Dante and Iqbal (JR123)

Dante and Iqbal (JR123)

Introduction

Iqbal’s Javidnama is widely considered his most important poetic work. There is also a perception that the work is inspired by Dante’s epic poetry, Divine Comedy. This perception is not without foundation. This is however, not all that there is to this perception, as there are similarities between the two works but there are much more differences between the two works, the differences are   of an nature that suggest that these two works be considered separately on their merits . That Dante was deeply engrossed in Muslim thought and believes and Iqbal was also deeply impressed by Western philosophy, poetry and thought do complicate the joint analysis of these two works. Iqbal’s work differs both in the intent of the journey described and also the journey itself is not at all akin to each other

Background

The idea of tackling such a work had occurred to him in his early student days, when he somewhat ambitiously stated that he would like to write a book in the style of Milton’s Paradise Lost. This initial project was, perhaps fortunately, abandoned, and eventually it was Jalāl-al-Din Rumi who became one of his most profound influences. He was also greatly impressed by his reading of Dante. Much later, when writing to a friend about future possibilities, he remarked that he intended to produce “a kind of Divine Comedy in the style of Rumi’s Maṯnawi (Maktūbāt-i Iqbāl, ed. Sayyid Nazir Niazi, Karachi, 1956, p. 300), and this is exactly what the Jāvid-nāma turned out to be. In its form, at least, the lengthy maṯnawi, which contains almost 4,000 verses, owes much to these two medieval poets, by whose works Iqbal was greatly inspired  

Iqbal in all probability utilized the form and format of the Divine Comedy .there are similarities between The Javidnama and The Divine Comedy It may also be inferred  that the idea of compiling such a book may have struck  Iqbal, after studying the memorable book of Miguel Asin on the subject, the first English Edition of which had already appeared in 1926, and become very popular among the Muslim intellectuals of the time. However, we know on the authority of the late Chaudari Muhammad Husain, a disciple and trusted associate of Allama Iqbal—(who wrote an article on JavidNama soon after it was published) that the Allama had always in his mind a book on the mysteries of the Miraj of the Holy Prophet, till in 1929 he decided to compile the present work JawidNama (see Nairang-i-Khayal, Annual Number 1942, pp. 108). In any case, Dante's work may have been taken as model by Iqbal.

Similarities

 The basic scheme of the work is the same and the general outline is the same, e.g.: (1) the starting point (an incident in the D.C. (Divine Comedy), missed track in a Jungle), (2) sudden appearance of a guide (Rumi in the case of the Jawid Nama., and Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro   dates October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC  usually called Virgil or Vergil   in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He wrote three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him) in the case of the D. C., (3) Ascension of both poets stage by stage, according to the Astronomical (or theological) arrangement, (4) Interviews with several men or personalities in Hell and Heaven, (5) Various kinds of torments and tortures and rewards to the sinners and the righteous men respectively, (6) description of several places providing an atmosphere to each situation (rivers of gold and silver, mountains covered with snow, landscape, characters and mythological figures and several other things.

Differences

The intent of Iqbal’s journey could be described as the rage of a man conscious of his limitations when placed in front of the infinite; of impotent man who will not be satisfied with anything less than the omnipotence of man shut in by high walls who aspires above All. Iqbal asks Rumi ( the great mystic Persian poet of the thirteenth century , who is numbered as the greatest mystics of all times ) as to how to get to the presence of God. This is a journey of a man of faith who now seeks the knowledge of the ultimate reality, he seeks help form the greatest Islamic sufi thinkers of all times and wishes to find the alternate route to seek the truth of the ultimate reality, this journey is not to reaffirm his faith, he already has that but wishes to go to a level here just faith cannot carry him. The purpose of Dante’s journey is quite different; he wishes to purify himself so as to be able to arrive at a contemplation of God. This is quest to attain perfect faith, in a sense Iqbal’s journey starts form where Dante’s ends. 

 Iqbal's work is almost original in approach as also in the architecture of his story. . Dante takes deeper interest in the spiritual conversion of the individual on theological basis of the Catholicism, in vogue in the 14th Century, A. D., Iqbal is more concerned with the metaphysical questions of his own age, and political questions of the Muslim world during the twentieth century.

The age of Dante was that of scholastic rationalism as expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas but Iqbal belonged to the age of Science, Mathematics and Space—Physics. While Dante insists on the identity of Religion and Reason, Iqbal emphasizes the unity of spirit and Matter, hence of Religion and Science. So, the interpretation of Reality is different in both cases.

In a sense, we come across two different voices while going through the texts of these two poets. In Dante, we have a Christian voice while in Iqbal, we find a Muslim voice expressing ideas, characteristically Muslim.

For Iqbal Ascension to the Divine Sphere (معراج) is not an unfamiliar phenomenon because every Muslim believes in Miraj (ascension) and! sea (nocturnal journey) of the Holy Prophet. Iqbal refers to the idea of of the Mi'raj in the first section of the book. He thereby suggests that ascension of man to the Divine Sphere was not impossibility. No doubt, Iqbal's view of Miraj apparently does not strictly conform to the traditional belief, and he interprets Miraj as a change or revolution in consciousness but this is his interpretation. The case of the Holy Prophet is quite different and specific as we shall see later.

Here we have two different tempers. Generally speaking Dante is always seen frightened, depressed, terrified, confused and panic-stricken throughout his heavenly journey, while Iqbal even in a very grave situation looks calm and composed, although enthusiastic and eager to know more. Again, Dante is too much submissive, even timid. When he accompanies his guide he puts very few questions, and when he has ever the courage of asking about anything, he is snubbed and is satisfied with one or two casual remarks of his guide. As against this, Iqbal is very inquisitive, goes deep into delicate questions, and, in most cases argues with `heavenly personalities', nay even with his Guide.

 Nama begins with Muaajat (prayer in Quietude or whispering with the Lord, in which the poet expresses his craving for a vision of Reality. Here Iqbal's approach is positive. His passion for Higher Knowledge is intense. In such a state of Mind, he prays that he may be granted light, yet more light.

Dante's attitude throughout his journey smacks of his conviction in the Christian idea of the `original sin', whereas Iqbal's idea of human dignity and glorious destiny is based on God's declaration on the eve of Adam's mission to earth that Man is going to be the Deputy of God on earth and has a great future. There is no guilt complex, no indication of inferiority, no wavering, and no defeatism. In a section of the Jawid Name, there is an assurance from the Angels about the superiority of Man (of Naghma-i-Mala'ik—the Song of the Angels), after which the great Rumi appears on the scene with a surer and more confident voice. Those interested may examine the Canto in the D. C. regarding the emergence of Virgil who exhorts the Poet (Dante) to proceed under the lure of Poet's beloved Beatrice idealized by him (Dante).

Here we find the two poets on two different planes. While Ideal Love is the chief motive with Dante, with Iqbal it is love for the knowledge of Reality which is the main motivating force. Another great difference between the two poets lies in their treatment of the super-natural element as a means of the development of the story, In Dante, this element is very strong He creates an atmosphere completely flouting the law of probability. He wishes his reader to believe what is not believable. He carries his reader through his undoubtedly superior power of description and delineation which captures the imagination not allowing him to ponder rationally. However, Iqbal does not lose his rational sense under any situation. In most difficult situations necessitating the intervention of the super-natural element, his regard for the law of causality and probability never fails him. For instance, if we compare the episode of the Heavens, appearance of the suburbs of the inferno in the D. C. and of reaching the lower limits of the sphere of the Moon in the JN., we will at once find that while Iqbal's approach is gradual and almost natural and therefore intelligible, Dante's approach is sudden like a jerk. Iqbal passes through the various stages methodically : for instance, after the first prayer there is (1) Tamhid-i-Asmani, (2) the Song of the Angels, (3) Tanshid-i-Zamini, (4) Rumi's Appearnce and sudden emergence of Zarwan—(the Higher spirit controlling time and space—and then enterance of the two poets) (the Guide and the Disciple) into the Afiak-i- Falak-i-Qamar, Falak-i-Utarad, Falak-i-Zuhra and so on : All this process is gradual and therefore credible.

But in Dante, in the 3^rd canto (of the Inferno), Caronte refuses to take poets further, a severe whirlwind takes over, an earthquake sets in along with lightening and lashing winds. Here Dante falls down unconscious. But after a thunder, when he regains his consciousness, he finds that someone has carried him across the chasm which was hitherto impassible. Now this is sheer 'phantasy' overloaded with fiction of the most violent type. Usually we find Dante crossing one stage after the other in a state of unconsciousness.

As observed before, the differences of the two are those of the age—and also those of the religoos tradition. Iqbal follows the Holy Quran which maintains that nobody from the Earth could penetrate into the Heavens, except with the essential (spiritual or divine) powers (Quranic words: الابسطان). This means that the Heavens could through Sultan be pierced through by human being—and the Holy Prophet set an example of that.

The recent Space Conquest has further strengthened the view, but Iqbal's reference may be read in a wider context. Dante could not conceive that Heavens could be pierced through. Therefore he proceeded fictionally. Yet another sphere of distinction between Dante and Iqbal is found in the handling of the mythological materials. Dante has utilized Greek mythology to the fullest extent,—three-headed demons, some creatures, half human and half animal and so many other things. But in Iqbal use of mythology is rare. It exists only in the episode dealing with the Hindu saint Jahandost (Vishwa Mitr) and the Hindu poet Bhartari Hari.

Dante is allegorical throughout while Iqbal's statements are factual, logical, with allegorical significance only rarely. However, inspire of all this, Dante excels in his superb characterization, excellent artistry and marvelous power of description, as also in his great dramatic skill, and this justifies T. S. Eliot's remarks that "Shakespeare gives the greatest width of human passion:

The system of the Universe which Dante employed was Ptolemaic and not the familiar Copernican—, the macrocosmic system as one would say. But Iqbal is not very strict about the system: he simply follows the usual familiar astronomical system in vogue among the Muslims.

Anyhow, in the words of Robert H. Lynn, (Notes on the Divine Comedy, vol. 1 p. 9) "the Commedia is a cathedral in language and is unique in several ways" and so is Jawid Noma unique in certain other ways.

Miguel Asin , has taken great pains to prove that Dante based his book on the Muslim legends of the Isra and the Miraj. Isra mean's undertaking of journey at night as the Holy Prophet did, from the Holy mosque of Makkah to the Holy mosque of Aqsa (Jerusalem), followed by accession to the Heavens. Quite a large mass of Muslim literature exists on these topics, and M. Asin has examined it' to arrive finally at the conclusion that Dante with all his fame as a great poet, which praise he deserves, has substantially borrowed from the above-mentioned Muslim sources.

Iqbal did not follow the pattern of the Isra and the Miraj out of respect for the Holy Prophet whose special privilege it was to have ascended the Heavens with prophteic dignity and sublimity. No other human being according to Muslims can have that honour.

This also accounts for Iqbal's interpretation of the ascension  that it could only be a higher state of Ordinary human consciousness (and not specific), without involving any physical implication. This refers to men other than the Holy Prophet. Others can attain to some sort of super consciousness but the Ascension of the Holy Prophet's is a unique experience and without parallel.

It is quite certain that Ibn-i-Arabi's Fatuhat and his other work on Isra could not be the models of Iqbal for his David Nama because details differ widely and basically. Similarly al-Ma'arri's Risalatul-Ghufran could not catch the imagination of Iqbal because its contents contain heretical materials. There are certain other works of importance such as the Miraj Nama of Ibn-i-Sina (in Persian), and certain poems on Miraj in the Mathnawiyat of great Persian poets such as Nizami Ganjawi, Amir Khusru, Jami and others. These also could not serve as models because most of these contain vague rhetorical statements lacking in accuracy and precision.

Ibn-i-Sina's work is more or less an interpretation of the facts of Miraj in philosophical terms, and in Amir Khusru's Matla`-ul-Anwar, the only resemblance with Jawid Nama is that Khusrau also describes the various stages of the heavenly journey but that is only casual.There are certain chapters in the Ma'arijun-Nubuwah also which could benefit Iqbal but their subject matter is different and more theological.

Javidnama(JN)

 “Javed Nama” (1932) or “Book of Eternity” a small masterpiece of Iqbalian thought rendered in a highly engaging format that provides some of the most interesting insights into his soul. Annemarie translated this work into German under the title: Dschavidnma: Das Buch der Ewigkeit and also into Turkish under the title: Cevidname. The English translation has been taken care of by A. J. Arberry. In the Javad Nama we find a most entertaining book of poems inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy – only here Dante’s guide Virgil is replaced by Maulana Rumi – and Dante is replaced by Iqbal (who goes by the pseudonym ‘Zinda Rud’ or ‘Stream full of Life’). In the Javed Nama, both he and Rumi move in and out of different heavenly spheres coming across people and themes he wants us to encounter…in the process revealing something new about himself. The role of Mir Jafer from Bengal and Mir Sadiq from the Deccan and their role in the British occupying India is very cleverly played out here… and it is clear that theses two men are traitors to their own people, forcing them into perpetual slavery. But other characters emerge as well, as Iqbal weaves both East and West together into what is a brilliant tapestry of characters, with problems posited and clever solutions offered. Under the heading “Beyond the Spheres” we have for instance, the appearance of Nietzsche, the departure for the Garden of Paradise, the Palace of Sharaf al-Nisa and a Visitation to his Highness, “Sayyid Ali Hamadani and Mulla Tahir Ghani of Kashmir”. While “The Sphere of Venus”  holds “The Assembly of the gods of the ancient peoples, “the Song of Baal,” a plunge into “the Sea of Venus “ in order to “behold the spirits of Pharaoh and Kitchener” and then “The Sudanese Dervish appear…”

 JĀVID-NĀMA ) title of a Persian maṯnawi by Muhammad Iqbal  is often rendered into English as “The Song of Eternity.” The work was first published in 1932, only six years before Iqbal’s death. Being the longest and most carefully planned of all his poems, it is usually considered to be his greatest work. Early reviewers greeted it with a host of superlatives, proclaiming that it would rank with Rumi’s Maṯnawi or even the Divān of Hafez   Iqbal himself was confident of its future success and went so far as to predict that its translator would gain fame in Europe. Such eulogies, of course, contain a high degree of exaggeration, but it is fair to say that even with the declining popularity of Persian in the Subcontinent, the poem has stood the test of time, and no study of Iqbal would be possible without reference to its remarkable style and content. Iqbal dedicated the work to his young son, Javed, but the title surely implies that the poet had no doubts about its everlasting worth and importance. When Iqbal began to compose the Jāvid-nāma, he had already formulated the philosophy and doctrines that are commonly associated with him. The wide canvas he chose for this work gave him, as it were, a final opportunity to repeat and reinforce the ideas that were first put forward in his early Persian maṯnawis, such as Asrār-e ḵodi The Secrets of the Self” (1915), and Romuz-e biḵodi “The Mysteries of selflessness” (1918).

The Jāvid-nāma is the story of the poet’s journey through the spheres and the far reaches of the heavens in his unending quest to discover the very secrets of life and salvation. In the Prologue (pp. 601-16), which bears some resemblance to that of Goethe’s Faust, he describes how Zarvān, the old Iranian god of Time and Space, exhorts him to rid himself of earthly limitations. Only then will he be able to embark upon his celestial journey and hear the song of the stars. This leads him to the place where he meets his mentor, Rumi, who agrees to act as his guide, in the same way that Virgil had accepted Dante’s request to lead him through Hell and Purgatory to the confines of Heaven. He is now given the name Zenda Rud “Living Stream.” In this name Iqbal chose for himself there is perhaps another reminiscence of Goethe. The German poet, in “Mahomets Gesang” (which, incidentally, Iqbal freely translated into Persian in Payām-e mašreq; q.v. at iranica.com), likens the message of the Prophet to a river. Here one is also reminded of the first stanza of Iqbal’s Urdu Sāqi-nāma, one of his most popular and most optimistic poems, published in the Urdu collection Bāl-e Jibrīl and written about the same time as the Jāvid-nāma. In this, a small stream, starting its descent from the summit of a mountain breaks through every rock and barrier in the way of its progress and finally emerges as a gushing torrent.

The first stop is the Moon (pp. 619-44), where Zenda Rud and Rumi discourse with the Hindu sage, Jahān-Dust “Friend of the World” on the respective merits of Western and Eastern culture. In answer to Rumi’s comment that the only hope of salvation lies in a synthesis of the two, the ascetic proclaims that for all its shortcomings the East will soon overtake the materialistic West. This optimistic message, which runs through much of Iqbal’s later verse, is repeated by the angel Saruš, whose song is one of the most lyrical and enchanting parts of the work. In a valley with the strange name of Yarḡmid, the poet finds the tablets of Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ, and Moḥammad, and this gives Iqbal the opportunity to discuss and comment upon their respective teachings.

On Mercury (pp. 647-71), conversations with Jamāl-al-Din Afḡāni (q.v.) and Saʿd-al-Din Pāšā cover a wide range of near-contemporary political topics from the downfall of the Turks to the merits and deficiencies of Bolshevism. Much of the blame for the ills that beset the present-day Islamic world are, in a manner typical of Iqbal, ascribed to the ravings of the fanatical mullah—din-e mollā fi sabil Allāh fasād! On Venus (pp. 675-86), the two companions encounter, among many others, the arrogant Lord Kitchener, whose clipped Persian well portrays the character of the archetypal British imperialist. On Mars (pp. 689-700), where the inhabitants have completely forsaken materialism, and are thus in every way superior to the inhabitants of the “West,” Zenda Rud is confronted by a sorceress, who had been brought there from Earth by Farz Marz, the Martian equivalent of Satan. She shrieks out her doctrine of what in modern terms would be described as “women’s liberation,” predicting a time when women will be able to conceive by a method of artificial insemination. Naturally, Rumi and Zenda Rud thoroughly disapprove of these modern notions, which were being mooted at the time.

Perhaps one of the most moving episodes of the poems takes place on Saturn (pp. 729-35), where India, portrayed as a beautiful houri, “her eyes intoxicated with divine love,” appears before the travelers in the chains of slavery. She is followed by two abject traitors from Mysore and Bengal. Even Hell had rejected them. Having traversed the outer regions of the heavens, the poet at last hears the Divine Voice, which discloses the secrets he desired to know. These are revealed in a final poem (pp. 787-96) written for his son, Javed, to whom the Life’s only purpose is to soar and fly.  

Although it might be argued that the ideas expressed in Jāvid-nāma had all been set out in Iqbal’s earlier Urdu and Persian works, from which most of them were merely repeated, the sheer scale of the poem and the originality of the work’s conception make it one of his best and most enduring whole work is dedicated:

"In this seven-colored world, where is companion for the Soul?", Iqbal asks.

As he prays, he begins reciting Rumi's Persian verses in which Rumi is pleading his Shaykh to reveals a true Human Being to him. As Iqbal finishes these verses, Rumi appears to him. Iqbal now depicts himself as Zinda Rud (a stream, full of life) guided by Rumi the master, through various heavens and spheres and has the honour of approaching Divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations and historical figures including Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Said Halim Pasha, Mansur al-Hallaj, Mirza Ghalib and Nietzsche.

Several problems of life are discussed and philosophical answers are provided to them. It is an exceedingly enlivening study. His hand falls heavily on the traitors to their nation like Mir Jafar from Bengal and Mir Sadiq from the Deccan, who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British. Thus, they delivered their country to the shackles of slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large and provides guidance to the "new generation."

Divine Comedy

In the 1920s, Spanish historian Miguel Asín Palacios raised an animated diatribe in the European cultural and academic milieu with the publication of the book “Islamic Eschatology in the Divine Comedy”, an attempt to read “The Divine Comedy” noncanonically while underlining its Islamic sources and Dante’s attraction to Arab culture. Comparing Dante’s poem to Arab manuscripts narrating the Night Journey, known as Isra and Miraj, Palacios noticed relevant similarities at a symbolic and formal level.“The Divine Comedy” describes Dante's journey in the realms of the afterlife and represents allegorically the soul's journey toward God

The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso); he is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love (and of another of his works, La Vita Nuova). While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for most modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and knowledge to appreciate. Purgatorio is arguably the most lyrical of the three, referencing more contemporary poets and artists than Inferno; Paradiso is the most heavily theological, and the one in which, many scholars have argued, the Divine Comedy's most beautiful and mystic passages appear (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa"—"at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

With its seriousness of purpose, its literary stature and the range—both stylistic and thematic—of its content, the Comedy soon became a cornerstone in the evolution of Italian as an established literary language. Dante was more aware than most early Italian writers of the variety of Italian dialects and of the need to create a literature and a unified literary language beyond the limits of Latin writing at the time; in that sense, he is a forerunner of the Renaissance, with its effort to create vernacular literature in competition with earlier classical writers. Dante's in-depth knowledge (within the limits of his time) of Roman antiquity, and his evident admiration for some aspects of pagan Rome, also point forward to the 15th century. Ironically, while he was widely honored in the centuries after his death, the Comedy slipped out of fashion among men of letters: too medieval, too rough and tragic, and not stylistically refined in the respects that the high and late Renaissance came to demand of literature.

He wrote the Comedy in a language he called "Italian", in some sense an amalgamated literary language mostly based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, but with some elements of Latin and other regional dialects. He deliberately aimed to reach a readership throughout Italy including laymen, clergymen and other poets. By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression. In French, Italian is sometimes nicknamed la langue de Dante. Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first in Roman Catholic Western Europe (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break free from standards of publishing in only Latin (the language of liturgy, history and scholarship in general, but often also of lyric poetry). This break set a precedent and allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience, setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future. However, unlike Boccaccio, Milton or Ariosto, Dante did not really become an author read all over Europe until the Romantic era. To the Romantics, Dante, like Homer and Shakespeare, was a prime example of the "original genius" who sets his own rules, creates persons of overpowering stature and depth, and goes far beyond any imitation of the patterns of earlier masters; and who, in turn, cannot truly be imitated. Throughout the 19th century, Dante's reputation grew and solidified; and by 1865, the 600th anniversary of his birth, he had become established as one of the greatest literary icons of the Western world

New readers often wonder how such a serious work may be called a "comedy". In the classical sense the word comedy refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events tend toward not only a happy or amusing ending but one influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning of the word, as Dante himself wrote in a letter to Cangrande I della Scala, the progression of the pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Isra and Miraj describes the Night Journey from Makkah to Jerusalem and the Ascension to Heaven that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) took, both physically and spiritually, during a single night around the year 621. Mentioned in the Qur’an, the Isra and Miraj became a source of inspiration for several Muslim authors who gave their own interpretations of the argument in their literary works. The controversy regarding the Islamic sources of the most cherished Christian poem lessened when experts found out that in the second half of the 13th century a manuscript narrating the Ascension to Heaven had been translated into Latin, as “Liber Schalae Machometi”, and also into Spanish and old French, making almost certain Dante’s knowledge about the manuscript. Besides, Arabic culture was well known and widespread in Tuscany in the 14th century, and Brunetto Latini, the Florentine ambassador to Toledo in 1260, can be theoretically considered the intermediary between Dante and “Liber Schalae Machometi”.In “Liber Schalae Machometi”, the most similar manuscript to “The Divine Comedy” carefully studied by Maria Corti, The Prophet (pbuh) performs his journey under the guidance of Archangel Gabriel, following an itinerary from the eight circles of Paradise to the seven earths of Hell where he receives the mandate to tell people what he has seen in order to save them from eternal damnation. The same mandate is given to Dante in “The Divine Comedy” where, just like in the Muslim Hell, the damned souls are ordered in different circles and inflicted with abominable pains according to the law of retaliation. Both stories are narrated in the first person and provide detailed descriptions of the lower world characterized by seas, liquids, pools, smells, flames, ice and animals. Even the element of light, essential in Dante’s “Paradise”, evokes the studies on the metaphysics of light performed by Arab thinkers.In his literary works Dante quotes many names related to the Muslim world, such as Saladin, Avicenna, Averroe’, Brunetto Latini and Pietro Ispano, and reveals a deep knowledge of the works belonging to Muslim scientists and philosophers. Several scholars also underline the assonances between Dante’s style, known as “dolce stil novo”, and the figure of the angelic woman and the conceptions of love expressed by Muslim poets narrating mystical experiences and soul journeys in the afterlife. During the dark centuries of the European Middle Ages, Islamic civilization represented the heart of science, philosophy, art and technology, acquiring moreover the merit of having preserved the knowledge of the Classical Era. The Islamic world encompassed a huge empire – from the Caucasus to North Africa and Spain – thus representing the only civilization that simultaneously bordered Western Europe, Byzantium, China and India, reinvigorating and binding together separate traditions. The main bridges of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe were Spain and Sicily where an intense Arab culture developed. The human symbols of this cultural assimilation were Frederick II of Sicily, with his amazing Arab-style court, and Alfonso X of Castile, who encouraged the translation and adaptation of Moorish philosophy and science.As Dante’s case illustrates, Islamic culture has been an essential element of confrontation and an inspiring source for Western society whose contribution has been underestimated in comparison to the contributions of the Greek and Roman traditions.

Conclusions

Iqbal owes a bit to Dante but only to the extent indicated in this article. But with all his indebtedness to Dante he has his one scheme and his own ideals. Iqbal’s journey and his dialogues with Rumi and others, provide answers which unlike a mystic Iqbal returns to provide these answers o his fellow men. The result of this odyssey was the compilation of “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”, his blue print for action for revival and ascendency. Not frenetic, senseless action but action related to achievement of the goals set by the Koran and in fulfillment of the indicated evolution of man towards a higher existence, of universalism and of unity of all humanity.