JEDDAH, 2 March 2008 — Azad Iqbal, the eldest grandson of Mohammad Allama Iqbal, popularly known as the Poet of the East, recently presented his compositions at a meeting hosted by the Pakistan Executives Group (PEG) in Jeddah.
Azad Iqbal, a barrister, works as director of legal affairs for a Saudi conglomerate, but his passion is poetry, music and the arts. He has studied the philosophical works of his grandfather and composed selected works in classical and semi-classical music, something that had not been done before.
He has composed music for over 40 of his works including “Shikwa” and “Jawab-e-Shikwa” and sings them with a passionate fervor that always evokes not only admiration, but also the emergence of the latent nationalistic tendencies that often lie hidden in the hearts and souls of his audience. He performed a repertoire of Allama Iqbal’s poetry as well as compositions of other famous poets of the Subcontinent like Mirza Ghalib, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmed Faraz and Sajjad Shamsi. Azad Iqbal recited three poems written by his illustrious grandfather, the music of which had been composed by himself.
All three poems rendered are noteworthy in the sense that they are philosophical poems that press upon Muslims to search and find their true identity, and stress upon them to emulate the actions and deeds of their distinguished ancestors.
In one poem, he laments that the Muslim heart has become devoid of its burning passion and that its spirit is no longer pure, and goes on to say that it is no wonder that the present day Muslim of the Indian Subcontinent, has ceased to be fearless and bold like his ancestors.
