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FAQR
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The word Faqr
used by Iqbal has a peculiar significance. This word, in the Qur'an, stands for
need, poverty, an attribute which men can possess while God is characterised by
an attribute which is its opposite, viz, self-sufficiency. The Qur'an says: "O
men, it is you that have need of Allah (fuqara'), and Allah is
Self-Sufficient, the Praised One" (xxxv. 16).
Faqr,
according to the
Qur'an, then, is a state which man should avoid and fear: "The Devil threatens
you with Faqr (poverty) . . . and enjoins you to be niggardly, and
Allah promises you forgiveness from Himself and abundance . . ." (ii. 268). In
other words, the state of Faqr is something that should be avoided while
its opposite, called fadl, abundance, is something which is commendable
and which God bestows on the righteous.
But gradually the
significance of the word Faqr changed in the hands of the mystics, most
probably under the influence of non-Muslim mystics, Christian and Buddhist, who
were respected and honoured for their piety, renunciation of the world and
devotion to their faith. As a reaction to the social and political upheavals in
the first centuries of Muslim rule, mendicancy seems to have become a common
practice among the mystics and, in spite of prohibition of begging by the
Prophet, sufis not only approved of this practice but prescribed it for the
novices and often went to the length of misinterpreting the explicit sayings of
the Prophet. it was perhaps during this period that traditions eulogising
Faqr became current.
The meaning of Faqr
was further transformed in the hands of sufis in due course of time. It does
not mean only need or poverty, but an attitude of detachment towards the world,
of total indifference to social and political problems of the day, complete
negation of the self, flight from the outward to the inward, from the exoteric
to the esoteric. This transformation, unfortunately, played havoc with the
ideological structure of Islam and laid the foundation for later quietism and
negative mysticism.
Iqbal, however,
brought about a wonderful metamorphosis and sought to invest this word with
attributes more in harmony with the ideological background of Islam. Faqr,
in Iqbal, does not signify only an attitude of detachment, selflessness and
indifference to worldly life, which are all negative in nature. Iqbal's Faqr
is through and through positive. A faqir or qalandar in Iqbal
is not only indifferent to vicissitudes of material life; he is a man of strong
will, who has a moral stake in the social and political life of the people
around him, motivated by the love for the ideal of moral and spiritual
regeneration of mankind. In the attainment of this ideal, he is ready to
sacrifice everything. It is this positive Faqr which Iqbal describes in
this chapter.
We find a glimpse of
this Faqr in Rumi. He says:
[The affairs of
Faqr are beyond your comprehension
do not look upon Faqr with contempt.
Because dervishes are beyond property and wealth,
they possess abundant sustenance from the Almighty.
Is "poverty is my pride" vain and false?
No, there a hundred glories are hidden in it.]
1
Rumi describes
different levels of spiritual men. At the apex "is the living Imam who is the
Mahdi and the Hadi" and down-wards there are several grades of Faqr.
He who undergoes greater discipline and passes through intenser fire
occupies a higher position. It is the fire that purifies Faqr of all
dross. He says:
[The faqir who
bears hardship, is like iron
which under the hammer and fire is red and happy.]
2
[If thou desirest
Faqr, that depends on companionship]
3
This positive concept
of Faqr is found in Iqbal much later. The word Faqr is used first
in a poem written in 1914 where he employs the hadith "Poverty is my
pride" in the traditional poetic way, where poverty is contrasted with wealth.4
The word Faqr in its special sense in Iqbal is found first of all,
perhaps, in a verse in Payam-i M'ashriq (published in 1923)
[ Faqr is also
world-conquering and world-organising
to the faqir sitting along the path is bestowed the sword of sight.]
5
In Zabur-i Ajam,
published in 1926, the use of this word is more explicit. See, for instance,
the following verse
[It's nothing strange
if two kings cannot be contained in a single kingdom,
Strange it is that a single faqir cannot be contained in two worlds.]
6
The following verse
expresses Iqbal's concept of Faqr beautifully
[When Faqr
attains perfection, it is a sign of power;
search for kingly throne under a faqir's mat.]
7
Faqr
in Iqbal symbioses
all those attributes which the Qur'an describes about a true Muslim and which
were actualised in the lives of the Companions of the Prophet. They lived in
poverty of their own choice and yet were in the thick of social life of the
people, guiding and directing them towards the ideal of material and spiritual
well-being.
[Do away with Faqr
that brings nakedness,
blessed is the Faqr which bestows political power.]
8
In another place, it
is said:
[Without the Qur'an,
power is deceit,
the Faqr of the Qur'an is the root of power.
The Qur'anic Faqr is commingling of Remembrance and Reason,
I have never seen Reason perfected without Remembrance,]
9
Iqbal distinguishes
two kinds of Faqr, one leading to supremacy and the other to base
poverty, and acknowledges that for this concept of Faqr he is indebted to
Rumi:
[Learn from Rumi the
secret of Faqr,
that Faqr is envy of kings;
avoid that Faqr which
led you to (social and moral) decline.]
10
[Since
khudi was cut off from supremacy,
it taught the art of begging;
from the intoxicated eye of Rumi I gained
exhilarating experience of the state of Almightiness.] 11
1.
Mathnavi, i, 2352 ff.
2.
Ibid., ii, 810 ff.
3.
Ibid., v, 1063.
4.
Bang-i Dora, p. 198.
5.
Payam-i M'ashriq,
p. 206. For other references which the word Faqr and
faqir are used, see Payam-i M'ashriq, pp. 7, 8, 191, 195, etc.
6.
Zabur-i Ajam, p. 13.
7.
Ibid., p. 163.
8.
Javid Namah, p. 169.
9.
Ibid., p. 89.
10. Armaghan-i Hijaz, p. 108.
11. Ibid.
