Allama muhammed iqbal

This paper throws light on the life of an Indian-Muslim philosopher and a poet, Sir Allama Muhammed Iqbal, who has made great contributions to humanity, religion and culture. He devoted his life to philosophy and poetry. His poetic works were purely dedicated to God. His ideas proved to be an awakening call for mankind, especially for the Muslims. Pakistan’s existence is the fruit of his contributions and efforts.
Early Life and Education
Allama Iqbal was born in Sialkot, Punjab province in Pakistan on November 09, 1877. His ancestors were Brahmins (Hindu Cast) originally, but embraced Islam later. His father, Shaikh Nur Muhammed, was a very reputed tailor and a great devotee to Islam. Iqbal was raised in a strong religious background.
Iqbal initially started learning languages like Urdu, English and Persian along with history, poetry and religion. One of his tutors, Sayyid Mir Hassan, recognized a hidden poet and a writer in Iqbal. He encouraged him to continue his studies and polish himself as a poet at the Scotch Mission College in Sialkot. He graduated as a poet and writer in 1892.
At the age of 15, he got married to Karim Bibi, the daughter of a well- known physician. They had two children, a girl and a boy. Iqbal lost his third child soon after birth. Since, the couple could not meet up to each other’s expectation, their marriage ended in 1916.
From the Government College Lahore, he studied Philosophy, English literature and Arabic and came out as a gold medalist with a Bachelors of Arts degree. While doing his masters, he met Sir Thomas Arnold who was a scholar in Islam and modern philosophy.
Sir Arnold made him familiar with the western culture and ideas. He taught him to relate the eastern ideas with the western ones. In 1903, Iqbal published his first book, ” The Knowledge of Economics”, in Urdu. Later in 1905, he published a patriotic poem, ” Song of India”. In 1907, Sir Arnold pushed Iqbal to go to Europe and get a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at Cambridge. He did so along with studying law at Lincoln’s Inn. In 1908, he came out as a barrister.
During his life in Europe, he realized that Persian was the language for him to express his ideas and thoughts in a philosophical way. He felt that people are overwhelmed and encouraged by beautiful thoughts. And beautiful thoughts are always related to soft language. According to him, Persian was the sweetest and softest language as said:
” Even Though in sweetness, Urdu is Sugar – But My Persian is sweeter that Urdu”