On the occasion of 141st birth anniversary of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr. Arif Alvi in their messages urged the need to understand the message of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, a great philosopher and poet of the East, to tackle the multifaceted challenges faced by the country. President said while the spirit of Islam and its message is being distorted by religious extremists and zealots, the need to understand his message and reverting to his teachings and philosophy was never as great as it is today. Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan can achieve a respectable place among the comity of nations by understanding the concept of “Shaheen” and philosophy of “Khudi” enunciated in the works of Allama Muhammad Iqbal and adopting the same in practical life. Adopting Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s vision is the need of the hour to enlighten the world through our deeds and introduce Pakistan as a developed and Islamic welfare state. Allama Muhammad Iqbal guided Muslims of the Indian Sub-Continent at a time when they had lost their destination in the darkness of slavery. His thoughts illuminated a candle of hope that not only identified the destination, but also the way of life for the Muslims of the sub-continent. The creation of Pakistan was the realization of Iqbal’s dream and his poetry is read and taught in the entire world. He always advised the Muslims to remain united and be practical.  It was farsightedness of the Poet of the East that he predicted problems of today’s world decades ago. Iqbal’s approach on sectarianism, ideological extremism and creation of new communal groups was a guiding light for us and added that it was need of the hour to understand not only his philosophy but also apply it to make Pakistan the state Iqbal envisioned. It is indeed an occasion then not only to recall the message that he propounded but also to ponder how far we have been successful in following the path that was shown to us by the great philosopher and Poet of the East. Allama Muhammad Iqbal would always be remembered not only for envisioning a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub Continent but also for his remarkable contributions to understanding the true message of our religion. He awakened the Muslims from their deep slumber and rekindled the spirit among them to seek their true identity and to discover, cultivate and assert “khudi” for individual as well as collective progress and prosperity. Let us therefore today reiterate to continue making efforts for translating his vision into reality and do our utmost for attaining to ideals as envisioned by the great poet-philosopher.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal would always be remembered not only for envisioning a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub Continent but also for his remarkable contributions to understanding the true message of our religion.