Iqbal's Panentheism

Author(s): Robert Whittemore

Source: The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Jun., 1956), pp. 681-699
Published by: Philosophy Education Society Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20123542
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IQBAL/SPANENTHEISM
ROBERTWHITTEMORE

I
from an Islamic standpoint
and one
philosophy
it is inescapable:
from Tha?es to Wittgenstein
has been for the most
insular,
part invariably
and American
in so
thinkers,
European
parochial.

western

Hixamine

of
characteristic
western
thought

insufferably
so diverse, have been from the time of their Greek
many ways
assurance
as one in their provincial
that such
forebears virtually
as is worthy
and
theological
speculation
cosmological,
ontological,
is a product of their western
culture.
of their notice

The philosophy of Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) affords

a notable

case in point.
In the world of modern Muslim
thought
in
His Reconstruction
stands alone.
Thought
of
Religious
l
a
to
to
akin
that
Islam
AI
Ghazzali's
place
occupied
aspires
by
Sciences.
His philosophical
Revivification
of the Religious
poetry
is regarded by many Muslim
to the
scholars as a worthy
postscript
he

and Mathnavi

of Jalal-ud-Din
Rumi.
In his Pakistani
the world
of Islam, he is accorded a
throughout
at times on reverence.
And yet you will seek in
respect verging
the pages of most modern
and American
vain through
European
a
He
of
his
name.8
to
for
is
unknown?even
mention
philosophy

Diwan

homeland,

and

of philosophical
the compilers
dictionaries
and encyclopedias.
Islamic
and
Were
in background
Iqbal's philosophy
purely
But such is not
be expected.
interest such lack of notice might
and on
the case.
years of study and travel in England
Through
conversant
with
and
became
the continent
steeped
Iqbal
thoroughly
in the west

A student of McTaggart
and James
a
from Munich,
he en
Ph.D.
(1905-1908),
from Plato to Bergson,
of European
thought

its culture.

and

at Cambridge
the range
compassed

Ward

1
1

of God

(London,
One

1934).

prominent

exception

is Hartshorne

(Chicago, 1953), pp. 294-97.

& Reese's

Philosophers

Speak

ROBERT
WH ITTEMORE

682
rejecting
Nietzsche
William
another

in the former,
from the latter.
absorbing much
left his mark upon him, as have Wundt,
Lotze, and
James.
But this is not to imply that Iqbal is merely
Asiatic
turned western
For Ghazzali
eclectic.
and Rumi
much
has

also have been his teachers,

the Prophet
and the Qur'an his con
stant source of inspiration.
It is this fusion of patterns of philo
and religious
to each other that con
thought
sophical
foreign
an
a
stitutes
achievement
"Reconstruction,"
Iqbal's
possessing
far
world
the
of
Islam.
importance
transcending
philosophical
to that cosmo
Iqbal, in fact, has added yet another dimension
of
view
in
west
associated
with
the
such names
theological
point
as Whitehead,
and William
Hartshorne,
Berdyaev,
Montague,
In the measure

James.

lies the enduring

of his

philosophical

contribution
significance

to this point
of his

of view

thought.

II
of Iqbal's philosophy8
lies the existentialist
con
that Reality
viction
is ultimately
in terms of
inexpressible
purely
reason and of science.
This is not to deny the import of these
latter. Whatever
view of man,
the universe,
and God we ultimate
one
arrive
it
be
in
which
the data of
at,
must,
thinks,
Iqbal
ly
At the heart

the demands
science are accounted
of reason
for, one in which
are met.
for coherence
Yet below and above the level of science
and reason there is that which man knows
simply because he feels

*
point

I mean,

By
"Iqbal's
philosophy"
in the
of view
expressed

philosophical

Secrets of the Self (Asrar-i-Khudi),

The

Complaint
Husain
(Lahore,

and

the Answer

1943),

and

poems

otherwise
of

his

tr. Reynold A. Nicholson

indicated,
later years,

that
The

(London, 1920);

tr. Altaf
Jawab-i-Shikwah),
The
Reconstruction
prose work
as with
The
limitation
is necessary
since,
a development
the
from
encompasses

(Shikwah
in his major

in Islam.
of Religious
Thought
most
thinkers,
Iqbal's
philosophy
characteristic
aesthetic
pantheism

unless

and

of his early poetry,

and his The Develop
in Persia
to the personalistic
1908)
panen
(London,
of Metaphysics
our concern
to
later writings
it is here
whose
theism
of those
viewpoint
a brief
see
account
For
of Iqbal's
and
elucidate
analyze.
early
position
as a Thinker
of God,"
in Iqbal
M. M. Sharif,
(Lahore,
"Iqbal's
Conception
107-12.
1944),
pp.

ment

683

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

is not

which

to use

the infra
terms,
is
There
prehension
supra-relational.
The real is the
there is feeling.
yet apprehension;

it. There
intuits
as the
as well
relational
it and

then

rational?and

is,

Bradley's

some.

than a species of mysti

Is Iqbal's philosophy,
then, no more
one who
if by "mystic" you understand
cism?
By no means,
of science.
renounces
the use of reason and the materials
Iqbal is
a mystic,
no more
and no less, than Hegel,
Whitehead,
Bradley,
or Berdyaev,
because he, like they, finds some facets of this uni
or poetry.
Like
verse expressible only in the language of metaphor
thinkers he too finds Reality in some respects surd,
these (western)
that can neither be explained nor explained
of a character
away.
to
an
one
he has, Iqbal would
wishes
If
argue, merely
example,
the
denominated
centre
of
to that finite
look within
by
experience
all
"self" or "soul."
words
behaviourist,
mystic,
Psychiatrist,
so
to explain this,
have fallen short in the attempt
far, inexpli
fact of the
Yet for every man his "self" is the fundamental
*
With
it alone does any philosophy
properly begin, and
of
". . .. my perception
of Iqbal is no exception:
the philosophy
me is superficial
but my per
and external;
that
confront
things
It
and profound.
own self is internal,
intimate,
ception of my
case
is
that
conscious
that
therefore,
privileged
follows,
experience
and
in which we are in absolute contact with Reality,
of existence
a
flood
of
case
to
throw
is likely
an analysis of this privileged
light
cable.

universe.

on

the ultimate

of existence"

p. 44).
(Reconstruction,
It
with?
is
What
not,
Iqbal
begin
in terms of the
describable
in nature,
a thing, material
thinks,
soul-substance.
It is not a Scholastic
of a stuff.
Nor,
morphology
a mere
as
of
succession
can
on the other hand,
it be conceived
It
is
rather
something
states, a stream of consciousness.5
psychic
makes
and
Permanent
to
both
while
Passing,
which,
doing justice
then

meaning
is this

"self" we

*
centre
of experience
is the
finite
this
"To my mind,
inexplicable
there
is no such
life is individual;
All
fact of the universe.
fundamental
as universal
life"
p. xvii).
(The Secrets
of the Self,
thing
5
as Iqbal
sees it, "is something
"Consciousness,"
single,
presupposed
to
of consciousness,
bits
and not
in all mental
life,
mutually
reporting
one

another"

(ibid.,

p.

96).

ROBERT
WH ITTEMORE

684
neither

to be an epiphenomenon

character

a word,

It is, in

of the other.6

ego.

to imply that "ego" is to be regarded as something

over and above what
for "inner experience
it experiences,
is the
r
is directive purpose,8
The very essence of egohood
ego at work."
is not a
"Thus my real personality
action.
creative movement,*
a
an
act.
is
of
series
it
is
acts,
thing,
My experience
only
mutually
and held together
to one another,
referring
by the unity of a
This

is not

attitude.
purpose.
My whole
reality lies in my directive
cannot perceive me like a thing in space, or a set of experiences
and appreciate
in temporal order; you must
interpret, understand,
in my will-attitudes,
me in my judgements,
and
aims,
aspirations"
and ego, coincide,
Here will and intellect, mind
(ibid., p. 98).
directive

You

for mind

The
in

Iqbal's
187-96:

(or

thought)

The

for

as,

of

form

It

the

conception
lines
these

self

self

brings
the
seed

of "self"

this

from

the

of

the

of

which

are most

Secrets

obvious

the

of

is

Self,

II,

self,
self.

to

awoke

universe
are
worlds

Self-affirmation
the

seest

"a potency

as,

is an effect
is a secret

existence

the

revealed

A hundred

By

of

instance,

thou

Whatsoever
When

viewed

overtones

Fichtean
poetry,

is ego

consciouness,
of thought.
hidden
in its
to

Not-self
of

essence;

light.
is

opposition

sown

in

the

world.
to be other
itself
imagines
from
itself
the forms
It makes

It

to multiply
7
Reconstruction,
p.
caused
by the ego invading
The ego does not
the ego.
in it as a directive
present

the
97.
the

of
of

pleasures
"The

than

life

itself.

others,
strife.

of

is a kind
ego
the environment

the
and

environment

arena

stand

outside

this

energy

and

is formed

in order

and

of mutual
disciplined

of

tension

invading
invasion.
It is
by its own

experience."
"Mental

there
is no far
in the sense
life is teleological
that, while
we
are moving,
there
is a progressive
forma
which
towards
goal
as the process
of value
of
ideal
scales
and
tion of fresh
ends,
purposes,
and expands"
life grows
(ibid.,
p. 52).
of our conscious
the universe
is
the analogy
"On
then,
experience,

off distant

can we
a movement
But
how
conceive
movement.
a free creative
answer
is that
of a concrete
that moves?
The
the
thing
pendent
can
We
derive
from movement;
is derivative.
of a 'thing'
'things'
immobile
from
derive movement
cannot
(ibid.,
p. 48).
things"

inde
notion
we

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

685

of the very being

of its material.
Thus
regarded,
or
not
idea
to
is
alien
the
nature
of things;
it is
thought
original
their ultimate
essence
and
constitutes
of
the
their
very
ground
itself in them from the very beginning
of their
being,
infusing
a
and
to
their
onward
march
end"
self-determined
career,
inspiring
formative

(ibid., p. 30).
What we call Nature is but ego as event and act.
That this
so
is
becomes
clear when we look at this conception
of self (ego,
in the light of the traditional mind-body
mind)
problem.
Iqbal
finds the solutions of Spinoza and Descartes
equally inadequate:
Parallelism
that

and

the

are both
seen
We
have
unsatisfactory.
situated
in an absolute
it is
thing
void;
acts.
The
we
of experiences
call
soul
stystem
of acts.
This
does not obliterate
the distinction

interaction

is not
body
or
of events

a system
or ego is also a system
of soul
and body;
it only
is accumulated
habit
body
undetachable
ness
which,
as
outside
a

of

egos
when

from
in

view

something
low order

their

association
10

ordination.

them
closer
brings
or
action
of
the

to

each

other.
and

soul;
element

The

as

such

a permanent
of
concious
element
the
from
appears
permanent
stable.
What
then
is matter?
A colony
of
out of which
the ego of a higher
order,
emerges
it.

It

of

is

this

and

a certain

reach

interaction

of

degree

co

In Iqbal's universe
there is no such thing as "a
purely physical
a
level in the sense of possessing
materiality
elementally
incapable
"
of evolving
the creative synthesis we call life and mind."
As in

10
Cf. also:
Ibid.,
p. 100.
"physical
organism?that
a profounder
on me,
which
acts
egos
ego
constantly
me
to build
of experience.
Are
up a systematic
unity
two
its organism
in the sense
of Descartes,
things
somehow
other,
though
mysteriously
as an
that the hypothesis
of matter
tuitous"

at

look

independent

colony
thus

then

the

independent
am
inclined

existence

of

sub

permits
soul
and
of
to

each
think

is perfectly

gra

(ibid.,

p. 98).
11
Cf.
Ibid.,
p. 101.
time reference.
The unity
we
to what
in regard
call

acting.

united?

and

it as acting
in
. . .
The ultimate

also:

"The

called

man

truth

is that matter
is spirit
in space
is body when
you look at it as acting
the external
or soul when
it is mind
world;
you
to the ultimate
aim
and
ideal
of
such
regard
to the Qur'an,
is spiritual
and
Reality,
according

its life consists

in its temporal activity.

in

the material,
this
All

the

natural,
a profane
world.
self-realization

of

spirit"

the
immensity
(ibid.,

The spirit finds its opportunities

secular.

pp.

. . .

of matter
154-55).

There

is no

constitutes

such
a scope

thing
for

as
the

WH ITTEMORE
ROBERT

686

so also in Iqbal, philosophy

a philos
of nature becomes
Whitehead,
nature
in which
becomes
evolution
panpsychic
ophy of organism,
as a living, ever-growing
is to be "understood
whose
organism
ia
so also
As in Whitehead,
limits."
growth has no final external
is not simply blind, purposeless
life
in Iqbal, nature so understood
as ego in action,
it is through
unity,
but not in the sense of a fixed plan.

As

force.

teleological,

or the movement
of the universe
process,
we mean
a
of purpose,
if by purpose
to which
the whole
destination
creation

The world
ly devoid
off fixed

with
process
purpose
its creative
character.

the world
nality
that

and
it

idea

is

in character,

selective

fulfillment

present
To my

by

mind

nothing
the universe

that

I have

As

plan.

is

Quran

does

actively
is more
is

and

in time,
is certain
foreseen
end?a
far
moves.
To endow

is to rob

It is purposive
itself
brings

preserving
to
alien

the

sense

this

through

it of

its origi
sense

in this
only
to some
sort

of

and

the past.
supplementing
the
the Qur'anic
outlook
than
out of a preconceived
working

temporal
to the
the universe
out,
according
an
is a growing
and not
universe
of its maker
left the hand
which
ages ago,
to which
as a dead mass
of matter
in space

already
pointed
to increase.
It

liable

product
stretched

already
completed
and is now
lying
time

in
...

and

and

nothing,

consequently

is nothing.

(Ibid.,

p.

52)

as lacking deity?
to conceive
the universe
Are we,
therefore,
an
as
no
means.
movement
of
"The
life,
growth,
organic
By
Without
a progressive
of its various
involves
stages.
synthesis
it will cease
this synthesis
the
presence
by ends, and

It is determined

to be organic growth.
that
of ends means

it is permeated
by
level of cosmic unity

At the
(ibid., pp. 49-50).
intelligence"
as Ultimate
this intelligence must be conceived
Self,13 Divine Ego.
the source of the emergent,
in nature
Immanent
(ibid., p. 101),
"the first and the last, the visible
it is, in the words of the Qur'an,
and

What

invisible."
12
Ibid.,

p.

54.

for

Iqbal's
panpsychism
Persian
famed
mystic,

we

call Nature

It is, however,
is not
any

is but

important
thinker

a fleeting

to note
of

the

that
west

moment

the
but

in

inspiration
the
rather

as much
Re
in his
Rumi.
Iqbal
acknowledges
at length
and with
obvious
from Rumi's
construction,
approval
quoting
115 ff.
Mathnavi.
See especially
pp.
13
ultimate
directed
life.
"The
is a rationally
creative
To
reality
to fashion
is not
after
life as an ego
God
the image
this
of man.
interpret
It

is only
but

fluid,

to accept
the
an organizing

simple
principle

fact

of experience
that
of unity"
(ibid.,
p.

life
58).

is not

a formless

687

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

To know Nature is to have knowledge

of
its life (ibid., p. 53).
As character
is to the human
its behaviour
self,
(ibid., p. 54).
so is Nature
Self.
"In the picturesque
to this Divine
phrase of
is the habit of Allah"
it (Nature)
the Qur'an
(ibid.).
Reality
degrees

is,
of

therefore,
...

essentially
I have

spirit.
I must

spirit.
conceived

and
add now
that
Ego;
The
of
creative
energy
proceed.
are identical,
and
functions
thought
its details,
of matter

are
of course,
there
But,
as an
the Ultimate
Reality

from

from

the mechanical

the Ultimate
only
Ego
in whom
the Ultimate
Ego,
as ego-unities.
The world
we
movement
call the
of what

to the

free movement

of

in

thought

the

human

ego,

egos
deed
in all
atom
is

the

atom
of Divine
energy,
Every
But there are degrees
is an ego.
however
low in the scale of existence,
of being
in the expression
the entire
of egohood.
gamut
Throughout
its
reaches
runs
note
until
it
of
the gradually
perfec
egohood
rising
tion
in man.
(Ibid.,
pp. 67-68)
of

self-revelation

the

The

"Great

I am."

here

the relation of
is, of course,
to Omnipsyche.
finite
In Iqbal's
Ego, psyche
"The real question which we are called upon to answer
words,
is this: Does the universe
confront God as His 'other/ with
space
Him
and
between
it?" (ibid., p. 62).
intervening
Iqbal's answer
cosmological
ego to Ultimate

problem

as an
cannot be regarded
"The universe
to
in
Him"
"The
(ibid.).
reality standing
independent
opposition
...
to God.
is not an 'other' existing per se in opposition
universe
It is only when we look at the act of creation as a specific event
in the life-history of God that the universe appears as an independ
is an unqualified

"No."

of the all-inclusive
Ego there
standpoint
act
of knowing
In Him thought
and deed, the
and
are identical"
the act of creating,
(ibid., p. 73).
The scientific
for such a view Iqbal finds to lie
justification
in
the
of
"We cannot," he remarks
theory
implicit
relativity itself.
in his essay "The Self in the Light of Relativity,"
ent 'other.'
is no 'other.'

construe
absoluteness

From

the

ever-present
of what
would

externality
as
appears
contradict
the

to mean
external

the
to

total

the

self.
which

independence
an
Such

or
inter

discloses
its
very
principle
in view
of the principle
of relativity,
the object
If, then,
the subject
is really
there must
be some
relative,
confronting
self to
to exist as a confronting
it ceases
'other.'
whom
This
self must
be
pretation

relativity.

non-spatial,
non-temporal?Absolute,
...
cease
to exist as external.

to whom
To

the Absolute

what
Self,

is external
then,

must

the Universe

688

ROBERT
WH ITTEMORE
a reality
confronting
of His
consciousness,

is not
phase

Einstein

is quite

boundless.

It

right

is finite

a His

Him
a

fleeting

in saying
because

'other,'
moment

a passing
is only
His
infinite
life.

that the Universe

is a passing
and boundless

it

infinite
consciousness
extensively
of God
is intensively
infinite.
power
the same
truth
is that the Universe

it
of

phase.
because

is finite but
...

The Qur'anic
of
way
to increase.1*
is liable

of
the

God's

creative

expressing

This

is to say that God Himself

is liable to growth.
"The future
in
the
of God's creative life, but
organic whole
certainly pre-exists
not as a fixed order of events with
it exists as an open possibility,

definite

outlines."15

Is God then
the answer would
be so conceived.

If "perfection"
imperfect?
growth
precluded
have to be "Yes."
But "perfection"
need not
in the sense of a movement
from an
Change

to a relatively
state
is not,
imperfect
perfect
argues
Iqbal
the
form of life.
The
(Reconstruction,
p. 57),
only possible
Creative Self at any moment
of His existence possesses
the totality
of the universe,
of the achievement
hence is properly denominated
If creation is continuous,
the future open, the universe
"perfect."
then the perfect, surpasser of all others in that it includes
growing,
within
itself all Being
and value, may and must
surpass itself.1*
mean
Is God then infinite?
If by "infinity"
boundless
you
in
immeasurable
stretch
of
serial
space,
time, Iqbal's
immensity
answer

is

"No."

as infinite
cannot
be conceived
in the sense
of spatial
infinity.
mere
counts
In matters
of spiritual
valuation
for noth
immensity
. . .
are possibilities
and
time
of the Ego,
only
ing.
partially
Space
and
in the shape
time.
realized
of our mathematical
space
Beyond
nor
time
Him
and apart
from His
there
is neither
creative
activity,
God

14
1944),
chaos

In Bashir Ahmad Dar, A Study

pp. 397-98.
15
Reconstruction,
to cosmos
and

p. xvii);
formation.

"The

in Iqbal's Philosophy

(Lahore,

are
75.
Cf. also:
"We
from
gradually
travelling
in this achievement"
(Secrets
helpers
of the Self,
is not a completed
act:
it is still
in the course
of
be no complete
truth
about
the universe,
for the
p.

are

universe

can
There
universe
has not yet become
'whole'"
(ibid.,
"
The
of this viewpoint
has been
logic
sively

argued

by

Charles

Hartshorne

essay, "The Logic of Panentheism,"

especially pp. 506-08).

in his

p. xviii).
most
and persua
extensively
Vision
in his
Man's
of God and

in Philosophers

Speak of God

(see

689

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM
space

to close

Him

therefore,
the sense

off

in reference

in

off

neither

is,
in

infinite

to other
egos.
sense
of spatial
human
ego whose

The

reference
in the

of

Ultimate
nor

Ego
finite

infinity

the space-bound
him
closes
body
to other
The
of the Ultimate
egos.
Ego consists
infinity
in the infinite
inner possibilities
of which
the
of His
creative
activity
as known
a partial
to us,
In one word,
is only
universe,
expression.
an infinite
not extensive.
God's
is intensive,
It involves
series,
infinity
is not

but

that

series.17

It is not that series because for Iqbal, as for Bergson,

time is not
serial passage but pure duration,18 "an organic whole
in which
the
but is moving
and operating
past is not left behind,
along with,
in the present
Is God then in time?
Rather
it
(ibid., p. 47).
is that time like space, like change,
like Nature itself, is a function
of the character of God.
For God as Ultimate
as we have seen, the whole
of Reality.

(Absolute)

Ego

is,

as to take a perspective
view of an alien universe;
the phases
life are wholly
of His
determined
from within.
of a movement
an imperfect
in the sense
from
to
therefore,
Change,
a relatively
is obviously
to His
state, or vice versa,
perfect
inapplicable
life.
A deeper
into our conscious
that beneath
shows
insight
experience
of
the
serial
duration
there
is true
duration.
The
appearance
is not

He

so situated

consequently

Ultimate
Ego
a succession
as continuous

exists

in

duration
wherein
and
reveals
attitudes,
To the Creative
Self

pure

of

varying
...
creation.

change
its

ceases

to

be

true

character
mean
cannot

change
not
of the creative
in a
self consists,
perfection
...
in the vaster
conceived
it consists
mechanistically
immobility.
of His
creative
basis
of His
creative
and
the infinite
scope
activity
to be
not
of an ideal
life is self-revelation,
God's
the pursuit
vision.
mean
and may
does mean
reached.
The
of man
"not-yet"
pursuit
of the infinite
of God means
realization
the "not-yet"
failure;
unfailing
The

imperfection.

17
infinite
able
and

finite

extensions.
we
the moment

finite ego must

p.

61.
p.
cannot

Reconstruction,
extension
which

our

be distinct,

118).
18

in Reality.

nature

Its
fix

"Personally,
But real

Cf.
be

gaze

also:

"True

conceived

infinity

without

in
consists
on
intensity,

intensity
we
begin

to

all

inclined

time

is not

to think
serial

time

that

time

to which

is an

avail

extensity;
see that
the

though not isolated from the Infinite"

I am

mean

not

does

embracing
and not

essential

the distinction

(ibid.,
element

of past,
and
future
is essential;
it is pure
without
i.e.,
present,
duration,
change
. . . Serial
time
succession.
is pure duration
kind
pulverized
by thought?a
of device
its ceaseless
to quanti
creative
exposes
Reality
by which
activity
tative measurement.
It is in this sense
that the Qur'an
'And of Him
says:
"
of the night
is the change
and of the day'
(ibid.,
pp. 55-56).

WHITTEMORE
ROBERT

690
creative
out

the

of His being which

possibilities
entire
(Ibid.,
process.
p. 57)

retains

its wholeness

through

of pure reason it might

the standpoint
appear that we
one more
to do with merely
species of pantheism.
to
out
be the inevitable
admits pantheism
Indeed, Iqbal himself
come of a purely
intellectual
view of life (ibid., p. 58).
Yet if
From

have

here

Iqbal's God is at all identifiable

Iqbal intends Him to be?the

with

the Qur'anic Allah?and

unfolded
above
conception

such
cannot

to
How then is the "inevitable outcome"
possibly be pantheistic.
The answer to this question
be avoided?
is at once an answer to
as to how we come to know God.19
As Iqbal sees
the question
answer
we
to
sole
this
latter
is
know God by
the
that
it,
possible
a
as
not
to
which
is
be
conceived
intuition,20
faculty of knowledge
from reason or perception,
distinct
but rather as a
qualitatively
at every level.
Thus while
intuition
implicit in cognition
quality
for as
this is not to imply that it is purely subjective,
is feeling,
shown, feeling itself reveals cognitive
is so we have,
Iqbal suggests, merely
And
to reflect on the character of our knowledge
of our own self.
as it is at the level of the finite self so is it at all levels.
Man rises
of life as
of self to the awareness
in intuition
from the discovery
of God
to
the
rises
intuitive
finally
experience
centralizing
ego,21
as
as universal,
Ibn
For
for
telic power.
Arabi,
Iqbal
unifying,

Bradley
content.

19
existence

and Whitehead
To see that

"Scholastic
of

God.

have

this

has
forward
three
for
put
arguments
Philosophy
as
These
known
the Cosmological,
arguments,
a real movement
the Ontological,
of thought
embody

the
the

and
in
Teleological,
as logical
after
I am afraid
the Absolute.
But
its quest
regarded
proofs,
a rather
to serious
and
criticism
further
they are open
betray
superficial
reason
of experience"
The
for their
failure
(ibid.,
p. 27).
interpretation
as an agency
of view,
"that
look upon
is, from Iqbal's
point
they
'thought'
us a mere
on things
from without.
This
view
of thought
working
gives
an unbridgeable
the
in the one case,
and creates
between
mechanism
gulf
this
It is precisely
because
ideal and the real in the other"
(ibid.,
p. 30).
forms
ideal
and
real cannot
be admitted
between
that all scholastic
gulf
an element
involve
of speciousness.
for God must
of argumentation
20
see Ishrat
a detailed
of intuition
For
account
of Iqbal's
conception
19 ff.
The Metaphysics
Hasan
1944),
Enver,
(Lahore,
pp.
of Iqbal
21
sees
also:
Cf.
"The world-life
Reconstruction,
p. 58.
intuitively
moments
defines
direction"
and at critical
its own
its own
needs,
(ibid.,
p.

140).

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

691

"God is a percept;
the world is a concept"
(ibid., p. 173) ; for Iqbal
as for Bergson,
and Whitehead,
the Ultimate
is known
Bradley,
because
because
intuited.
the
felt, believed
Strictly
speaking,
leads to this gnosis is not a conceptually manage
experience which
able intellectual
on
fact; it is a vital fact, an attitude consequent
an inner biological
transformation
cannot be captured
which
in a
of logical categories
Whitehead
calls
it
"transmuta
(ibid.).
it is what we mean
For Bradley
in speaking of the trans
tion."

net

formation
relational

involved in the passage from the relational

to the supra
it h, none
level of experience.
Whatever
it is named,
that quality of experience which
leads the self beyond the

theless,
intellectual

with
of

its inevitable
that

pantheism
for
which,
of the meaning

attitude

possession
come to the realization

to complete
itself
is
religion.22
Iqbal,
and

in the
To

of
significance
to see for once

this
and

level of experience
is, Iqbal thinks,
religious
as a theological
of pantheism
all the inadequacy
description.
We have seen that for Iqbal the relation of finite to Infinite
"true infinite does not exclude the finite,"
Ego is one in which
the finite without
but rather "embraces
its finitude,"
and
effacing
in so doing "explains and justifies its being
(ibid., pp. 27-28)?
in all its details, from the mechan
is to say that "the world
to the free
of what we call the atom of matter
is
of
movement
in the human
of thought
the
self-revelation
ego,
which

ical movement

it is
the 'great I am'" (ibid., pp. 67-68).
either way,
Expressed
clear that Iqbal does not intend that the Infinite be regarded merely
as an abstract totality of unites.
In both forms, the notion of a
its parts

transcending
is not
conception

unity

22

is defined

Religion
ultimate

of

principle

own

personality"
manifestations

pantheism

is

value

(ibid.,
neither

is plainly implied.
but panentheism,

as "a deliberate
by Iqbal
to reintegrate
and
thereby
pp.

So

178-79).

dogma,

nor

defined,

priesthood,
it is neither

In short,

Iqbal's

understanding

to
enterprise
the forces
religion
nor

seize
of

by

the
one's

"in

its higher
(ibid.).
nor
thought,

ritual"

mere
a departmental
is not
affair;
"Religion
man"
nor mere
it is an expression
of the whole
mere
action;
feeling,
life [is] the reconstruction
aim of the religious
"The ultimate
p. 2).
(ibid.,
an eternal
with
into contact
him
of the finite
life-process,
ego by bringing
a
we
can have
a metaphysical
status
of which
him
and
thus giving
only
envi
of our present
in the half-choking
atmosphere
understanding
partial
ronment"
(ibid.,
p. 183).

ROBERT
WH ?TTEMORE

692

To

this we

confirm

occupied
no point
terms

featureless

of

from
nature

have

in Iqbal's thought
in his philosophy

is not

the world

that
"the doctrine
nor
separate
(pantheism),
in His divine
who
(theism),
latter

this

with

but

(deism),
it."23
transcends

to look

but

identical

God

God

in God

to the central

position
of the Individual.
At
in
the Absolute
describe

the notion

by
does

Iqbal
God is always
"Ultimate
As regards the character

Ego,"
of the
"Omnipsyche."
in terms of selves or egos.
is throughout
the description
finite,
is always plural.
Even in his doctrine of transfor
The reference
at pains to stress his conviction
is
mation
(transmutation)
Iqbal
"Creative

totality.24

Self,"

"The
in time nor eternity lost in God.
of
from
the
limitations
quest
emancipation
a
more
on
definition
the
other
it
hand,
is,
precise
individuality;
of it" (ibid., p. 187; see also pp. 91, 94).
cannot be pan
is plural,
this doctrine
Because
individuality
no
outside of God there is
there is
because
theistic;
individual,
that the individual

is neither

is not

end of the ego's

that
is meaningless.
It is theistic to the degree
connotes
It
because
is
panentheistic
personality.
individuality
not other
than that
while
to it God as individual,
according
than the sum of egos
is His physical being,
is more
universe which
To those who
is composed.
of which
this universe
and sub-egos
deism

nothing,

23

Funk

and WagnalVs
Standard
Panentheism
Unabridged
Dictionary.
defined
differs
from
in that
theism
it either
the
leaves
(1)
open
as to whether
as personal
God
is to be conceived
theistic
(the
question
or as non-personal,
or a-personal,
or it (2)
the
leaves
open
viewpoint),
as such.
of "Person,"
definition
is defined
that God
assuming
24
on the view
in his Gifford
Lectures
Commenting
by Farnell
espoused
as here

on

the

that

the history
individualistic

an
some
that

vague,
Farnell

modes
in

so

Farnell's
as
now

attributes

light,
be

of
far

of
of

vast,
has

thought
as the

Iqbal

remarks

thought
of the

"It may,
be said
that,
however,
of escape
from
discloses
various
ways

as
which
ultimate
is conceived
Reality
conception
as light.
and pervasive
such
This
is the view
element
...
reveals
I agree
that
of religion
taken.
the history
to think
that
but I venture
that tend towards
pantheism;

of God with
identification
. . .
the
I think
Personally,
in the revealed
literature
of Judaism,
Christianity,
. . . The
of
interpreted
differently.
metaphor
view

Qur'anic
is incorrect.

in view
God, must,
of God and
luteness
theistic

God,
religious

interpretation"

of modern
not

His

be

knowledge,

Omnipresence

(Reconstruction,

taken

which
pp.

64-65).

easily

to

is concerned
light
of God
description
and Islam, must
as applied
to
light
the Abso
suggest
to pan
itself
lends

693

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

thus far, this concern to establish Iqbal's

followed the exposition
as
seem
to border on labouring the obvious.
view
may
panentheism
is necessary
if only for the reason that at least
Yet such labouring

have

interpreter of Iqbal's thought has seen fit to deny that Iqbal's

is panentheism
"Either the Ultimate
because,
Ego holds the
or He holds them in His Being.
finite egos in His Imagination;
one

view

is panentheistic.
alternative
Iqbal would not hold it; it
The
is not justified by the facts of our experience of our own self.
a
as
of
creation
of
the
if
God
human
ego,
imagination
regarded
25
no more
than imaginary."
If this is
only, would be lifeless and
we
means
I
the
admit
then
what panentheism
must,
think,
really
The first

to the
respect
the
it would
author,
badly misconceived
it
be
term.
However
of
the
defined,
panen
variously
meaning
of the finite in God's
the holding
theism has never meant merely
no
stature has
of
least
At
philosophical
panentheist
imagination.
ever so maintained.
Of course, to hold that God (before creation)
after creation, He
that finite in His imagination
which,
possesses
of

soundness

the

But with
argument.
appear that he has here

all due

for any theist who

doctrine
is orthodox
being,
ex
But
nihilo.
the dogma of creation
maintains
Iqbal does not
as the holding
to
define panentheism
seem to accept this dogma,26 and
no
more
than an alter
of the finite in God's being appears to be
holds

in His

also

the definition we have already adopted

of expressing
be
If
such
692
so, then Enver's summary of Iqbal's
above).
(see p.
God and the universe
of
the
relation
of
expresses
conception
to de
we have
all along been concerned
view
that
precisely
native manner

i.e.,

lineate,

we must
own
must

hold

85

Ishrat
a* Enver,
The reservation

of

that the Ultimate

The
Hasan,
is necessary,

creation"

"continuous

claims is essentially Islamic

orthodoxy,

which
On

compatible.
Islamic
religious
would
architects

the finite

Ego holds

their
existence.
obliterating
as of the nature
of the self.

without
Being
be regarded

Metaphysics
because

(Reconstruction,

of
while
pp.

egos in His

The

Ultimate

But

further

Iqbal,
Iqbal
47-49,

Reality
this self

p. 72.
to a doctrine
holds
which

97-98),

(ibid., p. 131), it is doubtful whether

ex nihilo,
creation
would
find
accepts
it may
this point
well
be
that
Iqbal
more
somewhat
thought
extensively
care
to acknowledge.

the
has
than

two

doctrines

reconstructed
the

he

Islamic

original

ROBERT
WHITTEMORE

694
not

does

lie
Him

between

transcendent,
is immanent,

as if separated
the universe,
from
apart
by a space
lying
and ourselves.
The
Ultimate
is not
Self,
therefore,
as is conceived
the anthropomorphic
He
theists.
by
for He comprehends
and encompasses
universe.
the whole

in the sense of the pantheists

of the traditional
He is not immanent
. . .
an
is a personal
and not
because
He
type,
reality.
impersonal
and yet neither
the
immanent
and
transcendent
He
is in short
both,
are true of
one nor
and
transcendence
the other.
Both
immanence
But

the Ultimate
Ultimate

Ego

Reality.
rather

But
than

Iqbal
emphasizes
His
immanence.

the
(Op.

of

transcendence
cit.,

pp.

the

72-73)

III
in one motion
the Absolute
of cosmology
Person of monotheism
has remarked,
is, as James Ward
lem for twentieth
century philosophers.
By and large
like Hegel, Bradley,
shirked it?some,
and Alexander,
by
to the virtual exclusion
of the Person;
ing the Absolute
such as the Scholastics
and the Christian
Existentialists,
To unite

with

the

the prob
they have
emphasiz
others,
by exalt

to a degree beyond which

committed
philosophers
reasoned
assent.
could
A small
give
approach
are
names
come
which
Whitehead,
Hartshorne,
group?Berdyaev,
on.
to mind?have
met
head
To this last group
the problem
must now be added the name of Iqbal.
In a sense, the task that Iqbal has set himself
is even more
difficult
than that attempted
named
these
last
for
thinkers,
by
to
has
not
the
of
sought
Iqbal
accomplish
personalization
merely
as to render his concep
but to do so in such manner
the Absolute,
ing the Person
to a coherently

and spirit to the teaching of the Qur'an.

has for far too many
like
centuries
Islam,
Christianity,
a
an
been dominated
this is
under
scholasticism,
dogmatic
by
than it need have been.
greater
taking of somewhat
difficulty
and theologians
of the
for Iqbal, as for many philosophers
Hence,
must
of
revivification
with
the
west,
any
religion
begin
recognition
a divinely
sanc
far from constituting
that the scholastic
outlook,
tion

true

in character

Because

a philosophical
and theological
straitjacket
if
must
divested
to
be
it is to live.
religion
Applied
a
means
of
the
Islam this
reinterpretation
teaching
panentheistic
to
and throughout
his work
of the Qur'an,
Iqbal is concerned
tioned

of which

truth,

is rather

695

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM
that

show

this

"reconstruction"
comes

clear

is not
teaching
simply harmonious
it. This, he
but actually
requires

when

we

to

stop

the

consider

nature

and

in juxtaposition
envisaged
by the Qur'an
view of God which has been set forth above.
be Person
is evident
Now that Ultimate
Ego must
of the Person

with

his

thinks,

be

character

with
from

the
the

If the universe
scheme itself.
of Iqbal's cosmological
implications
as to consist
in an infinity of sub-egos unified
is so constituted
into egos, in turn unified
into an all-inclusive
ego, then it makes
no sense to speak of this last as simply an all-pervasive
life-force,
for life, taking as it does the form of ego, implies individuality
by
we have regard to ego as
this very act, and this is so whether
is
If God is Ego,
finite or as all-inclusive
Self, God
infinity.
Person.

one

So much

might
to be resolved

admit.

But

the heart

of the matter

re

it is not

at all self-evident
that Iqbal's
are one and the same.
idea of "Person" and that of the Qur'an
For while scholars, Muslim and non-Muslim
alike, seem to be more
or less agreed that Allah
is to be thought of as operatively
im
in this world,
manent
both Sunnite orthodoxy
and concrete
and
a creator God and
of the Qur'an
itself describe
the language
mains

since

seems a
taken literally,
and terrestrial hierarchy
celestial
which,
far remove from Iqbal's Creative
Self in process.
Is the Qur'an
then to be taken literally?
say no, for as it is in
Iqbal would
so
of the possibility
here
of
the
also,
presupposition
Christianity,
between Scripture and philosophy
is the recogni
any reconciliation
in all
tion that Scripture need not, indeed cannot, be understood
or
terms.
literalist
Of
in
fundamentalist
the
its parts
course,
or
non
of
the propriety
final word
any
regarding
orthodoxy
left to the Qur'anic
ismost properly
theolo
literalist interpretation
gians.
Ego

We only note here Iqbal's claim that Allah

as one and the same.
are to be understood

and Ultimate

is to be found
for such an assertion
religious warrant
of Creation.
As noted above
the Islamic notion
by considering
(see p. 686) Iqbal takes this notion to mean not that single act with
and continuing
which
the past began but rather a continuous
proc
The

ess

in time.

Prophet

And

for support
"do not

has declared,

he cites
vilify

that hadith

time,

for time

in which
is God"

the
(fie

ROBERT
WHITTEMORE

696
construction
[Lahore edition],
is of immense
tion of Creation
For

if Creation

be conceived

such a reinterpreta
for
is obvious.
importance
religion
as the continuous
and ful
unfolding
p.

11).

That

open for His

possibilities
by God in time of the unlimited
as orthodoxy
has it, the making
of \
realization
rather than,
as
finished
outstretched
in
His
God
space, confronting
product
as
doctrines
then such specifically
"other,"
religious
immortality
evil and destiny,
take on a new and reasonable
and resurrection,

fillment

of relating God to the universe

and
the classic problems
character,
free from paradox.
creation to evolution admit at last of explanation
If creation
Consider
is continuing
progress,
immortality.
in the making,
cannot be
then immortality
God and the universe
inalienable
It
man's
his
cannot be
faith.
right guaranteed
by
by
a static condition
to be achieved
in an eternity of
and enjoyed
as Iqbal never wearies
of pointing
restful glory.
On the contrary,
or disci
the ego for dissolution,
"It is the deed that prepares
The principle of the ego-sustaining
plines him for a future career.
as well as in others.
deed is respect for the ego in myself
Personal
ours
as
is
to
is
not
it
of
be
achieved
then,
right;
by
immortality,
Man is only a candidate
for it. . . . The ego
effort.
personal
must
to struggle until he is able to gather himself
continue
up,
to note
and win his resurrection"
It is important
(ibid., p. 114).
is not one which
that this "struggle"
culminates
with
death:
"... death, if present action has sufficiently
fortified the ego against
the shock that physical dissolution
is only a kind of passage
brings,
out,

to what

ness

the

Qur'an

characterized

describes

as

'Barzakh'

...

state

of

conscious

by a change

in the ego's attitude towards time

and space" (ibid., p. 113).
Just what
this "state" or "change"
as Iqbal
consists
in can hardly be precisely
defined.
However,
as
not
to
a
it
is
be
state of
it,
regarded
interprets
merely
passive
state
a
Rather
is
"a
in
it
which
catches
the
ego
expectation.
glimpse
of fresh aspects of Reality,
and prepares himself
for adjustment
to

these

external

aspects.

event.

. . . The

resurrection,

therefore,

is

not

an

of a life process within

the ego" (ibid., p. 114).
In sum, that ego is worthy
of immortal
even
which
itself
in
the
face
of
preserves
ity
death, and passing
death
to
in
"Barzakh"
still
maintains
its ten
"Barzakh,"
through
sion in the face of Judgement.
no
Notice
that there is here
ques
It is the consummation

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM

697

tion of an "original
sin" inhibiting man's
attainment
no
On Iqbal's view there is
need for "Grace."

of the goal.

Sin or evil, as Iqbal sees it, is not something

which
hangs
as a curse which
over mankind
can
God
in
His
infinite
mercy
only
be met and mastered
lift. Rather
is it a challenge?to
each
by
Had we known not evil, we could not, he
acting in his own way.
if evil did not present
itself as a factor
thinks, recognize
good;
not have opportunity
to be overcome,
to achieve the
ego would
of it.
demanded
both as regards
Iqbal's viewpoint,
individuality
to
mind
calls
evil and immortality,
of
the
meliorism
inevitably
as
indeed
William
it
intends
that
James,"
should,
Iqbal apparently
to the conviction
for he adapts James's
of Islam when
language
he remarks apropos of evil and immortality
"The
that,
teaching of
in the possibility
of improvement
the Qur'an, which
believes
in
of man and his control over natural forces, is neither
the behaviour
nor pessimism.
a
It is meliorism,
which
recognizes
optimism
eventual
by the hope of man's
cit.,
p.
77).
(op.
victory
we must not allow the melioristic
character of Iqbal's
Withal,
to
obscure
of these doctrines
the fact that his
reinterpretation
At every point
work
is, from first to last, the work of a muslim.2*
that his teaching
is in all
he is at pains to indicate his conviction
and
with
the
the
of
harmonious
Qur'an.
spirit
teaching
respects
from a standpoint
within
Islam.
He speaks and writes
always
to be a philosophic
Thus, if in the sequel we find his reconstruction
growing

and is animated

universe
over evil"

the world
of Islam, we must
remember
transcending
importance
rather than
that in one sense at least it is in spite of his standpoint
because of it.

17

It is obvious

Pragmatism.
38
This
from

is most

Jawab-i-Shikwah
To my
And
The
My

that Iqbal here has

apparent
(p. 36)

Muhammad
thou

world
Pen

in his

in mind

poetry,

as,

Chapter 5 of James's
for

:
be

but

true

me.
conquered
is naught;
thou
shalt
hast

of Destiny.

command

instance,

these

lines

ROBERT
WH ITTEMORE

698

IV
is One, that this universe
its nature)
is
(whatever
a
or
it
and
better
that
has
(for
worse)
by purpose,
and value, that this value is evidenced
character
by the
positive
man
in Scripture?in
these convictions
Islam
testimony of God to
of the west find common
To ascribe,
and the religions
ground.
an extra-Islamic
to Iqbal's
is to
therefore,
significance
thought
That God

animated

in important measure
contributes
to the
that his viewpoint
of these common
not
and understanding
clarification
convictions,
as
as
internal
but
their
coherence
their
har
regards
regards
only
as well.
with
secular knowledge
monization
claim

of God as Absolute
The conception
it, in fact, do this?
to the religious
of the
sensibilities
its offense
Ego, whatever
it gives
concrete meaning
this much:
and
achieves
orthodox,
con
to
that
God
belief
love.
man's
cherished
The
is
plausibility
as the realization by Self of value and character,
ception of purpose
Does

in the eyes of materialists,

this much:
achieves
dubious
of all things to God, and of God to all
the relatedness
it explains
as to avoid the insoluble
in such manner
para
theological
things,
of God as simple,
in the scholastic
doxes inherent
im
conception
non-reflexive
mutable,
perfection.
however

to old
to say that Iqbal has given new plausible meaning
For in showing
to state half the case.
but
is
doctrine
paradoxical
and hence that
that nature and spirit are not alien to one another,
for the man of religion to say no to his environ
it is not necessary
con
the way to a solution of the perennial
he has pointed
ment,
a
solution
whose
and
between
flict
science, philosophy,
religion,
that, "The scientific and religious processes
key is the recognition
Both are really descriptions
are in a sense parallel to each other.
this difference
of the same world, with
only that in the scientific
Yet

whereas
in
is necessarily
the ego's standpoint
exclusive,
process
its
tendencies
the
the religious
ego integrates
competing
process
in a kind of
a single
attitude
inclusive
and develops
resulting
to phil
his
of
Applied
experiences."
transfiguration
synthetic
on
in
"While
to
is
this
sitting
judgement
say that,
osophy,
an
its
in
inferior
cannot
place
give religion
religion,
philosophy

699

IQBAL'SPANENTHEISM
is not a departmental
Religion
nor
mere
feeling, nor mere
thought,
.. . Nor is there
man.
of the whole

it is neither mere
it is an expression
action;
reason
to suppose that
any
to
other.
each
opposed
They

data.

thought
spring
measure

affair;

and intuition are essentially

the same root and complement
to western
of Iqbal's contribution

from

each

other."
is,

The
in large
of the

thought
in showing
that the proper understanding
and science will be
and relation of religion,
philosophy,
meaning
men
come
to
realize
that
each is only a
when
attained
only
a
lack
of
for
which
but
the
Reality would
perspective,
perspective
be the less.
part, his

success

Tulane

University.