Rereading Iqbal through Western Critical Theory: Khudi, Negative Dialectics, Foregrounding, and the Philosophy of Life

Abstract

This study offers a contemporary reinterpretation of Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophical poetry through selected Western theories of literature and aesthetics. Moving beyond predominantly hagiographic and ideologically fixed approaches to Iqbal, it examines how modern critical frameworks can reveal the continuing relevance of his thought to the spiritual, intellectual, and civilizational crises of humanity. The study focuses on the poem “Showing that the system of the universe originates in the Self, and that the continuation of the life of all individuals depends on strengthening the Self” from The Secrets of the Self. The analysis primarily employs Theodor W. Adorno’s negative dialectics and aesthetic theory, Jan Mukařovský’s concepts of aesthetic changeability and foregrounding, and Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality. The study argues that Iqbal’s concept of Khudi represents a dynamic process of self-realization achieved through action, struggle, suffering, discipline, and moral responsibility. Through an intertextual comparison with Nietzsche’s Übermensch, Bergson’s élan vital, and George Bernard Shaw’s life force, the research demonstrates that Iqbal develops a distinctive conception of human potential that integrates material activity with spiritual and metaphysical purpose. Unlike purely materialistic or radically autonomous Western models, Iqbal’s Khudi acquires freedom and strength within the ethical limits of divine law. The analysis further identifies Iqbal as an “isolated intellectual” whose critical position remains independent of both colonial modernity and rigid religious orthodoxy. His transformation of traditional Persian and Urdu poetic symbols, particularly the moth, flame, height, lightning, and fire, illustrates Mukařovský’s foregrounding by preserving classical forms while introducing unfamiliar philosophical meanings. The study concludes that Iqbal’s poetry embodies a productive dialectical tension between spirit and matter, freedom and discipline, tradition and modernity, and the East and the West. This theoretical rereading establishes Iqbal as a globally relevant thinker whose philosophy of Khudi offers an ethical and transformative response to contemporary human suffering, passivity, oppression, and civilizational decline.