Iqbal Day in 2025

When is Iqbal day?

This holiday is celebrated annually on November 9th.Iqbal Day marks the birthday of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as the ideological founder of the state, having inspired the Pakistan Movement.

The federal government has announced a public holiday on November 9th 2022 across the country to mark ‘Iqbal Day’, the 145th birth anniversary of Dr Allama Mohammad Iqbal.

“The Prime Minister has been pleased to desire that November 9th (Iqbal Day) shall henceforth be observed as a Public Holiday,” an official notification read.

In 2015, the Pakistani government announced that Iqbal day would not be a public holiday. Until 2022, the day was an ordinary working day where most businesses, stores, and shops as well as schools, universities and government offices remained open.

History of Iqbal day

Sir Muhammad Iqbal, widely known as Allama Iqbal, was born on 9 November 1877 in Sialkot, within the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan).

Inspired by his teaching at Government College Lahore, Iqbal pursued a higher education in the west, qualifying for a scholarship from Trinity College, University of Cambridge. On leaving university he became a barrister in London but shortly moved to Germany to study doctorate and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich in 1908. While in Germany, he started writing poetry in Persian.

On his return to Lahore he soon devoted his life to literary work, writing poetry in Urdu and Persian. Iqbal has had several volumes of his poetry published and many of these have translated into foreign languages, including English, German, Russian, Arabic, and Turkish.

Tarana-e-Hind' is a song written by Iqbal that is still used in India as a patriotic song about communal harmony.

Iqbal is known as a Muslim philosopher and great poet and is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature. He is widely admired by Pakistani, Indian, Iranian and Turk poets, earning the name 'Poet of the East'.

'While studying in England, Iqbal had become a member of the executive council of the British branch of the Indian Muslim League. In 1931 he represented the Muslims of India at the Round Table Conferences held in England to discuss the political future of India.

In a lecture in 1930 lecture, Iqbal first suggested the creation of a homeland for the Muslims of India, though Iqbal died before seeing the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

Iqbal died on 21 April 1938 in Lahore, Punjab, British India. His tomb is located in a garden between the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort.

The Pakistan government have declared him as the national poet.