Khushwant Singh Makes Iqbal Come Alive On the Page, Through Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa
By
Abdaal Ahmad Bhat
December
10, 2020,
Who would
have imagined that Allama Iqbal’s most remarkable and controversial poems in
Urdu-Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa, would be rendered in English by an agnostic,
known to the literary world as a lawyer, novelist, historian, diplomat and
columnist? It took Khushwant Singh more than a year of rigorous research to
translate these two beautiful poems and put them in readable form.
“I have
translated these two poems as part-payment of the debt of gratitude I felt I
owed to Allama Iqbal for once again offering me the priceless gems of the Urdu
language. Reading and rereading Iqbal has been the most exhilarating experience
of the later years of my life”, says Khushwant Singh.
Dr.
Jagannath Azad, a reputed scholar on Iqbaliyat, has written extensively on
Iqbal but never attempted to render Allama’s most famous poems (Shikwa and
Jawab-i-Shikwa) in English. However, the first attempt was made by A. J.
Arberry but his translation proved to be a damp squib. He did not know a word
of Urdu and rendered these poems into English on the basis of their English
translation by an Urdu-knowing friend. No greater injustice to these poems,
full of Islamic history and religious fervour, could have been done by a
scholar of his stature.
The
translation of Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa by Khushwant Singh makes Iqbal come
alive on the page, literally. No other English translation captures the essence
and thematic undercurrents of Allama’s verse in Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa as
eloquently and authoritatively as done by Khushwant Singh.
Khushwant
Singh’s translation has been instrumental in rekindling the Allamic flame which
had been almost snuffed out in India for many reasons.
Allama
Iqbal defies translation in true sense of the term. His verses have both
historical and spiritual overtones. His expressions are deeply steeped in
Islamic lore. It is almost impossible to understand them without profound
knowledge of Islam and its civilising role in history. That has been both the
weakness and strength of his poetry. Its weakness lies in its appeal being
confined mainly to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW); its strength,
on the other hand, consists in the hypnotic spell it casts on the readers
irrespective of their religious affiliation.
Despite
Iqbal’s affinity with the West and his three years’ sojourn there, he could
never come nearer to it, unlike his contemporary Rabindranath Tagore, whose
book of poems Gitanjali, translated into English, won him the Nobel Prize for
literature. Even today, the West’s ignorance of Iqbal is colossal. The eminent
English novelist, E.M.Forster, in a radio broadcast on B.B.C in 1946, presented
Iqbal as ‘an orthodox Muslim’ and ‘anti-humanitarian in his outlook’. This
unfounded, unjustified and unwarranted prejudice against Iqbal stems from the
fact that he is hardly reachable to the West, for fewer of his works have been
translated into English.
Unarguably,
Allama Iqbal is the most stimulating poet of the subcontinent. If Rumi-the
spiritual mentor of Iqbal – is the widely read, and is a popular poet in the
USA, Allama Iqbal dominates the literary landscape of the subcontinent. Many
scholars of Iqbaliyat consider Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa as the magnum opus of
Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal, for their poignance, penetrative power and fervent pleas
to the Almighty Allah.
It is said
that translation is always approximate and not accurate, but Khushwant Singh
deserves accolades for translating Allama’s most famous poems into English
accurately, lucidly and masterfully without compromising with the message
embedded in the two poems. It took him more than a year of rigorous and
painstaking research to get them in readable shape. His rendition is as
musical, stimulating and soul-shaking as the original ones. The rhyming verses
in English, conveying the plaint and answer to the plaint, are not only
soul-stirring but spiritually invigorating as well.
Shikwa (The
Complaint) was first recited by Iqbal in 1909 at a gathering of the
Arjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam in Lahore. It created a sensation and has ever since
remained one of his most controversial compositions. Some of his critics
objected to some of the vocabulary used by Iqbal, particularly the use of the
word harjaee (unfaithful) for God.
The theme
of Shikwa is the poet’s complaint against Allah for having been unfair to the
Muslim Ummah. Iqbal poignantly pleads his case for the beleaguered and battered
Muslim Ummah which has lost power and prestige in its own lands. The
complainant holds Allah responsible for the downfall of Muslim Ummah and for
its continuing defeats and humiliation at the hands of the infidels.
Khushwant
Singh is recognised as a skilled translator of Urdu and Punjabi verse,
especially the religious verse. He has done a marvellous job at translating
these two difficult Urdu poems. His attempt to rhyme each stanza to give it a
semblance of metered English poem has been highly appreciated by his critics.
The translation of Urdu poems which are deeply immersed in Islamic lore by an
agnostic, not-so-well-versed with Urdu language is not only incredibly amazing
but also brings to fore the literary genius of the grand old man of Indian
literature.
The
Jawab-i-Shikwa was first recited by Iqbal in 1913 at a poetic concert in
Lahore. Jawab-i-Shikwa is the answer to the plaint. As if written by the Almighty,
He argues with the complainant and holds Muslims responsible for their own
downfall.
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Abdaal
Ahmad Bhat is Assistant Professor, Government Degree College Pulwama
Original
Headline: IQBAL comes alive
Source: The Greater Kashmir
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