Nation observes 146th birth anniversary of Allama Iqbal

Lahore: The 146th birth anniversary of national poet, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal is being observed with national fervor today (Thursday).

Born on November 09, 1877 in an ethnic Kashmiri family in Sialkot, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal was a great visionary poet, who formulated the idea of Pakistan and, therefore, regarded as one of the founding fathers of the country.

After a traditional education in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, he was exposed to a modern education that defined the contours of his thought and his poetry during the entire period of his life.

Beginning his educational career at the Scottish Mission School, he went on to acquire his M. A. in Philosophy, before joining Trinity College, and later earning the degree of Bar-at-Law.

He awakened the Muslims of the Subcontinent through his universal poetry and political acumen by presenting idea of the creation of Pakistan through his historic address at Allahabad in 1930.

Allama Iqbal's address gave a clear direction and separate identity to Muslims of the Sub-Continent to achieve Pakistan.

He wrote many books and his first poetry book ‘The Secrets of the Self’ appeared 1915 in Persian language.

His best literary work includes Asrar-e-Khudi, Payam- e-Mashriq, Bang-e-Dara, Bal-e-Jibril, Zarb-e-Kalim and Armughan-e-Hijaz.

Iqbal was both a great poet and philosopher, who infused a revolutionary spirit in the Muslim youth of the subcontinent through his poetry.

Furthermore, Iqbal’s legendary poetry translated into Spanish, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, English and several other languages.

It is pertinent to mention here that a major portion of Allama Iqbal’s work is in Persian as he had flawless command over the language.

The visionary poet also admired as a prominent poet by Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians and other international scholars of literature.

Iqbal was given the title of ‘Allama’ due to his deep philosophical thinking and far-sightedness.

Shair-e-Mashriq, Muffakir-e-Pakistan, and Hakeem-ul-Ummat are some more titles that were given to the national poet for his unforgettable work in history.

Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal during his last days, suffered from a throat disease and passed away in Lahore on April 21, 1938.

Radio Pakistan and TV channels are presenting special programs in connection with Iqbal Day to highlight poetry and thoughts of Allama Iqbal.