ALLAMA MUHAMMAD IQBAL
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Iqbal, Sir Muhammad (1873-1938),
Pakistani philosopher,
poet, and political leader, born in Sialkot, India (now Pakistan). In 1927
he was elected to the Punjab provincial legislature and in 1930
became president of the Muslim League. Initially a supporter of Hindu-Muslim
unity in a single Indian state, Iqbal later became an advocate of Pakistani
independence. In addition to his political activism, Iqbal was considered
the foremost Muslim thinker of his day. His poetry and philosophy, written
in Urdu and Persian, stress the rebirth of Islamic and spiritual redemption
through self-development, moral integrity, and individual freedom. His
many works include The Secrets of the Self (1915),
a long poem; A Message from the East (1923);
and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1934).
Although Iqbal did not live to see the creation of an independent Pakistan
in 1947, he is nevertheless regarded as the
symbolic father of that nation, where the date of his death, April 21,
is a national holiday
