn Sina advanced medicine. Al-Jazari produced sophisticated mechanical devices.
Iqbal captures the subsequent decline in a striking line:
“Jin Ko Aata NaheeN Dunya MaiN Koyi Fun, Tum Ho.”
If there are any in the world who are bereft of technology, it is you.
The causes of decline were complex. intellectual stagnation, Internal political conflict, invasions, sectarian divisions, institutional weaknesses, and technological delays all contributed. The Mongol destruction of major centers of learning (1209-1258) devastated the intellectual infrastructure of the Muslim world. The western Crusades resulted in the loss of Spain (1212-1248). European technological transformation (17-19th centuries) eventually widened the gap further.
Iqbal’s complaint therefore carries a historical indictment. The condition of Muslims requires an examination of internal failure.
The Ascent of the Human Being
One of the most remarkable passages of Jawab-e-Shikwa asks:
“Taa Sar-e-Arsh Bhi InsaaN Ki Tag-o-Taaz Hai Kya?
Aa Gyi Khak Ki Chutki Ko Bhi Parwaaz Hai Kya?”
Has the wayward reach of the human reached even the gates of the Exalted Throne?
Astonishing! Has a speck of dust acquired such a capacity to soar?
The verse expresses the extraordinary potential of the human being. God is close to humanity, while the human journey toward Divine realization remains arduous. The Qur’an speaks of Divine nearness and also describes the human being as one who strives toward God.
Iqbal’s poetic ascent can be understood through the language of Tasawwuf. Traditional Sufi teaching describes successive stages of spiritual refinement. These include Shariah, Iman, Ihsan, Irfan, love, awe, concentration, humility, annihilation, and finally Shuhood, or witnessing.
Iqbal takes another route. His vehicle is Ishq.
“Ishq Tha Fitna Gar-o-Sarkash-o-Chalaak Mera;
AasmaN Cheer Gaya Nala-e-Bey-Baak Mera.”
My love was disruptive, wayward and ingenious;
It cleft open the heavens for my audacious lyre.
Here the driving force is Ishq-e-Haqeeqi, the love of God. Iqbal’s spiritual vision bears the influence of Rumi and the great Sufi tradition. Rumi said:
“Your heart knows the way; run in that direction.”
Iqbal’s own poetic ascent culminates in the famous declaration:
“Ki Muhammed Se Wafa Tu Ne To Hum Terey HaiN;
Ye JehaN Cheez Hai Kya Luh wa Qalam Tere HaiN.”
If you are faithful to Muhammed, We are yours;
Meager is this world, the Preserved Tablet and the Exalted Pen are yours.
The essential message is clear. Human perfection requires love of God and fidelity to Muhammad.
Iqbal develops this theme through the Sufi conception of Noor-e-Muhammadi. He writes:
“Ho Na Yeh Phool To Bulbul Ka Tarannum Bhi Na Ho,
Chamane Dhr MaiN KalyoN Ka Tabassum Bhi Na Ho;
Yeh Na Saqi Ho Phir Mai Bhi Na Ho, Khum Bhi Na Ho,
Bazm-e-Tawheed Bhi Duniya MaiN Na Ho Tum Bhi Na Ho.
Kheema-e-Aflaq Ka Ustada Isee Nam Se Hai,
Nabz-e-Hasti Tapash-Aamada Isee Nam Se Hai.”
If it were not for this flower, the melody of the nightingale would not be;
In the garden of eternity, the smile of buds would not be.
If there is no bearer of the cup, no wine would there be, and no ecstasy;
The assembly of Tawhid would not be, nor would you be.
The canopy of the heavens is held aloft by this very name;
The pulse of existence accepts its energy from this very name.
This passage draws upon the Sufi understanding of the Prophet as Insan-e-Kamil, the Perfect Human. Ibn al-Arabi’s cosmology provides a conceptual framework for understanding this vision. The human being occupies a distinctive place in creation and bears the responsibility of reflecting Divine attributes through justice, mercy, knowledge, and service.
Muhammad represents the fullest realization of this human potential. To follow him means to cultivate character, spiritual awareness, responsibility, and service. Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa thus become a call toward human perfection. In Iqbal, the perfect human is transformed into Mard e Momin, a transformed human under the canopy of La ilaha il Allah, with freedom to choose, empowered, dynamic who creates divine patterns on the canvas of history with an amalgamation of his ishq, intellect and action.
History and the Loss of the Garden
Iqbal also places Muslim decline within the drama of history. He recalls the expansion of Islam and the extraordinary confidence of earlier generations:
“DeeN AzaaNaiN Kabhi Europe Ke KaleesaaoN MeiN,
Kabhi Africa Ke Tapte Huwe Sehraaon Mein.”
Adhan we gave, sometimes in the cathedrals of Europe,
At other times, in the sizzling deserts of Africa.
The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 became a major symbol of Muslim historical achievement. Sultan Mehmet II combined strategic vision, technological innovation, political organization, and spiritual inspiration. The conversion of Aya Sophia into a mosque symbolized the transformation of Byzantine Constantinople into Ottoman Istanbul.
Centuries later, the political fortunes of Muslims changed dramatically. Iqbal expresses this historical betrayal through the metaphor of the garden:
“Boo-e-Gul Lay Gayi Bairun-e-Chaman Raaz-e-Chaman;
Kya Qayamat Hai Ke Khud Phool HaiN Ghammaz-e-Chaman!”
The fragrance of the flower has itself given away the garden’s secret to orchards strange;
What a disaster it is that the flowers themselves became traitors to the garden!
The reference evokes the betrayal of Mir Jafar at Plassey in 1757 and Mir Qasim at Srirangapatam in 1799. Internal division opened the way for British political domination in Bengal and Mysore and eventually across much of India.
The garden metaphor carries a larger meaning. Civilizations decay from within through failures of trust, solidarity, knowledge, and responsibility. External forces exploit internal weakness. Iqbal therefore directs the Muslim gaze inward. His Shikwa is ultimately a summons to self-renewal.
Conclusion
Shikwa is a cry of anguish. Jawab-e-Shikwa transforms anguish into responsibility. The dialogue moves from complaint to self-examination, from historical memory to spiritual renewal, and from passive inheritance to active creation.
Iqbal’s fundamental question remains:
“Thay To Aaba Woh Tumhare He Magar Tum Kya Ho?”
Your forefathers, indeed, they were. But what are you?
His answer rests upon three interrelated principles: Tawhid, Ishq, and fidelity to Muhammad (pbuh). The Muslim community’s historical greatness came through faith translated into character, knowledge, action, justice, and service. Its decline followed the weakening of those qualities.
The deepest message of Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa concerns the transformation of the human being. Iqbal calls Muslims to recover the creative energy of faith. He asks them to unite spiritual aspiration with action, knowledge with character, and Divine love with historical responsibility.
Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, Published in historyofislam.com, September 2024
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