Muhammad Ali Jinnah may have led the move towards independence but it was Iqbal's spirit and thoughts that laid the foundation for the country so much earlier. A humble man and a great poet, Iqbal was a world-class philosopher, a jurist, a literary figure and an educator all rolled into one. Through his poems, he spoke from the heart about not only Pakistan but also about the Muslims' fate and civilisation, and what factors caused their strength and weaknesses.

Born at Sialkot in Punjab (West Pakistan) on February 22, 1873, Iqbal came from a Kashmiri Brahma family who embraced Islam around three centuries earlier. His father Nur Muhammad's devotion to Islam, especially its mystical aspects, gained him respect among his Sufi peers and other associates. His wife, Imam Bibi, was also a devout Muslim. The couple instilled a deep religious consciousness in all their five children. This upbringing nurtured Iqbal's spirituality and artistic inclinations, especially under the tutelage of one by the name of Mir Hassan.

Mir Hassan, who never learned English, recognised early on Iqbal's potential as a poet. He was Iqbal's tutor until his graduation in 1892.

In 1895, Iqbal continued his studies at the Government College of Lahore where he wrote poetry in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. He joined literary groups and made the acquaintance of renowned literary figures there. He also became close with Professor Sir Thomas Arnold of The Preaching of Islam fame, and who was to have a strong influence on Iqbal's intellectual development. In effect, Arnold, an erudite scholar of Islam and modern philosophy, became for Iqbal a bridge between East and West.

At Arnold's exhortation, in 1905, Iqbal went to further his study at the Cambridge University in England and stayed there for three years before studying law at the Lincoln's Inn in 1908. His PhD dissertation was then published in London.

It was while living in Europe that he learned about the materialism of the Western people prompting the following poem:

In the East the soul looks in vain for light;

In the West the light is a faded cloud of dust.

The fakirs who could shatter the power and pelf of kings

No longer tread this earth, in climes far or near.

The spirit of this age is brimful with negations,

And drained to the fast drop is the power of faith.

Muted is Europe's lament on its crumbling pageant,

Muted by the delirious beats, the clangour of its music.

A sleepy ripple awaits, to swell into a wave

A wave that will swallow up monsters of the sea.

What is slavery but a loss of the sense of beauty?

What the free call beautiful, is beautiful indeed.

The present belongs to him who explores, in their depths,

The fathomless seas of time, to find the future's pearl.

The alchemist of the West has turned stone into glass

But my alchemy has transmuted glass into flint

Pharaohs of today have stalked me in vain;

But I fear not; I am blessed with Moses' staff.

It was while in Britain that he first went into politics. Following the formation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, Iqbal was elected to the executive committee of the league's British chapter. He also sat on the subcommittee which drafted the league's constitution. Upon his return from Europe in 1908, Iqbal embarked on a career in law, academics and poetry, all at once. Of the three pursuits, he excelled in what was his true calling and first love — poetry.

In 1931, Iqbal made a second visit to Europe to renew old acquaintances and make new ones and to reflect and write. A visit to Spain inspired three beautiful poems, which were later incorporated into a major composition, Bal-i Jibrail (Gabriel's Wing).

After returning from a trip to Afghanistan in 1933, Iqbal's health deteriorated. But his religious and political ideas were gaining wide acceptance and his popularity was at his peak. One of the last great things he did was to establish the Adarah Darul Islam, an institution where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science would be subsidised.

Among his best works are Asrari Khudi (The Secrets of the Self, 1915) followed by Rumuz-I Bekhudi (1917). Payam-i Mashriq (Messages for the East) appeared in 1923, Zabur-i Ajam in 1927, Javid Nama in 1932, Pas cheh bayed kard ai Aqwam-i Sharq in 1936, and Armughan-i Hijaz (The Gift from the Hijaz) in 1938. All these books were in Persian.

His first book of poetry in Urdu, Bang-i Dara (Caravan Bell, 1924) was followed by Bal-i Jibril (Wings of Gabriel, in 1935) and Zarb-i Kalim (The Blow of Moses' Staff) in 1936. Bang-i Dara consist of selected poems belonging to the three preliminary phases of Iqbal's poetic career. Bal-i Jibril consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and displays the vision and intellect necessary to foster sincerity and firm belief in the heart of the ummah and turn its members into true believers. Zarb-i Kalim was described by the poet himself "as a declaration of war against the present era".

The main subjects of the book are Islam and the Muslims, education and upbringing, woman, literature and fine arts, politics of the East and the West. In Asrar-i Khudi, Iqbal has explained his philosophy of Self. He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the Self. For him the aim of life is self-realisation and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the Self to become the vicegerent of Allah on earth.

In Rumuz-i Bekhudi, Iqbal proves that Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact but once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" out of society.

Other important works included Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam and another one that he could not finish due to ill health, The Reconstruction of Muslim Jurisprudence.

Iqbal died in April 1938. Amongst his remaining concerns for the life of the Muslim ummah can be found in the Gift from the Hijaz in which he advised the King of Saudi Arabia, as a leader of Islam-Arab world, to not be easily swayed by the seduction and even aid, from Western and other foreign powers. Instead they should remain steadfast and self-reliant while holding on their belief in the power of Allah.

Iqbal's inspiration is clear he recounted his inspiration such: "Every morning after Subuh, my father would watch and ask, 'What is it that you are reading?' and I would answer, 'I am reading Al Quran'. This went on for three years; my father would ask me the same question and I would give the same response. Until one day I asked him, 'What is in your heart, o my father, that you ask me the same thing and I have to repeat the same answer'. And his answer was: 'I only wanted to say to you, my son, read the Quran as if it was revealed to you.' Since then, I have always tried to understand the content of Al Quran and it is through Al Quran that I receive the light of inspiration for my poems.

This was behind Iqbal's call to the humanity in general to turn to Al Quran for the source of the law and for refuge, and the spirit to move forward, advance and be dynamic He wrote: You are left behind because you have stopped taking the inspiration from the book that guided you. You have narrowed your horizon about knowledge and thus you have lost the inability to understand the book of meaning.

(The writer is Deputy Minister of Education of Brunei Darussalam)