How do the Teachings of Sultan Bahoo Contribute to the Achievement of a Spiritual Democracy as Espoused in the Philosoph

2. How do the Teachings of Sultan Bahoo Contribute to the Achievement of a Spiritual Democracy as Espoused in the Philosophy of Allama Iqbal? Iqbal deals with the idea of Islam as a social movement for the basis of a structure of State and social society in his sixth lecture in ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ titled ‘The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam’. In order to understand fully this structure that Islam aims to create, it is pertinent to first understand how Allama Iqbal views Islam as a movement in its essential nature. And what problems have been faced by Muslims in the past in being unable to achieve that with a view to those elements which would fulfill the said deficiencies. It is also important to bear in mind the fact that Iqbal does not wish to present an alternate view of Islam but only what he recognizes as the practical manifestation of the true spirit of the Quran. To begin with, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal defines the cultural movement of Islam as ‘an emotional system of unification’. Emotional here does not mean erratic and sentimental but signifies its classification as a system which deals primarily with the control of or access to deeper human faculties of cognition and comprehension beyond the physical senses. For Iqbal and Sultan Bahoo as we shall later see, the nexus of reason and emotion is a complementary pair not meant to be opposites challenging one another. This system is unifying by virtue of its recognition of the centrality of the Human Individual as its mode. This, in turn, relies upon a ‘perception that all human life is spiritual in its origin’. This is the conceptual phase of Iqbal’s ideology.

3. These two elements are central to the spiritual concept of the Quran and the teachings of Sultan Bahoo (RA). As for the Human Individual, the holy Prophet declared: ﮧﺗرﻮﺻ�ﻋمدآﷲﻖﻠﺧ Allah created Adam in His Own Image Sultan Bahoo adds to this by declaring, “Adam (AS) is Human. He who reaches the stature of Adam (AS) is Human. If someone asks if the children of Adam are capable of reaching his stature, then it is possible as per the verse: [5] مدآ نیﺑ ﺎﻨﻣﺮﮐ ﺪﻘﻟ And we have also honored the children of Adam” The second element deals with the understanding that all human life is spiritual in its origin. Sultan Bahoo’s explanation of the origin of Humanity in the World of the Spirit (Aalim-e- Lahoot) explains in detail how all souls were once in union before Allah, as the Quran reminds: ﺎﻧﺪﮭﺷ ﻼب ﻮﻟﺎﻗ؟ﻢک��ﺑﺖﺴﻟا Am I not your Lord? Verily, we testify!

4. This conception of the Human Self as the reflection of Allah is central to the understanding of the place of an individual in Islam and Sultan Bahoo guides his followers towards this very purpose i.e. the actualization of the Human potential of perfection which is based upon the common spiritual origin of mankind. This is the concept upon which, as per Iqbal, Islam’s notion of unification entirely depends. As the Prophet (PBUH) said: ﮧ�رفﺮﻋ ﺪﻘﻓﮧﺴﻔﻧﻒﻠﻋﻦﻣ He who recognizes his Self recognizes his Lord. After having established the concept of Islam and its essential features, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal goes on to analyze how to establish a living factor of this principle of the emotional and intellectual life of mankind. He identifies the principle of Tauhid (oneness) as the practical means of achieving this. Tauhid demands loyalty to Allah above all else. And because Allah is Himself the spiritual basis of all life, loyalty to Him amounts to Man’s loyalty to his own ideal, actualized nature.

5. The teachings of Sultan Bahoo reveal the demands of Tauhid. It is a negation of everything but Allah whether in an understanding of existence, purpose, aim or desire. Throughout his writings, he repeatedly makes reference to the phrase:سﻮﮬﷲیﻮﺳ ﺎﻣﺲ�ﷲ On a plane of concept and belief, this is an expression of the idea of wahdat ul wajood, the unity of existence but in reference to Tauhid as a matter of practice, it establishes the concept of Wahdat ul Maqsood or the unity of purpose. Sultan Bahoo explains that Humans fulfill their purpose only when their aim or desire, Talab ﺐﻠﻃ is of Allah. He regards all strife and pursuit of the pleasures of this world and the next, besides the desire to find Allah, to be vain. It must be established here that this is not a call to asceticism. He clarifies in his book Ainu ul Faqr that the Human self is like a boat floating on the waters of the world. That is how it is to travel but to never allow the water to enter the boat itself. This is the achievement in the practice of Tauhid as Iqbal sees it for the foundation of ‘world unity’. Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal also states that the expression of the spiritual basis of life reveals itself in variety and change. The mobility of these ultimate principles is achieved through Ijtihad an important source of Islamic law. Before considering what this Ijtihad consists of, it is important to see why Iqbal believes that the Muslim world has suffered ‘the Immobility of Islam in the past 500 years’. His first identification is the conflict that arose with a misunderstanding of Rationalism after the theological schisms of the Abbasid era. This led to the opposition to Rationalism to preserve the social integrity of Islam through making the structure of the legal system of the Sharia as rigorous as possible. Iqbal sympathizes that this misunderstanding caused the need at the time for doing so but does not present an alternate recourse to how this balance with Rationalism ought to be achieved.