No words or preface could do justice to Allama Iqbal, not only as a poet, but also as a philosopher, politician, thinker, and undying patriot. As a poet Iqbal represented in perhaps the most sensitive manner, the collective consciousness of his people during a certain period of their history. He was able to do so because he maintained a constant and direct contact with his audience at all levels. In the old days the institution of the 'Mushaira' helped the poet to maintain such a contact. But the 'Mushaira' was an exclusive club of the literary and the social elite. By the time Iqbal appeared on the scene poetry was no longer the monopoly of a tiny minority. It is claimed that Iqbal was not a poet of the 'Mushaira'. He was instead a poet of the 'Jalsa'. Is that why so much of his poetry was in Farsi?

All said and done, his poetry like Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa shook nerve centers of out social system which no one had ever dared touch!

Click here for a superb and enchanting selection of poetry from this great poet.