Time elapses dramatically and years go by as our country strives to grow and progress but there comes a day every year that pays homage to the birth of one of the greatest poets in all of Asia and a man that would become one of the most prominent figures in our struggle for independence.
Muhammad Iqbal, more famously known as Allama Iqbal, was born November 9, 1877. He was a brilliant poet of Urdu and Persian and the poetry he wrote is admired dearly and is considered to be some of the most important works of literature for those languages.
His genius in the literary field got him the title “Shair-e-Mushriq” meaning” Poet of the East”.
To the majority of people in the world, Allama Muhammad Iqbal is an honored historical figure who was a poet and a philosopher, but truly it is hard to completely cover the aspects of life he influenced for the people of the subcontinent at the time and throughout the world.
Poet, philosopher, educationist, lawyer, political activist, social reformer, Allama Muhammad Iqbal has energized millions of Muslims of India and brought about a paradigm shift in their consciousness and transformed their destiny forever.
Pakistan will always owe it to Allama Muhammad Iqbal for his outstanding efforts in the making of the homeland.
Allama iqbal’s widely known and outstanding classical poetry infused a new spirit amongst the people and has been doing so ever since, Over the years by his poems and philosophy, by his speeches and writings, his letters and lectures he laid a great influence on cultural, social, political, and social disputes. He is known as the Poet of the East, Thinker of Pakistan and the Sage of the ummah.
Today Pakistan officially recognizes Allama Muhammad Iqbal as first and the greatest national poet. Iqbal’s poetry is not only valued in the sub continent but the Afghanis and Iranis too appreciate his Persian work and know him well by the name of Iqbal Lahori.
9thNovember, Allama Iqbal’s birthday is celebrated warmly in Pakistan and it is a national holiday.
The pivotal role Iqbal played in the political life of the subcontinent, especially as architect of Pakistan, can be appreciated by Quaid’s words:
“To me he was a friend, guide and philosopher, and during the darkest moments through which the Muslim League had to go he stood like a rock, and never flinched one single moment.”
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In 1905 Allama Mohammed Iqbal went to England and Germany, where he pursued his philosophical studies; he returned to India three years later to practice law.
three things impressed him most about Europe as Wilfred C. Smith( Canadian professor of comparative religion who from 1964–1973 was director of Harvard University‘s Center for the Study of World Religions) has put it:
The vitality and dynamism of European life, the immense possibilities open to man, and the dehumanizing influence that capitalist society had on the European soul.
The last circumstance strengthened his faith in the superiority of Islam as a moral and spiritual ideal, and he consequently dedicated himself to the defense and development of this ideal.
He reawakened his coreligionists in India prodded them to rethink Islam in modern, dynamic categories, derived primarily from nineteenth-and twentieth-century European thought.
The six lectures on the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam that he delivered in Madras in 1928-1929 were a part of this process.
Iqbal not only reminded the Muslims of their glorious past but also showed them the way that how their fore-fathers achieved that position and dignity. He advised the Muslims to aspire for an education which will enable them to compete with other nations of the world. He stressed that they should not remain passive but should actively participate in different constructive activities to make their individuality sound in order to make their nation strong. Education, according to Iqbal, should be primarily a dynamic and creative education directed to the releasing and nurturing of the creative spirit in man and equipping him with the desire and capacity to conquer new realms of art and science. Not only this, he also stressed on women’s education and the importance of women in the development of a nation,
Pakistan is the realization of iqbals dreams; Allama Iqbal openly negated the concept of one nation and said:
“Nations are based with religion; not with territories. So we are separate nation because we have our own ideology.”
In the Allahabad address he clearly indicated his ideas in the following words:
“I would like to see the Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into single state. Self-government within the British Empire or without British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims at least of North-West India”.
A few of Iqbal’s inspirational poems include
Bang-e-Dara (1924): First written in Persian, Bang-I-Dara (Caravan Bell) was translated into Urdu.
Baal-e-Jibraeel (1935): Baal-e-Jibraeel (Gabriel’s Wing) continues from Bang-e-Dara. Some of the verses had been written when Iqbal visited Britain, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, France, Spain and Afghanistan. Contains 15 ghazals addressed to God and 61 ghazals and 22 quatrains dealing with the ego, faith, love, knowledge, the intellect and freedom.
Zerb-e-Kalim (1936): This, Iqbal’s third collection of Urdu poems, has been described as his political manifesto. It was published with the subtitle “A Declaration of War against the Present Times.” Zerb-e-Kalim (The Blow of Moses’ Staff) was meant to rescue Muslims from the ills brought on by modern civilization, just as Moses had rescued the Israelites.
Iqbal’s educational philosophy had no other ulterior motive than to wish the Muslim youth develop his individuality on true Islamic lines. He never ignored, while interpreting the deplorable condition of the Muslim youth, his inner potentials and capacities as well. His Marde Momin (a complete Muslim) meant to be of high mental caliber, morally strong, and socially active and in an individual capacity a true Muslim.
He used his forceful verses to convey his message to the Muslims in general and the youth in particular. He left not a single aspect of the individual as well as his collective life which has the minutest bearing for the development of the individuality.
it was these ideas that helped clarify the Muslim’s vision for a separate homeland and invigorate in them a zeal for a separate independent nation in the name of Islam, everyday that we live in Pakistan we have to be thankful to allama Muhammad iqbal for the efforts he made in the making of a dream come true and giving the idea of separate homeland to the muslims
Men like Iqbal are born but once in life, no one equals him in his poetical endeavors, his political ideals and his religious thought. His teaching is for all times, he has his admirers in the East as well as the West. He was a poet, philosopher and a reformer; he will be remembered by the Muslims as a guide and his writings will be used as a beacon house by the coming generations.
