“The Greatly respected and hugely learned — the Allama— Iqbal recognizes use of violence against non-Muslims, and forcible destruction of the symbols of their religiosity as acts of religious merit. His views are in no way divergent from the views of a Mahmud or an Ahamd Sirhindi. In a manner, he legitimized every act of vandalism perpetrated by Muslim sultans as a respectable service to the faith. Surely, nobody doubts Iqbal’s academic credentials and his knowledge of Islam. Rafiq Zakaria believed, “his expression are steeped in Islamic lore… Iqbal, it is true, is essentially a poet of Islam,” Well then, in the narrative of this poet of Islam, use of force against non-Muslims becomes legitimate means of political discourse because politics is only the vehicle for the propagation, security and maintenance of Islam. Iqbal’s assessment is not idiosyncratic but shared by many modern thinkers of our ea. Many Muslim thinkers believe without hesitation that it is religiously incumbent upon them to establish Islam over all people of the world and if force needs to be used to achieve such an established, it should definitely be used. (Introduction, XXI)
Sharma, Shashi S. (2004). Caliphs and Sultans. Rupa New Delhi
