Ruh e Asar /روح عصر

by Ali Abbas Jalalpuri

208 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Prof. Syed Ali Abbas Jalalpuri was a writer from Pakistan regarded by the intellectuals as the Will Durant of Pakistan. He wrote more than fourteen books on Philosophy, History, and Religion in Urdu and Punjabi languages.
His books seemed to herald an age of reason in Pakistan and his opinions on the subjects of history, civilization, religion, philosophy, metaphysics, folklore are held in great esteem.
In his greatest work, Riwayat-e-Falsafa (Traditions of Philosophy), he tried to educate a common Urdu reader on the subject of Philosophy. This book served its purpose in popularizing the subject within the country.

His Works:
1. Riwayat-e-Falsafa (Story of Philosophy)
2. Wahdatul Wujud tey Punjabi Sha'eri (Pantheism and Punjabi Poetry)
3. Iqbal Ka Ilm-e-Kalam (The Theology of Allama Muhammad Iqbal
4. Maqamat-e-Waris Shah (Places of Waris Shah)
5. Ruh-e-Asar ( Zeit Geist or The Spirit of the Age)
6. Aam Fikri Mughaltay (Common Intellectual Errors)
7. Tareekh Ka Naya Mor (The New Turn of History)
8. Rasoom Aqwam (The Cultures of Nations)
9. Jinsiyati Mutaley (Studies in Sex)
10 Kianat aur Insan (Universe and Man)
11 Riwayat-e-Tamadan Qadeem (Story of Ancient Civilizations)
12 Khird Nama Jalalpuri ( Jalalpuri Dictionary)
13 Maqalat Jallapuri (Essays by Jalalpuri)
14 Sibd Gulchainh (A collection of poetry)

Reviews

[Haider Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruh-e-Asr (Zeitgeist) is a condensed yet comprehensive view on Philosophy of History. Jalalpuri says that each major era of human history can be defined by a distinctive common characteristic – the zeitgeist; and making sense of that zeitgeist is necessary to make sense of the history. He divides the human history in eight eras with each era having a specific spirit and then carefully dissects each era by superimposing the spirit over political, economic, philosophical and social developments of that era. Each era’s with its zeitgeist (in parenthesis) is:

1. Prehistory (Animism): Attributing the living soul to plants, animals and magnificent natural phenomenon. This is the era of common ownership.
2. Agricultural Revolution (Fertility Cults): Fertility was the most important characteristic of being. This was the era where man started giving importance to individual property.
3. Axial Age (Improvements in fertility cults): History saw the emergence of Confucius, Budha, Zarathustra, Josiah and Thales of Miletus who introduced major reforms in the previously held religious views.
4. Greek Civilization (Classical doctrine of Being): Superiority of logic and reason over emotions and instincts.
5. Roman Civilization (Concept of a Universal Community): For the first time in history, the concepts of a global empire, universal brotherhood, and a common religion were introduced.
6. Middle Ages (“Ilm-al-Kalam, or the Islamic Scholastic Theology): Defending religious doctrine using logic and reason, thus attributing philosophy as merely a servant of religion.
7. Renaissance (Freedom of mind): Decline of Ilm-al-Kalam, rebirth of classical studies, development of science. “Renaissance was not a political or religious movement. It is the state of mind!”, says Jalalpuri.
8. Industrial Revolution, current age (Scientific Research): “Eyes that were straying in the skies for thousand years returned to earth in search for the lost heaven”, says Jalalpuri. Rise of the realists through Positivism, Utilitarianism, Pragmatism, and Dialectical Materialism. Return of common ownership through Socialism.

In the final pages of the book, Jalalpuri identifies Romanticism as the major cause of the stagnation of industrial age in particular and western civilization in general. To him, Romanticism prioritizes emotions and instincts over reason and prefers individual over society (if you smell Socialism here, you’re right. Jalalpuri is all for it). He considers Existentialism and its impact over other related disciplines merely an extension of Romanticism, and butt-spanks Kierkegaard, Bergson, Sartre, Freud (Camus too!) for directly or indirectly promoting melancholy, gloom, indecisiveness, and suicidality.

Finally, Jalalpuri is of the view that only breaking away from individuality and individual good and to return our focus on society and collective good can help save the spirit of renaissance and positive aspects of industrial revolution. However, Jalalpuri got a little carried away at this point (never mind) and claims that Socialism is the defining zeitgeist of current age. Since the book was written in 1968, he couldn’t witness almost a domino-effect like decline of Socialism in a number of economies. This small point-of-conflict, nevertheless, hardly undermines the importance of this work.

[Shahzad Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basics of philosophy with brief history

[Riaz Laghari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking book!