The twentieth century marked a major shift in power. European Empires began to weaken the development of independent states began. Specifically, the fall of the Ottoman Empire left nations like Turkey scrambling to find a national identity and British control over the East India Company was beginning to weaken by the 1930’s. During this time, people began to debate what the true definition of a modern society was. As seen in Iqbal’s poetry, “Revolution” and “Europe and Syria” and Kemal’s “Speech to the Congress of the People’s Republican Party,” in order for a society to truly be modern we must disregard our current mindset that either strictly disregards religion or strictly follows it. Instead, in order to truly develop beyond our limitations, …show more content…
Iqbal articulates this idea that religion does not lead to total salvation. Iqbal demonstrates this idea with the idea that “Asia is dead” (Line 1). This death is symbolic of the lack of progression for Asian societies because there is such a high emphasis placed on religion. Removing all emphasis from religion, however, leads to “death of man’s soul,” which Iqbal believes is shown by Europe (1). This death to our soul is suggestive of a lack of moral standing. With religion, we become so one track minded that we are unable to progress, but without it we lose our morals and, thus our humanity. Current societal mindset has created a massive division between “man’s will” and “man’s heart” (2/3). This division is representative of total loss of religious understanding, our will, and our desire to indulge ourselves, our heart. A world built on such a division lacks any signs of modernism or progression, instead it is “nearing death” (4). This idea is similar to Kemal’s discussion of ending use of the fez. Both men are articulating that we can deviate from religious traditions, while still upholding religious value. This is the beginning of creating a better