Muhammad Iqbal | |
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محمد اقبال | |
Born | |
Died | 21 April 1938 | (aged 60)
Resting place | Mazar-e-Iqbal, Lahore |
Nationality | British Indian |
Alma mater |
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Occupations |
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Notable work | Bang-e-Dara, Tarana-e-Milli, The Secrets of the Self, The Secrets of Selflessness, Message from the East, Persian Psalms, Javid Nama, Sare Jahan se Accha |
Children | 6 |
Institutions | Jamia Millia Islamia (co-founder) |
Thesis | The Development of Metaphysics in Persia (1908) |
Doctoral advisor | Fritz Hommel |
Language | |
Main interests | |
Notable ideas | Allahabad Address (1930) |
Signature | |
Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Punjabi: [mʊɦəˈməd̪ ɪqbaːl] ; 9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician.[1][2][3][4] His poetry is considered to be among the greatest of the 20th century,[5][6][7][8] and his vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British-ruled India[9] is widely regarded as having animated the impulse for the Pakistan Movement.[1][10] He is commonly referred to by the honourific Allama (Persian: علامه, transl. "learned")[11][12] and widely considered one of the most important and influential Muslim thinkers and Western religious philosophers of the 20th century.[13][14][15][16]
Born and raised in Sialkot, Punjab, Iqbal completed his BA and MA at the Government College in Lahore. He taught Arabic at the Oriental College in Lahore from 1899 until 1903, during which time he wrote prolifically. Notable among his Urdu poems from this period are "Parinde ki Faryad" (translated as "A Bird's Prayer"), an early contemplation on animal rights, and "Tarana-e-Hindi" (translated as "Anthem of India"), a patriotic poem—both composed for children. In 1905, he departed from India to pursue further education in Europe, first in England and later in Germany. In England, he earned a second BA at Trinity College, Cambridge, and subsequently qualified as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. In Germany, he obtained a PhD in philosophy at the University of Munich, with his thesis focusing on "The Development of Metaphysics in Persia" in 1908. Upon his return to Lahore in 1908, Iqbal established a law practice but primarily focused on producing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy, and religion. He is most renowned for his poetic compositions, including "Asrar-e-Khudi," for which he was honored with a British knighthood upon its publication,[17] "Rumuz-e-Bekhudi," and "Bang-e-Dara." His literary works in the Persian language garnered him recognition in Iran, where he is commonly known as Eghbal-e Lahouri (Persian: اقبال لهوری), meaning "Iqbal of Lahore."
An ardent proponent of the political and spiritual revival of the Muslim world, particularly of the Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, the series of lectures Iqbal delivered to this effect were published as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam in 1930. He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council in 1927 and held several positions in the All-India Muslim League. In his Allahabad Address, delivered at the League's annual assembly in 1930, he formulated a political framework for the Muslim-majority regions spanning northwestern India, spurring the League's pursuit of the two-nation theory.[9]
In August 1947, nine years after Iqbal's death, the partition of India gave way to the establishment of Pakistan, a newly independent Islamic state in which Iqbal was honoured as the national poet. He is also known in Pakistani society as Hakim ul-Ummat (lit. 'The Wise Man of the Ummah') and as Mufakkir-e-Pakistan (lit. 'The Thinker of Pakistan'). The anniversary of his birth (Yom-e Weladat-e Muḥammad Iqbal), 9 November, is observed as a public holiday in Pakistan.
Muhammad Iqbal, South Asian poet and ideological innovator, wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian and discursive prose, primarily in English, of particular significance in the formulation of a national ethos for Pakistan.
"Iqbal it is true, is essentially a poet of Islam" (from the foreword by Rafiq Zakaria, p. 9)
Iqbal was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council in 1927 and held various posts both in the All-India Muslim League and the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.
He is considered the greatest poet in Urdu of the 20th century
Responding to this call, he published a collection of Urdu poems, Bal-e-Jibril (The Wings of Gabriel) in 1935 and Zarb-e Kalim (The Stroke of the Rod of Moses) in 1936. Through this, Iqbal achieved the status of the greatest Urdu poet in the twentieth century.
In India, the ghazal and mathnawi forms were adapted in Urdu to express new social and ideological concerns, beginning in the work of the poet Altaf Husayn Hali (1837–1914) and continuing in the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938). In the poetry of Iqbal, which he wrote in Persian, to speak to a wider Muslim audience, as well as Urdu, a memory of the past achievements of Islam is combined with a plea for reform. He is considered the greatest Urdu poet of the twentieth century.
In 1930, he presided over the meeting of the All-India Muslim League in Allahabad. It was here that he delivered his famous address in which he outlined his vision of a cultural and political framework that would ensure the fullest development of the Muslims of India.
Sir Syed Ahmed had brought rationalism and the desire for knowledge and progress to the Indian Muslims; Muhammad Iqbal brought them inspiration and philosophy. Next to the Quran, there is no single influence upon the consciousness of the Pakistani intelligentsia so powerful as Iqbal's poetry. In his own time, it kindled the enthusiasm of Muslim intellectuals for the values of Islam and rallied the Muslim community once again to the banner of their faith. For this reason, Iqbal is looked upon today as the spiritual founder of Pakistan.