Muhammad Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal, the great Muslim poet of the East, was born in the town of Sialkot, Punjab in 1876 A.C. His family migrated from Kashmir. His parents were very devout followers of Islam. Muhammad Iqbal was therefore brought up in a pious atmosphere and was encouraged to appreciate beauty and love truth.

He completed his primary education in Sialkot, where he came under the good influence of Sayed Mir Hassan, a man of great learning. From him Iqbal acquired his love for literature.

At the age of 23, Muhammad Iqbal became professor of history and philosophy at the Government College, Lahore. Later he went to England to study law. He then went to Germany and there wrote a thesis on Persian Metaphysics, for which he received Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) degree.

Iqbal knew several languages besides Urdu; among these, were Persian, Arabic, English, French and German.


For several years Iqbal practised as a lawyer, but was more inclined to literally pursuits. He wrote several books and devoted more and more time to the writing of poetry. The beauty of his verses made a great impression on people. His poems were divorced from the traditional idea of only singing fantastically exaggerated praise for one's beloved, describing imaginary sufferings of the lover, and the clever use of the musical sounds in words, without any definite aim or objective.

Iqbal followed the poetical trend established by the Urdu poet Hall, and used his poetical gifts with greater effect and success.

He was deeply concerned with the position of Muslims and was eager to release them from the pool of stagnation in which they had fallen in all walks of life. He realised that the Muslims had the ability to carve out a future for themselves as great and glorious as their past. He used all the persuasive powers of his pen, in prose and in verse, in Persian, Urdu and in English to awaken them from their slumber. He urged them to hold firmly to their beliefs and follow the teachings of the Holy Qur’an.

Iqbal also took part in politics and was elected the president of the All India Muslim League. He was the first Muslim leader to advocate the creation of a separate Muslim State - Pakistan - and declared that "Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the only Muslim on whom the Muslims can depend for safe guidance"

Iqbal's published works include "Bang-e-Dara': "Bal-e-Jibreel" in Urdu; "Asrar-e-Khudi': "Ramooz-e-Bekhudi" in Persian; and a very thought provoking book, "Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam" in English.

Iqbal died on 21st April 1938 A.C - before Pakistan came into existence. But he was one of the few great men who was fortunate enough to be honoured all over the world as a poet, philosopher and scholar during his lifetime.