Amid VHP row over song in school, recalling Muhammad Iqbal, also the poet of Saare Jahan Se Achcha

Source: The post is based on the article “Amid VHP row over song in school, recalling Muhammad Iqbal, also the poet of Saare Jahan Se Achcha” published in Indian Express on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

Police in Uttar Pradesh has booked the principal of a government school for hurting religious sentiments by making students recite “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” poem during a morning assembly.

Who wrote Lab pe Aati Hai Dua?

Lab pe Aati Hai Dua was written by Iqbal in 1902. It has been sung at several educational institutions in India and Pakistan including some prestigious schools which sing it in their morning assembly.

Who was Muhammad Iqbal?

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) was a writer, philosopher and scholar and politician whose poetry in the Urdu language is considered among the greatest of the twentieth century.

Iqbal is commonly referred to as Allama, which is a title given to Islamic scholars.

Important work: The most celebrated work of Iqbal is the immortal ‘Saare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara’ written in 1904. This beautiful poem to India became one of the songs that inspired the freedom fighters against British rule.

The idea of Pakistan: In his later life, Iqbal came to favour the idea of a separate nation for Muslims, and is believed to have been the influence behind Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision of a separate nation of Pakistan.

In Pakistan, Iqbal is regarded as the ideological founder of the nation — the man who envisioned the state that Jinnah gave physical shape.