Book launch: Iqbal’s vision through the eyes of his children

Pakistani-British author launches book on philosophy of national poet

LAHORE: Author Sabeena Khan’s latest book gives an insight into what happened to Iqbal’s vision after his death in 1938 up till today through the eyes of his children Dr Javed Iqbal and Munira Salahudin. The British author of Pakistani descent spoke in detail about what inspired her to write ‘Life After Iqbal’ at the launching ceremony accompanied with a discussion session held at Dabistan-e-Iqbal on Thursday.

According to Sabeena, her book celebrates and explores the life of Iqbal’s children living through the legacy that their father left behind.

The author pointed out that Iqbal’s daughter decided to stay away from public life that made her interview with the author as Munira’s very first talk for public in 85 years of her life. Responses were extracted from interviews of late Dr Javed and Munira in May 2015 at their private residence in Lahore. In the foreword, Munira writes that she decided to finally give an interview in order to promote the noble cause of Iqbaliaat and Urdu for the younger generation in Pakistan.

Sabeena said that initially she met Javed on the basis of sharing the common interest to preserve Urdu language and also because he was a staunch believer in the notion of putting national language first for the development and unity of the country.

“When we reflect on his life we see a tremendous trail of achievements, intellectual addresses and a catalogue of conveyances of messages of Allama Iqbal in such a flavourful manner that cannot be ignored or matched,” the author said while speaking about Javed. “Dr Javed Iqbal became the true Shaheen of Iqbal’s philosophy and it can be said with confidence that he lives on in sprit through his work such as Javed Namma.”

Sabeena said the privilege to engage with the highly respected family of Allama Iqbal was the opportunity of a lifetime not many would have.

The author has so far written and published five books covering multiple aspects of Urdu language. She has been running the Iqbal Urdu Foundation in the UK since 2014 with the hope to create a platform to promote Urdu, Iqbaliaat and culture to wider UK society. The platform uses literacy, traditional educational delivery methods, social platforms and celebrations to mainstream Urdu language, philosophy of Iqbal and the beauty of Pakistani culture.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2017.