God’s Existence, Truth of Prophecy and Prayer as a Religious Experience to Muḥammad Iqbāl

Abstract

If we want to study Muḥammad Iqbāl’s Islamic thought, we have to study his book: (Reconstruction of Religious Thoughts in Islam) before reading any book about him, as we cannot ignore this book on this subject, because the researcher cannot reach the depth of his thought and philosophy without studying this book. Iqbāl has philosophized in the statement of these complex topics that are related to “the science and spiritual experiences”, the perception of the existence of God, the reality and habit, the human self, the compulsory provision and the choice, the spirit of Islamic civilization, and meaning of the prayer as a religious experience. Iqbāl’s character in this book appears, as an Islamic poet, thinker and philosopher, in which Iqbāl wants to develop a new Islamic science of speech. It should be noted that Muḥammad Iqbāl addressed these topics with a careful research and deep study in the light of the teachings of Islam and modern philosophy, and opened the doors of thinking about Islam to his contemporary thinkers and scholars and those who came after them. Iqbāl by his mentality and being influenced by the philosophical approach tends to the synthesis of this method of mental analysis, but because of his religious tendency, he also tends to correct the steps of thought itself by highlighting the Qur’anic view on the content of the mental experience to follow in its footsteps towards the truth, using the descriptive analytical approach that is always fit in the treatment of such topics.