The 137th birth anniversary of the Poet of the East, Dr Allama Mohammed Iqbal observed across the country on Sunday (Nov 9) with traditional zeal and fervor.

The Government of Pakistan has announced a public holiday on Wednesday to celebrate Allama Iqbal’s birthday.

Special programmes have been devised to observe the birth anniversary of the philosopher poet in a befitting manner.

Allama Iqbal, born on November 9, 1877 in Sialkot, was great representative of the subcontinent and an important personality for the Pakistan Movement.

The nation will pay special tribute for his vision of a separate country for Muslims of the sub-continent.Iqbal was a Sufi poet for the modern age, who infuse a revolutionary spirit in the nation through his poetry.

His poetry has been translated in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, English and several other languages and is considered a great philosopher all over the world. He died on April 21, 1938.

The day was started with a guard changing ceremony at the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal in Lahore.  All day long, people belonging to different walks of life will visit the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal to pay tribute and offer Fateha

to the great scholar of the sub-continent.

To celebrate the Iqbal Day (birth anniversary) in a befitting manner, special programme broadcasted on Radio Pakistan and television channels shed light on life, ideas and achievements of Allama Iqbal.

There is also be hoisting of the national flag on principal government buildings on the Day throughout the country.

Scout rallies and March past of school children, mounting of ceremonial guard at the Mazar of Allama Iqbal, special exhibitions of books and relics of Allama Iqbal at Iqbal Museum, Lahore, National Museum, Karachi and Iqbal Manzil, Sialkot have also been planned to celebrate the Day in a befitting manner.

An exhibition relating to Iqbal’s painting and works at Aiwan Iqbal, Lahore and books exhibition on Iqbal at Iqbal Academy, Lahore would also be held.

Doctor Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) was a man of great many ideas – sublime and serene, dynamic and romantic, provocative and profound. He was both a great poet and a serious thinker at the same time but in his poetic works lies enshrined most of his thoughts.

During his poetic career, spanning some four decades, Iqbal had imbibed, approved, applauded and commended a great many ideas—ideas which occupy various positions along the spectrum at three different levels, the philosophic, social and political.

Thus, at one time or another, he commended or denounced nationalism, propagated pan-Islamism and advocated multi-nationalism in Islam, admired the West for its ceaseless and wide-ranging activities, energy and initiative but was disenchanted by its materialism, cut-throat competition and values, condemned capitalism, while preaching a kind of vague socialism and applauded the East, its spiritualism and its concern for the soul but upbraided it for its docility, passivity, resignation and lack of vision.

The idea of Perfect Man, Mard-e-Momin, Mard-e-Khuda, Sheikh, Kamil, Faqir, Band-e-Haq, Qalander and Banda-e-Hur are not unfamiliar. Rumi was probably the first Muslim thinker who presented a complete picture of a Perfect Man.