Iqbal Ki Ilmi Sheriyat

Dr. Yusuf Husain and Majnun Gorakhpuri have both highlighted a specific feature of Iqbal’s poetry as its most prominent and effective quality, one that can be broadly and somewhat ambiguously termed taghazzul (lyricism). On a phonetic level, the most crucial characteristic of this lyricism is its musicality, which we might call the phonetic orchestra of the verse. This musicality is produced not only through the precise selection of phonetic units (phonemes) but also through their masterful arrangement. An Urdu poet has a total inventory of forty-seven such phonemes at their disposal. Of these, ten are vowels and thirty-seven are consonants. Among the consonants, six are sounds borrowed from Arabic and Persian: /f/, /z/, /zh/, /kh/, /gh/, and /q/. The use of /zh/ among these is practically nonexistent. With the exception of /q/, which is a stop, all the remaining sounds are fricatives, meaning that when they are articulated, the air escapes with a slight friction. The claim that the phonetic rhythm of Ghalib and Iqbal is inherently Persian is therefore baseless, because aside from the six aforementioned sounds, all other sounds in Urdu (including the vowels) are purely Indo-Aryan. This remains true even though some of these sounds are shared with Persian and Arabic. The charge of excessive Persianization can be leveled against the poetic vocabulary of these two poets, but certainly not against their phonetic rhythm...

Two poems from Iqbal’s early period provide fascinating material illustrating how sound and meaning harmonize with one another. The first poem in this context is Ek Shaam (An Evening—On the Banks of the Neckar, Heidelberg), included in the second part of Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell). In this poem, the sounds perfectly complement the meaning. Comprising seven couplets, this poem is written in the masnavi form. Here, rather than relying on the continuous chiming of rhymes, the phonetic rhythm is used to deepen the silence of an evening on the banks of the Neckar River. The poet did not achieve this consciously; rather, as previously mentioned, it emerges from a state that we can describe as complete expression. The keyword of this poem is khamosh (silent), which appears six times throughout the text. The phonemes that compose this word are /kh/ + /a/ + /m/ + /o/ + /sh/. These serve as the poem's key sounds. Within the poem, the sound /kh/ is repeated eight times, /a/ twenty-one times, /m/ twelve times, /o/ twenty-two times, and /sh/ six times. It is a scene of profound silence, which the poet experiences both visually and auditorily. The chosen meter—Maf'ool Mafa'ilun, Fa'oolun—is brimming with contemplation and reflection. In addition to /a/ and /o/, other long vowels that deepen the silence include /i/, /ai/, and /ay/, bringing their total count to thirty-two... The sixteen hushing sounds of /sh/ are also blended with seven rustling sounds of /s/. To complement the lyrical quality of /m/, three instances of /n/ and nine nasal vowels are also incorporated...

Overall, the highest notes of Iqbal’s phonetic rhythm are composed of nasal consonants and nasalization, along with the six fricative sounds: /kh/, /gh/, /sh/, /s/, /z/, and /f/. Fundamentally, Iqbal is not a poet of phonetic rhythm in the same vein as Ghalib... Rather, it is the interplay and blending of thought and imagination that creates a state of light and melody in his work. The light represents his poetic vision, and the melody is his phonetic rhythm!

(Excerpted from Iqbal Ki Nazari O Amali Shairiyat [Iqbal's Theoretical and Practical Poetics], Srinagar, Iqbal Institute, Kashmir University, 1983, pp. 75-83)

Dr. Yusuf Husain and Majnun Gorakhpuri have both highlighted a specific feature of Iqbal’s poetry as its most prominent and effective quality, one that can be broadly and somewhat ambiguously termed taghazzul (lyricism). On a phonetic level, the most crucial characteristic of this lyricism is its musicality, which we might call the phonetic orchestra of the verse. This musicality is produced not only through the precise selection of phonetic units (phonemes) but also through their masterful arrangement. An Urdu poet has a total inventory of forty-seven such phonemes at their disposal. Of these, ten are vowels and thirty-seven are consonants. Among the consonants, six are sounds borrowed from Arabic and Persian: /f/, /z/, /zh/, /kh/, /gh/, and /q/. The use of /zh/ among these is practically nonexistent. With the exception of /q/, which is a stop, all the remaining sounds are fricatives, meaning that when they are articulated, the air escapes with a slight friction. The claim that the phonetic rhythm of Ghalib and Iqbal is inherently Persian is therefore baseless, because aside from the six aforementioned sounds, all other sounds in Urdu (including the vowels) are purely Indo-Aryan. This remains true even though some of these sounds are shared with Persian and Arabic. The charge of excessive Persianization can be leveled against the poetic vocabulary of these two poets, but certainly not against their phonetic rhythm...

Two poems from Iqbal’s early period provide fascinating material illustrating how sound and meaning harmonize with one another. The first poem in this context is Ek Shaam (An Evening—On the Banks of the Neckar, Heidelberg), included in the second part of Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell). In this poem, the sounds perfectly complement the meaning. Comprising seven couplets, this poem is written in the masnavi form. Here, rather than relying on the continuous chiming of rhymes, the phonetic rhythm is used to deepen the silence of an evening on the banks of the Neckar River. The poet did not achieve this consciously; rather, as previously mentioned, it emerges from a state that we can describe as complete expression. The keyword of this poem is khamosh (silent), which appears six times throughout the text. The phonemes that compose this word are /kh/ + /a/ + /m/ + /o/ + /sh/. These serve as the poem's key sounds. Within the poem, the sound /kh/ is repeated eight times, /a/ twenty-one times, /m/ twelve times, /o/ twenty-two times, and /sh/ six times. It is a scene of profound silence, which the poet experiences both visually and auditorily. The chosen meter—Maf'ool Mafa'ilun, Fa'oolun—is brimming with contemplation and reflection. In addition to /a/ and /o/, other long vowels that deepen the silence include /i/, /ai/, and /ay/, bringing their total count to thirty-two... The sixteen hushing sounds of /sh/ are also blended with seven rustling sounds of /s/. To complement the lyrical quality of /m/, three instances of /n/ and nine nasal vowels are also incorporated...

Overall, the highest notes of Iqbal’s phonetic rhythm are composed of nasal consonants and nasalization, along with the six fricative sounds: /kh/, /gh/, /sh/, /s/, /z/, and /f/. Fundamentally, Iqbal is not a poet of phonetic rhythm in the same vein as Ghalib... Rather, it is the interplay and blending of thought and imagination that creates a state of light and melody in his work. The light represents his poetic vision, and the melody is his phonetic rhythm!

(Excerpted from Iqbal Ki Nazari O Amali Shairiyat [Iqbal's Theoretical and Practical Poetics], Srinagar, Iqbal Institute, Kashmir University, 1983, pp. 75-83)