In Istanbul, weekends are usually spent sitting at coffee shops in the region. The area is dominated by young people from different backgrounds. In the coffee shop where I used to go most of the time, there is a framed frame of Muhammad Iqbal's poetry on the wall. This poem is included in Iqbal's philosophical poetry, Payam-e-Mashreq. This is something like you made the night, I made the lamp.


Traveling all over Turkey as a young Pakistani, I had the opportunity to get a closer look at different parts of life and their colors in a historically important society, including its architecture, poetry, philosophy, and intellectual thought. ۔ Traveling in a taxi or sipping tea while sitting somewhere often leads to conversations with strangers. I am asked 'where are you from' and my answer is 'from Pakistan'. After hearing my answer, they are asked, "Well, are you familiar with Muhammad Iqbal?"

I don't know how many times in the last two years my identity as a Pakistani has been linked with one of the great intellectuals of my region. What amazes me the most is that I do not hear Iqbal's mentions from learned teachers or students, but from street vendors and tea vendors.

Talking to these people encouraged me to understand Iqbal in depth. Seeing Iqbal's prominent position in the circle of Turkish intellectuals gave rise to a desire to understand what is it that makes him so universal and important.

One of the main reasons why people in the Turkish state like Muhammad Iqbal is because of Iqbal's Muslim political concept. He studied in Western societies, wrote poetry in more than one language, and at the same time looked at the British colonial system and the conditions of Muslims in it. During this period, Iqbal also closely observed the situation in Turkey, such as the Balkan Wars, the end of the Khilafah and the rise of a modern republic.

Iqbal is very important in terms of the modern Islamic concept. He was well versed in Islamic culture, fully aware of the challenges facing Muslim and Western societies in his time. At the same time, in Turkish society, when the events of the First World War were taking place, there was no intellectual who was as intense and deep as Iqbal.

Iqbal's book, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, has a fundamental place in modern Islamic thought. According to him, all the nations of the Islamic world should accept their vision and make their existence independent. In this way, every nation will have the opportunity to overcome its shortcomings, to understand its soul as a community, and thus establish a better Islamic identity.

Not surprisingly, it was his views on the evolution and renewal of Islam that inspired Turkish intellectuals to read them and adopt their ideas. Professor Rahim explains that Muhammad Aidan, the founder of the course on the philosophy of religion in the Department of Religious Studies in Turkey, read Iqbal extensively and presented his views in his own context. The intellectuals who read them and when it comes to philosophy and religiosity, they feel connected to the unique thinking of the intellectual Iqbal.

Professor Rahim also mentions similarities between Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Akif Arsavi. "They are both philosophers and national poets of the same era," he says.

This did not come as a surprise to me as I remember that a stamp was issued with pictures of these two intellectuals on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Turkey.

While talking to a Dutch journalist in Istanbul, I realized that Iqbal's work is very influential and important in every age, even today. The journalist says: "What amazes me about Iqbal is his resemblance to Nietzsche's ideas. When it comes to critiques of modern concepts, you get to see them universally.

It is important to mention here Iqbal's attachment to the 5th century intellectual and Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi. Jalaluddin Rumi is buried in Konya, Konya is also called the city of dervishes. Rumi's spiritual influence on Iqbal was such that a monument has been erected near Rumi's last resting place, on which it is written: Has been installed in the presence. "

Iqbal is a great intellectual. His legacy and Islamic concept is not only of special importance but also gives hope to the people of the subcontinent and softens their hearts. On the day we are celebrating his 9th death anniversary, we need to realize the fact that he is a high profile intellectual in Pakistan. His concept connects a person's spiritual journey to different places, which is evident in the evolution of the individual and the community, even today.