Iqbal and Materialism: An Assessment

Abstract

Iqbal reacted to the materialistic philosophies of his time in a highly intellectual manner. He was always an active propounder of resistance against injustice and exploitative materialism.  Therefore, he tried to deconstruct many such notions in his poetry which were responsible for dividing the mankind into the superior and the inferior. He offered counter narrative to the colonial discourse in a very logical way. He tried to show the meaning of love, harmony, peace and co-existence in the age of materialistic competition. Through his innovative concept of Khudi, he tried to remind people of their real worth. He was not in favour of conquering the wretched of the earth, rather, in-treating them with mutual love and respect without differentiating them on the basis of cast, colour and creed. In this paper an attempt will be made to foreground the anti-materialistic dimension in the poetry of Iqbal.