Photo of Sir Iqbal

Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a great Punjabi born lawyer, philosopher and literary genius with works in both the Urdu and Persian. His ancestors were Kashmiri Pandits who converted to Islam. Iqbal often mentioned and reminisced about his Kashmiri Pandit Brahmin lineage in his writings. Iqbal is known as Shair-e-Mushriq meaning Poet of the East and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ("The Sage of the Ummah") He wrote great Urdu works like Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim etc.
He is remembered by Nath Bhaktas because of his famous verse which has become a legend.
“Kabhi ai Haqueeqate Muntazar nazar aa libaase Majjaz mrn
Ke hazaaron sajde tarrap rahe hain meri jabeene nayaz men”
O Thou much awaited Reality, appear before me in human form
For thousands of prostrations await their fulfilment upon my forehead.
This is like an intense yearning by the people of the world for God to appear upon this earth in human form. This verse become very popular among the Nath Bhaktas. Like R.R. Khanna. A copy of one of the first pamphlets that Shri Nathji wrote - Payaame Haq was send by R.R. Khanna to Sir Iqbal, with a note saying that the “Haqueeqate Muntazar” – the much awaited Reality - he has been waiting for had appeared in the human form of Shri Nathji.
But Sir Iqbal could never meet Shri Nathji. Shri Nathji stayed with Khanna in Lucknow during the years 1933 to 1937. So this is when Khanna Published Shri Nathji works at Lucknow. So Khanna might have sent the copy of Payaame Haq to Sir Iqbal in 1933 or 1934. Unfortunately in 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal had suffered from a mysterious throat illness from which he could never recover. Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. In his final years he frequently visited the Dargah of famous Sufi Hazrat Ali Hujwiri in Lahore for spiritual guidance. After suffering for years from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21 April 1938. So perhaps his illness prevented him from leaving Lahore and seeking to meet Nathji! Or perhaps he was like the lover who only seeks happiness in the pangs of separation and call for union to his beloved. He is so overwhelmed by the intensity of separation that he is not actually interested in union any more. The joyous pangs of separation gives him immense bliss and that is all he desires.

 Comments-

Priya Nath Mehta  - What a wonderful exposition of the past!