Mian Majid Ali Afzal;
In my opinion, the Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal’s strong personalities, which include integrity, selflessness, tenacity, uprightness, indomitable will, egotistic actions, self-conception and capacity to reason enabled to create an independent state. Leadership means initiating socio-political events, analyzing those events, using those events to generate new events, and eventually leading the change process. To build that visionary future (possibly for a group of people, an institution, a society, a nation, or even the world as a whole), a leader uses events to create the desired sensitivity between the target people or the target population. Finally, a leader uses events to create a different set of events. Real leaders carry out this cyclical work of building and using events to cause an ever-changing cycle. The accumulated change or events that have occurred will have an aggregate impact on the targeted individuals or population, and a leader or a group of leaders is credited or blamed for the effect.
I contend that although a series of such events may have contributed towards the creation of Pakistan and history of India has a role towards the division of the sub-continent but a great leader (the poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal) has changed the course of history and carved out a Muslim nation out of a bonded geographical unit of the sub-continent. The creation of Pakistan has proved to be a major event in world history and will prove to be a major player in the world in the future. Millions of people (both Muslims and non-Muslims) of that time could not be rewound by this misery. Writing about Mr Iqbal, should we judge him as a victim of events or a maker of events? Mr Iqbal’s leaving India seems to be his becoming a victim of Indian politics and his return to India (for active politics) could be taken as a maker of events.
As a result, it can safely be said that the Allama Muhammad Iqbal made history by creating events; the emergence of Pakistan was a great world event for which Mr Iqbal was credited. People from all walks of life including academia, politicians, and philosophy looked up to the Allama sahib for leadership. The charisma of a great thinker and his thoughts worked through leaders and then through to masses of India. In other words, Thinkers of India acknowledged the philosophy skills (Poetry) of the Iqbal and worked with him to attain freedom from the British. People usually behave according to the circumstances of culture, economy and politics.
Leaders seek to improve these “conditions,” thus improving people’s behaviour. By changing people’s attitudes and behaviour, the leaders change destinies of societies (sometimes for a few like a family, an organization, a country, or even the whole world). The Iqbal was a change agent and understood the importance of communication with people. Leaders create new rules to improve people’s way of thinking and functioning at various levels (group, organization, community, or nation). A leader understands the complexities of networked environment. Struggle for the independent state was created a wedge between Indian Muslims and Hindus. It may be noted that injustice is generally inflicted by the governance of the time and feelings of injustice among the public are created by their leaders; thereby conditions are created to achieve political changes.
The sense of political observation of Iqbal forced us to accept his role as a philosopher in the society which was the first time just observed by the society but not understand and that was his Allahabad address. His Allahabad address was not going to be understandable even by the Muslim politicians of All India Muslim Leauge and also by the Muslim Press. Finally, that was officially owned by the AIML in 1940 at the eve of Lahore Resolution. To conclude, Allama Muhammad Iqbal with his vision, selfless attitude, strong character, and personal abilities shaped and led the sentiments of the Indian Muslims and created a great country, Pakistan.
