SIR Muhammad Iqbal is celebrated as the intellectual architect of Pakistan, whose philosophical ideas, imparted in prose and poetry, directly or indirectly, transformed, undergirded, and galvanised the Pakistan Movement. Although Iqbal does not posit any particular theory of leadership, his theory of selfhood holds ideals of good leadership. Iqbal’s theory of selfhood asserts that all individuals have human worth because they are endowed with distinctive potentials, such as rationality and creativity.

Pakistan has been in a transition from colonial independence to intellectual independence. Accordingly, Pakistan’s bright future depends upon intellectual decolonisation through quality education for resolving contemporary social, political, and economic existential challenges.

Iqbal’s political thought emphasises that developing these human potentials requires a polity, based on cardinal Islamic values of freedom, equality, and solidarity, in which people are not subject to coercion, discrimination, exploitation, humiliation, or exclusion despite their divergent socio-political disparities of caste, creed, colour, or culture. For this end, Iqbal envisions a Muslim state in which people develop their human potentials to be creative and productive individuals to make a better, livable society.

Being a philosopher-poet, Eqbal Ahmad claimed, “He [Iqbal] imagined Pakistan before Jinnah thought of it”. At the dawn of the 20th century, Quaid-i-Azam emerged as a charismatic Muslim leader in the subcontinent. Eqbal Ahmad called Quaid-i-Azam “atn enigma of modern history”, and Saad R. Khairi declared him a person who “altered geography” of the world.

Iqbal asks the youth to learn the values of truth, valour, and justice, which are indispensable for real leadership.

In the preface to Islam and Open Society, Charles Taylor, a Canadian political philosopher, emphasises the significance of Iqbal’s philosophy, particularly to Pakistan. Taylor states about Iqbal: “It is the voice of a man who has left behind all identitarian rigidity, who has ‘broken all the idols of tribe and caste’ to address himself to all human beings. But an unhappy accident has meant that this voice was buried, both in the general forgetting of Islamic modernism and in the very country that he named before its existence, Pakistan, whose multiple rigidities — political, religious, military — constitute a continual refutation of the very essence of his thought”.

Iqbal, being a cosmopolitan philosopher, strives for human development beyond the identity of tribe and caste. Taylor’s view is correct that Iqbal’s philosophy could not be adopted in letter and spirit in Pakistan. Similarly, in ‘Jinnah, in a Class of His Own’, Eqbal Ahmad declared that Pakistan followed the direction that its founding father had not envisioned. Iqbal and the Quaid envisioned a progressive Pakistan: a country for all citizens.

What is Iqbal’s vision of leadership, and how can it help make Pakistan a progressive state? Iqbal’s philosophy of selfhood cultivates human potential to be creative individuals, citizens, and leaders. Iqbal’s philosophy of leadership bears implications that extend beyond politics to all arenas of social life, including family, education, business, law, economics, science, philanthropy, and media. A good leader inspires people to bring about positive change for the common good. A good leader transforms team members for victory, while a bad leader leads them to failure. A team, group, or a nation without a leader is just like a ship without a captain. Iqbal envisions that a good leader is endowed with the attributes of rationality, audacity, vision, justice, creativity, knowledge, integrity, honesty, fairness, civility, love, resilience, and reverence.

Iqbal asks the youth to learn the values of truth, valour, and justice, which are indispensable for real leadership. You will be called upon once again to lead the nations of the world.

Truth creates trust; valour breaks the status quo and opens new opportunities, and justice creates a just society. Iqbal appeals to the youth to acquire these essential virtues of leadership because they are to lead the world. A leader without truth, valour, and justice cannot inspire others. For instance, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr inspired people in their respective countries with their leadership qualities.

Iqbal articulates that broad vision, civility, and a passionate soul are valuable attributes for the journey of benign leadership.

Narrow vision, arrogance, and selfishness are the crucial characteristics of despots rather than leaders. Iqbal writes, “vision without power does bring moral elevation, but cannot give a lasting culture. Power without vision tends to become destructive and inhuman. Both must combine for the spiritual expansion of humanity”. So, vision is vital for a great leader.

Iqbal declares that faith, action, and love are the cardinal values to win the game of life in this competitive world.

In ‘The Failure of Third World Nationalism”, Algerian philosopher Lahouari Addi argues that the birth of a nation and its nation-building are two distinct things. The creation of a nation is a single-time event, while its development is a continuous process. The event of the creation of Pakistan occurred on Aug 14, 1947, while the process of nation-building requires a conscious and continuous collective effort. Addi holds that the creation of a public sphere and civil peace are necessary for nation-building. It is the need of the time to develop a public sphere to develop a ‘common mind’ through social discourse with all stakeholders and find the best solutions to existing challenges.

Clergy and neocolonialism are two factors controlling the ‘mind’ of Pakistan. Since the birth of Pakistan, the strong clergy has been dominating the mind of the state. In Pakistan: Behind the Ideological Mask, Khaled Ahmed says that dogmatic ideology takes the state away from democracy toward fascism all over the world. Any dogmatic ideology undermines the thought process in a society. That is why Immanuel Kant, in his classic essay ‘What is Enlightenment’, states that enlightenment is the ability to understand the truth using one’s own mental faculties and without any external help. Khaled Ahmed reiterates, “the state has indoctrinated the masses in favour of a revival of the medieval state rather than a ‘modern’ state”. If Pakistan intends to meet global challenges, it must shift to a modern state.

Iqbal strives for a modern Islamic state. In The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, he defended ijtehad to reconstruct Islamic thought, incorporating contemporary advanced knowledge. Like Iqbal, Quaid-i-Azam also wanted a modern Muslim state. In a speech on Feb 14, 1948 at Sibi Darbar he said: “Let us lay the foundations of our democracy on the basis of truly Islamic ideals and principles. Our Almighty has taught us that our decisions in the affairs of the state shall be guided by discussion and consultation … Islam and its ideals have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice, and fairplay to everybody”. No society can exist without adopting cardinal moral values of equality, freedom, solidarity, and fair play.

New forms of colonial legacy shape the style of governance. In Confronting Empire, Eqbal Ahmad argues that Pakistan has never become a decolonised country over the last 50 years. He stated that the situation is the same even after partition because “A British-trained army, a British-trained bureaucracy, and the same feudal landlords who had collaborated with the British, constitute the triangle of power … Nothing else has changed. So, the economic reality has not changed, and the political reality has not changed”. Certainly, due to the persistent neocolonial structure of governance, we have not produced even a handful of genuine leaders in the country.

Since physical independence, we have not been able to get rid of intellectual colonialism to create an independent thought process. The source of intellectual independence is universities, and political intervention in any form in the process of intellectual independence mars its core objectives. It rather disfigures this process.

The Human Development Index 2025 ranks Pakistan at 168 out of 193 countries. In Reflections on Human Development, Mahbub ul Haq stated that “human destiny is a choice, not a chance”. According to Haq, ‘Human development’ refers to enlarging people’s choices — by developing human capabilities — through financial security, quality education, better nourishment, healthcare, crime-free society, amusement, political and cultural freedoms, and a sense of participation in community activities. Like Iqbal’s philosophy of self-development, Haq’s account of human development refers to enriching the lives of people in an enabling environment to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives. Without human development, there is no chance of the production of genuine leaders in the country.

The route to a progressive Pakistan is genuine education, which is indispensable for human development. Education in science and technology is vital for survival in the globalised world. Social sciences, including philosophy, literature, history, sociology, and politics, are necessary for combating extremism. Lack of pure education in all these fields leads to pseudo-intellectuality and polarisation, which ultimately causes social disintegration. There is thus a dire need for the leadership envisaged by the philosopher-poet.

To sum up, Pakistan needs a paradigm shift from the existing policies to improve the quality of education, independence of institutions, rule of law, human rights, equal distribution of resources, social justice, and security of life and property, for it to thrive in the world. Particularly, the institution of education, which can provide intellectual independence, must be safeguarded, to produce the nursery of genuine leaders — the real custodians of a progressive Pakistan in the future.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and teaches philosophy at the University of the Punjab, Lahore.