The piece quotes Iqbal’s verses out of context and then draws far-fetched and illogical conclusions.
LAHORE: This is with reference to Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article of February 9 titled “Why Sir Syed loses and Allama Iqbal wins in Pakistan”. The article is a simplistic, parochial and illogical reinterpretation of Iqbal as an icon for conservatives, where the term ‘conservative’ is used pejoratively. The writer paints Iqbal as someone who did not favour science and modernity as opposed to Sir Syed.
The piece quotes Iqbal’s verses out of context and then draws far-fetched and illogical conclusions. The professor’s take on Iqbal’s concept of khudi and Iqbal’s position, or lack of it, on miracles, is hilarious to even a casual reader of Iqbal. The underlying current of the article is to advocate a rational or materialistic approach to reality; and to do so at the expense of such a modern and thoroughly rational great thinker as Iqbal is indeed most irrational and in bad taste.
Atif Alvi, PhD,
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
UET
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2013.
