Javid Iqbal

My Father (Late)

Introduction

Dr. Javid Iqbal (5 October 1924 – 3 October 2015) was a Pakistani philosopher/intellectual, Judge of Lahore High Court (1971-82), Chief Justice of Lahore High Court (1982-86), Judge Supreme Court of Pakistan (1986-89), Member, Senate of Pakistan (1994-99), and Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Culture and National Heritage (1997-99). He was internationally known for his acclaimed publications on philosophy of law and modern Islamic philosophy . He was the son of Pakistan’s poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who presented the idea of Pakistan in his famous address at Allahabad in 1932.  Javid authored various books on Pakistan’s nationalist movement and political ideology. Javid Iqbal was born in Sialkot  to Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s second wife, Sardar Begum. His mother died in 1935 when he was 11, and his father died in 1938 when he was 14.

Degrees and Distinctions

Javid Iqbal received the following degrees, distinctions, and awards:

• BA (Honors) degree from Government College, Lahore in 1944;
• MA degree in English, and MA degree in Philosophy (Gold Medalist) from University of Punjab in 1948;
• Doctorate of Philosophy on Muslim Political Philosophy in the Subcontinent from University of Cambridge in 1954;
• Barrister-at-Law, Lincoln’s Inn, London, in 1956.
• President, Lahore High Court Bar Association, in 1968.
• Literary Award of Excellence from the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 1981.
• Honorific from Yarmouk University, Jordan, in 1988.
• Honorary Doctorate from Villanova University, USA, in 1989.
• Honorary Doctorate from Seljuk University, Turkey, in 1992.
• Awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Crescent of Distinction) by the President of Pakistan in 2004.
• Awarded Highest Award of Recognition by the Royal Jordanian Court of King Abdullah II for Services to Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute.

Politics, Travels, and Published Works

Javid Iqbal published innumerable papers in national and international journals on Islamic political thought, Pakistan’s political ideology, and the philosophy of his father, Allama Muhammad Iqbal. During the years 1960–62, 1977, and 1999 he was the delegate of Pakistan to the United Nations General Assembly. He had argued in favour of reforms in the Hudood laws of Pakistan during the rule General Zia Ul-Haq (1977-88). Javid contested a National Assembly seat against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on a Pakistan Muslim League ticket in Pakistan’s first General Election in 1970 , but eventually decided to leave politics. At one time, he even declined Bhutto’s offer to him to join Pakistan Peoples Party.

His multifaceted life enjoyed a vast international dimension as well.  For nearly six decades, Javid travelled across the globe to participate in conferences, seminars, assemblies, and colloquia, making far-reaching contributions in the fields of Islamic culture, modernist jurisprudence, the ideology of Pakistan, democracy and human rights, and interfaith harmony.

Javid got married in 1964 to Nasira Iqbal, now a former Lahore High Court Judge.

Some of the renowned books that Javid Iqbal authored or compiled are the following:

1. Ideology of Pakistan  — (1959)
2. Stray Reflections: A Note-Book of Allama Iqbal — (1961)
3. Legacy of Quaid-e-Azam (Published in English and Urdu) — (1968)
4. Mai Lala Faam (A collection of Urdu papers on Allama Iqbal) — (1968)
5. Zinda Rood (An authoritative Urdu biography of Allama Iqbal in three volumes) — (1979)
6. Apna Grebaan Chaak (Autobiography in Urdu) — (2002)
7. Islam and Pakistan’s Identity — (2003)
8. Khutbaat-e-Iqbal: Tas-heel o Tafheem (An explanatory translation of Allama Iqbal’s reconstruction lectures) — (2008)

Death and legacy

Javid Iqbal died on 3 October 2015, just three days shy of his 91st birthday. He was then under treatment at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore. His survivors include his widow Nasira Iqbal and two sons – Munib Iqbal and Senator Walid Iqbal. Javid Iqbal’s funeral in Gulberg, Lahore, and his burial at Hazrat Eishan graveyard at Baghbanpura, Lahore, was attended by many Pakistani dignitaries including Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, former President of Pakistan Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, Governor of Punjab Rafique Rajwana, Federal Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Manzoor Ahmed, former Governor of Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar, and MNA Shafqat Mahmood.

Allama Iqbal on his son

Javid’s father, Allama Iqbal, named his epic Persian work, Javid Nama, after his illustrious son. Allama also wrote many poems addressed to Javid Iqbal, indirectly addressing the Muslim youth across the world. Javid Iqbal later translated two of Allama Iqbal’s works into Urdu – Javid Nama and Lectures on Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Here is a translation of a short poem of Allama Iqbal called Javid Kay Naam (To Javid) published in the famous Urdu work Baal-i-Jibril (Gabriel’s Wing)

TO JAVID

(On Receiving His First Handwritten Letter in London)

Create a place for thyself in the world of love;

Create a new age, new days, and new nights.

If God grant thee an eye for nature’s beauty,

Converse with the silence of flowers; respond to their love.

Do not be beholden to the West’s artisans,

Seek thy sustenance in what thy land affords.

My ghazal is the essence of my life-blood,

Create thy elixir of life out of its essence.

My way of life is poverty, not the pursuit of wealth;

Barter not thy Selfhood; win a name in adversity.

Please recite dua for my deceased father: 

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِجَاوِيْد إِقْبَال وَارْفَعْ دَرَجَتَهُ فِي الْمَهْدِيِّينَ وَاخْلُفْهُ فِي عَقِبِهِ فِي الْغَابِرِينَ وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلَهُ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَأَفْسِحْ لَهُ فِي قَبْرِهِ وَنَوِّرْ لَهُ فِيهِ