Muhammad Iqbal
Sir
Muhammad Iqbal (November 9, 1877–April 21, 1938) was an Indian Muslim poet, philosopher and politician, whose poetry in Persian and Urdu is regarded as the one of the greatest in modern times. Also famous for his work on religious and political philosophy in Islam, he is credited with first proposing the idea of an independent state for Indian Muslims, which would inspire the creation of Pakistan where he has been decorated as the "national poet" of the country. He is commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal, where Allama means Scholar.
After studying in England and Germany, Iqbal established a law practise, but he primarily concentrated on religious and philosophical subjects, writing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy and religion. He is best known for his poetic works, which include the Asrar-e-Khudi, in honour of which he was knighted by the British government, Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, and the Bang-i-Dara. Scholars have hailed his poetry in Persian as some of the best in modern times.
Iqbal was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilisation across the world, but specifically in India; a series of famous lectures he delivered to this effect were published as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. One of the most prominent leaders of the All India Muslim League, Iqbal would encourage the creation of a "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims" in his 1930 presidential address. Iqbal encouraged and worked closely with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and he is known as Muffakir-e-Pakistan ("The Thinker of Pakistan"), Shair-i-Mashriq ("The Poet of the East"), and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ("The Sage of Ummah").
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