Allama Iqbal and His Women

not to mention the greatest Farsi poet in the classical mode since probably Mawlana Jami.

Not bad for a single person eh? A great, great man. His human flaws make him even more endearing.

As for his Persian book Javidnamah it is one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature on a par with anything by Goethe, Shakespeare, Dante or Rumi (for example). It was also brilliantly translated by Arberry. If I had the money to personally republish that translation as part of the Oxford World Classics series I would.

he was also the most original muslim thinker since the middle ages...and a great devotee of the Messenger, especially in his latter years where his persian verse pining for Madina leaves tears in one`s eyes.

``Abru-ye ma zi naam e Mustafa ast``

Re: # 25
naqshbandi saheb...


...in yout honest opinion,who is a better poet between allama iqbal and reza khan barelvi...

Re: # 28

oh overall as a poet allama iqbal is for sure but imam ahmad raza khan only wrote naats, nothing else, and in that specific field .i.e. naats he is unmatched in the whole of urdu poetry.

Personal lives are just that - stories of human interest (which, as in this case, can be great). Agree with colonel and hamzaad. Iqbal was a great poet who accomplished much. Enough to earn a huge amount of genuine respect for his positive contributions.

ghusse meN aa ke maiN ne kaha apni saas se
kucch der merii biibii ka piichha bhii chooR de
beTii ke saath maaN mujhe tasliim hai magar
lekin kabhii kabhii ise tanha bhii chooR de

On a serious note, though, there is a verse of Iqbal, that together with one by Faiz, has stood me in good stead in moments of despair. I post both these below:

nahiiN hai na-ummiid Iqbal apnii kasht-e-viiraaN se
zara nam ho to yeh mitti baRi zar-Khez hai saaqii


dil na-ummiid to nahiiN, na-kaam hii to hai
laMbii hai gham kii shaam, magar shaam hii to hai

Salim-Chauhan: #21
Unfortunately, you garbled two beautiful verses of Ghalib together into one and ascribed it to Iqbal. The correct verses are as follows:

Tum shahr mein ho, tau hamai`n kya gham? jabb uthai`n gay
Lay a`ai`nay gay bazar say ja kar dil-o-jaa`n aur

Hain aur bhee duniya mein sukhnwar bahut achhay
Kahtay hain keh Ghalib ka haiy andaz-e-baya`n aur.

With regards,

Mohammad Gill

Kehtay heN ke Iqbal ka hey adaaz-e-bayan aur
Le aaeNgay bazaar se hum jaa ke dilo jaan aur :)

the evidence for his drinking is very thin neembu.

Re: # 13

Would that this expectation of evidence also be accorded Sardar Begum...but a woman`s reputation seems to be easily impugned.

Brother echoboom,

Could you email this tortuous piece to President Khatami just as he tortured us with his long winded schpiel about Iqbal?

Re: # 14

Let`s agree that evidence about Sardar Begum having fun is very thin and the evidence about Iqbal having fun is also very thin.

Let`s also agree that even if Sardar Begum was a playa`, its all good and if Iqbal was a drinker, it all good!

However, neembu.. you can never know how great of a poet he was. Lousy philosopher but great, great poet.

Re: # 16

I`m assuming your post is facetious....

Re: # 17

neembu,

Kindly post your response without that assumption.

Re: # 19

Kaka,

Kindly refrain from making ridiculous comments.

Does anyone find it ironic that while Iqbal lamented the lack of free will in his life, he still managed to drink, contemplate suicide, marry, leave, divorce, remarry, etc. several women who had considerably less agency than himself?

No?