 A Living Portrait of India |
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| Iqbal |
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Iqbal (1873/1877 - 1938) was born in Siyalkot, Punjab, now in Pakistan. In his early youth, he was taught by Moulana Mir Hasan, the reputed teacher of Arabian, Persian and Urdu, and then by Dr Thomas Arnold of Lahore Government College. A brilliant scholar, with a First Class First Master’s degree in Philosophy from Punjab University, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and later was awarded a Ph.D. degree by Munich University of Germany for his work entitled "The Development of Metaphysics in Persia". In 1908, he also became a barrister. On his return to India, he taught for a while in Lahore Government College, but left it when he realised that government service restricted his freedom of expression. He became a practising lawyer, but never made much money. He developed only a limited practice that kept him supplied with the ordinary requirements of life. Iqbal had started writing poetry in his student days at Lahore. He used to mail his poems to the noted Urdu poet Mirza Dagh in Hyderabad, who used to correct it and mail it back to him. Soon his verses began to be appreciated in literary circles in Lahore and get published in the Urdu monthly called Makhzan. Before visiting England, Iqbal had been a Nationalist. On his return from England, he wrote poetry that was clearly Islamic. After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, his poetry had socialistic strains. Iqbal wrote both in Persian and Urdu, his Urdu poetry first being published as a book only when Iqbal was 51.Among his books of Urdu poetry are: Bangey Awaz, Baley Jibril, Jarvey Kaleem, and Armaganey Hezaz. In 1923, he received a knighthood from the British Government. Iqbal’s
poetry was more philosophical than romantic. In 1930, in the Presidential
speech of the annual conference of the All India Muslim League, he asserted
the need for an Islamic State in the north-west Hindustan, but which
would be under British rule. Many have considered this to have sown
the seeds of Pakistan. However, Iqbal was more than a communal or Islamic
poet. He had written on Ram, Nanak, Swami Ramtirtha and Hindu temples.
The poem for which he is best-known is not particular either to India
or Pakistan, but motherland in general, viz., “Sarey
jahan sey achha Hindostthan hamarah ---” |
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