Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t24.2

v2.c10.s2.t24.2

Born in a Muslim family in Sialkot, Punjab Province, India (present-day Punjab Province, Pakistan), Iqbal went to a local school in Sialkot to study when he was six, and learned Arabic, Persian and Urdu poems. He studied in Scotch Mission High School in Sialkot during 1893-1895, and was admitted to Punjab University (major in Philosophy) in 1895. Later, he stayed in the university to teach after obtaining a Master’s degree in 1899. He went to Britain to learn Law and Philosophy in 1905, and returned to his homeland after obtaining his Doctor of Philosophy in Ludwig Maximilian Muenchen Unitversitaet in Germany in 1908. He was hired as a Professor of Punjab University, and took the post of Secretary-General of ‘Kashmir Muslim Association’ in 1909. He was awarded the title of Knight by the British government in 1923, and was selected as a Congressman of Punjab Province during 1926-1929. He took the post of President of the annual meeting of All-India Muslim League in 1930, when he proposed the opinion of founding Pakistan and set forth his theory of founding a country. As a Muslim representative of India, he attended the round-table conference of Britain-India in London in 1931.