The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 18
18 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN thought and philosophy, particularly in regard to the endurance of pain and challenging and welcoming danger. Question : I am interested in whether or not Iqbal's thought and the rise of Muslim nationalism was part of an overall Muslim renaissance in the subcontinent and whether we could find any other evidence of it, say, in art, or perhaps in Chughtai, or some other Muslim thinkers, writers and representatives of their community. Khan : It definitely was a part of Muslim renaissance, for there was already a ferment in Muslim life and thought in all spheres at that time. Iqbal certainly influenced it in Pakistan and in the two neighbouring countries to a large degree. You have mentioned art and Chughtai. Chughtai is an eminent artist and a Muslim, but my impression is - it may not be worth anything at all - that though the art of a Muslim is bound to be influenced by his being a Muslim - it is part of his being - the process has not manifested itself noticeably in reverse, if I might so put it. The art of any particular artist, has not in turn influenced Muslim values or Muslim outlook on life. Of all the great faiths Islam has managed to keep its values intact, uninfluenced by what, after all, are adventitious and uncertain elements in a faith rather than the essence of the faith. Perhaps that can be illustrated best with reference to Muslim services and Muslim places of worship. True, mosques in different Muslim countries have very different characters and some of them, for instance, in Egypt, and elsewhere are representations of types of architecture and decoration. To Islam that is entirely irrelevant. What is necessary, on the other hand, is that the architecture or motif should not be such as to divert the worshipper's attention. They should be as simple as possible. In Muslim worship there is nothing external, that is, outside the prayers and exhortation, no music, incense, vestments or other elements, to appeal to the emotions. Emotion is not excluded from life in Islam; Islam permits, and even seeks to make use of, emotion in its proper place, but it does not permit people to be carried away by emotion nor does it permit emotion to distort the essence. It seeks to arrive at the reality more through the exercise of reason and contemplation than through emotion. In Islam mysticism has expressed itself emotionally; but then those who have concentrated on the study of Islam have not been inclined to attach much importance to it. Mysticism has had a tendency to