My Favourite Poet or Allama Muhammad Iqbal

poetry is the art of expressing one's feelings and ideas in an impressive manner.It
provides us pleasures besides improving our awareness of life.The poet is a man of deep
insight and sensitive mature.He can make us see and feel in a wonderful new way .I am also 
fond of reading poetry ,especially urdu and punjabi poetry .Allama Muhammad Iqbal is
my favourite poet.He is undoubtedly the greatest Muslim poet this century.His poetry is 
read and appreciated not only in Pakistan and India but also in Iran and many European
countries.His books have been translated into English,German and many other languages of 
the world.He was not only a poet but also a great thinker.In fact, he adopted poetry as a
means of conveying his ideas.That is why he called a philosopher poet.Unlike other
urdu poets he is not concerned with love and female beauty.He gets poetic inspiration from
his beautiful ideas.That is why he called a philosopher poet.Unlike other 
Urdu poets he is not concerned with love and female beauty.He gets poetic inspiration from
his beautiful ideas.Islam and Muslims civilization form the central theme of his poetry.He is 
deeply convinced that Islam is the best system of life that can make the Muslims glorious once
again.he is pained to know that the Muslims have sunk into degradation by giving up their
own golden principles and traditions and by blindly imitation the Western civilization.In his
poems,Dr Iqbal exhorts the Muslims to come back to the fold of Islam and to
regain their lost prestige.I like his poetry which gives us the message of hope and 
struggle of life .His concept of "Khudi" is appreciated by the scholars all over the world.

A number of factors contributed their part in shaping the out look of Dr. Iqbal and
developing his poetic genius.He was born at Sialkot in a Kashmiri family in 1877.His father
Sheikh Nur Muhammad was a mystic from whom Iqbal inherited his deep love of religion.
When he was a student at Murray College,Sialkot,he had the good fortune of getting the 
guidance of a capable teacher like Syed Mir. Hassan.He created in Iqbal a genuine love for 
Arabic,Persian and Islamiat.When he came to Government College Lahore for higher 
Education,he got the tutorship of Dr.Arnold who inspired in him a love of philosophy.He got 
his Master's Degree in Philosophy in 1899 and worked as a Professor of Philosophy for some 
time.
In 1905 ,he proceeded to Europe for higher studies in Philosophy and Law .He obtained 
his Ph.D in philosophy from Germany and his degree of Bar-at-Law in 1908.On his return
to India,Dr.Iqbal started his legal practice but gave it up soon.His real interest lay in poetry
and the plight of India Muslims.He started writing poems in Urdu as well as 
Persian .His poetic faculty blossomed forth and he produced such memorable works as
Band-i-Dara,,Bal-i-Gibril,Zaboor-e'Ajam,Zarb-v-Kaleem,Asrar-i-Khudi and
payame-Mashriq.All of them are recognized as world classics.He won great fame and honour 
in his life time .Prominent persons from all walks of life came to him to seek guidance and to 
gel his valuable opinion.

Dr.Iqbal's stay at Europe proved to be of immense importance in influencing his mind.
He became aware of the current political and philosophical development in the world .He also
developed his hatred for nationalism,materialism and imperialism.All these thoughts colour
his poetry.Dr.Iqbal also proved to be the originator of the idea of Pakistan.It was he who for 
the first time put forward the demand for a separate Muslim State within India in his famous
presidential address at the Allah Abad session of the All India Muslim League.Unfortunately
he could not live to seq the emergence of Pakistan.He died in 1938 nine years before the 
creation of Pakistan.So he is remembered and honoured not only as a great poet but also as
the founder of Pakistan Ideology .Many of his verses contain deep wisdom and have become
proverbial.

Every teacher ,speaker and scholar in our country loves to quote Dr.Iqbal.He is a
favourite poet of almost all the students in Pakistan.