Biography of Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal

Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal

 

Sir Muhammad Iqbal An anginal thinker, an outstanding poet and a distinguished philosopher, Sir Muhammad Iqbal figures among the most influential personalities of the twentieth century. Hailed as the most daring intellectual modernist the Muslim world has produced , he is vanously referred to as Allama Iqbal , Allama meaning Scholar , Muffakir - e Pakistan ( The Thinker of Pakistan ) , Shair - e - Mashriq The Poet of the East ) and Hakeem - ul - Immat ( The Sage of Ummah ) . Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877 at Sialkot, a Punjabi town between Lahore and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. His ancestors came from Kashmir and had converted to Islam some four and a half centuries before Iqbal's birth. In his poetry, Iqbal often refers to his Kashmiri origins and Brahmin ancestr. He was deeply moved by the suffering of the people of Kashmir. Iqbal's father, Shaikh Nur Muhammad was a tailor by profession who led a life of religious piety. He had no formal education but could read Urdu and Persian and often sought the company of scholars and mystics.

This came him the epithet of the unlettered philosopher in his close circles. Nur Muhammad raised his family in a religious atmosphere. Iqbal acknowledges time and again that his own views and attitudes were greatly influenced by his father's simple but deeply religious character. Iqbal's mother , Iman Bibi , though literate , was highly respected in the family for her wisdom and generosity . She often helped the poor and the needy , lqbal pays glowing tributes to her in a poem written at her death in 1914. At the tender age of five, Iqbal joined the local madrasa run by Sayyid Mir Hasan, a distinguished scholar of religion and literature. During their long association, Mir Hasan introduced labal to the Islamic religious heritage and encouraged him to cultivate a refined literary taste. Unlike many other Muslim scholars of the day, Mir Hassan agreed with the views of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-98), educationist and reformer who stressed the need for Section 3: Biographies 179Mislims to acquire a secular European education in addition to their religious one to meet the challenges of modem times. Mir Hassan persuaded Nur Muhammad to adept label to Salkot's Scottish Mission College ( now called Murray College ) , where he taught Arabic Iqbal obtained the Faculty of Arts diploma the highest degree then offered by the college .

 It was here that Iqbal began writing and publishing poetry to corresponded with Mirza Dagh , the acclaimed Urdu poet known as the Nightingale of India Dagh showered praise on Jabal who took lifelong pride in having been his student . The foundation of Iqbal's characteristic attitudes and interests was laid at Sallcot . His parents bequeathed on him s religious and mystical orientation which staged with him for the rest of his life. The seeds for his love of the Quran were also shown here. He would recite the Quran regularly and claimed that his poetry was a mere elucidation of the Quranic message. Mir Hassan's influence on Iqbal cannot be overstated . Not only did he instill in him love for Islamic intellectual and literary hostage, but also aroused his interest in modem thought. In 1922 when the British Government decided to confer knighthood on Iqbal, he agreed to accept the honour only if his mentor's scholarship was recognized. In deference to labial’s wishes, Mir Hasan was honored with the title of Shams al - ulema (Sun of Scholars) when Iqbal was knighted on January 1, 1923. In 1899, labal mamed Karin Bibi, the daughter of an affluent Gujarati physician at the insistence of his elders. He was only sixteen at the time. The marriage was not a happy one culminating in the separation of the couple Karim Bibi bore him a son and two daughters, one of whom died soon after birth.

 The son, Aftab would become an international corporate lawyer. In 1825 Iqbal moved to Lahore, an educational and cultural centre in the Punjab and joined the famous Goverment College, where he studied English, philosophy and Arabic. He obtained a BA in 1897 and 180 Understanding ExegünkI have mysel been of the view that goes d appear from the country and at the principle my private le cow think that for pros national entities is desirable for bode and The vision of a common nationhood for dialdea and has a pestic appeal but appears capable of He went on to stress the necessity of the Muslims to maintain their distinct religious and cultural identity He expressed the need for a separate electoral system for Hindus and Muslims in India .

 These views climaxed in the proposal which he put forth at the annual meeting of the All India Muslim League on December 29 , 1930 - the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims . In his presidential address, he outlined some an independent nation at least for the Muslims of northwester India He reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address and during the Thund Round Table Conference opposed all such proposals which aimed at minimizing the autonomy of Muslim provinces Jabal was especially instrumental in convincing Muhammad Ali Jinnah torond his self- imposed exte in London, return to India and take charge of the League. All these efforts ultimately resulted in the creation of Pakistan. Although Iqbal did not live to see the formation of Pakistan in 1947, he is venerated as its spiritual father in 1935, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal's health deteriorated. He spent his final years working to establish the Idara Dar - uslam an institution where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science would be subsidized Iqbal ceased practicing law in 1934 and was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal After suffering for months from a senes of protracted illnesses , jabal died in Lahore in 1938 His tomb is located in the space between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort . Iqbal has become a legend who commands great attention and admiration not only in the Indian subcontinent but the world at large.