Dhaka: The 147th birth anniversary of eminent poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal will be observed tomorrow (Saturday) with due respect. On November 09, 1877, he was born in Sialkot, Punjab in Pakistan. He was an Islamic philosopher, poet, politician, educationist, and barrister of undivided India. According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Allama Iqbal Sangsad has taken a comprehensive programme to mark the day. A seminar will be organised at Zahur Hossain Chowdhury Hall of Jatiya Press Club at 3 pm tomorrow (Saturday). Iranian Ambassador in Dhaka, Mansour Chavoshi, will attend the event as the Chief Guest, with Allama Iqbal Sangsad President and noted academician Prof. Dr. Anisuzzaman presiding over the seminar. Educationist and The Monthly Sangskar Editor, Professor Dr. Ismail Hossain, will present a key-note paper titled 'The thoughts of Allama Iqbal for Independent Muslim State: Today's Reality' at the event. Internationally renowned political analyst Prof. Dr. Shahiduzzaman, Manarat International University Vic e-Chancellor Prof. Abdur Rob, Poet Dr. Mahbub Hasan, and Journalist and Columnist Syed Tosharraf Ali will also take part in the seminar. Allama Iqbal's Persian and Urdu poetry is considered one of the greatest treasures of modern Persian and Urdu literature. He was highly respected in the Muslim world for his religious and Islamic political philosophy. Acclaimed as a prominent poet in Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Iranian, and other international literatures, Iqbal is also regarded as a 'Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times.' His first book of poetry, Asrar-i-Khudi, was published in Persian in 1915. Other notable works include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-e-Mashriq, and Zabur-e-Ajam. Though his name is Muhammad Iqbal, he is popularly known as Allama Iqbal and is famous in Iran for his contribution to Persian literature, where he is known as Iqbal-e-Lahori.
