The Secrets of the Self

In a letter to the poet Ghulam Qadir Girami (d.1345/1927),[2] Iqbal wrote, "The ideas behind the verses had never been expressed before either in the East or in the West."

R.A. Nicholson, who translated the Asrar as The Secrets of the Self, says it caught the attention of young Muslims as soon as it was printed.

However, one has to make a great journey of transformation to realize that divine spark which Iqbal calls "Khudi".

In the same way, to reach one's khudi or rooh one needs to go through multiple stages which Iqbal himself went through, spiritual path which he encourages others to travel.

The same concept had been used by the medieval poet and philosopher Farid ud-Din Attar of Nishapur in his "Mantaq-ul-Tair" ("The Conference of the Birds").

He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become the vicegerent of God.