RIYADH: The poet of the east Allama Iqbal through his poetry emphasized pure spiritualism to counter the German concept of materialism, said Pakistani Ambassador Manzoor ul Haq.

The Pakistani envoy was addressing a function organized by Halqa-e-Fikr-o-Fun, a literary and cultural organization of the Pakistani community in Riyadh, to observe the birth anniversary of the popular poet.

Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, Haq highlighted the philosophical thoughts of Iqbal maintaining that his poetry was not limited to the Muslim world as he is also the poet of humanity.

“Iqbal’s poetry contains action and is realistic poetry inspiring us to do well in life,” he said, adding: “Every person has tremendous characteristics and Iqbal unfolds them with his spirituality to develop a relation with the Almighty for success in this life and the life hereafter.”

Haq said that German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Johann Wolfgang Goethe focused on materialism, whereas Iqbal addressed pure spiritualism.

He further said that Iqbal’s popularity reached glory and became popular as it was translated in a number of languages including Arabic, and got appreciation from two prominent professors of Al-Azhar University — Abdul Aziz Al-Marai and Abdul Hakeem Mahmoud.

Organized with the active support from Pakistani community leader Mohammad Riaz Chaudhry, it was a select gathering of men and women of letters and admirers of Allama Iqbal and was opened with the welcome address by Halqa-e-Fikr-o-Fan President Javed Akhtar Javed.

He made a presentation on the life and works of Allama Iqbal underlining that Iqbal was a great poet who stood tall with his philosophical poetry.