IQ^AL ON ISLAM 53 system of rituals, and philosophy of self-denial and self-mortification, he thought, had done great harm to them. He, therefore, thought it necessary to do something about it. Being an idealist3 Iqbal ascribed the Muslims' decline to their misinterpretation of Islam or accepting ideas which are fundamentally contradictory to those of Islam, in the garb of Islam. In keeping with this idealistic interpretation of history, he thought that mysticism with its life-denying philosophy, which itself was a product of a decadent, moribund society, was the real cause of Muslims' sad plight and, therefore, with all vehemence, he propounded his own concept of "self" (khudi]. Not so much as social revolution, he seems to have thought, as the development of oneself, can be a real boon to society. (It does not, however, mean that he was opposed to social change. Revolution, for him, begins at the top, though, unlike Nietzsche, he does not hold masses in contempt). Approach to Mysticism Iqbal was not opposed to tasawwuf (mysticism) as such as some people think; he was opposed to the decadent form of mysticism as he found it around him and to the Persian influence and trends incorporated into it through Greek sources. Thus he writes, in a letter to Hafiz Muhammad Aslam Jairajpuri: "Prizada Muzaf-faruddin did not understand my real intent at all. If tasawwuf means sincerity of action (and this is what it meant in the earlier centuries of Islam), then no Muslim should object to it. Yes, when iasawwuf tends to become philosophy and, under non-Arabian (ajami) influences, involves itself in hair splitting dicussion about the system of our universe and the existence of God, then my soul icvolts against it."4 Though Iqbal's overall approach was that of an idealist, at times, he tended to adopt objective approach too. Thus in a letter to Sirajuddin Pal dated 19 July 1916, he writes: "This is surprising that the entire mystic poetry was created during the period of political decline of Muslims and it ought to be so. That community which loses its strength as it happened with the Muslims after the Mongol invasion, then its very point of view changes. For its weakness becomes something beautiful and graceful and renunciation brings satisfaction. Nations try to hide their indolence and inactivity and its defeat in the struggle for existence behind this facade of renunciation. Take the Indian Muslims, for example. The highest achievement of their literary genius ended with elegies of Lucknow."5 Iqbal had a great desire to reinterpret Islam. He believed that a person who wishes to develop his "self" ought to carve out