You have read many poems of Allama Iqbal. Some of his couplets are, most likely learnt by heart by you. He is our best poet. His poetry has most powerful exposition of Islamic thoughts and its message. Intensely great was his love for Allah and His Messenger. He was a great humanist. He wished well for mankind as a whole. His heart leaped in sympathy at the pangs and misfortunes of others. He was an enthusiastic standard-bearer of Islam. He wrote stirring poems not warmed up the hearts of people. His poems not only inspire readers to supreme moral excellence, but also actuate them to strive their utmost for the success of Islam.
For his excellent qualities Allama Iqbal was indebted to the good education and training imparted to him by his mother. She was a lady with great moral and intellectual caliber. She aspired to see her son attain towering moral stature. In fact every mother wishes so, but Allama Iqbal’s mother tried her utmost from the beginning itself to turn her dream into reality.
The earning of Allama Iqbal’s father was felt to be some what dubious. His mother did not consider her husband’s earnings as wholly lawful. Therefore she persistently tried to persuade her husband to switch over to some lawful means of subsistence. However, no such alternate arrangement suggested itself early, and in the meanwhile, Allama Iqbal was born. Now the mother was in a dilemma, as to how she could breast-feed the new-born baby. She could not reconcile herself to the idea of feeding her baby with the milk that is formed out of dubious income. She knew for certain that children who grow on sustenance which is earned out of unlawful means could never develop in them qualities of moral excellence, which she so ardently aspired to develop in her son.
