Hamilton Gibb’s Criticism of the Thought of Allama Iqbal – An Analysis

Abstract

Hamilton Gibb was a contemporary of Allama Iqbal, but he did not speak on this subject until seven years after the death of Allama Iqbal, until in 1945 he gave a lecture program at Hescal Institute for Study of Comparative Religion and started a discussion on it. These lectures were later published in book form in 1947 under the American University of Chicago. This meant that the whole debate started by Hamilton Gibb was one-sided which is against the basic principles of any intellectual debate because any debate on any intellectual matter is to be purposeful and productive. The way to do this is to have both sides present so that their stated views can be compared and moderated to arrive at a conclusion. It is easier than for researchers and scholars who are doing research in the field of Islamic studies and religious renaissance to reach a point of view on the final opinion formed. It seems from Hamilton Gibb’s style of discussion that he analyzed all the thoughts of Allama Iqbal and explained his reasoning with a lot of contradictions and fallacies, and his style prevailed in all his later academic endeavors. It is mainly based on Allama Iqbal’s book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Hamilton Gibb continues his discussion and research on the ideas of Allama Iqbal. Gibb did not acknowledge any merit of Allama Iqbal and if he acknowledged any merit of Allama Iqbal at some level, he immediately changed his position. He says that Allama Iqbal’s courage and sincerity in his efforts should be acknowledged, but at the same time he says that courage and sincerity alone are not enough for this work. And in this way he completes his statement by withdrawing from the virtue he was admitting and says that Iqbal cannot be defended except we may say that in his new knowledge of theology Allama Iqbal laid some foundations which later could be supplemented with further elaboration to formulate a complete ethical system which will be of special importance in the coming period.