The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 16
16 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN attention, I doubt whether he would have made much of a mark in the Legislature. That was not his milieu; his milieu was philosophy, poetry and ideology, and he did a tremendous job in sparking the ideology for the younger generation and the younger generation is still very devoted to him. His memory will live very much longer than the memory of the political leaders of his day, though on the practical side they accomplished a great deal more than did Sir Muhammad Iqbal, for he did not attempt much on that side; he left the day to day drudgery completely to them. He confined himself to putting forth his ideas through philosophical discourses and even more through his poetry, which caught on very quickly, not only in the Punjab, but to some degree in Afghanistan and to a much larger degree in Iran. The greater part of his poetical work during his later years was in Persian. He could be understood and was appreciated in the whole region where Persian was understood. I had the honour of being a fellow townsman of Sir Muhammad Iqbal; he belonged to Sialkot as I do. I was also his pupil in the Government College at Lahore from 1909 to 1911, where he taught both English and Philosophy. I was not a student of Philosophy, but he taught us English poetry and he did it extremely well. Later when I was called to the Bar, I became his colleague at the Bar, though a Junior one, and had opportunities of working in closer association with him and appreciating more deeply his great qualities. Apart from his teaching and his ideology he possessed many great qualities. He was content with very little. His nature was very simple, in some things almost childlike. He had not a trace of jealousy in his disposition, and he had little personal ambition. He possessed an endearing and ennobling personality and I am very happy that over several years I was vouchsafed the privilege of being associated with him in various capacities. Question : With the subsequent concern on the part of many students of Pakistan for the nature of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I wonder, and in reference to your comments about poetry as a vehicle for political expression and religious renaissance, I wonder if you might comment, at least very briefly, on The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam as a magnum opus which may or may not have had a great effect on what the Muslims were feeling in terms of the Indian predicament in which they found themselves.