Remembering Iqbal: Tribute to Poet of the East

Academy of letters revives Iqbal’s spirit.

ISLAMABAD: To honour one of the greatest poets and scholars the world has ever witnessed, a lecture was arranged at the Pakistan Academy of Letters where the head of department and senior professor of Iqbaliyat at Allama Iqbal Open University Dr Shahid Iqbal Kamran paid tribute to the poet on his 77th death anniversary.

Kamran mentioned he was delighted to see Iqbal’s legacy alive because of the presence of guests at the lecture. He highlighted the importance of Iqbal’s work stating that Iqbal’s work is Pakistan’s identity even though he passed away before the country gained independence.

“Iqbal’s work is still the inspiration of research, work and discourse at universities and educational institutes in Pakistan as well as abroad. I realised this when I visited Malaysia and was asked questions to understand the true essence of Iqbal’s work at the University of Malaysia,” he said.

Even though it was written almost a century ago, Iqbal’s work shows immense knowledge and insight, which can be interpreted and is relevant even in today’s time and age.

He mentioned that Iqbal’s wisdom was evident by the fact that even in 1904, he stressed on the importance of education and blending practical techniques in education.

During the hour-long lecture at the academy, Kamran claimed this century to be the century of Iqbal, the century of knowledge and invention, and the century of Einstein. He highlighted various lectures of Iqbal that emphasised on worldly problems and some that stress on the religious aspects including Iqbal’s Muslim study — a psychological perspective.

On a concluding note, he recited some of Iqbal’s moving poetry.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2015.