The research introduces a new approach to Islamic mystical philosophy expounded by Allama Iqbal Lahori (1877-1938) in his book “Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid” (The New Rose Garden of Mystery) as his response to “Gulshan-i Raz” (The Rose Garden of Mystery) of Sheikh Mahmoud
Shabistari, the 14th century saint from Iran. In a comparative study, fundamental changes in Islamic mystical thoughts from Shabistari’s ‘God (Khoda) centered mysticism’ to the ‘self (khudi) centered’ approach of Allama Iqbal is explored through these important treatises of Islamic
mystical philosophy. By a detailed examination and interpretation of both “Rose Gardens”, the research explains a doctrinal transformation from Shabistari’s school of unity to Iqbal’s school of plurality in different aspects of Sufi metaphysics, epistemology, cosmology, psychology, and
eschatology. The new approach of Iqbal in his ‘New Rose Garden’ is to establish a framework for spiritual practice of a socially responsible, active, and innovative believer in the modern world which is in contrast with the Shabistari’s approach based on wujudi School of ibn Arabi. Thus,
contrary to the doctrine of unity of being that asserts ‘there is no being but God’, Iqbal believes in the reality of the human self, missioning the self-realized human to shape the destiny of the universe by establishing the kingdom of God on earth. Hence, the dynamic - human centered
mysticism of Iqbal as an upturn of Shabistari’s doctrine, would recognize the centrality of human being in the world and as well appreciates the human achievements in different fields of empirical science and technology. Living six centuries after Shabistari, Allama Muhammad Iqbal as well
prescribes solutions for the new calamities and misfortunes that the human faces in the modern world based on his mystical perspective on the human. This comparative research is as well a description (sharh) on both ‘Rose Gardens’ in English language and the first of its kind for the
‘New Rose Garden’ of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, as both books though concise, yet contain vast mystical teachings of the Sufis in versified Persian poetry necessitating interpretation and description. As the research aims to verify the transformation of Sufi mystical doctrines from 14th
century to the 20th century, further study on Sufi doctrines in the period after the death of Iqbal in 1938 to the present time in the 21st century would be a complement to this work.