Taking Issue And Allah’s Answer

When Muhammad Iqbal first recited Shikwa in 1909, the audience was angry at his boldness. The poem is a complaint addressed straight to Allah, blaming Him for the miserable condition of Muslims around the world and mourning the lost glory of Islam.

Iqbal answered his own complaint in 1913 with Jawaab-e-Shikwa. In it Allah replies to the poet, first rebuking the Muslim community and then holding out hope for Islam's future. The beauty of the verse calmed many of those who had been offended by the first poem.

Both poems have since become part of the canon of South Asian literature, and their recitation and selective quotation have been used to support many different causes across the subcontinent. Mustansir Dalvi's translation brings them into a contemporary, direct English.