Washington DC: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Masood Khan said that Allama Iqbal was great poet who dreamed of Pakistan and we are a manifestation of his dream.

Addressing a special ceremony to commemorate Iqbal Day, the birth anniversary of Allama Mohammad Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan, Masood Khan said that Iqbal was a poet par excellence and his thoughts has influenced the whole of South Asia, Afghanistan and in Persia.

“Iqbal dreamed of Pakistan and we are a manifestation of his dream. He is our ideological compass and our lodestar. When we are looking for direction where we ought to go, we refer to Iqbal because he gave us the ideological basis for the state of Pakistan,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States.

He said that Allama Iqbal was a philosopher and his philosophy was not confined to the subcontinent. “He looked at the cosmos. He looked at the universe and how it was evolving in its spiritual and physical dimensions,” he said.

Appreciating his deep understanding and knowledge of Quran and Islam, Masood Khan said that Allama Iqbal was one of the most authentic interpreters of the Quran and Islam.

“If we want to understand the Quran in the contemporary context, we will have to study Iqbal,” he said.

He said that many clerics and religious scholars cited Iqbal when they wanted to elaborate some complex thoughts in Islam.

“Iqbal was a universalist. He was not a parochial poet. His poetry is a universal heritage; a universal legacy,” he said.

Masood Khan highlighted that scholars from all over the world travel to Pakistan to discuss Iqbal’s thought. “We as Pakistanis should be proud of having such a genius who guided us in the formative years of Pakistan. And he propounded this idea which manifested itself in the state of Pakistan,” he said.

Other speakers who spoke on the occasion included Ghazanfar Hashmi, Anwar Iqbal, Dr. Aseef Qadeer, Ex-Senator Akber Khawaja, Faiz Rehman and Riaz Niazi.

The speakers dilated upon various dimensions and perspectives of Iqbal’s thought, as a poet and philosopher, and drew its relevance to the contemporary world.

A photo exhibition was also arranged by the embassy of Pakistan in collaboration with International Academy of Letters USA, Sadequain Foundation USA and Sadequain Gallery of Chicago to pay tributes to iconic calligrapher, painter and poet Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi, TI PP SI NI, often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash.

The Ambassador thanked International Academy of Letters USA, Sadequain Foundation USA and Sadequain Gallery of Chicago for partnering with the Embassy of Pakistan in organizing the event.

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