Allama Iqbal's Asrar-i Khudi (Secrets of the Self)

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About the Book Asrar-i-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) was the first poetry book of Iqbal. Considered by many to be Iqbal's best book of poetry, it is concerned with the philosophy of religion. In a letter to the poet Ghulam Qadir Girami(d.1345/1927), Iqbal wrote that "the ideas behind the verses had never been expressed before either in the East or in the West." RA Nicholson, who translated the Asrar as The Secrets of the Self, says it caught the attention of young Indian Muslims as soon as it was printed. Iqbal wrote this in Persian because he felt the language was well-suited for the expression of these ideas. This book deals mainly with the individual, while his second book Rumuz-i-Bekhudi discusses the interaction between individual and society.

About the Author Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1868-1945), was the greatest Rumi scholar in the English language. He was a professor for many years at the Cambridge University, in England. He dedicated his life to the study of Islamic mysticism and was able to study and translate major Sufi texts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish. That a Western "scholar of the first rank" dedicated much of his life to the study and translation of Rumi's poetry was very fortunate. His monumental achievement was his work on Rumi's Masnavi (done in eight volumes, published between 1925-1940). He produced the first critical Persian edition of Rumi's Masnavi, the first full translation of it into English, and the first commentary on the entire work in English. This work has been highly influential in the field of Rumi studies, worldwide. His critical Persian text has been re printed many times in Iran and his commentary has been so highly respected there, that it has been translated into Persian (by Hasan Lâhûtî, 1995).

Book's Contents and Sample Pages