Tribute to Allama Iqbal by Pakistan High Commission, Singapore

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Prof. Salahuddin Mohammad Shamsuddin, eminent scholar, delivered a lecture on Allama Iqbal at the residence of the Mr. Nasrullah Khan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Singapore on the evening of 11.11.2017. The talk was organised by Pakistan High Commission to pay tribute to Allama Iqbal, the sub-continent’s great poet-philosopher on occasion of his 140th death anniversary.  Dr. Salah ud din Mohammad Shamsuddin flew in especially from Brunei Dar us Salam for this session devoted to Iqbal’s legendary poetic and philosophic work.

The discourse mostly centred around Iqbal’s concept of Khudi.  Mr. Nasrullah Khan, High Commissioner, pointed in his introductory remarks, that to understand man in Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy, we have to take the route of the Khudi- , selfhood or Falsafa-i-Khudi .

Replying to questions from those present, Dr. Salah ud din explained that Iqbal’s  “Khudi” symbolizes realization of self, i.e. recognizing one’s ego/spirit, and the divine strands that connect creation with the creator. Khudi, as Allama held, means to realize that man carries a particle of divine light within him whose discovery can raise him to the zenith of creation and whose negligence can bring him to its nadir.

On the occasion, messages of the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan were read out by the Press Counsellor and the famous “Khudi ka Sirr e Neha” was sung by one of the guests to the applause of all present. A number of prominent Pakistani and Singaporeans lovers of poetry came to gather on this literary night.

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