With him the spiritual basis of life is a matter of...

With him the spiritual basis of life is a matter of conviction for which even the least enlightened man among us can easily lay down his life; and in view of the basic idea of Islam that there can be no further revelation binding on man, we ought to be spiritually one of the most emancipated peoples on the earth."18 Briefly, what Iqbal says is to the effect that Islam offers mankind the spiritual content of a religious belief based on revelation, which can deeply influence the human spirit.

Accordingly, if Islam offers freedom, justice and human rights, these are possibilities based on a guarantee of accomplishment through proper conditioning of the human spirit, whereas the "isms" evolved in or claimed by Europe lack such a guarantee. He believes that the "isms" have failed to change European nature, or make it really human. In other words, Europeans' concern for human welfare is oriented to what they think, and not what or how they feel in their inner spirit or conscience.

An average European may advocate humanitarianism without necessarily practising it. He may speak about human rights without the corollary of respect for man. Based on his favourite 'ism', he may uphold human liberty. However, this does not necessarily mean his intrinsic appreciation of or belief in it. He may endorse the need for equality and justice for all men, but not conscientiously.

According to Iqbal, the European perplexity is one of a spiritual kind, arising from the secular nature of democracies, which tend to exploit the poor and favour the rich. All the contradictory "isms" evolved in Europe make declarations about justice without bringing about any lasting impact in this regard. No wonder, Iqbal calls upon Muslims, specially the impressionable youngmen, to he wary of getting misled or lost by any "ism".

Furthermore, Iqbal points out that modern European culture and civilization carries deficiencies which do not occur in the true Islamic counterparts. For one thing, Islam does not represent a culture based on intellectual and materialistic considerations or values only, as in the case of Europe. Iqbal then proceeds to explain some basic merits of Islamic culture. To quote Iqbal again: "...

Humanity needs three things today - a spiritual interpretation of the universe, spiritual emancipation of the individual and basic principles of a universal import directing the evolution of human society on a spiritual basis.