The essence of the Shari’ah I have learnt many things from the Master of Rum, especially have I burnt myself in (the fire of) these words of his:

‘If you carry money for the sake of the Faith, that money is a blessing, says the Prophet.’

If you don’t keep this point in mind, you are a slave and money is your lord.

The welfare of the nations is in the hands of the poor, while the rich man causes disruption to the nations.

In his eyes, novelty is something mean; he buys only old things;

What is wrong he regards as right and is afraid of the upheavals of revolution. (This verse refers to the capitalist’s aversion to change and his striving to maintain the status quo at al cost.

The capitalist usurps the portion of the labourer, and robs the honour of his daughter.

The labourer bewails before him like a reed, with constant cries issuing from his lips.

His cup lacks wine; he builds palaces but is himself a homeless wanderer. (These verses refer to the capitalist’s blatant violation of moral values which, as Iqbal seems to imply, is the natural consequence of amassing of wealth when divorced, motivationally, from spiritual orientation.)

Praise be to the rich person who lives like a dervish and is God-oriented in an age like ours. (Iqbal characterizes the present age as lacking in spiritual orientation. If amidst such an environment, a person, having wealth, lives a simple life of piety and abstinence; surely it is a matter of great significance.)

Unless people understand the significance of a lawfully earned food, life of society becomes miserable.

Alas! Europe is not aware of this principle, her eyes do not see through God’s light; (Reference is to the famous tradition of the Prophet (PBUH): Fear the sagacity of the believer, for he sees through the light of God.)

She does not know lawful from unlawful, her wisdom is immature and all her activities defective. (Iqbal quotes in Bal-i Jibril Rumi’s verse: True knowledge is born of lawful food, love and compassion are born of lawful food.)

One nation preys on another, one sows the seed, another takes away the harvest.

It is ‘wisdom’ to snatch food from the weak and to rob their body of the soul.

The way of the new culture is to murder people; and this killing is done under the garb of commerce. (Iqbal says: Believe me, Europe to-day is the greatest hindrance in the way of man’s ethical advancement (Reconstruction, p. 179). The reason for this, according to him, is that European culture is divorced from the spiritual basis of life, what he callsnur-i haqq here. A few lines earlier, he says in the same lecture: Humanity needs three things to-day-a spiritual interpretation of the universe, spiritual emancipation of the individual and basic principles of a universal import directing the evolution of human society on a spiritual basis.)

These banks, the result of clever Jews’ thinking, have taken away God’s light from the heart of man.

Unless this system is destroyed completely, knowledge, religion and culture are mere empty names. (Iqbal thinks that Western culture which is through and through secular in complexion cannot be expected to face the challenge of the new age. No change, superficial or far-reaching, can stave off its doom. What is needed is: total destruction of this culture. It is the same remedy that was suggested by Waliullah: total and complete revolution.)

In this world of good and evil, man seldom knows what is profitable to him and what is harmful; (Iqbal thinks that human reason is not capable of arriving at the universal moral truth for which man has to fall back upon revelation. Conclusions in the field of morality arrived at by human intellect are more often marred by the natural prejudices to which man is subject.)

Nobody knows the right and wrong of an act, which path is straight and which crooked.

The Shari‘ah grows out of life’s bosom; its light illumines the darkness of the universe.

If the world were to accept its judgment regarding what is forbidden, this system would endure for ever.

It is not for the jurists to evaluate it, O son, look at it in another way; (Looking in another way in contrast to the legal and formalistic attitude of the jurist, it is the penetrative insight born of spiritual regeneration which, though based on reason, goes beyond reason and is the essence of what Rumi and Iqbal call Faqr.)

Its legal formulations are based on justice and submission to Divine Will, its roots lie in the bosom of Mustafa (PBUH). (‘Bosom of Mustafa’; innermost heart of the Prophet, i.e. the revelation received by him from God on his heart, as stated in the Qur’an, xxvi 194)

It is through ‘separation’ (from God) that desires warm the hearts. When ‘He’ manifests Himself, you will cease to exist.

This separation is no doubt hard to bear, try not to seek union with Him, rather submit to His will. (The ideal for Iqbal is not to seek unitive experience, experience of oneness with God, but to follow God’s Will which is given in concrete shape in the Shari’ah.)

Mustafa (PBUH) communicated His will to us; the injunctions of religion consist of nothing else.

The throne of Jamshid is hid under the mat (of a faqir), Faqr and political authority are both stations of (submission to God’s) Will;

Accept the injunctions of the Shari’ah and do not complain the field of battle is not the place to argue why.

So far as you can help, do not disobey its law, so that nobody may disobey your orders. (This verse reminds one of Sa’di’s well-known verse: You too should not disobey God’s commands, that others shouldn’t disobey your orders.)

Be of the best make through the Shari’ah, and inheritor of Abraham’s faith. (Reference is to the Qur’anic verse: ‘Certainly We created man in the best make’ (xcv 4). But if he fails to follow the true path, he is brought to ‘the lowest of the low’. Islam has a particularly intimate relation with the personality of Abraham. The Qur’an states that Islam is the ‘faith of your father Abraham’ who ‘named you – Muslim…)

O man of lofty attributes, what is Tariqah: To see the Shari‘ah in the recesses of life’s heart. (Tariqah, path: This is another term in mysticism that is sometimes opposed to Shari’ah. Iqbal tries to explain that Tariqah is Shari’ah when its laws are followed in their real spirit.)

If you wish to see the essence of religion clearly, look but into the depth of your heart;

If you do not enjoy vision, your faith is only compulsion; such a religion is a veil between you and God.

If man does not see God fully manifest, he cannot rise higher than (the polarity of) free-will and determinism.

Dive into your inner nature for a moment, become a man of truth, don’t rely on mere conjecture:

That you may see the right and wrong of things, and know what secrets lie behind these nine veils.

He who shares in the experiences of the Prophet (S.A.W.) gets close to the faithful Gabriel. (The angel Gabriel is described in the Qur’an as ‘the faithful spirit (ruh u1-amin) that has brought revelation on thy heart…’ xxvi. 193. ‘Close to Gabriel’ may signify that the person now enjoys the privilege of receiving direct revelation from God.)

O you who are proud of having the great Quran, how long will you sit (inactive) in cell?

Reveal to the world the essence of religion, and the significance of the clear Shari’ah;

None need be dependent on another (for one’sprimary needs); this is the sum and substance of the clear Shari’ah.

The jurists and the theologians have spun long tales; the faithful have failed to grasp this point.

A living nation met its death due to misinterpretations, her heart lost fire (of life).

I have seen Sufis of pure heart and taken good stock of the teacher in school.

My age produced a prophet too, who could see in the Quran nothing but himself;

Every one of them is fully conversant with the Quran and the traditions; but they are totally unaware of the true significance of the Shari’ah. (Their knowledge is theoretical only; they lack fire of conviction and zeal for activity, for they have missed the true spirit of the message.)

Reason and tradition both have fallen prey to lust; their pulpit is a counter for the display of their wares. (‘Reason’ and ‘tradition’ stand for two kinds of knowledge into which pursuit of learning was divided in classical Islamic period, corresponding to what is called ‘aql and naql.The latter stands for all those aspects of learning that deal exclusively with religious problems, while the former refers to all those branches of learning that today come under the title of science and humanities.)

There is no hope of salvation from these reformers. What is the use of the sleeve when it lacks the White Hand? (Kaliman, plural of Kalim, the title of Moses. Kalim in Iqbal stands for an ideal reformer, prophet, teacher. ‘White Hand’ is a miracle of Moses.)

The problems of the nations cannot be set right by you, unless you prove by action that you are the bearer of truth.