Muhammad Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal was an Indian poet and philosopher.

Born and raised in Sialkot, Punjab (present-day Pakistan) in an ethnic Kashmiri family, Iqbal studied in Sialkot and Lahore, and thereafter in England and Germany. Although he established a law practice after returning, he concentrated primarily on writing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy, and religion. He is best known for his poetic works, including Asrar-e-Khudi — which brought a knighthood — Rumuz-e-Bekhudi, and the Bang-e-Dara. In Iran, where he is known as Iqbāl-e Lāhorī (Iqbal of Lahore), he is highly regarded for his Persian works.

Iqbal was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilisation across the world, but in particular in South Asia; a series of lectures he delivered to this effect were published as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. A leader in the All India Muslim League, he envisioned — in his 1930 presidential address — a separate political framework for Muslims in British-ruled India. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he was named the national poet there.