Ghaus Sivani

India has produced great Sufis, saints, thinkers and scholars who carried messages of peace, brotherhood and social harmony. Among these revered figures, Guru Nanak Dev occupies a special place. Through his teachings, he challenged social discrimination, questioned rigid hierarchies and sought to awaken society to the values of equality, compassion and spiritual truth.

Scholars and thinkers across generations have admired Guru Nanak DevJi and his contribution to society. Among them was Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who paid a remarkable tribute to the Sikh Guru in his celebrated poem Nanak. The poem remains significant for its emphasis on spiritual awakening, social reform, religious harmony, equality and the unity of God.

Guru Nanak Dev

Guru Nanak Dev was a spiritual teacher, social reformer and poet who laid the foundations of the Sikh tradition. He is revered as the first of the ten Sikh Gurus and is regarded as the founder of Sikhism.

His teachings centred on Ik Onkar—the belief in the oneness of God—and emphasised equality, brotherhood, compassion, honest living and service to humanity. His hymns form a central part of the Guru Granth Sahib, the principal scripture of Sikhism.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi Ki Talwandi, now known as Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. His birthplace is today home to Gurdwara Janam Asthan and remains an important pilgrimage site for Sikhs.

His life was also marked by close interactions with people of different faiths, particularly Muslims. His father, Kalyan Chand Das Bedi, popularly known as Mehta Kalu, served as an official under Rai Bular, a Muslim landholder. His mother was assisted by a Muslim midwife, Daulat. His close childhood companion, Bhai Mardana, was a Muslim and a gifted rabab player who later accompanied Guru Nanak Dev on his extensive travels.

According to Sikh tradition, Guru Nanak Dev Ji also received instruction in Persian and Arabic. His brother-in-law, Jai Ram, was employed by Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Lahore, and Guru Nanak Dev Ji himself later worked at a government granary associated with Daulat Khan's administration.

From an early age, Guru Nanak Dev Ji displayed a questioning mind and a deep concern for social and religious practices. He challenged rituals that he believed lacked genuine spiritual meaning and began composing poetry at a young age. His hymns, rich in spiritual and social insight, later became part of the Guru Granth Sahib.

He married Mata Sulakhni and had two sons. Yet worldly responsibilities did not diminish his spiritual quest. His life and travels were ultimately devoted to spreading a message of devotion to the One God, equality and service to humanity.

Iqbal's Poem Nanak

Allama Iqbal held Guru Nanak Dev in high regard and expressed his admiration in his poem Nanak. In it, Iqbal presents Guru Nanak as a figure who awakened India's spiritual consciousness and revived the message of monotheism.

The poem begins by recalling Gautam Buddha and lamenting that India had failed to fully appreciate the profound message of one of its greatest spiritual teachers:

The people did not care at all about the message of Gautam,
Don't you recognize the value of your Cowhar-e-Yak Dana?(Translated)

Iqbal compares Buddha to a priceless gem whose worth India failed to recognise. Buddha's teachings, centred on compassion, humanity, ethical conduct and freedom from suffering, had a profound influence on societies beyond India.

Iqbal then reflects on the intellectual and philosophical environment of ancient India:

The one who gave the surprise was the secret of life,
Hind was proud of its Khayali philosophy.

According to Iqbal's interpretation, Buddha addressed the fundamental questions of human existence and suffering, but sections of Indian society remained caught up in abstract philosophical speculation rather than translating these insights into social and spiritual transformation.

He continues:

It was not a gathering illuminated by the lamp of Truth;
A shower of grace descended, yet the soil was not receptive.(Translated)

Iqbal suggests that the spiritual message offered by great teachers could not always take root in the society of their time. He contrasts this with the later spread of Buddhism across large parts of Asia, including China, Japan and Sri Lanka.

The Spiritual Awakening of Punjab

The poem then takes a dramatic turn:

Butkada phir baad-e-muddat ke magar roshan hua
Noor-e-Ibrahim se Azar ka ghar roshan hua

Here, Iqbal employs the imagery of Prophet Abraham and the destruction of idolatry to describe a new spiritual awakening. The "light of Abraham" represents the illumination of monotheism, while "Azar's house" evokes the world of idol worship associated with Abraham's father, Azar, in Islamic tradition.

Iqbal then identifies Punjab as the source of this renewed call to monotheism:

Phir uthi aakhir sada-e-tauheed ki Punjab se,
Hind ko ek mard-e-kaamil ne jagaya khwab se.

These lines form the heart of the poem.

Iqbal portrays Guru Nanak Dev as the mard-e-kaamil—a spiritually complete or perfected human being—who awakened India from its slumber. From Punjab, according to Iqbal, arose a powerful call to tauheed, or the oneness of God.

For Iqbal, Guru Nanak's significance extended beyond the boundaries of a particular religious community. He saw in the Guru's teachings a challenge to social hierarchy, religious prejudice and spiritual stagnation. Guru Nanak's emphasis on equality, human dignity and devotion to the One God resonated deeply with Iqbal's own concerns about the moral and spiritual regeneration of society.

In this sense, Iqbal's poem brings together two towering figures of India's spiritual history—Gautam Buddha and Guru Nanak Dev. He acknowledges Buddha's message of compassion, moral conduct and spiritual discipline while presenting Guru Nanak as the figure who rekindled the call to monotheism in Punjab and awakened a society weighed down by social divisions.

Guru Nanak Dev and Iqbal

The intellectual connection Iqbal drew between himself and Guru Nanak Dev Ji is particularly striking because the two belonged to different religious traditions and lived nearly four centuries apart. Yet Iqbal recognised something profoundly familiar in Guru Nanak's call for spiritual renewal and social transformation.

Both were closely associated with Punjab. Punjabi was the language of their cultural environment, and both were born in November. More importantly, both challenged complacency and urged people to move beyond empty ritual and inherited social prejudices.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji spoke forcefully against caste-based discrimination and social inequality. Iqbal, too, repeatedly stressed human dignity, equality and the need to overcome divisions based on status and privilege.

For Guru Nanak Dev Ji, remembrance of the One God, honest living and service to humanity were central to a meaningful life. Iqbal similarly regarded man's relationship with God as the foundation of spiritual and moral fulfilment. His concept of Khudi, or the development of the self, was rooted in spiritual discipline, action and a profound awareness of the Divine.

Both thinkers also placed great emphasis on character and action. Guru Nanak Dev’s traditions of Seva (selfless service) and Langar (community kitchen) embody the principle of equality in practice. Iqbal, too, repeatedly emphasised righteous action, courage, self-discipline and service to society.

Their intellectual worlds were also touched by the broader currents of Sufi thought. Guru Nanak Dev's teachings emerged in a religious environment shaped by diverse Hindu and Islamic spiritual traditions, while Iqbal was deeply influenced by the Persian and Indian Sufi heritage. Iqbal frequently urged those associated with khanqahs not to withdraw from society but to engage with its problems and contribute to its transformation.

Yet the similarities should not obscure the important theological differences between the two. Guru Nanak Dev and Iqbal belonged to distinct religious traditions and developed their ideas within different historical contexts. Iqbal's admiration for Guru Nanak was therefore not an erasure of these differences, but a recognition of the universal dimensions of the Guru's message—spiritual awakening, moral courage, human dignity and the rejection of social injustice.

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Iqbal's Nanak thus stands as a remarkable example of how one great Indian thinker viewed another across religious boundaries. By invoking Guru Nanak Dev Ji as the voice of spiritual awakening from Punjab, Iqbal placed him among the great figures who sought to awaken humanity from ignorance, inequality and moral complacency.