The Indian Muslims had enjoyed privileges during the Mughul rule in India, but with its decline they gradually lost their administrative power properties and moral pride.
According to Allama Iqbal "The year 1799 is extremely important in the history of the world of Islam. In this year fell Tippu, and his fall meant the extinguishment of Muslim hopes for political prestige in India.
In the same year was the battle of Navarnco which saw the destruction of the Turkish fleet. Prophetic were the words of the author of the chronogram of Tippu's fall which visitors of Serangapatam find engraved on the Wall of Tippu's mausoleum "Gone is the glory of India (Hind) as well as of Rome."
Thus in the year 1799 the political decay in Asia reached its climax. But as out of the humiliation of Germany arose the modern German nation, it may be said with equal truth that out of the political humiliation of Islam in the year 1799 arose modern Islam and its problems.
During the war of independence of 1857 Muslims suffered heavily at the hands of the British. After their suppression began a period of systematic persecution and political annihilation of the Muslims all over the country. "By the end of the Mutiny", says Dr B.R. Ambedkar, "The Musalmans, high and low, were brought down by these series of events to the lowest depths of broken pride, black despair, and general penury."
Without prestige, without education and without resources the Muslims were left to face the Hindus. The British pledged neutrality, were indifferent to the result of the struggle between the two communities. The result was that the Musalmans suffered in the struggle.
In times of crises, nations some how produce men to pull them through. Ability to do so is the evidence of the vitality of a nation. Indeed, a reformer of outstanding merit with a breadth of vision, an insight into the true spirit of Islam and a thorough experience of the underlying principle of the Western culture, was the need of the day.
Iqbal fulfilled this role to a remarkable degree. He possessed all the qualities and performed this duty successfully.
Like Rumi, Iqbal refused to be overawed by the pall of gloom, which again hung over the world of Islam. His stay in England and Germany in the first decade of the last century made him painfully conscious of the ruthless materialism of the West on one hand, and lengthening shadows of imperialism on the other.
The time when Iqbal appeared new discoveries were made and science had flourished.
There was a general belief that science would take the place of outdated religious systems. During the last three hundred years, the Muslim world had been intellectually mostly inactive and the younger generation of the Muslim Ummah not being satisfied with the old interpretations of scriptures were interested in a fresh orientation of Islam.
The system of education introduced by the Europeans in the Muslim world, which was under their occupation, had totally changed the outlook of the new generation of the Muslim community. They had begun to think that so long as Islamic teachings did not conform to the standard of science, Islam would not be able to face the challenge of the modern age.
As a thinker Iqbal deserves to be included amongst the great philosophers of the Islamic world. "If ever there was a poet-prophet it was Iqbal" says Professor Arberryan, an orientalist of great repute. It was Iqbal alone among all the contemporary thinkers and pioneers who succeeded most in persuading the Muslims to get rid of their apathy and pursue the path of liberty and Islamic glory. Endowed with the gift of poetry Iqbal decided to put it to the best use. He used his poetry as a vehicle of his message.
The paramount question before him was how to approach the younger generation of Islam who was not properly educated. Reviewing the prevailing system of education in India, Iqbal in a letter to Fazil Karim says: "The knowledge of Arabic language is gradually dying out and the Muslim educational institutions are not paying any special heed to it. Personally, I would like our young scholars to devote themselves to the study of mathematics, physics, chemistry, history and jurisprudence.
In the best interest of Islam, it is the study of these branches of knowledge, which is needed today. This alone will bring Modern Muslims in touch with the roots of modern knowledge and we will make them appreciate the meaning of modern problems."
Iqbal thinks that with the re-awakening of Islam, it is necessary to examine, in an independent spirit, what Europe has thought and how far the conclusions reached by her can help us in the revision and, if necessary, reconstruction of theological thought of Islam.
Iqbal wanted to convince that Islam strives for promoting the advancement of science and technology and exploitation of nature in the service of mankind.
He says that "In the past centuries no difference had arisen in the principles enunciated by Islam. Due to the advancement of science in the present age and the knowledge gathered in different spheres of life as a result thereof, it has become necessary to know the basic principles of Islam."
HE FURTHER STATES:
"Islam in my opinion is the only positive system that the world possesses today provided the Muslims apply themselves to it and rethink the whole thing in the light of modern ideas. The Indian Muslim, in my opinion, is likely to play a very important role in the future of Islam. Now Islam relies more on the younger generation which has received more education with necessary grounding in Islam."
Iqbal compared the Muslim youth to the Eagle's off-spring, because he wished them to acquire the characteristics of the Eagle, aggressiveness, piercing eye, lofty existence and love of freedom. The youth should rend their hearts with that some arrow (of love of God). Awaken in their bosom the longing (for achievement).
AND IN THIS SAME POEM HE APPEALS TO GOD: This verse expresses the hope that Iqbal reposed in the nation's young men as well as the responsibilities that he expected of them. Iqbal tells the youth that an intensive and endless struggle has to be waged to achieve the object of life. He spurs them to seek risk and adventure so that their mettle will be tested and galvanised. To the Young man who is passively living through an uneventful existence, Iqbal says:
May you be confronted with a storm . Because the waves in your Ocean (of life) are devoid of excitement. This theme of Iqbal's message is admirably expressed in his poem on "An Eagle's advice to his offspring".
The prime of life is when (with unlimited ambition and energy) one burns in the fire of his own blood. (Remember) Bitter rigors of life can be made honey-sweet by hard work. He criticises the education system, which was teaching them just the opposite traits.
He protested: O God, I have to complain against the chiefs of the teaching system that they are coaching the Eagle's offspring to be abjectly submissive and he declared that if these young men continued to be coached in this fashion, they would grow up without ever developing the spirit to combat the challenge of life: The young Eagle that is brought up amongst the community of vultures would not learn the Eagle's ways and virtues. He had realised through study and observation that the basic cause of the ascendancy of the Europeans over the Muslim people was that they had discovered a part of the revolutionary teaching of Islam and adopted it in their society, while the Muslims had been moving farther and farther away from the true practices of Islam. Acquisition of knowledge on which Islam laid great stress had been almost totally discarded by the Muslims whereas the West was pursuing it eagerly. The Muslim youth were awed by the western knowledge and inclined to follow it blindly. Iqbal, who had intimately studied the western literature and culture, could see that its spiritual fibre was weak, and its moral values were not worthy of imitation. Iqbal, however, acknowledged that there were progressive and fruitful elements in the western knowledge. But, he declared, such knowledge could be useful only if the seeker's perception was based on the Quranic guidance. Otherwise, he warned, the young imitators of the West, the heady intoxication of this wine, would act as the poison of death. Iqbal's message for the youth is as under: The three virtues - absolute faith, perpetual struggle and love-identified by Iqbal as the weapons to combat the battles of life - beautifully sum up the message of Iqbal for the Muslims in general but the Muslim youth in particular, the youth who were destined to revive the glory of Islam.
Iqbal's message to the youth is dynamic and revolutionary, calling them to a life of freedom, virtue, action and achievement.