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Session at IMSciences: Speakers call for fully understanding Iqbal’s poetry

By Bureau report
November 12, 2020

PESHAWAR: The speakers at a function here on Wednesday called for fully understanding the work of Allama Muhammad Iqbal as they highlighted various aspects of the poetry of the great Muslim thinker, philosopher and national poet.

The special session was arranged by Page Turner, the book club at the IMSciences, to mark the birth anniversary of the internationally known poet.

The event included a panel discussion on Iqbal’s religious, political and philosophical views along with musical performances which were inspired by his timeless poetry.

The panelists included Professor Syed Ghayur Hussain, a known Persian language scholar, academician, author and coordinator for the Cultural Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Peshawar, and Dr Aslam Mir, Controller, Federal Public Service Commission, KP chapter.

A BS English student, Ayesha Aimal Shah, moderated the event, which has become a regular feature of the annual activities arranged by the book club at the IMSciences.

The panelists discussed the relationship between Iqbal’s poetry and Islamic teachings. They said both needed to be fully understood.

Dr Aslam Mir discussed Allama Iqbal as a human with incredible influence as a poet but he believed the great philosopher was misinterpreted.

Elaborating on his statement, he believed that Allama Iqbal’s poetry throughout the years had only rarely been understood and it was used for furthering interests that were not those of Iqbal’s.

Prof Syed Ghayur Hussain, who has been teaching the Persian language and literature for the last 36 years, spoke about Iqbal’ contribution to the Persian language and Urdu.

Allama Iqbal composed almost 15,000 verses of which 9,000 were in Persian and 6,000 in Urdu. These are masterpieces by all accounts,” said the scholar who has to his credit several Persian books, has prepared Persian courses of studies and translated classic Persian poets into Urdu.

Prof Syed Ghayur Hussain said Allama Iqbal deplored the reconstruction of religious thoughts and the misrepresentation of Iqbal’s philosophy by some political regimes.

The speaker used the occasion to spotlight Allam Iqbal’s contribution to the Persian literature. He said Iqbal was more interested in Persian as he had the strong belief that this language had the resolution to contain his philosophical thoughts.

Prof Syed Ghayur Hussain talked about the poetic collections of Allama Iqbal to explain his points.

“Asrar-e-Khudi” (The secrets of the self) was the first philosophical poetry collection of Allama Iqbal published in 1915.

It, he explained, deals mainly with the individual, while his second collection “Rumuz-e-Bekhudi” (The secrets of the selflessness) published in 1918 discussed the interaction between the individual and the society,” he pointed out.

The students put up questions to the panelists which were well responded by the latter.

Exquisite musical performances added to the importance of the event. The first was by Soma Tehreem, Abul Khaliq Yaftali and Salman Hussain of “Ye Jo rehguzar”.

A beautiful rendition of “har lehza hy momin ki” was performed again by Soma Tehreem, Abul Khaliq Yaftali and Salman Hussain.

The organisers handed a shield to Professor Syed Ghayur Hussain in recognition of his services to the promotion of the Persian language and literature.