Madani–Iqbal debate
Debate between Hussain Ahmad Madani and Muhammad Iqbal in the late 1930s / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Madani–Iqbal debate was a debate between Islamic scholars of 20th century British India, Hussain Ahmed Madani and Muhammad Iqbal, on the question of nationalism in the late 1930s. Madani's position throughout the debate was to insist on the Islamic legitimacy of embracing a culturally plural, secular democracy as the best and the only realistic future for India's Muslims whereas Iqbal insisted on a religiously defined, homogeneous Muslim society. Madani and Iqbal both appreciated this point and they never advocated the creation of an absolute Islamic State. They differed only in their first step. According to Madani, the first step was the freedom of India for which composite nationalism was necessary. According to Iqbal, the first step was the creation of a community of Muslims in the Muslim-majority land.[1]