Depicted person: Muhammad Iqbal –



Muhammad Iqbal KB) (/ˈɪkbɑːl/; Urdu: محمد اِقبال‎; 9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938), widely known as Allama Iqbal, was a poet, philosopher and politician, as well as an academic, barrister and scholar[1][2] in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan."[3] He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature,[4] with literary work in both Urdu and Persian.[2][4]
Iqbal is admired as a prominent poet by Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Bangladeshis and other international scholars of literature.[5][6][7] Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times".[2][7] His first poetry book, The Secrets of the Self, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include The Secrets of Selflessness, Message from the East and Persian Psalms. Amongst these, his best known Urdu works are The Call of the Marching Bell, Gabriel's Wing, The Rod of Moses and a part of Gift from Hijaz.[8] Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political discourses.[8]
In 1922 New Years Honours, he was made a Knight Bachelor by King George V,[9][10] While studying law and philosophy in England, Iqbal became a member of the London branch of the All-India Muslim League.[7][8] Later, during the League's December 1930 session, he delivered his most famous presidential speech known as the Allahabad Address in which he pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in north-west India.[7][8]
In much of South Asia and the Urdu-speaking world, Iqbal is regarded as the Shair-e-Mashriq (Urdu: شاعر مشرق‎, "Poet of the East").[11][12][13] He is also called Mufakkir-e-Pakistan (Urdu: مفکر پاکستان‎, "The Thinker of Pakistan"), Musawwar-e-Pakistan (Urdu: مصور پاکستان‎, "Artist of Pakistan") and Hakeem-ul-Ummat (Urdu: حکیم الامت‎, "The Sage of the Ummah"). The Pakistan government officially named him "National Poet of Pakistan".[7] His birthday Yōm-e Welādat-e Muḥammad Iqbāl (Urdu: یوم ولادت محمد اقبال‎), or Iqbal Day, is a public holiday in Pakistan.[14]
Iqbal's house is still located in Sialkot and is recognised as Iqbal's Manzil and is open for visitors. His other house where he lived most of his life and died is in Lahore, named Javed Manzil. The museum is located on Allama Iqbal Road near Lahore Railway Station, Punjab, Pakistan.[15] It was protected under the Punjab Antiquities Act of 1975, and declared a Pakistani national monument in 1977.[15][better source needed]
Personal life
Background
Iqbal was born on 9 November 1877 in an ethnic Kashmiri family in Sialkot within the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan).[16] His family was Kashmiri Pandit (of the Sapru clan) that converted to Islam.[17] In the 19th century, when the Sikh Empire was conquering Kashmir, his grandfather's family migrated to Punjab. Iqbal often mentioned and commemorated his Kashmiri lineage in his writings.[18][12]

Allama Iqbal with his son Javed Iqbal in 1930

Iqbal's mother, who died on 9 November 1914. Iqbal expressed his feeling of pathos in a poetic form after her death.
Iqbal's father, Sheikh Noor Muhammad (died 1930), was a tailor, not formally educated, but a religious man.[19][20] Iqbal's mother Imam Bibi, from a Kashmiri family since long settled in the city of Sambrial (in the Sialkot District),[21] was described as a polite and humble woman who helped the poor and her neighbours with their problems. She died on 9 November 1914 in Sialkot.[22][23] Iqbal loved his mother, and on her death he expressed his feelings of pathos in a poetic form elegy.[19]
Who would wait for me anxiously in my native place?
Who would display restlessness if my letter fails to arrive?
I will visit thy grave with this complaint:
Who will now think of me in midnight prayers?
All thy life thy love served me with devotion—
When I became fit to serve thee, thou hast departed.[19]
Early education
Iqbal was four years old when he was admitted to a mosque to learn about the Qur'an. He learned the Arabic language from his teacher, Syed Mir Hassan, the head of the madrasa and professor of Arabic at Scotch Mission College in Sialkot, where he matriculated in 1893.[24] He received Intermediate with the Faculty of Arts diploma in 1895.[12][23][25] The same year he enrolled at Government College University, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, English literature and Arabic in 1897, and won the Khan Bahadurddin F.S. Jalaluddin medal as he performed well in Arabic.[23] In 1899, he received his Master of Arts degree from the same college and had the first place[clarification needed] in University of the Punjab.[12][23][25]
Marriages
Iqbal married thrice, under different times of need and circumstances.[26] His first marriage was held in 1895, when he was 18 years old. His bride Karim Bibi was the daughter of a physician, Khan Bahadur Ata Muhammad Khan. Her sister was the mother of director and music composer Khwaja Khurshid Anwar.[27][28] their families arranged the marriage, and the couple had two children; a daughter Miraj Begum (1895–1915) and a son, Aftab Iqbal (1899–1979) who became a barrister.[26][29] Another son is said to have died after birth in 1901.[30] Iqbal's second marriage was with Mukhtar Begum, and it was held in December 1914, shortly after the death of Iqbal's mother the previous November.[11][23] They had a son, but both the mother and son died shortly after birth in 1924.[26] Later, Iqbal married Sardar Begum, and they became the parents of a son, Javed Iqbal (1924–2015), who was to become a judge, and a daughter Muneera Bano (b. 1930).[26][30] One of Muneera's sons is the philanthropist-cum-socialite Yousuf Salahuddin.[30]
Higher education in Europe
Iqbal was influenced by the teachings of Sir Thomas Arnold, his philosophy teacher at Government College Lahore. Arnold's teachings convinced Iqbal to pursue higher education in the West, and in 1905, he travelled to England for that purpose. While already acquainted with Nietzsche and Bergson, Iqbal would discover Rumi slightly before his departure to England, and he'd teach the Masnavi to his friend Swami Rama Tirtha, who in return would teach him Sanskrit.[31] Iqbal qualified for a scholarship from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and obtained Bachelor of Arts in 1906, and in the same year he was called to the bar as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. In 1907, Iqbal moved to Germany to pursue his doctoral studies, and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1908. Working under the guidance of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal's doctoral thesis was entitled The Development of Metaphysics in Persia.[12][32][33][34]
In 1907, he had a close friendship with the writer Atiya Fyzee in both Britain and Germany. Atiya would later publish their correspondence.[35] While Iqbal was in Heidelberg in 1907 his German professor Emma Wegenast taught him about Goethe's Faust, Heine and Nietzsche.[36] He mastered German in three months.[37] During his study in Europe, Iqbal began to write poetry in Persian. He preferred to write in this language because doing so made it easier to express his thoughts. He would write continuously in Persian throughout his life.[12]
Iqbal had a great interest in Islamic studies, especially Sufi beliefs. In his poetry, apart from independent ideologies, he also explores concepts of submission to Allah and following the path of Prophet Muhammad.
Academic career

Photograph taken during Allama Iqbal's youth in 1899
Iqbal, began his career as a reader of Arabic after completing his Master of Arts degree in 1899, at Oriental College and shortly afterward was selected as a junior professor of philosophy at Government College Lahore, where he had also been a student in the past. He worked there until he left for England in 1905. In 1908, he returned from England and joined the same college again as a professor of philosophy and English literature.[38] In the same period Iqbal began practising law at Chief Court Lahore, but he soon quit law practice and devoted himself in literary works, becoming an active member of Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam.[23] In 1919, he became the general secretary of the same organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focus on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centered around experiences from his travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson, and Goethe. He also closely worked with Ibrahim Hisham, during his stay at the Aligarh Muslim University [19][36]
The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal began concentrating intensely on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilisation and its political future, while embracing Rumi as "his guide." [19] Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of guide in many of his poems.[clarification needed] Iqbal's works focus on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilisation and delivering the message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the global Muslim community or the Ummah.[8][19]
Iqbal's poetry was translated into many European languages in the early part of the 20th century, when his work was famous.[7] Iqbal's Asrar-i-Khudi and Javed Nama were translated into English by R. A. Nicholson and A. J. Arberry, respectively.[7][13]
Career as a Lawyer
Iqbal was not only a prolific writer but was also a known Advocate. He used to appear before the Lahore High Court in both civil and criminal matters. There are more than 100 reported judgments to his name.[39][40][41][42][43][44]
Final years and death

The tomb of Muhammad Iqbal at the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore
In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal suffered from a mysterious throat illness.[45] He spent his final years helping Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan to establish the Dar ul Islam Trust Institute at Jamalpur estate near Pathankot,[46][47] where there were plans to subsidise studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science. He also advocated for an independent Muslim state.

Iqbal as a Barrister-at-Law
Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and was granted a pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. In his final years, he frequently visited the Dargah of famous Sufi Ali Hujwiri in Lahore for spiritual guidance. After suffering for months from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21 April 1938.[8][12] His tomb is located in Hazuri Bagh, the enclosed garden between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort, and official guards are provided by the Government of Pakistan.

A night view of the tomb
Legacy
Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the ideological founder of the state. His Tarana-e-Hind is a song that is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony. His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day. Iqbal is the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal Campus Punjab University in Lahore, the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Lahore, Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Open University in Pakistan, Iqbal Memorial Institute in Srinagar, Allama Iqbal Library in University of Kashmir, the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, Iqbal Hostel in Government College University, Lahore, the Allama Iqbal hall in Nishtar Medical College in Multan, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi, Allama Iqbal Town in Lahore, Allama Iqbal Hall at Aligarh Muslim University, Allama Iqbal Hostel at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and Iqbal Hall at University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.[48]
The government and public organisations have sponsored the establishment of educational institutions, colleges, and schools dedicated to Iqbal and have established the Iqbal Academy Pakistan to research, teach and preserve his works, literature, and philosophy. Allama Iqbal Stamps Society was established for the promotion of Iqbaliyat in philately and in other hobbies. His son Javid Iqbal has served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Javaid Manzil was Iqbal's last residence.[49] Iqbal Academy Lahore has published magazines on Iqbal in Persian, English and Urdu.
Efforts and influences
Political
Further information: Pakistan Movement
As Iqbal was interested in the national affairs since his youth and he had gotten considerable recognition after his return in 1908 from England by Punjabi elite, he was closely associated with Mian Muhammad Shafi. So when the All-India Muslim League was expanded to the provincial level, and Mian Mohammad Shafi received a significant role to play in the structural organisation of Provincial League, Iqbal was made one of the first three joint secretaries of the Punjab Muslim League with Shaikh Abdul Aziz and Maulvi Mahbub Alam.[50] While dividing his time between law practice and poetry, Iqbal had remained active in the Muslim League. He did not support Indian involvement in World War I and stayed in close touch with Muslim political leaders such as Mohammad Ali Jouhar and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress, which he regarded as dominated by Hindus, and was disappointed with the League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the centrist group led by Jinnah.[51][unreliable source?]

Iqbal with Muslim politicians.
(L to R): M. Iqbal (third), Syed Zafarul Hasan (sixth) at Aligarh Muslim University
In November 1926, with the encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal contested the election for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of 3,177 votes.[8] He supported the constitutional proposals presented by Jinnah to guarantee Muslim political rights and influence in a coalition with the Congress and worked with the Aga Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and achieve unity in the Muslim League.[51][unreliable source?] While in Lahore he was a friend of Abdul Sattar Ranjoor.[52]
Iqbal, Jinnah and concept of Pakistan
Ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal had also been disillusioned with the politicians of the Muslim League, owing to the factional conflict that plagued the League in the 1920s. Discontent with factional leaders like Muhammad Shafi and Fazl-ur-Rahman, Iqbal came to believe that only Jinnah was a political leader capable of preserving unity and fulfilling the League's objectives of Muslim political empowerment. Building a strong, personal correspondence with Jinnah, Iqbal was an influential force in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London, return to India and take charge of the League. Iqbal firmly believed that Jinnah was the only leader capable of drawing Indian Muslims to the League and maintaining party unity before the British and the Congress:
I know you are a busy man, but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of India.[53]

While Iqbal espoused the idea of Muslim-majority provinces in 1930, Jinnah would continue to hold talks with the Congress through the decade and only officially embraced the goal of Pakistan in 1940. Some historians postulate that Jinnah always remained hopeful for an agreement with the Congress and never fully desired the partition of India.[54] Iqbal's close correspondence with Jinnah is speculated by some historians as having been responsible for Jinnah's embrace of the idea of Pakistan. Iqbal elucidated to Jinnah his vision of a separate Muslim state in a letter sent on 21 June 1937:
A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are.[8]
Iqbal, serving as president of the Punjab Muslim League, criticised Jinnah's political actions, including a political agreement with Punjabi leader Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, whom Iqbal saw as a representative of feudal classes and not committed to Islam as the core political philosophy. Nevertheless, Iqbal worked constantly to encourage Muslim leaders and masses to support Jinnah and the League. Speaking about the political future of Muslims in India, Iqbal said:
There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it, our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism, and This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defense of our national existence. The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims.[53]
Revival of Islamic polity

Iqbal with Choudhary Rahmat Ali and other Muslim leaders
Iqbal's six English lectures were published in Lahore in 1930, and then by the Oxford University Press in 1934 in a book titled The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. The lectures had been delivered at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh.[8] These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a religion as well as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age.[8] In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the political attitudes and conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally misguided, attached to power and without any standing with the Muslim masses.[citation needed]
Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture, and political influence. In his travels to Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, he promoted ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for the shedding of nationalist differences.[19] He also speculated on different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political power; in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British government and with no central Indian government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim regions in India. Under a single Indian union, he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially concerning their existentially separate entity as Muslims.[8]
Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session in Allahabad in the United Provinces, as well as for the session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on 29 December 1930 he outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in north-western India:[8]
I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India.[8]
In his speech, Iqbal emphasised that unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, the construction of a policy on national lines, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim."[55] Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities but the undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles.[citation needed]
He thus became the first politician to articulate what would become known as the Two-nation theory—that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India. Even as he rejected secularism and nationalism he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe a theocracy, and criticised the "intellectual attitudes" of Islamic scholars (Ulema) as having "reduced the Law of Islam practically to the state of immobility".[56]
The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on political activity. He travelled across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League. He reiterated the ideas of his 1932 address, and, during the Third round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces.[citation needed]
He would serve as president of the Punjab Muslim League, and would deliver speeches and publish articles in an attempt to rally Muslims across India as a single political entity. Iqbal consistently criticised feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim politicians opposed to the League. Many unnoticed accounts of Iqbal's frustration toward Congress leadership were also pivotal in providing a vision for the two-nation theory.[citation needed]
Patron of the Journal Tolu-e-Islam[edit]

Copy of the first journal of Tolu-e-Islam.
Iqbal was the first patron of Tolu-e-Islam, a historical, political, religious, and cultural journal of the Muslims of British India. In 1935, according to his instructions, Syed Nazeer Niazi initiated and edited the journal,[57] named after the famous poem of Iqbal, Tulu'i Islam. Niazi also dedicated the first edition of this journal to Iqbal. For a long time, Iqbal wanted a journal to propagate his ideas and the aims and objectives of the All India Muslim League. The journal played an important role in the Pakistan movement.[51]
Later, the journal was continued[58] by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, who had already contributed many articles in its early editions.
Literary work[edit]
Main article: Works of Muhammad Iqbal
Persian
etic works are written primarily in Persian rather than Urdu.[citation needed] Among his 12,000 verses of poetry, about 7,000 verses are in Persian.[citation needed] In 1915, he published his first collection of poetry, the Asrar-i-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) in Persian. The poems emphasise the spirit and self from a religious, spiritual perspective. Many critics have called this Iqbal's finest poetic work[59] In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal explains his philosophy of "Khudi," or "Self."[8][19] Iqbal's use of the term "Khudi" is synonymous with the word "Rooh" mentioned in the Quran. "Rooh" is that divine spark which is present in every human being, and was said by Iqbal to be present in Adam, for which God ordered all of the angels to prostrate in front of Adam.[8]
Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him, the aim of life is self-realization and self-knowledge. 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 a vice-regent of God.[8]
In his Rumuz-i-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Iqbal seeks to prove the Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his characteristics intact, he asserts, but once this is achieved, he should sacrifice his ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" outside of society. Also, in Persian and published in 1917, this group of poems has as its main themes the ideal community,[8] Islamic ethical and social principles, and the relationship between the individual and society. Although he is true throughout Islam, Iqbal also recognises the positive aspects of other religions. The Rumuz-i-Bekhudi complements the emphasis on the self in the Asrar-e-Khudi and the two collections are often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-i-Rumuz (Hinting Secrets). It is addressed to the world's Muslims.[8]
Iqbal's 1924 publication, the Payam-e-Mashriq (The Message of the East), is closely connected to the West-östlicher Diwan by the German poet Goethe. Goethe bemoans the West having become too materialistic in outlook, and expects the East will provide a message of hope to resuscitate spiritual values. Iqbal styles his work as a reminder to the West of the importance of morality, religion, and civilisation by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardor, and dynamism. He asserts that an individual can never aspire to higher dimensions unless he learns of the nature of spirituality.[8] In his first visit to Afghanistan, he presented his book "Payam-e Mashreq" to King Amanullah Khan. In it, he admired the uprising of Afghanistan against the British Empire. In 1933, he was officially invited to Afghanistan to join the meetings regarding the establishment of Kabul University.[36]
The Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms), published in 1927, includes the poems Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed (Garden of New Secrets) and Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery). In Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed, Iqbal first poses questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern insight. Bandagi Nama denounces slavery and attempts to explain the spirit behind the fine arts of enslaved societies. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future, while emphasising love, enthusiasm and energy to fulfill the ideal life.[8]
Iqbal's 1932 work, the Javed Nama (Book of Javed), is named after and in a manner addressed to his son, who is featured in the poems. It follows the examples of the works of Ibn Arabi and Dante's The Divine Comedy, through mystical and exaggerated depictions across time. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud ("A stream full of life") guided by Rumi, "the master," through various heavens and spheres and has the honour of approaching divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations. In a passage re-living a historical period, Iqbal condemns the Muslims who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore, respectively, by betraying them for the benefit of the British colonists, and thus delivering their country to the shackles of slavery. In the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large, and guides the "new generation."[8]
His love of the Persian language is evident in his works and poetry. He says in one of his poems:[60]

گرچہ ہندی در عذوبت شکر است[61]
garchi Hindi dar uzūbat shakkar ast
طرز گفتار دري شيرين تر است
tarz-i guftar-i Dari shirin tar ast
Translation: Even though in sweetness Hindi* is sugar – (but) speech method in Dari (Persian dialect) is sweeter *#FASTITLINKS.COM