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The main text of the Reconstruction is organized into seven lectures, each of which has its own title. However, there are no section breaks or subheadings within any of these lectures. This poses a difficulty for the person who is trying to apply the steps of analytical reading to understand Iqbal’s text. Specifically, the absence of clear sub-divisions in the Reconstruction makes it hard for the reader to identify the different segments that make up each lecture, which is what step 3 of analytical reading requires. To make the reader’s task easier, I would like to amend the process of analytical reading by adding a new step. Since this step has to be carried out before step 3, let’s call it step 2A.
Step 2A. If the author of a relatively long text hasn’t included any section breaks or subheadings, give each paragraph a number. This extra step may seem tedious or unnecessary, but it will save you a lot of headache in the long run. Assign consecutive numbers to the paragraphs by writing them in the left-hand margin of the page next to each indent. Maintain a consistent style throughout the text, so you can easily distinguish paragraph numbers from any other annotations you might subsequently add. For example, you may want to enclose your paragraph number within square brackets and use the same colored pen or pencil throughout the book.
So, I followed my own advice and numbered all the paragraphs in my copy of the Reconstruction, as listed below. In future posts, I will use this numbering system to outline each lecture as well to refer to specific paragraphs.
Lecture I: Knowledge and Religious Experience
[1] What is the character (pp. 1–2)
[2] The search for rational (pp. 2–4)
[3] It cannot, however, be (pp. 4–5)
[4] During the last five (pp. 6–7)
[5] The main purpose of (p. 7)
[6] Thus the affirmation of (pp.7–8)
[7] What, then, according to (p. 8)
[8] Again the universe is so (p. 8)
[9] This is what the Prophet (p. 8–9)
[10] Such being the nature (p. 9)
[11] And how do we find him (p. 9)
[12] His career, no doubt, has (p. 9)
[13] When attracted by the (pp. 9–10)
[14] It is the lot of man (p. 10)
[15] If he does not take the (p. 10)
[16] The point of these (pp. 10–11)
[17] No doubt, the (pp. 11–12)
[18] There is no doubt (pp.12–13)
[19] The “heart” is a kind of inner (pp. 13–14)
[20] The first point to note is the (p. 14)
[21] The second point is the (pp. 14–150
[22] The third point is that to the (pp. 15–16)
[23] Response, no doubt, is the test (p. 16)
[24] It is clear that whether we apply (p. 16)
[25] Since the quality of mystic (pp. 16–17)
[26] The incommunicability of (p. 17)
[27] Thus you will see that it is (pp. 17–18)
[28] The mystic’s intimate association (p. 18)
[29] For the purposes of (pp. 18–19)
[30] The problem of Christian (p. 19)
[31] And it is in the elimination of (pp. 19–20)
[32] Nor is it possible to explain (pp. 20–21)
[33] A purely psychological method (p. 21)
[34] The foregoing discussion (pp. 21–22)
Lecture II: The Philosophic Test of the Revelations of Religious Experience
[1] Scholastic philosophy has (p. 23)
[2] The cosmological argument (pp. 23–24)
[3] Descartes supplements this (pp. 24–26)
[4] Now experience, as unfolding (pp. 26–27)
[5] It was the philosopher (pp. 27–28)
[6] According to Professor (pp. 28–30)
[7] Thus Bertrand Russell (p. 30)
[8] With Einstein space is (pp. 30–32)
[9] Passing now to other (pp. 33–35)
[10] Life is, then, a unique (pp. 35–36)
[11] I will now try to reach (pp. 36–37)
[12] There is another set of (pp. 37–38)
[13] Thus, there is nothing (pp. 38–39)
[14] If we look at the movement (pp. 39–41)
[15] On the analogy of our (p. 41)
[16] According to Bergson (pp. 41–42)
[17] The poet means to say (pp. 42–43)
[18] Bergson, however, denies (pp. 43–44)
[19] We are now, I hope, in a (pp. 44–45)
[20] The above discussion (pp. 45–47)
[21] But the question you are (p. 47)
[22] It was the fear of (pp. 47–48)
[23] Thus a comprehensive (pp. 48–49)
Lecture III: The Conception of God and the Meaning of Prayer
[1] We have seen that (p. 50)
[2] But is hard to understand (p. 50)
[3] In the light of this (pp.50–51)
[4] No doubt, the opening (p. 51)
[5] There is, however, one (pp. 51–52)
[6] The other important (p. 52)
[7] Finite minds regard (pp. 52–53)
[8] The last sentence in (pp. 53–54)
[9] There is, however, one (p. 54)
[10] The rise and growth (pp. 54–55)
[11] According to the Ash’arite (p. 55)
[12] Again we have seen (pp. 55–56)
[13] Another feature of this (p. 56)
[14] I am inclined to think (p. 56)
[15] The second proposition (pp. 56–57)
[16] Reality is, therefore, (pp. 57–58)
[17] Thus, a criticism (p. 58)
[18] The problem of time (pp. 58–60)
[19] The point, however, is (pp. 60–61)
[20] The above discussion (pp. 61–62)
[21] The word “knowledge” (pp. 62–64)
[22] But how, it may be (p. 64)
[23] Omnipotence, abstractly (pp. 64–65)
[24] To the optimist Browning (p. 65)
[25] But the clue to a (p. 65)
[26] Turning to the legend of (pp. 65–66)
[27] The Qur’an omits the (p. 66)
[28] The Qur’an splits up the (pp. 66–67)
[29] The Old Testament curses the (p. 67)
[30] Thus we see that the (pp. 67–68)
[31] Further, it is the nature (pp. 68–69)
[32] The second episode of the (p. 69)
[33] The central idea here is to (pp. 69–70)
[34] Shall we, then, say no or yes (p. 70)
[35] I have now explained (pp. 70–71)
[36] Thus you will see that (pp. 71-73)
[37] The truth is that all search (p. 73)
[38] The real object of prayer (pp. 73–74)
[39] Prayer, then, whether (p. 74)
[40] The form of prayer (p. 75)
[41] Yet we cannot ignore (pp. 74–75)
Lecture IV: The Human Ego—His Freedom and Immortality
[1] The Qur’an in its simple (p. 76)
[2] Yet it is surprising to see (pp. 77–78)
[3] In the history of modern (pp. 78–79)
[4] The finite centre of experience (p. 79)
[5] Another important (pp. 79–80)
[6] To the Muslim school of (pp. 80–81)
[7] Yet the interpretations (pp. 81–82)
[8] In order to understand (pp. 82–83)
[9] The next question is (p. 83)
[10] The “yet another make” (pp. 83–84)
[11] Thus parallelism and (pp. 84–85)
[12] This view of the matter (pp. 85–86)
[13] Thus the element of (pp. 86–87
[14] Indeed Islam recognizes a (p. 87)
[15] It cannot, however, be (pp. 87–88)
[16] The fatalism implied (p. 88)
[17] But is it not true (p. 88)
[18] Hegel’s view of Reality (p. 89)
[19] No age has produced so much (p. 89)
[20] In modern times the line (pp. 89–91)
[21] There is, however, in the (pp. 21–92)
[22] Such is Nietzsche’s (p. 92)
[23] Passing now to the teachings (p. 92)
[24] Before, however, we take (pp. 92–93)
[25] This is a very important (p. 93)
[26] Whatever may be the (pp. 93–94)
[27] Who can be the subject of (p. 94)
[28] This is the ideal (p. 94)
[29] Pantheistic Sufism obviously (p. 94)
[30] With these three points (pp. 94–95)
[31] It is highly improbable that (p. 95)
[32] And how to make the soul (p. 95)
[33] Life offers a scope for (pp. 95–96)
[34] How did man first emerge? (pp. 96–97)
[35] The point, however, which has (p. 97)
[36] To my mind these (pp. 97–98)
[37] However, according to the (p. 98)
Lecture V: The Spirit of Muslim Culture
[1] “Muhammad of Arabia (pp. 99–100)
[2] A prophet may be defined as (p. 100)
[3] Looking at the matter (pp. 100–102)
[4] But inner experience (p. 102)
[5] This intellectual revolt (pp. 102–103)
[6] In his Qistas he puts (pp. 103–104)
[7] The first important point (pp. 104–105)
[8] Knowledge must begin (p. 105)
[9] But the universe, as a (pp. 105–106)
[10] Al-Biruni took (p. 106)
[11] Side by side with the (pp. 106–107)
[12] According to Ibn Maskawaih (p. 107)
[13] But it is really religious (p. 107)
[14] According to ‘Iraqi (pp. 107–108)
[15] But we must not forget (pp. 108–109)
[16] Having thus described the (p. 109)
[17] From this summary of (pp. 109–110)
[18] Thus all lines of Muslim (pp. 110–111)
[19] The last verse (p. 111)
[20] However, the interest (pp. 111–112)
[21] It is the application (p. 112)
[22] 1. The Unity of Human Origin (p. 112)
[23] 2. A Keen Sense of the (pp. 112–113)
[24] We are now in a position (p. 113)
[25] It now remains to eradicate (p. 114)
[26] By the expression (pp. 114–115)
[27] If this view of the prophetic (pp. 115)
Lecture VI: The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam
[1] As a cultural movement (pp. 116-117)
[2] The writer then proceeds (p. 117)
[3] The word literally means (pp. 117–118)
[4] 1. We are all familiar with (pp.118–119)
[5] The rise and growth of (p. 119)
[6] This spirit of total (pp. 119-120)
[7] 3. On the top of all this (p. 120)
[8] Ibn Taimiyyah was (pp. 120–121)
[9] Passing on to Turkey (p. 121)
[10] I now proceed to give (pp. 122–123)
[11] The truth is that the Turkish (p. 123)
[12] The Religious Reform (pp. 123–124)
[13] Let us now see how (pp. 124–125)
[14] In order to understand (pp. 125–126)
[15] To my mind these arguments (p. 126)
[16] These lines clearly (p. 126)
[17] From the same poet (pp. 126–127)
[18] It is clear from these lines (p. 127)
[19] If the aim of religion (pp. 127–128)
[20] In another passage the poet (p. 128)
[21] The truth is that among (pp. 128–129)
[22] We heartily welcome (pp. 129–130)
[23] I have given you some (p. 130)
[24] The assimilative spirit (p. 130)
[25] These views of modern (pp. 130–131)
[26] 1. In the first place (p. 131)
[27] 2. Secondly, it is worthy (p. 131)
[28] 3. Thirdly, when we (p. 131)
[29] (a) The Qur’an. (pp. 131–132)
[30] The important point (pp. 132–133)
[31] Turning now to the (pp. 133–134)
[32] You will, I think, remind (p. 134)
[33] With regard to the (pp. 134–135)
[34] The share of the daughter (p. 135)
[35] (b) The Hadith. (pp. 135–136)
[36] For our present (pp. 136–137)
[37] (c) The Ijma’. (pp. 137–138)
[38] But there are one or (pp. 138–139)
[39] But supposing the companions (p. 139)
[40] One more question (pp. 139–140)
[41] (d) The Qiyas. (pp. 140–141)
[42] This brief discussion (pp. 141–142)
Lecture VII: Is Religion Possible?
[1] Broadly speaking (pp. 143–144)
[2] As we all know (pp. 144–146)
[3] But, apart from the (pp. 146-147)
[4] In the second place (pp. 147–148)
[5] On the other hand (p. 148)
[6] Thus, wholly (pp. 148–149)
[7] As I have indicated (pp. 149–150)
[8] The question for us (pp. 150–151)
[9] Yet Jung has violated (pp. 151–152)
[10] This is missing the (pp. 152–153)
[11] Whatever may be the (pp. 153–154)
[12] Thus failed a genius (pp. 154–155)
[13] The truth is that the (pp. 155–156)
[14] Einstein’s mathematical (pp. 156–157)