page_title: Muhammad Iqbal
section_title: Academic career
hierarchical_section_title: Muhammad Iqbal / Personal life / Academic career
caption_attribution_description: Depicted person&#58; &#32;Muhammad Iqbal&#32;– Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement
context_page_description: Sir Muhammad Iqbal, commonly known as Allama Iqbal, was a poet, philosopher, theorist, and barrister in British India. He is held as the national poet of Pakistan. He has been called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan" for his contributions to the nation. Iqbal's poems, political contributions, and academic and scholarly research were distinguished. He inspired the Pakistan movement in the Indian subcontinent. He is considered a renowned figure of Urdu literature, although he wrote in both Urdu and Persian.
  Iqbal is admired as a prominent poet by Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Afghans, Bangladeshis and other international scholars of literature including the west.Though Iqbal is best known as a poet, he is also an acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, The Secrets of the Self, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include The Secrets of Selflessness, Message from the East and Persian Psalms. His best known Urdu works are The Call of the Marching Bell, Gabriel's Wing, The Rod of Moses and a part of Gift from Hijaz.
context_section_description: Iqbal began his career as a reader of Arabic after completing his Master of Arts degree in 1899,  at Oriental College and shortly afterward was selected as a junior professor of philosophy at Government College Lahore, where he had also been a student in the past. He worked there until he left for England in 1905. In 1908, he returned from England and joined the same college again as a professor of philosophy and English literature. In the same period Iqbal began practising law at the Chief Court of Lahore, but he soon quit law practice and devoted himself to literary works,  becoming an active member of Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam. In 1919, he became the general secretary of the same organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focus on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centered around experiences from his travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Nietzsche, Bergson, and Goethe. He also closely worked with Ibrahim Hisham during his stay at the Aligarh Muslim University.
  The poetry and philosophy of Rumi strongly influenced Iqbal. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal began concentrating intensely on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilisation and its political future, while embracing Rumi as "his guide". Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of guide in many of his poems. Iqbal's works focus on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilisation and delivering the 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.
  Iqbal's poetry was translated into many European languages in the early part of the 20th century. Iqbal's Asrar-i-Khudi and Javed Nama were translated into English by R. A. Nicholson and A. J. Arberry, respectively.
caption: Photograph taken during Allama Iqbal's youth in 1899
exif: {}