Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Who is Allama Muhammad Iqbal?

Sir Muhammad Iqbal, known as Allama Iqbal, was a poet, philosopher and thinker widely regarded as the spiritual father of Pakistan and its national poet. Born in Sialkot in 1877, he studied at Government College Lahore, then in England at Cambridge and in Germany, earning a doctorate from the University of Munich on Persian metaphysics. Writing in both Persian and Urdu, he produced landmark works including 'Asrar-e-Khudi' (Secrets of the Self, 1915), 'Bang-e-Dara' (1924), 'Bal-e-Jibril' (1935) and the English lectures 'The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.' His philosophy of khudi (selfhood) urged Muslims toward self-realization and dynamic action. In his 1930 presidential address to the Muslim League at Allahabad he called for a consolidated Muslim state in northwest India, an idea often cited as an intellectual precursor to Pakistan. He died in Lahore in 1938.

Sources: Muhammad Iqbal, 'Bang-e-Dara' (1924) and 'The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam' (1930) · Annemarie Schimmel, 'Gabriel's Wing: A Study into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal' (Brill, 1963)