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Sir Muhammad Iqbal also known as Allama Iqbal (1877–1938), was a Muslim philosopher, poet, writer, scholar and politician of early 20th-century. He is particularly known in the Indian sub-continent for his Urdu philosophical poetry on Islam and the need for the cultural and intellectual reconstruction of the Islamic community.
Iqbal's works were in Persian for most of his career, but after 1930 his works were mainly in Urdu. His works in this period were often specifically directed at the Muslim masses of India, with an even stronger emphasis on Islam and Muslim spiritual and political reawakening.
- Overview
- Early life and career
Muhammad Iqbal (born November 9, 1877, Sialkot, Punjab, India [now in Pakistan]—died April 21, 1938, Lahore, Punjab) poet and philosopher known for his influential efforts to direct his fellow Muslims in British-administered India toward the establishment of a separate Muslim state, an aspiration that was eventually realized in the country of Pakis...
Iqbal was born at Sialkot, India (now in Pakistan), of a pious family of small merchants and was educated at Government College, Lahore. In Europe from 1905 to 1908, he earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge, qualified as a barrister in London, and received a doctorate from the University of Munich. His thesis, The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, revealed some aspects of Islamic mysticism formerly unknown in Europe.
On his return from Europe, he gained his livelihood by the practice of law, but his fame came from his Persian- and Urdu-language poetry, which was written in the classical style for public recitation. Through poetic symposia and in a milieu in which memorizing verse was customary, his poetry became widely known.
Before he visited Europe, his poetry affirmed Indian nationalism, as in Nayā shawālā (“The New Altar”), but time away from India caused him to shift his perspective. He came to criticize nationalism for a twofold reason: in Europe it had led to destructive racism and imperialism, and in India it was not founded on an adequate degree of common purpose. In a speech delivered at Aligarh in 1910, under the title “Islam as a Social and Political Ideal,” he indicated the new Pan-Islamic direction of his hopes. The recurrent themes of Iqbal’s poetry are a memory of the vanished glories of Islam, a complaint about its present decadence, and a call to unity and reform. Reform can be achieved by strengthening the individual through three successive stages: obedience to the law of Islam, self-control, and acceptance of the idea that everyone is potentially a vicegerent of God (nāʾib, or muʾmin). Furthermore, the life of action is to be preferred to ascetic resignation.
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Three significant poems from this period, Shikwah (“The Complaint”), Jawāb-e shikwah (“The Answer to the Complaint”), and Khizr-e rāh (“Khizr, the Guide”), were published later in 1924 in the Urdu collection Bāng-e darā (“The Call of the Bell”). In those works Iqbal gave intense expression to the anguish of Muslim powerlessness. Khizr (Arabic: Khiḍr), the Qurʾānic prophet who asks the most difficult questions, is pictured bringing from God the baffling problems of the early 20th century.
Muhammed Iqbal was a poet, philosopher, and political theorist whose work continues to be relevant today for its exploration of themes such as selfhood, faith, and the destiny of Muslim civilization.
Despite Pakistan being founded nine years after his death, Iqbal remains the National Poet of Pakistan and is often referred to as Pakistan’s “spiritual father.” The Iqbal Academy Pakistan, established by the government of Pakistan in 1962, continues to promote and study his work.
Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, is the National Poet of Pakistan. A poet, philosopher, politician, lawyer, and scholar, Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877, in Punjab, Pakistan, to Kashmiri parents and educated at Scotch Mission College in Sialkot.
Jul 30, 2019 · A short biography and a summary of Iqbal’s key works along with a brief discussion of their political impact precede the translation and commentary, which forms the body of this essay, before a conclusion with a list of further readings.
