Khurram Ali Shafique

Khurram Ali Shafique’s “Shakespeare according to Iqbal” is an intriguing episode in finding ground breaking connection in the Nezami-Rumi-Shakespeare-Iqbal quartet . A mystery, thicker than Dan Brown’s Da-Vinci Code.

The following connections are extremely fascinating:

1)Tempest’s Nine conflicts and gulshan e raaz e jadeed’s nine questions.

2)Tempest’s seven major conflicts and Nezami’s Haft Paykar.

3)Tempest’s seven major conflicts and Iqbal’s seven couplets on Shakespeare.

4)Tempest’s five later conflicts and Nizami’s quintet.

All this seems very mesmerizing. Some critics say that the character of Prospero was Shakespeare personified, then the drowning of his books resembles with drowning/burning of books of Rumi.( in the book WAY OF LOVE it is narrated that books were drowned in a well).

Look at the following passage from Nezami Ghanjavi:

“Divine command on the day of creation did not produce anything more charming than language, do not consider those who have this gift, ever to be dead: they are like fish, having lowered themselves just beneath the surface of speech: they shall reappear sooner than you utter their names…..” what a paragraph !

In holy Quran one Sura (Chapter) starts with “Noon wal Kalm” mystics have referred “noon “to fish and “Kalm” to knowledge, language and power. In ancient symbol’s and modern abstract arts fish stands for sustainable life.

This is a diminutive volume but a Book that will usher a new approach to understanding collective ego, the book is published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan.