Allama Muhammad Iqbal

  Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Allam Muhammad Iqbal is our national poet. He has been a leading figure in Pakistan movement. He was a great poet and his poetry gave a message of hope, freedom and self-respect.

He was born at Sialkot on 9th of November 1877. He passed his matriculation examination from a local school. He got B.A and M.A degrees from govern- ment college Lahore. He also went abroad and got his Ph.D degree from Munich University. He also worked as lecturer in government college Lahore for some time. He had full command on many lan- guages like Arabic, Persian, English and German. Most of his poetry is in Persian. For several years he practiced law and then he turned his attention to politics.

He is called the dreamer of Pakistan. He was the first person who proposed that Muslims of sub- continent should have an independent state of their own in those parts of India where Muslims were in majority. Iqbal awakened the Muslims of India and lit a candle of freedom in their hearts. He empha- sized that Muslims must get united for their noble cause.

Dr. Allama Iqbal was a great poet. He is called

"poet of the East". Through his poetry he gave the message of hope and purpose. Some of his famous Urdu verses are quoted as under:

ایک ہو مسلم حرم کی پاسبانی کے لیے نیل کے ساحل سے لیکر تابخاک کاشغر

فرد قائم ربط ملت سے ہے، تنہا کچھ نہیں

موج ہے دریا میں اور بیرون دریا کچھ نہیں

خودی کو کر بلند اتنا کہ ہر تقدیر سے پہلے خدا بندے سے خود پوچھے بتا تیری رضا کیا ہے

His famous books are Bange-Dara, Bale-Jebriel, Ja- vid Nama and Payam-e-Mashriq. Indeed, he was a great leader, politician, thinker, philosopher and poet.

He died on 21st April 1938. His tomb is near Bad- shahi mosque Lahore.