Abstract—In the history of civilization, culture and religion
have always developed in a close proximity to each other.
Indeed, one cannot conceive of development in religion and
culture in isolation from each other. It is precisely this unity of
culture and religion which is to be the basis of Muhammad
Iqbal’s views on Muslim culture. Culture, for Iqbal, is the most
important factor of sociological life and the basis of its change.
In explaining social change, he believed that culture plays a
greater role than other factors, such as, economy and politics.
Although he has deeply studied the Western thought, Iqbal’s
views on culture are essentially shaped by the teachings of the
Qur’an. This paper tries to explore Iqbal’s concept of Muslim
culture and its spirit. It does not mainly concern with the
determination of what constitutes culture or the enumeration of
various traits of Muslim culture. Rather, the paper tries to
study Iqbal’s critical evaluation of the spirit of Muslim culture
and the fundamental principles which motivate, inspire, and
direct Muslims in their cultural pursuits.
Index Terms—Muslim culture, the concept of self, the
concept of society.
Adibah binti Abdul Rahim is with the International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpr, Malaysia (e-mail: adibahar@iium.edu.my).
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Cite: Adibah binti Abdul Rahim, " The Spirit of Muslim Culture According to Muhammad
Iqbal," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 725-729, 2015.