Abstract:
The study analyzes Western materialism and Islamic spiritualism through Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophy to assess the relevance of Iqbal’s thoughts in the present times. Allama Iqbal grounded his philosophy and poetry in Islam and offered a comprehensive critique of Western materialism. He adopted a moderate stance, distinguishing himself from contemporary religious schools of thought that either advocated for Muslims to entirely avoid Western materialism or fully conform to it. Iqbal promoted a balanced approach, where religion and worldly affairs complement one another. He emphasized learning from the positive aspects of the West, acquiring scientific knowledge, and gaining worldly wisdom, while prioritizing Islamic spiritualism over Western materialism, intuition over rationalism, and the Islamic economic system over an interest-based economy. Iqbal also championed the Islamic philosophy of asceticism (faqr) and based his concept of the self (Khudi) on Islamic spiritualism. He highlighted the differences in character training between Western and Islamic educational systems and proposed distinct curricula for women. This study examines how the negative effects of Western materialism can be mitigated and explores how the youth can model themselves on Iqbal’s ideals of the “Mard-e-Momin” and “Fatima tuz Zahra.” The study follows a descriptive research analysis technique.