Allama Iqbal was an intellectual who was born far ahead of his times. These were the times when politics was dominated by men who never hesitated in shameful compromises to please their British colonial masters, who rewarded all those that offered their services for the Raj.
Allama Iqbal, on the other hand, belonged to the small minority of politicians for whom the integrity of Muslims as a nation that could live in a separate homeland free from economic domination of both the colonial masters and the majority Hindus, was the sole political objective.
He was a man who never claimed to have ever sinned nor did he consider himself to have divine blessings, but he never compromised on his political objectives which explains why his faction of the Punjab Muslim League’s affiliation with the All India Muslim League was cancelled by a sub-committee in Delhi dominated by Muslim minority area leaders in 1938, only a few weeks before his death.
He stood like a rock in spite of his illness which made him physically weak during the last years of his life.
He was a man from the middle classes who went to Germany which in those times was the seat of learning to study philosophy and get a doctorate.
He shared with Maulvi Fazal-ul-Haq, the Sher-e-Bengal, the distinction of being pioneers of a separate national identity for the Muslims of sub-continent.
This was a man, who was far more educated than many others of his time but never lived a life of luxury because of his refusal to make political compromises with those who were amply rewarded by the British with lands and titles. Had Allama Iqbal not played his role, Pakistan might never have emerged as a sovereign independent state in 1947.
He had an association with Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah which continued till his death. Allama Iqbal never shied from expressing his political views on issues that were important to him. Allama Iqbal opposed the role of Unionists in Punjab and the Jinnah-Sikander Pact with all the force.
He shall always be remembered for his commitment and courage to resist all temptations and the struggle for a separate homeland for Muslims where they could live in peace with men of other faiths and free from economic domination.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
