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Muhammad Iqbal

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Writers and critics

                        South Asia
   Modern era
         Name:       Sir Muhammad Iqbal
        Birth:       November 9, 1877
        Death:       April 21, 1938
   School/tradition: Sunni
    Main interests:  poetry, history, metaphysics, Islam
    Notable ideas:   Two-Nation Theory
      Influences:    Rumi; Goethe; Thomas Walker Arnold
      Influenced:    Pakistan movement

   Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( Urdu/ Persian: محمد اقبال, Hindi: मुहम्मद इक़बाल)
   ( November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938) was an Indian Muslim poet,
   philosopher and politician, whose poetry in Persian and Urdu is
   regarded as among 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. He is commonly
   referred to as Allama Iqbal ( Urdu: علامہ اقبال), where Allama means
   Scholar. He is known as Iqbal-e-Lahori ( Persian: اقبال لاہوری; Iqbal
   of Lahore) in Iran where he is highly praised for his Persian works.

   After studying in England and Germany, Iqbal established a law
   practice, 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 Tarana-e-Hind, Asrar-e-Khudi, in honour of which he was
   knighted by George V, Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, and the Bang-i-Dara. Iqbal was
   also the author of many political, philosophical and historical
   commentaries. He is officially recognised as the " national poet" in
   Pakistan. The anniversary of his birth (Yom-e-Viladat-e-Muhammed Iqbal,
   یوم ولادت محمد اقبال) on November 9 is a holiday in Pakistan.

   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").

Early life

   Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal was born in Sialkot, Punjab (now part of
   Pakistan); the eldest amongst five siblings in a Kashmiri family. It is
   believed that Iqbal's family were originally Hindu Brahmins, but became
   Muslim following his ancestor Sahaj Ram Sapru's conversion to Islam,
   although this version is disputed by some scholars. Iqbal's father
   Shaikh Nur Muhammad was a prosperous tailor, well-known for his
   devotion to Islam. The family raised their children with deep religious
   grounding.
   1899
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   1899

   Iqbal was educated initially by tutors in languages and writing,
   history, poetry and religion. His potential as a poet and writer was
   recognised by one of his tutors Sayyid Mir Hassan, and Iqbal would
   continue to study under him at the Scotch Mission College in Sialkot.
   Iqbal would become proficient in several languages and the skill of
   writing prose and poetry, and graduated in 1892. At the age fifteen,
   Iqbal's marriage was arranged by his family as per custom, to Karim
   Bibi, the daughter of an affluent Gujarati physician. The couple had
   two children: a daughter, Mi'raj Begam (b. 1895) and a son, Aftab (b.
   1899). Iqbal's third son died soon after birth. Iqbal and his wife were
   unhappy in their marriage, which would lead to their divorce in 1916.

   Iqbal entered the Government College in Lahore where he studied
   philosophy, English literature and Arabic and obtained a Bachelor of
   Arts degree, graduating cum laude. He won a gold medal for topping his
   examination in philosophy. While studying for his masters degree, Iqbal
   came under the wing of Sir Thomas Arnold, a scholar of Islam and modern
   philosophy at the college. Arnold exposed Iqbal to western culture and
   ideas, and served as a bridge for Iqbal between the ideas of the east
   and west. He was appointed to a readership in Arabic at the Oriental
   College in Lahore, and he published his first book in Urdu, The
   Knowledge of Economics in 1903. It was in 1905 that Iqbal published the
   patriotic song, Tarana-e-Hind (Song of India).

   At Sir Thomas's encouragement, Iqbal would travel and spend many years
   studying in Europe. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity
   College at Cambridge in 1907, while simultaneously studying law at
   Lincoln's Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister in 1908. Iqbal
   also met a Muslim student, Atiyah Faizi in 1907, and had a close
   relationship with her. In Europe, he started writing his poetry in
   Persian as well. Throughout his life, Iqbal would prefer writing in
   Persian as he believed it allowed him to fully express philosophical
   concepts,and it gave him a wider audience.. It was while in England
   that he first participated in politics. Following the formation of the
   All-India Muslim League in 1906, Iqbal was elected to the executive
   committee of its British chapter in 1908. Together with two other
   politicians, Syed Hassan Bilgrami and Syed Ameer Ali, Iqbal sat on the
   subcommittee which drafted the constitution of the League. In 1907,
   Iqbal travelled to Germany to pursue a doctorate from the Faculty of
   Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich. Working
   under the supervision of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published a thesis
   titled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia.

Literary career

   1908, in London
   Enlarge
   1908, in London

   Upon his return to India in 1908, Iqbal took up assistant professorship
   at the Government College in Lahore, but relinquished it within a year
   to practise law, owing to financial concerns. During this period,
   Iqbal's personal life was in turmoil. Iqbal would divorce Karim Bibi in
   1916, but would financially maintain her and their children throughout
   the rest of his life. While maintaining his legal practise, Iqbal began
   concentrating on spiritual and religious subjects, and publishing
   poetry and literary works. He became active in the
   Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, a congress of Muslim intellectuals, writers
   and poets as well as politicians, and in 1919 he would become the
   general secretary of the Anjuman. Iqbal's thoughts in his work
   primarily focused on the spiritual direction and development of human
   society, centered around experiences from his travel and stay in
   Western Europe and the Middle East. Iqbal was profoundly influenced by
   Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson and
   Goethe, and soon became a strong critic of Western society over its
   separation of religion from state and perceived obsession with
   materialist pursuits.

   The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on
   Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal would
   begin intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and
   history of Islamic civilization and its political future, and embrace
   Rumi as "his guide." Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of a guide in
   many of his poems, and his works focused on reminding his readers of
   the past glories of Islamic civilization, and delivering a message of a
   pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political
   liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within
   and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in
   terms of the global Muslim community, or the Ummah.

Works in Persian

   A majority of Iqbal's poetic works are in Persian rather than in Urdu.
   In 1915, Iqbal published his first collection of poetry, the
   Asrar-i-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) in Persian. The poems delve into
   concepts of ego and emphasis of the spirit and self in a religious,
   spiritual perspective. Many critics have called this Iqbal's finest
   poetic work. In Asrar-i Khudi, Iqbal has explained his philosophy of
   "Khudi," or "Self." He proves by various means that the whole universe
   obeys the will of the "Self." Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him
   the aim of life is self-realization and self-knowledge. He charts the
   stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at
   its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become
   the viceregent of Allah.
   1929, with his son Javid Iqbal
   Enlarge
   1929, with his son Javid Iqbal

   In his Rumuz-i Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Iqbal seeks to prove
   that Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's
   viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact but
   once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for
   the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" out of society.
   Also in Persian and published in 1917, this group of poems has as its
   main themes the ideal community, Islamic ethical and social principles
   and the relationship between the individual and society. Although he is
   true throughout to Islam, Iqbal recognises also the positive analogous
   aspects of other religions. The Rumuz-i-Bekhudi complements the
   emphasis on the self in the Asrar-i-Khudi and the two collections are
   often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-i-Rumuz (Hinting
   Secrets) , and it is addressed to the world's Muslims. Iqbal sees the
   individual and his community as reflections of each other. The
   individual needs to be strengthened before he can be integrated into
   the community, whose development in turn depends on the preservation of
   the communal ego. It is through contact with others that an ego learns
   to accept the limitations of its own freedom and the meaning of love.
   Muslim communities must ensure order in life and must therefore
   preserve their communal tradition. It is in this context that Iqbal
   sees the vital role of women, who as mothers are directly responsible
   for inculcating values in their children.

   Iqbal's 1924 publication, the Payam-i Mashriq (The Message Of The East)
   is closely connected to the West-Istlicher Divan by the famous German
   poet Goethe. Goethe bemoaned that the West had become too materialistic
   in outlook and expected that the East would provide a message of hope
   that would resuscitate spiritual values. Iqbal styles his work as a
   reminder to the West of the importance of morality, religion and
   civilization by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardour
   and dynamism. He explains that an individual could never aspire for
   higher dimensions unless he learns of the nature of spirituality.

   The Zabur-i Ajam ( Persian Psalms), published in 1927, includes the
   poems Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid (New Garden of Secrets) and Bandagi Nama
   (Book of Slavery). In Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid, Iqbal first poses
   questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern
   insight and shows how it effects and concerns the world of action.
   Bandagi Nama denounces slavery by attempting to explain the spirit
   behind the fine arts of enslaved societies. Here as in other books,
   Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and
   preparing for the future, emphasising love, enthusiasm and energy to
   fill the ideal life. Iqbal's 1932 work, the Javid Nama (Book of Javed)
   is named after and in a manner addressed to his son, who is featured in
   the poems, and follows the examples of the works of Ibn Arabi and
   Dante's The Divine Comedy, through mystical and exaggerated depiction
   across time. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud ("A stream full of
   life") guided by Rumi, "the master," through various heavens and
   spheres, and has the honour of approaching divinity and coming in
   contact with divine illuminations. In a passage re-living a historical
   period, Iqbal condemns the Muslim traitors who were instrumental in the
   defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of
   Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British
   colonists, and thus delivering their country to the shackles of
   slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the
   young people at large, and provides guidance to the "new generation."

Works in Urdu

   1933, Iqbal in Spain.
   Enlarge
   1933, Iqbal in Spain.

   Iqbal's first work published in Urdu, the Bang-i-Dara (The Call of the
   Marching Bell) of 1924, was a collection of poetry written by him in
   three distinct phases of his life. The poems he wrote up to 1905, the
   year Iqbal left for England imbibe patriotism and imagery of landscape,
   and includes the Tarana-e-Hind (The Song of India), popularly known as
   Saare Jahan Se Achcha. The second set of poems date from between 1905
   and 1908 when Iqbal studied in Europe and dwell upon the nature of
   European society, which he emphasized had lost spiritual and religious
   values. This inspired Iqbal to write poems on the historical and
   cultural heritage of Islamic culture and Muslim people, not from an
   Indian but a global perspective. Iqbal urges the global community of
   Muslims, addressed as the Ummah to define personal, social and
   political existence by the values and teachings of Islam. Poems such as
   Tulu'i Islam (Dawn of Islam) and Khizr-i-Rah (The Guided Path) are
   especially acclaimed.

   Iqbal preferred to work mainly in Persian for a predominant period of
   his career, but after 1930, his works were mainly in Urdu. The works of
   this period were often specifically directed at the Muslim masses of
   India, with an even stronger emphasis on Islam, and Muslim spiritual
   and political reawakening. Published in 1935, the Bal-i Jibril (Wings
   of Gabriel) is considered by many critics as the finest of Iqbal's Urdu
   poetry, and was inspired by his visit to Spain, where he visited the
   monuments and legacy of the kingdom of the Moors. It consists of
   ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and carries a strong sense
   religious passion.

   The Pas Cheh Bay ed Kard ai Aqwam-i Sharq (What are we to do, O Nations
   of the East?) includes the poem Musafir (Traveller). Iqbal again
   depicts Rumi as a character in an exposition of the mysteries of
   Islamic laws and Sufi perceptions is given. Iqbal laments the
   dissention and disunity among the Indian Muslims as well as Muslim
   nations. Musafir is an account of one of Iqbal's journey to
   Afghanistan, in which the Pashtun people are counseled to learn the
   "secret of Islam" and to "build up the self" within themselves. Iqbal's
   final work was the Armughan-i Hijaz (The Gift of Hijaz), published
   posthumously in 1938. The first part contains quatrains in Persian, and
   the second part contains some poems and epigrams in Urdu. The Persian
   quatrains convey the impression as though the poet is travelling
   through the Hijaz in his imagination. Profundity of ideas and intensity
   of passion are the salient features of these short poems. The Urdu
   portion of the book contains some categorical criticism of the
   intellectual movements and social and political revolutions of the
   modern age.

Political career

   Iqbal, with Muslim political activists.
   Enlarge
   Iqbal, with Muslim political activists.

   While dividing his time between law and poetry, Iqbal had remained
   active in the Muslim League. He supported Indian involvement in World
   War I, as well as the Khilafat movement and remained in close touch
   with Muslim political leaders such as Maulana Mohammad Ali and Muhammad
   Ali Jinnah. He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress,
   which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the
   League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides
   between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the
   centrist group led by Jinnah.

   With the encouragement of friends and supporters, in November 1926,
   Iqbal contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the
   Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of
   3,177 votes. He supported the constitutional proposals presented by
   Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights and
   influence in a coalition with the Congress, and worked with the Aga
   Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and
   achieve unity in the Muslim League.

Revival of Islamic polity

   Iqbal's second book in English, the Reconstruction of Religious Thought
   in Islam, is a collection of his six lectures which he delivered at
   Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh; first published as a collection in
   Lahore, in 1930. These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a
   religion as well as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age.
   In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the political attitudes and
   conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally-misguided,
   attached to power and without any standing with Muslim masses. Iqbal
   asserted that secularism as a guiding principle for government was a
   mistake and must be abandoned by the Muslim polity. Iqbal expressed
   fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations
   of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population
   would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence. In
   his travels to Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, Iqbal would promote
   ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for
   the shedding of nationalist differences. He would also speculate on
   different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political power;
   in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Iqbal expressed his desire to
   see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of
   the British government and with no central Indian government. He
   envisaged autonomous Muslim provinces in India. Under one Indian union
   he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially
   with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims. Sir
   Muhammad Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at
   its session in Allahabad, in the United Provinces as well as for the
   session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on December 29,
   1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for
   Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India:
   Iqbal with Choudhary Rahmat Ali and other Muslim activists.
   Enlarge
   Iqbal with Choudhary Rahmat Ali and other Muslim activists.

     "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind
     and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government
     within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the
     formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to
     me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest
     India."

   In his speech, Iqbal emphasized that unlike Christianity, Islam came
   with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious
   ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the
   construction of a policy on national lines, if it means a displacement
   of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a
   Muslim." Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity
   of Muslim communities, but the undesirability of blending the Muslim
   population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles. He
   thus became the first politician to articulate what would become known
   as the Two-Nation Theory — that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus
   deserve political independence from other regions and communities of
   India. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic
   state would construe a theocracy, even as he rejected secularism and
   nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on
   political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to
   garner political and financial support for the League, and he
   reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during the Third
   Round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for
   transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for
   Muslim provinces. He would serve as president of the Punjab Muslim
   League, and would deliver speeches and publish articles in an attempt
   to rally Muslims across India as a single political entity. Iqbal
   consistently criticised feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim
   politicians averse to the League.

Relationship with Jinnah

   Iqbal, in his final years.
   Enlarge
   Iqbal, in his final years.

   Ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal had also
   been disillusioned with the politicians of the Muslim League owing to
   the factional conflict that plagued the League in the 1920s. Discontent
   with factional leaders like Sir Muhammad Shafi and Sir Fazl-ur-Rahman,
   Iqbal came to believe that only Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a political
   leader capable of preserving this unity and fulfilling the League's
   objectives on Muslim political empowerment. Building a strong, personal
   correspondence with Jinnah, Iqbal was an influential force on
   convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London, return to
   India and take charge of the League. Iqbal firmly believed that Jinnah
   was the only leader capable of drawing Indian Muslims to the League and
   maintaining party unity before the British and the Congress:

   "I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to
   you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the
   community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm
   which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of
   India."

   There were significant differences between the two men — while Iqbal
   believed that Islam was the source of government and society, Jinnah
   was a believer in secular government and had laid out a secular vision
   for Pakistan where religion would have "nothing to do with the business
   of the state." Iqbal had backed the Khilafat struggle; Jinnah had
   dismissed it as "religious frenzy." And while Iqbal espoused the idea
   of partitioning Muslim-majority provinces in 1930, Jinnah would
   continue to hold talks with the Congress through the decade and only
   officially embraced the goal of Pakistan in 1940. Some historians
   postulate that Jinnah always remained hopeful for an agreement with the
   Congress and never fully desired the partition of India. Iqbal's close
   correspondence with Jinnah is speculated by some historians as having
   been responsible for Jinnah's embrace of the idea of Pakistan. Iqbal
   elucidated to Jinnah his vision of a separate Muslim state in a letter
   sent on June 21, 1937:

     "A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I
     have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a
     peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims.
     Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be
     considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other
     nations in India and outside India are."

   Iqbal, serving as president of the Punjab Muslim League, criticised
   Jinnah's political actions, including a political agreement with
   Punjabi leader Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, whom Iqbal saw as a
   representative of feudal classes and not committed to Islam as the core
   political philosophy. Nevertheless, Iqbal worked constantly to
   encourage Muslim leaders and masses to support Jinnah and the League.
   Speaking about the political future of Muslims in India, Iqbal said:

     "There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's
     hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is
     now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both
     the Hindus and the English. Without it, our demands are not going to
     be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is
     sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defence of our
     national existence. ... The united front can be formed under the
     leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed
     only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading
     the Muslims."

   In his views on Muslim political future, Iqbal was at odds with Sayyid
   Abul Ala Maududi, who had opposed the partition of India. Maududi had
   however, been closer to Iqbal's poetic-philosophy of an ideal Islamic
   state which would reject secularism and nationalism. After the creation
   of Pakistan, nine years after Iqbal's death, Jinnah and other League
   politicians would publicly credit Iqbal as one of the visionaries and
   founders of the state.

Death

   The Mausoleum of Iqbal, next to Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan
   Enlarge
   The Mausoleum of Iqbal, next to Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan

   In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal's
   health deteriorated. He spent his final years working to establish the
   Idara Dar-ul-Islam, an institution where studies in classical Islam and
   contemporary social science would be subsidised and advocating the
   demand for an independent Muslim state. Iqbal ceased practising law in
   1934 and he was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. After suffering
   for months from a series of protracted illnesses, Iqbal died in Lahore
   in 1938. His tomb is located in the space between the entrance of the
   Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort, and an official guard is
   maintained there by the Government of Pakistan.

   Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the
   ideological founder of the state. His Tarana-e-Hind is a song that is
   widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony.
   His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day and is a
   national holiday — for a long time, Iqbal's actual date of birth
   remained disputed, with many believing February 23 to be the date of
   Iqbal's birth. On February 1, 1974 a Pakistani government committee
   officially declared Iqbal's date of birth to be November 9. Iqbal is
   the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal
   Open University and the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore —
   the second-busiest airport in the nation. Government and public
   organizations have sponsored the establishment of colleges and schools
   dedicated to Iqbal, and have established the Iqbal Academy to research,
   teach and preserve the works, literature and philosophy of Iqbal. His
   son Javid Iqbal has served as as a justice on the Supreme Court of
   Pakistan.

Criticism

   Interior of Iqbal's tomb.
   Enlarge
   Interior of Iqbal's tomb.

   Some intellectuals criticised Iqbal for embracing Nietzsche's concept
   of Übermensch, which is reflected in Iqbal's descriptions of ego, self
   and renewal for Muslim civilization. Iqbal's advocacy of Islamic
   political revival and rejection of Western scientific and cultural
   influences have also been criticised. His poetic descriptions of the
   true practice of Islam have been noted by several scholars as
   impractical and disregarding of diverse societies and cultural
   heritages. While remembered as a great poet, some of Iqbal's Urdu
   poetry and later works are criticised as weaker than his early Persian
   works, lacking in inspiration, energy and style.

   While credited and admired as the conceptual founder of Pakistan, Iqbal
   is criticised by some historians and scholars for implicitly endorsing
   the incompatibility of Muslims with other religious communities. Some
   historians and Indian nationalists criticise Iqbal's vision for a
   Muslim state as specifically implying the denunciation of Hindus and
   Hinduism, as well as the peaceful co-existence of Hindus and Muslims.
   Iqbal was also strongly criticised for advocating on occasions, the
   division and fragmentation of India. Critics also point to the civil
   war that led to the secession of East Pakistan in 1971, as well as
   recent sectarian and religious conflict in Pakistan to suggest that
   Iqbal's notion of a natural Muslim nation and of Islam as a political,
   unifying identity was inherently flawed and fanciful. Despite this
   criticism, Iqbal is widely credited for his work in encouraging the
   political rejuvenation and empowerment of Muslims, and as a great poet
   not only in India and Pakistan, but also in Iran and Muslim nations in
   the Middle East.

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