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Allama
Iqbal was
born at Silkot
on November
9, 1877 and
studied at
Government
College, Lahore,
Cambridge,
and the Univ.
of Munich,
and then he
taught philosophy
at Government
College and
practiced
law. He was
elected (1927)
to the Punjab
provincial
legislature
and served
(1930) as
president
of the Muslim
League. A
staunch advocate
of Indian
nationalism,
he became
a supporter
of an independent
homeland for
India's Muslims
and he is
regarded as
the spiritual
founder of
Pakistan.
Iqbal was
the foremost
Muslim thinker
of his period,
and in his
many volumes
of poetry
(written in
Urdu and Persian)
and essays,
he urged a
regeneration
of Islam through
the love of
God and the
active development
of the self.
He was a firm
believer in
freedom and
the creative
force that
freedom can
exert on men.
He was knighted
in 1922. His
works include
The Secrets
of the Self
(1915, tr.
1940), and
Javid-nama
(1934, tr.
1966). |