Speakers pay rich tributes to Allama Iqbal

PESHAWAR: Literati here on Friday paid rich tributes to great Muslim thinker, philosopher and national poet, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, stressing the need for acquiring knowledge of Persian to well understand the great message contained in his poetry.

They were speaking at a special function arranged in the Government Girls Degree College Pabbi to mark the 145th birth anniversary of the internationally known poet.

Professor Syed Ghayur Hussain, an acknowledged Persian language scholar, academician and author, was the chief guest while Dr Faqira Khan Faqri, a former chairman of the Urdu Department of the University of Peshawar, was the guest of honour.

Professor Dr Shaheen Umar, the principal of the college, presented the welcome note and moderated the proceedings of the programme which was attended by the teaching staff and students of the college.

Prof Syed Ghayur Hussain, who has been teaching the Persian language and literature for four decades, was the keynote speaker who dwelt at the contributions made by Allama Iqbal to the Persian and Urdu languages through his poetry.

The scholar said Allama Iqbal composed more poetry in Persian than Urdu, adding his philosophical thoughts were more pronounced in the Persian language. He pointed to the poetic collections of the great philosopher to elaborate on his points.

Prof Syed Ghayur Hussain said Allama Iqbal composed almost 15,000 verses of which 9,000 were in Persian and 6,000 in Urdu. He said the couplets composed were not mere pieces of poetry but masterworks that warranted attentive reading and comprehension. “Two-thirds poetry of Allama Iqbal is in Persian. You need to learn Persian to fully understand Iqbal,” said the literatus who has a number of books and publications to his credit, including “Qand-e-Parsi” and “Yusra Nama” , etc and has designed Persian courses of studies and translated classic Persian poets into Urdu.

Dr Faqira Khan Faqri said that Allama Iqbal poetry was full of a great message for the Muslim Ummah and needed to be read and understood by the young generations. He said the great poet-philosopher was a man of vast knowledge and that was reflected in the topics contained in his poetry.

The students presented tableaus that highlighted the importance of education and the universal message of Allama Iqbal. College Principal Dr Shaheen Umar handed a shield and a set of books to Professor Syed Ghayur Hussain and Dr Faqira Khan Faqri in recognition of their literary and academic services.