Iqbal a symbol of Muslim empowerment, equality

Three-day conference on Iqbal commences

ISLAMABAD: Allama Iqbal raised the loudest voice against the economic and political exploitation of the weak by the powerful.

This was stated by Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq on Monday as a three-day international conference on Allama Iqbal began. The conference “Iqbal, the poet of East, the thinker of Pakistan and the Sage of Ummah,” has been organised by the Muslim Institute.



“The great Iqbal is an immortal symbol of Muslim empowerment and human equality,” Haq said.

He added that it was not just Iqbal’s beautiful arrangement of words, but the potency of his philosophy and ideas on revival of Islamic polity which inculcated anti-imperialist sentiment against the colonial rulers.

Noting that the great poet’s life was brimming with protests against inequality, Haq said that Iqbal was not just a great thinker, but history considers him as an international subject on his own in philosophy and literature.

The conference is being attended by delegates from around 18 countries. It aims at revitalising the vision of Iqbal while carrying forward his struggle for Muslim nationalism.

Other speakers at the conference observed that the universality of Iqbal’s message was evident nearly eight decades after his passing.

They said that Iqbal focuses on human unity, solidarity while visualising a society where everybody is technically trained and socially civilized.

However, the lamented that how as a nation, Iqbal’s messages and philosophies were taken full advantage of. The sole reason behind this negligence was that we are merely men of words. We also avoid those elements in our character building which instigate a sense of responsibility in an individual.

A panel of experts said that Iqbal’s message invites one to explore and recognise his final destination in the universe. Then, as a nation, there was a need to understand Iqbal — as urged by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.



Third, the Quaid endorses that the Pakistan Resolution is the warmth of Iqbal’s message. Fourth, the basis of the establishment of Pakistan are the philosophy as well as message of Iqbal. Fifth, according to Iqbal, Pakistan should incline towards Central and East Asia geo-strategically as well as geo-economically.

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