Pakistanis organized functions to mark the 139th birth anniversary of the great poet, philosopher, thinker and scholar Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who is well known as the Poet of the East or the Poet of Islam. Allama Iqbal, who worked untiringly for the renaissance of Islam, is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Allama Iqbal was a great proponent of a separate state for Muslims in the subcontinent. It was definitely Iqbal's call to action in the name of Islam that brought Pakistan into being. It was said that the name of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan was coined by Allama Iqbal. The name Pakistan refers to the first letters of the major provinces that later became part of the nation. However, some people believe that the name Pakistan was first coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a student at Britain's Oxford University, who was a Pakistani Movement activist. Even if Allama Iqbal had no role in the coinage of the name, it would not diminish the significance of the great struggle and efforts exerted by him toward the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It was unfortunate that Allama Iqbal passed away 10 years before Pakistan came into being. However, Pakistanis consider him to be one of the founding fathers of the nation and hence they celebrate his birth anniversary every year. In Jeddah, the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a symposium to mark the birth anniversary of the great philosopher and poet. Several prominent figures from the Pakistani community in Jeddah spoke on the occasion. They praised his vast knowledge and outstanding works of poetry, and commemorated his great sacrifices in creating a separate nation for Muslims. The function started with a recitation of a few verses from the Holy Qur'an. Then some poets recited Urdu poems, especially couplets from the poetry of Allama Iqbal. The speakers praised the great poet's outstanding contributions toward realizing a dream cherished by the majority of Muslims in the subcontinent to have a separate nation of their own so as to safeguard their rights and avoid living under the rule of the majority Hindus. The speakers also drew attention to the plight of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who have been languishing in squalid camps for 44 years. They urged the government of Pakistan to repatriate and rehabilitate these people, saying that this would be the least that should be done for these poor people who made great sacrifices for the cause of Pakistan. Addressing the gathering, I thanked the PRC officials for holding such an event to mark the birth anniversary of one of the greatest poets of all time. I emphasized the fact that Allama Iqbal does not only belong to Pakistan but to the entire Islamic world. In his poems, Allama Iqbal highlighted the greatness of Islam and its sublime message to the entire world. A large number of the poems of Allama Iqbal have been translated into Arabic but the poem which became the most popular in the Arab world is "Shikwa" (Complaint), which consists of 120 verses. The poem extols the legacy of Islam and its civilizing role in history, bemoans the fate of Muslims everywhere, and squarely confronts the dilemmas of Islam in modern times. Shikwa is, therefore, in the form of a complaint to Allah for having let Muslims down. When Shikwa (1909) was published it created confusion among Muslim scholars who thought that Iqbal was being rude and harsh in his words when talking to God in his book and being ungrateful for the blessings of God. However, when the second part of his poem Jawab-e-Shikwa was published four years later, all of these problems disappeared and everyone praised Iqbal for his contributions to Urdu poetry and for making a difference in Islamic literature. There are several translations of this great poem into the Arabic language. But the translation of Muhammad Hassan Azami into Arabic prose is considered the best. This translation was versified into a perfect poem in Arabic by the famous Egyptian poet Al-Sawi Shaalan. The translation of Shaalan was so perfect that many people assumed that Allama Iqbal was an Arabic poet. His poems are recited on religious occasions, such as Haj and Ramadan as well as during festive occasions. After speaking about Allama Iqbal's role in the creation of a separate nation for Muslims in the subcontinent, I drew attention to the miserable condition of a quarter of a million patriotic Pakistanis who are yet to be granted their right to live in Pakistan for which they made big sacrifices after their migration from the Indian state of Bihar to East Pakistan at the time of the partition of the subcontinent. They stood by the Pakistan Army to protect the unity and integrity of the country in the civil war that resulted in the secession of East Pakistan and the formation of the new nation of Bangladesh. Even though all Pakistani civilians and military personnel who belonged to West Pakistan managed to return to Pakistan after the creation of Bangladesh, these hapless people were unable to do so. Hence they have been forced to live in filthy camps without having even the basic amenities of life with a hope that one day they will be repatriated to Pakistan. But unfortunately, the successive governments in Pakistan have failed to fulfill their promises in this respect. In concluding the speech, I demanded that the government of Pakistan shoulder its responsibility toward its citizens stranded in Bangladesh. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
