Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Iqbal - The great Philospher, Poet and Visionary

i was enjoying my favourite pastime - just switching the channels - when i came across TheMusic. some street show was on air and the host was wandering the streets with a "complex" question of "who is the author of kulyaat e iqbal?". i just laughed at the simplicity and triviality of the question, and remembered a blond joke:

a blonde asked someone: "if u tell me whats in this basket, u'll get all the eggs in it. and if u tell the number of eggs in the basket, then all of the twelve eggs will be yours"
and that someone, who happened to be a blonde too, replied after pondering over the question: "give me some hint please!!"

anyways, i was about to switch the channel when someone answered "ghalib", and i stopped. the screen flashed and another person replied "Ahmad Faraz". the screen kept flashing, and kept astonishing me. many asked in reply that what is kulyaat e iqbal. i just sat there, with my eyes transfixed on the TV screen and my jaws wide open. i could not believe it. PAKISTANIs did not know what is kulyaat e iqbal?? PAKISTANIs did not know who is the author of kulyaat e iqbal?? answering the question needed just a bit of common sense, and just slighetest of the knowledge of Pakistan's history. what happened to this nation?? how easily we forgot the conceiver of the whole idea of Pakistan?? what we've been teaching in schools?? i remember in my times, Iqbal was an essential part of every class from first to 12th. then what happened?? was the syllabus changed in order to "align it with modern needs"? or is it because of foreign educational systems?? if today they dont know what is kulyaat e Iqbal, tomorrow they wont even know who is Iqbal!! this is depressing i must say! had Iqbal been alive to see this day, he must've died watching that program!!
we MUST NOT forget the people who gave us this country. we MUST NOT forget our ancestors, for following their teachings can lead us to honor. and surely enough, its the ignorance of their teachings which has lead us to see this day. Iqbal said:

meray kaa'bay ko jabeenoon say sjaaya kis nay??
meray qur'aan ko seenay say lgaaya kis nay??
no e insaan ko ghulaami say churraya kis nay??
thay tou aaba woh tumhaaray hee magar tum kia ho??
haath per haath dhray muntazir e frda ho

2 comments:

Sameer Durrani said...

but...the question is... Who really wrote Kilyat-e-Iqbal...???

Dangling Pointer said...

ask ali bhai!! :D