Muhammad Iqbal, Rumuz-e Bekhudi [Mysteries of Selflessness]

Javed Majeed (King's College London)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1918

Places

India (Publication/ performance)
Pakistan (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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This Persian poem of 1107 rhyming couplets in the “masnavi” form [a narrative poem composed of distichs corresponding in measure, each consisting of rhyming couplets] is divided into 31 sections. It addresses the question of selflessness [“bekhudi”] and focuses on how a Muslim community is formed through an association of self-affirming individuals. The poem argues that it is only by forming such a community and working within its constraints that the individual Muslim is able to develop and hone his or her selfhood. Some commentators argue that Iqbal had been influenced by the ideas of Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) in this poem (Schimmel 1963, p. 163). The poem defines the values, beliefs, laws and symbols that hold an Islamic community together as a global entity, its sources of…

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686 words

Citation: Majeed, Javed. "Rumuz-e Bekhudi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 July 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30671, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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