KARACHI: A dialogue between the Quaid-i-Azam’s grand-nephew and Allama Iqbal’s grandson was organised by the board of management of the Quaid-i-Azam House Museum at the Flagstaff House here on Saturday.

Quiad’s grand-nephew Liaquat Merchant was asked to speak about Allama Iqbal and Senator Walid Iqbal, the grandson of Allama Iqbal, was asked to talk about the Quaid-i-Azam by moderator Ikram Sehgal.

Mr Merchant initiated that if the Quaid-i-Azam is Pakistan’s founding father, Allama Iqbal is the country’s ideological father.

“What is the connection between Jinnah and Iqbal? Well, Iqbal inspired people. He also inspired Jinnah, who had gone to England. But, Iqbal persuaded him to come back to India by sending the letter to him on June 21, 1937. Iqbal said that he was the man here to whom the Muslims of India could look up for guidance. Sadly, Allama Iqbal died in 1938,” he said.

Quaid-i-Azam’s grand-nephew and Allama Iqbal’s grandson discuss connection between two great leaders

“But Pakistan has two national heroes, Allama Iqbal and Jinnah, who needed to be idealised and looked up. All Pakistanis owe a debt of gratitude to Iqbal and Jinnah,” he said.

Senator Walid Iqbal shared some of his late father Justice Javid Iqbal’s memories of meeting with the Quaid.

He said that his father was 10-11 years old when he met Jinnah and asked him if he was also a poet like his father. “Jinnah answered no, he wasn’t. Then upon asking what he intended to do in life, Jinnah found him silent and had turned to Allama Iqbal to ask him why the boy had no answer. That’s when my grandfather told Jinnah that his son was waiting for him to tell what his aim in life should be,” he said.

“At that time, hardly anyone knew Jinnah in Punjab. And from that one meeting, I can tell how much my father respected Jinnah,” he added.

“There is another story that my father told us. My grandfather had told him that Pundit Nehru was coming and he didn’t have the strength to get out of the bed and receive Nehru, so he sent him instead. My father asked Allama Iqbal who was Nehru? He was informed that like Mr Jinnah is the leader of the Muslims, Pundit Nehru is the leader of the Hindus.

“He said that he was waiting for the guest in his veranda as Nehru got out of his car. My father greeted him with Assalam-o-Alaikum to which he replied with Namashkaar. Then he remembers that Nehru sat cross-legged on the floor before Allama Iqbal and asked him to take a seat on the sofa. But he refused, saying that his level was on the floor before Allama Iqbal. And he said that he had come to ask after his health.

“But during the conversation, he said that ‘Dr Iqbal, who knows about Mohammad Ali Jinnah over here. You are the real leader of the Muslims.’ When Allama Iqbal heard this, his face was flushed with anger and said to Nehru: ‘This is how you have come to ask for my health. I am a soldier of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Please, leave my home. And he said this because he had found that personality in Jinnah that articulated the description of a leader. He had decided that this man would lead the Muslims of the subcontinent,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2022