By Dr Jasbir Singh Sarna
Dr Iqbal was a native of Sialkot (Punjab) and ancestry Kashmiri.People also addresses him with titles/names like Sir, Hakim-ul-Umat, Shaire-Mushrik, Tarjumane-Haqiqat etc.He ascended to the land of the five rivers and his poetry reached the pinnacle of development in the waters of this land. Although Iqbal’s critics did not form a good opinion of his Islamic poetry but some critics still consider him a “Typical Punjabi”.
Dr Iqbal was not only a renowned poet of the Asian continent but his name is held in high esteem all over the world.The great critic and novelist Forester mentioned in his book “Iqbal has written poetry in Punjabi in addition to Urdu and Persian.”Dr.Iqbal’s Punjabi poem, which he wrote in the name of his son Javad (Babba) has been obtained from the ‘Siara Digest’ magazine (Pakistan, April 1976).
Babba Bakri wala
Ikk see Babba Bakri wala,
hath vich rakhda Danda
Nani jeion uss non pharahn lagi,
nasia mar pachanda
Bhabhi. Babba Bakri wala
Nale khanda halva Manda,
nale khanda toast te annda
Bhabhi , Babba Bakriwala.
Dr Iqbal’s grand daughter’s elder brother Prof khalid Nazir Sufi has revealed in his book that Javid’s name was Babba when he was young.He was also given a Bakrota ( kid goat) to play with. Javid was playing with bakrota during the day.Suddenly Dr Iqbal came and talking to him while watching him play.What did Javed’s mother think when she said to her husband Iqbal Sahib, ”You have said countless poems, but you have not said any thing about Javid.”Iqbal Sahib began to say, what a difficult thing, take it now.” Then he wrote the poem Babba Bakri wala.Once upon there was a mehfil gathering of family members in Iqbal manzil. During talks Iqbal ji created a Punjabi puzzle which was not solved by any one, then he solved.Pazzle was:
“ Iss Gabroo de kamm awaley
Rehnda ranna de duwale
Pagg na Banda, topi pandha
Binn Parian de tordha jandha “
Iqbal Sahib said , ” Straight Burqa”. Mohammed Hanif Shahid, citing prof.Sufi’s book, mentioned that Iqbal’s wife said, ”Javid was very fond of listening stories during his childhood. He would listen to me before going to bed at night. One afternoon, Iqbal ji after lunch lay down on the bed.At that moment, Javid ordered a story to be told.Iqbal ji said to avoid, ”If we tell the story during the day, then the passengers forget”.Where was Javid going to escape.? Then he insisted for puzzle.Iqbal agreed and said some thing.
Ik Janwar aaisa jehdey chunj ute Paisa
Uss dian Haddian halal, Uss da shorra harram
One of Iqbal ji’s best friend was Mohammad Hussain, who told a friend that Iqbal Sahib was very fond of reading and listening to Punjabi poetry.He even came to cry once listening to Ghulam Qadir’s letters.Dewan Ali was an old servant of Iqbal, from whom Iqbal Sahib used to hear a lot of Bulhe shah’s kaffien.
Dr Iqbal was a native of Punjab and he had great regards for the heroic deeds of Khalsa Panth being rich in sword and mature in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Punjabi colour is commonly visible in his poetry.Glimpses of Punjabi’s open-mindedness, self-sufficiency, independent nature, fearless ness, clear statement and activism are common in his poetry.Iqbal Sahib always spoke sialkote Punjabi and his wife spoke Lahore Punjabi, being from Lahore.Dr Iqbal could read and write Punjabi well.Sardar Kapur Singh writes “ About five minutes later, I translated a Persian stanza he composed, into a Punjabi poem and wrote on the dinner menu, which he signed.
Alama Iqbal’s books Zambe-Kalam, Bange-Dara etc mentioned Punjab, Lahore and Punjabi Muslims many times.He wrote poems about the great personalities of Punjab viz: Guru Nanak, Shahdin, Humayun, Sir Abdul Qadeer, Swami Ram Tirath etc.Being Punjabi, Punjabi words used to appear in his Persian and Urdu poetry.Eight years before the death of Dr Iqbal, S.L.Asher and Aziz Mysore met him in Lahore, in which both expressed his views on the Punjabi language and later published in their magazine SARANG, December 1920.Dr Iqbal said regarding Punjabi language, ”Punjabi Language is not an academic language at present.There is very little nasal in it, but there is no reason why nasar could not become a scholarly language. Jatkapan is lot in Punjabi, but the reason is that it is usually less semi-literate men read and write these.Lataqat and Nazakat can be brought in with the courage to read and write.There is very little emphasis on structure in Punjabi.The results that the Behrian do not matter.Ahmadyar of Bahawalpur has shown a little courage.He is the one who did not pay much attention to bahir, Kaffee and Rediff before him .
Punjabi poetry is very good poetry and especially it is soaked with emotions.However, this does not mean that in Punjabi poetry love is only metaphorical but love is more real.Punjabi poetry is full of mysticism (Sufism).It often seems that there is nothing different from mysticism.Another feature of Punjabi poetry is that the songs which are very passionate about the love of the country has no shortage of patriotism songs.There is no end to the dialects and songs of the common people.In Urdu poetry there is no poetry of mysticism, except for the words of Mir Darad, neither the poetry of love of was born in homeland in Urdu nor the patriotic songs in it.It’s love Ishqqiya poetry has more texture, less emphasis on emotions.This is the reason how Urdu poetry was born in the hands of the rich and Musahibs of the court.They were either Iranians or lovers of Persian jokes.He had no interaction with the common people.They considered it a fashion to recite poetry.But Punjabi also needs Urdu skills.Punjabi poets should learn the structure and strength of Urdu poetry.Comparing Punjabi poetry with Urdu poetry, Dr Iqbal summed up the poetry of both languages, ” The foundation of Punjabi poetry is in the lives of the common people and in the lives of the rich poets of Urdu poetry.”
“ I can understand Persian well and the other point is that Persian is understood in many parts of the world.”According to Sahib Asami, ”Since the beginning, Alama Iqbal was in the mood to become a hero.So foothold, adopted that Persian language.He also wanted to say couplets in Arabic but was unsuccessful.”In response to many questions about the Punjabi language, he said to Massori Sahib, ” No, my education was something that I never thought of writing in Punjabi, nor can I write now.A strong Person can make any language, and it is not surprising that Punjabi can find a man like Goethe. I tell my Hindu and Sikh friends to use the names of Hindu and Sikh elders instead of the names of the Hadiths and prophets of the Muslims.If I write the names of Muslim elders, it is because I was born and raised in a Muslim home.I was educated in the history and religion of Islam.”
Once Iqbal said to his girl servant go inside and bring kurti (shirt).The servant girl was from Lahore and went inside and brought a female shirt.Seeing Iqbal Sahib, his wife said, ”Leave Sialkoti Punjabi now.” Allama Iqbal started saying, if you can’t leave Lahori , then how can I forget my Sialkoti Punjabi.”
The couplet of Allama Ahmadi still carries a lot of weight today:
Tujh par ahh Punjab nazal hu khudda ke rehmtian
Ahh ki tun Iqbal ki dollat see malla mall ha
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