Allama Iqbal

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Allama Iqbal, whenever we hear this name, a national poet, the man who gave the idea of Pakistan, these thoughts come to our mind. Since our childhood, we are hearing about Iqbal. We had to write essays about him, there was a specific chapter for him, his poetry & thoughts are used to study by us. His most popular poems (ایک پہاڑ اور گلہری, ہمدردی), almost everyone has read these two poems in his life. So in short, there is a connection between us with Iqbal.

But Iqbal isn't is what we think or what we assume. His real contribution is fikr-e-Iqbal, fikr-e-deen, fikr-e-Islam. The thought which glorifies the relation of self with God, the relation of ego & human. More than half of his poetry consists of this, the mixture of politics, religions, world history. Iqbal wasn't the giver of the Idea, he was the real thought, the thought of Islam.

I have been studying Allama Iqbal for the last 2 years. I started studying Iqbal after listening to Dr. Israr Ahmed. I didn't know Iqbal more than that, he is the national poet of Pakistan & he gave the idea of Pakistan, and his two most popular poems (ایک پہاڑ اور گلہری, ہمدردی). Even I didn't want to study him, I hated him. Basically, I was studying in a school where the students were divided into three groups, "Iqbal, Jinnah & Sir Syed", and I was in the Jinnah group, so I hated Iqbal until grade 6. Then I changed my school, and I started reading his poetry when I got out of Jinnah Group. But still, I didn't understand him well. The understanding came back in 2018 when I came here to Spain. I started reading Rumi's poetry, then listening to Dr. Israr Ahmed and eventually Iqbal after listening to Dr Israr Ahmed.

He is completely drowned in Quran, his poetry is full of Quran verses and Prophet (P.B.U.H) Hadiths. The conception of Khudi, the philosophy of self, the human & his ego, the God. He completely bashed the philosophy of the theory of evolution by his thought & philosophy. He perfectly knew the politics & the structure of world politics & history. You can't leave him without studying his poetry if you are studying history, philosophy and religion. The concept of deen-e-Islam that what really Islam is? He presented it as the same as it was presented in the Quran. 

Dr Israr Ahmed used to say, "Iqbal is mujaddad-e-Quran, mufakkir-e-Quran, the best man of this century who completely understood Quran & Islam."

Interpreting Iqbal made me realize the power of self, religion and God. Despite his "فلسفہ خودی", "philosophy of self"۔ His critical and religious point of view of philosophy, metaphysics and science made me stronger against materialism and atheism. His political interpretation of Human History and the upcoming future makes him more accurate and rational. The last poem of him "The Devil's Conference" is actually all his compressed knowledge in one single poem. His thoughts about western democracy, political system and materialism prophesized what had happened and what would happen.

His books especially "The Reconstruction Of Religious Thought In Islam" and "The Development Of Metaphysics In Persia" compressed his thought about Sufism, Religion and Philosophy, and a critique on past intellectuals about their thought. Iqbal made me met Rumi through his poetry and Rumi as a master to him. I was so surprised by Iqbal thought. I read his major books, Bang-e-Dara بانگِ درا, Bal-e-Jibril بالِ جبریل, Zarb-e-Kaleem ضربِ کلیم, Armaghan-e-Hijaz ارمغانِ حجاز. When I read Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa, I was so overwhelmed by the choice of philosophy he picked with some politics, religion & history involved.

Personally, for me, he is the most intelligent being of the last century and has a great influence on me. He made Jinnah realize of Islamic Religion and the existence of an Islamic Country.

But the sad reality is our young generation is forgetting Allama Iqbal, his thought and his philosophy. They think of Iqbal, what they heard in their childhood. No one from this generation is studying or wants to study Iqbal.

Dr Israr Ahmed said, "The distance is being formed between the personality of Iqbal & young generation, and the circumstances demand that efforts be made to reduce it."

There are few people in this decade who studied Iqbal, and are now well known, such as Imran Khan, he said, "I only read Rumi's and Iqbal's poetry & I want every student and young people should study Iqbal". And there are many more, Sahil Adeem, Qasim Ali Shah, Khadim Hussain Rizvi *he is the president of TLP. (naming them doesn't mean I endorsed them.)

I wrote this blog just to encourage young to study Iqbal, not only Iqbal, study all your history and the characters related to it, but this blog is only centralized to Iqbal.

And here's the question that comes to our mind is, how to start studying Iqbal?

Qasim Ali Shah says, "to study Iqbal you have to study anti-Iqbal." yes, It sounds complicated, but I would recommend starting from a book called Kuliyat-e-Iqbal, it is mixed with Bang-e-Dara بانگِ درا, Bal-e-Jibril بالِ جبریل, Zarb-e-Kaleem ضربِ کلیم & Armaghan-e-Hijaz ارمغانِ حجاز. Start reading & studying it and listen to others what they think about Iqbal. I would recommend Dr Israr Ahmed.

If you like my writings & thoughts, share them with your other friends & relatives. So they can get the benefit, too.

Thank you & Allah Hafiz.

Twitter- @iumerafzaal | Instagram- @iumerafzaal

I am providing links to some YouTube videos, watch them, it is a must, must watch.

Links:-

• Allama Iqbal Aur Hum By Dr. Israr Ahmed (Part 1/3)
  
• Allama Iqbal Aur Hum By Dr. Israr Ahmed (Part 2/3)
  
• Allama Iqbal Aur Hum By Dr. Israr Ahmed (Part 3/3)
  
• Role of youth in the Light of Ideology of Iqbal
  
• Allama Iqbal ki Aakhri Khuwahish
  
• Iblees ki Majlis-e-Shura
  

You can listen to them very easily, just listen to them before sleeping, put them aside on a side table and listen to them until you sleep.