Allama Iqbal National poet of Pakistan

Muhammad Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877, at Sialkot, Punjab. His grandfather Shaikh Rafiq, a Kashmiri, had joined a wave of migration to Sialkot, where he made a living peddling Kashmiri shawls. Sheikh Rafiq had two sons, Sheikh Ghulam Qadir and Sheikh Nur Muhammad, Iqbal's father.
Sheikh Nur Muhammad was a tailor whose handiwork was quite well known in Sialkot. But it was his devotion to Islam, particularly its spiritual aspects, that gained him respect among his Sufi peers and other associates. His wife, Imam Bibi, was also a devout Muslim. The couple instilled a deep religious awareness in all their five children.

Poetry
Baang-e-Dara (1924)
First written in Persian, Bang-i Dara (Caravan Bell) was translated into Urdu by popular demand. It is an anthology of poems written over a period of 20 years and is divided into 3 parts.

Baal-e-Jibraeel (1935)
Baal-e-Jibaeel (Gabriel's Wing) continues from Bang-i Dara. Some of the verses had been written when Iqbal visited Britain, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, France, Spain and Afghanistan. Contains 15 ghazals addressed to God and 61 ghazals and 22 quatrains dealing with the ego, faith, love, knowledge, the intellect and freedom.

Zarb-e-Kaleem (1936)
This, Iqbal's third collection of Urdu poems, has been described as his political manifesto. It was published with the subtitle "A Declaration of War Against the Present Times." Zarb-e-Kaleem (The Blow of Moses' Staff) was meant to rescue Muslims from the ills brought on by modern civilization, just as Moses had rescued the Israelites.

Armaghan-i Hijaz (1938)
This work, published a few months after the poet's death, is a fairly small volume containing verses in both Persian and Urdu. The title means "Gift from the Hijaz." He had long wished to undertake the journey to the Arabian Peninsula to perform the Hajj and to visit the tomb of the Prophet, but was prevented from doing so by continuous illness during the last years of his life.
The Rod of the Moses

A Declaration of War Against the Present Age

Like the wind of morn imbibe the wish to blow,
For temper free is ever moving to and fro.
A thousand founts shall spring on path that you have trod,
Go deep in Self and cleave the sea with Mose's Rod.

THE PICTURE AND PAINTER

PICTURE:
A picture said once on the painter’s play,
My beauty gets a charm on thy display.
To me it looks so unfair why?
That thou are hidden from my eye

PAINTER:
The glance a burden on seeing eye,
What happened to spark on seeing pry
Of griefs, pains, burnings, the look bad a part,
O heedless! be content with conscious heart!

PICTURE:
The heart a weak point of wisdom and sense,
A life long motive for the heart is glance.
This world’s tug and pull suits her never,
To hear God’s voice, "You cant see me ever

PAINTER:
Thou art a sign but of my wonder’s game,
Be despaired never of thy maker’s aim.
For my sure vision note a point hence,
Be not hidden e’er from thy own glance!