Taking Issue and Allah’s Answer

When Muhammad Iqbal first recited Shikwa (Taking Issue) in 1909, his audience was enraged by his effrontery. Iqbal, in his lament, took issue with Allah directly, audaciously implicating Him for the sorry state of Muslims worldwide and ruing the lost glory of Islam. In recompense, Iqbal composed Jawaab-e-Shikwa (Allah’s Answer) in 1913. Here, Allah responds to the poet, first berating his community, then offering hope for Islam in the world. Iqbal’s mellifluous words greatly assuaged those angered earlier. Over time, the poems have found their place in the canon of South Asian literature, and, through recitation, repetition and selective use, have forwarded a variety of agendas in the subcontinent. In this elegant translation by Mustansir Dalvi, these classics by the most influential poet of his generation come alive once again in a language that is contemporary and immediate. Mustansir Dalvi’s translation of Muhammad Iqbal’s Shikwa and Jawaab-e Shikwa, as Taking Issue & Allah’s Answer was runner up for the Muse India Translation Award 2012. The Jury commended it for its ‘bold attempt to render into contemporary cadences two poetic texts that stand at the source of a radical modernist movement within Islamic thought.'