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HOW the common people felt about Iqbal’s poetry during his lifetime can be gauged from the incident that Abdul Razzaq Rashid has narrated in his foreword to Kulliyaat-i-Iqbal. Having quoted a few examples to prove that Iqbal’s poetry was popular in the length and breadth of the subcontinent, Rashid says in 1921 he was in a small coastal town near Madras (now Chennai), where Muslim population was sparse and people barely understood Urdu. In that town, after the Eid prayers congregation, he saw near the mosque an illiterate juggler singing Iqbal’s Urdu verses in an ecstatic state and people were listening and giving him alms generously (page 43-44, Multan edition, 2007).
Abdul Razzaq Rashid, an officer in the princely state of Deccan’s finance department, was a great admirer of Iqbal. But, interestingly, Rashid’s love annoyed Iqbal: Rashid had been collecting Iqbal’s verses for quite long and was preparing his own collection of Iqbal’s Urdu poetry. In 1924, he published a copious collection of Iqbal’s Urdu verses, under the title Kulliyaat-i-Iqbal, with a 130-page commendatory foreword, from Hyderabad (Deccan), albeit without Iqbal’s permission. At that time Iqbal was planning to publish his first collection of Urdu poetry. On Iqbal’s request distribution and sale of the book was restricted to Deccan. Finally, Iqbal published his first collection of Urdu poetry, Baang-i-Dara, in 1924.
A year earlier, a collection of Iqbal’s Urdu poetry, titled Iqbal, had been compiled and published by Ahmed Deen, a friend of Iqbal from Lahore, thinking Iqbal would appreciate it. It also carried an adulatory preface. But Iqbal wanted to compile and edit his collection of Urdu poetry with a certain standard in mind as he believed many of his verses published in newspapers and magazine needed a thorough revision and, so he thought, many even deserved the axe. On Iqbal’s displeasure, Ahmed Deen burned down all the copies of his book. Two copies, however, were somehow saved and later on Mushfiq Khwaja edited it, and it appeared in 1979 under the aegis of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, Karachi.
Both Rashid and Ahmed Deen had acted in good faith and out of their sincere admiration of Iqbal’s poetry. But Rashid was not alone in this admiration and love for Iqbal. The princely state of Deccan in pre-independence era had shown deep love and respect for Allama Iqbal. The rulers as well as intelligentsia in Deccan wholeheartedly appreciated Iqbal’s poetry and his thought. In March 1910, and again in January 1929, when Iqbal visited Deccan and other parts of South India, especially the Golconda Fort, tomb of Tipu Sultan and tomb of Aurangzeb Alamgir, he was accorded an exemplary welcome. His first visit to these historical places inspired Iqbal to pen some captivating verses, including ‘Goristan-i-Shahi’, or the royal cemetery, a poem later on included in Baang-i-Dara. During his second visit, Iqbal wrote some Persian couplets after visiting Tipu Sultan’s tomb. This time around even the Nizam of Deccan, the then ruler of the princely state, ordered the royal summons and met Iqbal one-on-one, wrote Abdur Rauf Urooj in his book Iqbal Aur Bazm-i-Iqbal (Karachi, 1978).
The first-ever Iqbal Day was organised on Jan 7, 1938, just a few months before Iqbal’s death, wrote Urooj. The place where the Iqbal Day was celebrated was none other than Hyderabad (Deccan). Even after Iqbal’s death, Deccan’s fascination with Iqbal refused to wane. After Iqbal’s death on April 21, 1938, a condolatory reference for Iqbal was arranged in Aurnagabad (Deccan) and the moving spirit behind was Nawab Hasan Yar Jang. Soon many followed the suit. Hasan Yar Jang was a member of Deccan’s royal family, a poet and writer. He had met Iqbal at Lahore in 1919 along with a delegation of fellow students from Aligarh and had always been much impressed and inspired by Iqbal’s poetry.
It was decided to establish a literary organisation to keep spreading Iqbal’s message and his philosophy far and wide. So Bazm-i-Iqbal came into being in November 1938 at Hyderabad (Deccan). Khalifa Abdul Hakeem, Dr Raziuddin Siddiqi and some other friends, along with Hasan Yar Jang, were the founders, as has mentioned Abdur Rauf Urooj in his book (page 46, 66).
In 1940, Hasan Yar Jang became Bazm-i-Iqbal’s president and in 1941, the Quaid-i-Azam, during his visit to Hyderabad Deccan, appreciated Bazm-i-Iqbal’s efforts. This inspired Abdul Vaheed Khan, a Muslim League leader from Lucknow, to establish Idara-i-Iqbal at Lucknow, a city known for the love of Anees and Dabeer. On Hasan Yar Jang’s request, in 1946, the Quaid-i-Azam paid a visit to Bazm-i-Iqbal, Hyderabad (Deccan). Hyderabad’s Bazm-i-Iqbal established its chapters in different cities and put in much efforts to spread Iqbal’s philosophy. Nazar Hyderabadi in his book Iqbal Aur Hyderabad has given a list of books written on Iqbal in Deccan.
After the independence, Nawab Hasan Yar Jang migrated to Pakistan and died in Karachi on Aug 9, 1985.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2025
