INTRODUCTION:
Allama Mohammad Iqbal, is a world renowned poet-philosopher and a visionary leader who worked for the uplift of not just the muslim ummah, but the whole humanity. His revolutionary poetry and philosophical works helped awaken the muslims of sub-continent from their deep slumber and inertia; and became the cornerstone of their independence from the British rule. Allama Iqbal is one of the few such legendary figures in history, who is equally admired and acknowledged in the East and the West.
Iqbal’s works encompass all the dimensions of humankind; intellectual, social, emotional, physical and spiritual; in a holistic manner.
IQBAL AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(Development of ‘Self’)
As an educationist par excellence, Iqbal’s philosophy, in terms of ontological, epistemological, and axiological content areas, which ultimately influenced his educational thought needs to be highlighted and revived. To Iqbal, any society that fails to recognize the fundamental unity of human brotherhood is bound to disintegrate.
Iqbal maintains that it is our collective responsibility to reconstruct a new social order through a meaningful system of education; designed to serve a distinctive purpose; the evolution of self, ‘khudi’. It means to build up the integrated personality of man, otherwise society cannot harmonize. In the world of today, this is known as ‘human resource development’. He criticizes how the world systems of education are pushing forward without any definitive aims and purpose. Iqbal’s ideal educational atmosphere creates a society which is to be founded in secure ground; its basis must be spiritual and too deep-rooted to be affected by any adverse influences.
According to Iqbal, there are three different levels of faith:
Islam , Imaan & Ihsaan.
Similarly, there are different levels of development of the self, ‘khudi’, according to these levels. So, in essence, each ‘self’ is an individual with personalized specific needs and must be dealt with
separately. The education must be provided in accordance with the level of socio-economic requirements, aptitude and intellect of the individual self, in order to polish its inherent faculties.
Iqbal negates the ‘factory model’ of education developed after the industrial revolution that demands everything to be ‘standardized’, and, as opposed to that, proposes a ‘need-based system of education’.
DEVELOPING AN AUTHENTIC E-RESOURCE CENTRE ON IQBAL
It is a grim fact that as a nation, we have not been able to assign due importance to our ‘founding father’, Allama Iqbal. We have failed to acknowledge, understand and convey the spirit of the message of Iqbal, to our nation, our Ummah and the whole global community.
In the world of today, technological advancements have reshaped the dimensions of communication, and the spread of information. Therefore, an authentic repository of knowledge
related to Iqbal needs to be developed.
Thus, this initiative www.iqbal.wiki has been launched. This is a dedicated effort for the ‘Revival of Iqbal’; as our young generation is not familiar with the message of Iqbal, and the older generation has shun it aside. We are faced with similar dilemmas of pessimism and delusion, as
in those times when Iqbal presented his poetry, and presenting the message of Iqbal to our youth and masses could provide the motivation and the driving force required for regaining our lost glory.
Introduction of www.iqbal.wiki
Sociology Department of Government College for Women University, Sialkot (GCWUS), in collaboration with Bekhudi, which is a not-for-profit NGO working for societal uplift through human resource development; has initiated a pilot project of building an e-encyclopedia on the life and works of Allama Iqbal, engaging students from various departments of the University. This is a pioneer project in this field, of international scale. It has the potential to be a source of national and international fame for not just GCWUS and Sialkot, but rather the whole Pakistani nation. Its social impact seems very promising.
This is an opensource platform beyond borders, for all those who are inspired by the message and works of Allama Iqbal. This aims to be the first authentic resource on the complete treasury of Iqbal’s poetry and prose; in Urdu, Persian, Turkish and English (and other languages at a later stage). The message of Iqbal needs to be spread to every corner of the globe; and all those who wish to contribute will be most appreciated.
The inaugural ceremony of the project is scheduled for 27th of Ramazan, in revival of Ideology of Pakistan, which also came into being in this blessed month. This will be launched from Iqbal Manzil, Allama Iqbal’s home in Sialkot, under the auspices of GCWUS, Bekhudi, local administration, Dabistan-e-qbal and Iqbal Academy Lahore.
www.iqbal.wiki is aspiring to be a revolutionary initiative that will help spread the true message of Iqbal. It is strongly believed that the revival of Iqbaliyat can be the pivotal point in the ‘survival’ of Pakistan, revival of the Ummah and the redemption of the humankind!
