he title of this book, Towards the Pebbled Shore, is borrowed from a Shakespearean sonnet that explores the destructive nature of time and the fragility of human existence. The phrase provides a powerful metaphor for the swift and inevitable progression of life towards its final destination. Does the author, in selecting this title, suggest an intensified awareness of mortality? Possibly, he does. Yet the resonance of this image lies equally in its quiet alignment with the book’s thematic core.
Comprising 52 essays and columns on subjects ranging from world and Eastern classics to Urdu literature, poetry, language and history, the book may appear at first to be a wide-ranging collection. However, beneath this diversity lies a discernible thread: the assertion that while the waves of time may erode all living things, they cannot extinguish the enduring power of the creative imagination.
The world’s literary classics, the book argues, serve not merely as reflections of their age but as fortresses of thought, standing firm against the passage of time, not unlike a rugged shore resisting the sea. Particular emphasis is placed on the classical languages, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, as the foundation of global literary heritage. While Urdu may not traditionally be classified among these classical tongues, the book posits that it has produced its own canon of timeless works.
Syed Noman-ul Haq, a renowned and esteemed scholar and author, has consistently focused on great literary works from around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Islamic literature. In his examination of the Sanskrit classic Panchatantra and its translations into various world languages, including Pehlevi, Persian and Arabic as Kalila wa Damna, he posits that the realm of creativity transcends the dichotomy of East and West, operating under its own unique logic and grammar. He recognises that nation-states have established not only geographical boundaries but also ideological, cultural and artistic divisions. Haq asserts that nature did not create nation-states; instead, it was humanity that did so. He appears to hold the belief that the domain of creative imagination is inherently shared among all people. This perspective implies that cross-cultural exchanges are a natural occurrence. Seeking inspiration, knowledge and insights from others and engaging in collective cultural endeavours is a fundamental aspect of human nature. Consequently, Haq presents a compelling interpretation of modernity as well. He contends that “modernity is a convergence, a convergence in which many individuals and civilisations have engaged, despite its European origins. Throughout this historical journey, the Arabo-Islamic world has played a significant role. Indeed, it is impossible to recount the intellectual or literary history of the Greeks or the Latin West without referencing Arabic sources.” This understanding of modernity is not only historically accurate but also epistemologically valid. However, it is important to highlight that it was the Latin West that drew extensively from Arabic sources. The case of Modern West is a bit different.
Haq presents numerous historical facts that support his perspective on modernity. Although the book under review is a compilation of short essays and columns, primarily published in Dawn’s Books and Authors magazine, Haq’s well-integrated vision is evident throughout the text. He argues that world classics such as Alf Laila wa Laila (One Thousand and One Nights), Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the brethren of Purity), Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Kalila wa Damna, among others, played a significant role in the development of modernity. He asserts that the historical influence of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan on global intellectual culture was substantial, stating, “We hear its echoes throughout Europe.” Hayy not only captivated Dutch philosopher Spinoza but also inspired Daniel Defoe in the creation of Robinson Crusoe, which is set on an island reminiscent of Hayy, as well as Rudyard Kipling in writing The Jungle Book. Haq notes that historians have traced the philosophical influence of Hayy, particularly its concept of the human mind as a tabula rasa, on the ideas of Voltaire and Karl Marx. Similarly, Haq speculates that Cervantes’s Don Quixote could be interpreted as an ‘Arabic tale.’ He references the author’s assertion, found in the first chapter of Book II, where Cervantes recounts the discovery of an Arabic text in Toledo that describes Don Quixote as a work by an Arabic historian named Cide Hemet, a corruption of Saiyid Hamid. However, most critics interpret this part of the novel as a fictional device, instead of taking it as an incontestable historical fact. The popular interpretation notwithstanding, Haq concludes that “…Don Quixote is imbued with the concerns, struggles, fate and psychological dislocation of the Muslims (and Jews) of former Al-Andalus.”
He does not conclude his argument there. He continues to express the view that this, the greatest Spanish novel, often described as picaresque, is significantly shaped by the Arabic tradition of Maqamat, particularly Maqamat-i-Hariri,- by an Eleventh Century Muslim scholar of Basra, whose works have been imitated by Spanish Christians since the late 12th Century, several years prior to Cervantes. According to Haq, “Arabic maqama is an episodic story of the adventures of a likeable rogue who travels from place to place and in a corrupt society lives by his wits.”
In addition to the Arabic influence on the evolution of Western intellectual culture, Haq references other Eastern sources, including the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sanskrit Panchatantra and the Persian Shahnama of Firdausi. These literary classics from the East served as a catalyst for the Western imagination. The crucial point to consider is that the journey of Eastern thought and intellect towards the West occurred at a significant moment in history, during the initial phase of Western modernity. The concept of Western modernity did not emerge in a singular historical event. It experienced numerous stages, although by the 20th Century, it had turned into a petrified narrative, prompting substantial criticism from post-modernists. Since the 19th Century, Western imperial powers have sought to construct a singular notion of modernity, erasing non-Western cultural influences and intertwining it with colonialism. Therefore, it is not unexpected that modernity has been perceived as a Western cultural and intellectual phenomenon since the 19th Century, portraying non-Western cultures as the Other, entities to be subdued, exploited, misrepresented and ultimately compelled to imitate Western modernity blindly, lest they fail to exist as nations.
One needs to understand that during the initial phase of Western modernity, the exchange of cultural ideas was largely disinterested, driven by an instinct for intellectual survival and cultural blossoming. However, in the era of colonial expansion, cultural transmission evolved into a deliberate interplay of exclusion and inclusion, appropriation and exploitation, as well as a calculated erasure or brazen denial of previous cultural influences.
Cross-cultural transmission is now viewed as an integral aspect of power dynamics. Each text embodies a specific national-political power, or at least political significance, beyond its mere literary or intellectual importance. This perspective on cultural transmission is notably advanced by post-colonial authors. They argue that colonialism established the dichotomies of East and West as part of its imperial-hegemonic strategy, rather than for the sake of comprehending the world. Although Haq refrains from utilising a post-colonial framework, he appears to acknowledge the intentional erasure of Eastern cultural impact on Western Enlightenment. In his discussion of aljamiado in Spain, he expresses dissatisfaction with the historical narratives we receive, which he describes as prefabricated grand narratives that obscure facts, consigning them to obscurity. Haq aims to reclaim these historical truths from the ghettos of history.
Very few individuals are aware of aljamiado in Spain. Historically significant, aljamiado refers to texts composed in the Spanish language using Arabic script. According to Haq, the majority of aljamiado emerged during a period when there was a complete blackout of Arabic writing in Spain. In fact, the creation of aljamiado represented an act of defiance by Spanish Muslims who were subjected to coercive baptism following the Reconquista of Muslim Spain. This was not merely a political act of defiance, but also a cultural one. The point to be emphasised is that Muslims in Europe created a truly hybrid culture, evident in the case of aljamiado as well. Aljamiado texts were linguistically Spanish, scripturally Arabic, and thematically Islamic. It can be asserted that Muslims in Spain during the 15th and 16th Centuries, in their fear of extinction, composed aljamiado as a means of survival and recovery of their cultural self.
Haq’s writings, including his Urdu translation of Kitab al Tawasin, aim to reclaim the lost Self of Islamic/ Islamicate/ Muslim culture, which he asserts has played a crucial role in cultural synthesis. The pursuit of recovering this lost cultural identity appears to have deeply influenced Haq’s writing. This may explain why Muslim Spain continues to resonate with him, much like it did with Allama Iqbal, his most admired figure in the modern Islamic world, who, through his poetry, kept the spirit of the golden era of Islam alive. He passionately references intellectuals and writers from Muslim Spain, such as Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd and Mu’tamid, a poet-prince of the Abbasid dynasty, who pioneered prison poetry, known as habsiyat in Urdu, during the 11th Century. Interestingly, Mas’ud Sa’d Salman of Lahore also created similar poetry while imprisoned in the same century. For Haq, Muslim Spain symbolises his vision of modernity and cross-cultural exchange. As previously noted, he perceives modernity as a convergence of various cultural and intellectual currents, of which Muslim Spain is a prime example. Even after its decline, the Iberian Muslim community, particularly through aljamiado, maintained this spirit of cross-cultural transmission. Thus, the bloodshed of 1492 represented a significant setback not only for Muslims of Spain but also for the entirety of human composite culture.
It is important to emphasise also that his endeavour to recover the lost Muslim identity does not prevent him from valuing the monumental literary achievements of the Latin and Modern West, as well as Sanskrit literature. This is how he has cultivated a persistent appreciation for the aesthetic enjoyment found in literary texts.
In Haq, one can see an impeccable fusion of literary scholarship and aesthetics. His pronounced inclination towards literary scholarship drives him to explore history – primarily literary history, though occasionally political as well. However, his aesthetic sensibility compels him to focus on articulating the ‘pleasure principles’ of a text rather than delving into the multiple meanings that are intertwined with the transience of history or the psychological composition of the author. He is of the view that poetry possesses its own grammar and logic, its own beats and rhythms. This implies that the logic and grammar of poetry take precedence over parole (Saussure’s terminology for speech acts, in contrast to langue, which refers to a set of grammatical rules). We know that grammar is largely fixed, while parole or the meaning of the text, is fluid and remains open to interpretation. Haq emphasises the stability of poetic grammar over the fleeting nature of meanings. In his literary philosophy, the manner in which something is expressed takes precedence over the content itself. By adopting this approach, he appears to permit poetry to forge its own reality, thereby altering conventional perceptions of reality. This also suggests that the aesthetics of poetry acquire a characteristic of metaphysics. In his remarkable essay titled Ghalib’s Metaphorical Sport, he posits that Ghalib’s poetry transforms concrete reality into metaphor, subsequently regarding metaphor as concrete reality, and extracts further metaphor from it. He suggests that reality engenders metaphor, and metaphor as reality gives rise to new metaphors. Can we infer from this that poetry may contain an infinite Derridean sequence of metaphors, or is there a ‘reality principle’ at work in poetry that inhibits the emergence of a labyrinth?
This aesthetic process establishes a sovereign, metaphysical realm. This realm not only transcends concrete reality but also extends beyond history. I contend that concrete reality and history, although mediated through language initially and then through poetic metaphors, remain essential, as a ‘reality principle’- albeit not absolute – references. Even the highest forms of aesthetics do not relinquish the sensual dimensions of human experience that are rooted in history. This minor disagreement aside, the book is a genuinely scholarly work. Besides erudite discussion about world and Islamic classics, the book contains a brilliant evaluation of Urdu poets like Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz, Fraz, Nasir and Iftikhar Arif. The breadth, magnitude and profundity of Haq’s expertise in the world’s classical languages and their monumental works are unparalleled. This book is essential reading for students and connoisseurs of world literature.
The reviewer is a Lahore-based Urdu critic and fiction writer. He is also the current Head of Publications at the Gurmani Centre, LUMS. Majmooa Nasir Abbas Nayyar is his most recent publication