EVERY year on Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s birth anniversary, Pakistan honours its National Poet with ceremonies, speeches and familiar quotations. Yet a troubling question lingers: do we truly understand Iqbal or have we reduced him to a symbol while neglecting his philosophy? The contrast with Iran is striking. In Iran, Iqbal is studied not merely as the poet who inspired a Muslim homeland in South Asia, but as a philosopher, mystic and intellectual heir to the Persian tradition. His Persian poetry is taught in universities and discussed in scholarly circles. In Pakistan, however, many know Shikwa, Jawab-e-Shikwa and a few Urdu verses, but remain unfamiliar with the Persian works that constitute more than half of his poetic legacy and contain his deepest philosophical thought.

Many of Iqbal’s most celebrated poems amount to a blueprint for nation building. In Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua Ban Ke Tamanna Meri, he emphasizes character, humility, compassion and service. Nation building, for Iqbal, begins with moral development. A society cannot rise above the character of its citizens. In Naya Shivala, he advocates unity above divisions of caste, creed and ethnicity. In Tarana-e-Hindi, he links patriotism to civic responsibility and collective purpose. At a time when societies are increasingly polarized, these lessons remain profoundly relevant. Perhaps no concept is more central to Iqbal’s thought than Khudi, elaborated in Asrar-e-Khudi. Often misunderstood as ego, Khudi is self-realization, the awakening of the divine potential within every........

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