LAHORE: The 13th edition of the Lahore Literary Festival kicked off at Alhamra on Friday with keynote address by historian Ayesha Jalal, focusing on Dr Muhammad Iqbal`s concept of time based on Islamic faith in comparison with the western thoughtbased on science.

The address mainly premised on the new book of Ms Jalal, Muslim Enlightened Thought in South Asia, that was also launched on the occasion.

Delivering her address which mainly focused on her book, she said Iqbal did not just engage with European thought, he made contributions to the concept of space and time while engaging in productive knowledge exchange with the Europeans. `He left atrail of active and lively engagement with people and institutions in Italy, Germany, Britain, France and Spain.

Ms Jalal said her new book was an investigation into enlightened thinking among the Muslims in the British colonialrule during the late 19th and early 20 century and its aftermath.

In a sense, Roshan Khayali (enlightened thinking) is my primary protagonist, challenging the view thatportrays Muslim thinkers as exemplars of an apologetic modernity, she said and added that she challenged the presumptions of historians of liberalism that excluded the Muslims from the domain of modern liberal thought.

She said she started withGhalib as a representative of enlightened Muslims and then moved to (Sir) Syed Ahmed Khan, an overexposed Muslim thinker, Molvi Zakaullah of Delhi and Nazir Ahmed.

Ayesha Jalal said the second part of her book highlighted therole of history in relocating the Muslims in colonial India and broader Muslim world by examining the historical works of Syed Ahmed Khan, Syed Amir Ali, MolviZakaullah and Muhammad Husain Azads` Darbar-i-Akbari that tells the history of court of Emperor Akbar, the first Indian king to grant a complete freedom of thought and religious practices. She referred to Musaddas of Altaf Husain Hali and Shibli Nomani`s work on AbbasidCaliph al-Mamun focusing on the connection of reason and revelation in Islam and fiction of Abdul Halim Sharar.

Jalal said the third part of her book was about enlightened ideas that motivated the Muslims to resist colonial rules and notions that led to the post-Independence Pakistan such as Ghulam Abbas, Daud Rahbar, Ghulam Ahmed Pervaiz, Khalifa Abdul Hakeem, Sibte Hasan and Asma Jahangir.

Speaking about self-awakening among the Muslims of the sub-continent, she said Allama Iqbal embraced the tradition of `not reviling time because time is God`, a metaphor that influenced his life. She spoke about Iqbal`s concept of time as a distinctly psychological experience, adding that Iqbal rejected the Newtonian notion of time as absolute, he was also dissatisfied by the Einstein`s notion of time as the fourth dimension of space while he did not agree with Nietzsche`s circular theory of time. `Iqbal`s notion of time as a continuous creative movement is drawn primarily from the Quran and various Muslim thinkers such as 13th and 15th centuries Persian scholars Mulla Jalaluddin and Iraqi, respectively.

She referred to elements of Bergson`s concept of time as continuous change that was close to Iqbal`s ideas of time and the poet agreed that there were two types of time for different types of self. She said Iqbal visited Paris where he met Bergson who was surprised by hearing the quote the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on time and space. She said Iqbal`s ideas of space and time were dispersed in his lectures, occasional letters and anthologies, especially Asrar-i-Khudi. She said though Asrar-i-Khudi was for the select few, Javid Nama was for a broader audience.

Ayesha Jalal spoke about the mural that Sadequain had made based on Iqbal`s verses, especially the one inthe Lahore Museum and one having other luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein and another depicting Sitaron Sey Aagay Jahan Aur Bhi Hain. She said she had compared poetry of Iqbal and Habib Jalib with the latter more focused on working classes and bread and butter issues. She stressed that Iqbal needed to be saved from officialdom that ignored his focus on the inner struggle of the self.

Earlier, in the opening ceremony, LLF CEO announced the names of the winners of the writing contest held in collaboration with the British Council.

Hameed Haroon of Dawn Group, Alhamra Executive Director Syed Taugeer Haider Kazmi, Country Director of British Council Pakistan James Hampson, Spanish ambassador Jose Antonio de Ory, officer -n charge of Unesco in Pakistan Antony Kar Hung Tam and Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Azma Bokhari were also present on stage.

LLF Chairman Iqbal Z Ahmed announced that LLF CEO Razi Ahmed was honoured with `Chevalier de l`Ordre des Arts et des Lettres` by France for his contribution to arts and culturalexchange.