Quotes by Muhammad Iqbal

“The principle that each group is entitled to its free development on its own lines is not inspired by any feeling of narrow communalism. There are communalisms and communalisms. A community which i...”

“I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the for...”

“I have already indicated to you the meaning of the word religion, as applied to Islam. The truth is that Islam is not a Church. It is a State conceived as a contractual organism long before Roussea...”

“Muslims are we, the country is ours, China and Arabia is ours, India is ours. Under the shadow of swords we have grown up. The crescent scabbard is our national emblem.”

“[T]he tyranny of imperialism struts abroad, covering its face under the masks of Democracy, Nationalism, Communism, Fascism and heaven knows what else besides. Under these masks, in every corner of...”

“My forefathers were Brahmins. They spent their lives in search of God. I am spending my life in search of Man.”

“Democracy is a system where people are counted but not weighed.”

“Human intellect is natures attempt at self criticism.”

“Nations are born in the hearts of poets; they prosper and die in the hands of politicians.”

“Every land which belongs to God is our land.”

“Heart – It is absolutely certain that God does exist.Head – But, my dear boy! Existence is one of my categories, and you have no right to use it.Heart – So much the better, my Aristotle!”

“Shah Alamgir, that high and mighty king, Pride and renown of Gurgan Timur’s line,In whom Islam attained a loftier fameAnd wider honour graced the Prophet’s Law,He the last arrow to our quiver leftI...”

“Overflowing with the wine of Truth is the cup of IndiaAll philosophers of the Western world have acknowledged IndiaIt is the result of the elegant thinking of IndiansThat higher than the sky is the...”

“Our India is the best of all countries in the world.”

“China and Arabia are ours, India is ours,Muslims we are, the whole world is ours...”

“O water of the river Ganges, thou rememberst the dayWhen our torrent flooded thy valleys...”

“[Iqbal elaborated that nationalism came into conflict with Islam] only when it begins to play the role of a political concept and claims to be a principle of human solidarity demanding that Islam s...”

“The history of the preceding Muslim dynasties had taught Aurangzeb that the strength of Islam did not depend ... so much on the goodwill of the people of this land as on the strength of the ruling ...”

“Why must I forever lose, forever forgo profit that is my due,Sunk in the gloom of evenings past, no plans for the morrow pursue.Why must I all attentive be to the nightingale's lament?Friend, am I ...”

“Would we have played with our lives for nothing but worldly gain? If our people had run after earth's goods and gold,Need they have smashed idols, and not idols sold?”