Allamah Iqbal's Bang-i-Dara (Call of the Marching Bell)

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About the Book Bang-i-Dara-Call of the Marching Bell, which forms the subject of this book combines literary with intellectual excellence. Most of his books deal with one or with a few subjects selected out of a large number of his favourite topics. For example, Asrar-i-Khudi and Ramuz-i Bekhudi deal with the subject of "Self" and the application of this concept to the program of renaissance of the Muslim world and society to put them on the path of struggle for supremacy of Islamic values and physical as well as intellectual freedom from the Western world. Similarly Zarb-i-Kalim is devoted to the struggle against the wrong values of the present day world, which is dominated by the anti-God Western thought. On the other hand Bang-i-Dara contains his thoughts on all the topics dear to him. It is unfortunate that the English-knowing. world has remained deprived of this important book for such a long time.

This translation and commentary bridges this long felt gap. The book contains very useful background information on Allamah Iqbal and Islam in Chapters 1-3. Similarly, Appendices I and Il provide concise though comprehensive, information on all the luminaries of Islam and other prominent personalities and concepts mentioned in this book. As the knowledge of Islam, Islamic history and world history from the Muslimi perspective is a pre-requisite for proper comprehension of Allamah Iqbal's works this need has been fully satisfied in the above portions of the and in "Introductions" and "Explanatory Notes" of individual poems. The author has rendered valuable service to Islam and to Iqbal studies by enabling the English knowing admirers of Allamah Iqbal to understand him. The organization of the book has greatly enhanced the literary beauty and usefulness of Bang-i-Dara. The book fulfills a great need of the time.

Usually such translations and commentaries are produced by scholars of literature, philosophy and mysticism. This book has an added dimension of being enriched by the author's interjection of the concepts of physical and biological sciences at appropriate places to explain mystic thought. The book will go a long way in opening the doors of Allamah Iqbal's thought to the reader. For the above reasons, the above benefits of the book will equally extend to those who know Urdu and Persian. The author deserves congratulations for the successful accomplishment of his objectives. I recommend it strongly to all those who want to benefit from the wisdom of Allamah Iqbal.

About the Author Dr MAK Khalil, Study of Iqbaliyaat has been a favourite intellectual pursuit of the translator since early age. Professionally, he is a Forestry specialist whose education includes MSc. with Science Gold Medal from Muslim University, Aligarh, India and PhD from Minnesota University, USA. His study of Iqbaliyaat covers the long period of his professional work in Indian, Pakistani, US and Canadian forests in forest Management Planning and Research. The study was initially inspired by the manifestation of the creative artistry of God in the sylvan grandeur and tranquility of the Himalayan forests. Since retirement from the Canadian Forestry service he has made considerable contribution. to this subject. This includes a paper "Iqbal: An Islamic Revivalist" contributed to the world Seminar on "Muslim Political thought During the Colonial period" held at the Muslim Institute of Research and Planning, London, UK (1986), papers in "Muslim and Arabic Studies, New Delhi, India and in "Iqbal Review", Lahore, Pakistan. This book is his latest contribution to the subject.

**Contents and Sample Pages**