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1905

Allama Iqbal

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People

Author:

EMHAI

Allama Iqbal is widely considered one of the ideological founding figures of Pakistan and also holds the status of national poet of the neighbouring country.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s travels in Europe and his exposure to various western thinkers arguably had a profound impact on his philosophical thought and understanding of the world. His writings often cite European philosophers, thinkers, writers and poets as he read widely from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Goethe, Hegel and Wordsworth, who he says saved him from atheism in his student days. 

Iqbal was influenced by the teachings of Sir Thomas Arnold, his philosophy teacher at Government College Lahore, to pursue higher education in the West. In 1905, he travelled to England for that purpose. While already acquainted with Friedrich Nietzsche and Henri Bergson, Iqbal would discover Rumi slightly before his departure to England, and he would teach the Masnavi to his friend Swami Rama Tirtha, who in return would teach him Sanskrit.

Iqbal qualified for a scholarship from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1906. 

Iqbal was, according to Muhammad Ali Jinnah “a personal friend, philosopher and guide and as such the main source of my inspiration and spiritual support” as well as fellow barrister and political ally.

Jinnah had left the struggle in India for Britain, and Jaswant Singh deems Jinnah's time in Britain as a break or sabbatical from the Indian struggle. Hector Bolitho, Jinnah’s early biographer, called this period "Jinnah's years of order and contemplation, wedged in between the time of early struggle, and the final storm of conquest".

It was Allama Iqbal who began convincing Jinnah to come back from London to lead the Muslim League and demand a separate country for Muslims. 

His dream that “nations are born in the hearts of poets” was realised in 1947 with the formation of Pakistan. 

Perhaps fittingly the last words on Sir Muhammad Iqbal should be those of Jinnah who after his death described him as “undoubtedly one of the greatest poets, philosophers and seers of humanity of all times. He took a prominent part in the politics of the country and in the intellectual and cultural reconstruction of the Islamic world. His contribution to the literature and thought of the world will live forever.”

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Sources and Attribution

Author: Afzal Khan Jinnah Plaque in Kensington - https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/quaid-i-azam/ 

India Cabinet Mission, Correspondence with the Congress Party & Muslim League - https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/collections1/collections2/jinnah-and-the-muslim-league/ 

Two letters from Iqbal to Jinnah (1937) - http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_iqbal_tojinnah_1937.html 

The Spiritual Father of Pakistan - https://www.lincolnsinn.org.uk/library-archives/tales-from-the-archive/january-2019-the-spiritual-father-of-pakistan/

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