On the occasion of the birth anniversary of "Allama Mohammad Iqbal", the great poet- philosopher of the Muslim World, ECO Cultural Institute held a ceremony titled "Iqbal Day" at its Headquarters on Wednesday, 27 November 2013.
Present at the event were H.E. Dr. Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, the Head of the Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature, H.E. Noor Mohammad Jadmani, Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Tehran, Mr. Iftikhar Husain Arif, President of ECO Cultural Institute as well as eminent literary scholars comprising Dr. Sarvar Molaee from Afghanistan, Mr. Shahmansour Khajaev from Tajikistan, Dr. Ghasem Saafi, Dr. Baghaee Makan, Dr. Mostafa Dolatyar, Dr. Akbar Jabbari, Dr. Mohammad Kioumarsi from Iran and a group of literature enthusiasts.
At the opening speech, ECI President stated: Iqbal assimilated all the values lying in the past and present Islamic and Oriental thoughts, traditions, and culture to create the best possible literary work of his time.
He then added : "In fact, his emotion-laden and soul-lifting poetry was the medium Iqbal employed in awakening Muslims."
Also at the event, H.E. Noor Mohammad Jadmani, expressed that the ECO region is one of the world's richest areas in terms of history and cultural heritage. We have strong commonalities in arts, language and literature.
"ECO Cultural Institute has always tried to play an important role in promoting cultural commonalities among ECO member states and their today's effort is another step in this direction." He continued.
H.E. Jadmani further called Allama Iqbal a "world famous poet who had a unique and matchless style of poetry both in Urdu and Persian language."
"Major part of Iqbal's poetry is in Persian which is also its finest part ."
"The poetry of Iqbal is replete with the message of hope, unity, brotherhood, love and peace", he further noted.
Referring to Iqbal's influence on Persian literature, Dr. Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, and knew Iqbal noted: "Iqbal and his poetry has enriched the Persian literature."
Adding that: "there have been numerous poets of the Indian subcontinent who composed verses in Persian language, but in terms of worldview and thoughts , Iqbal is quite distinguished. At a time when Muslim nations were apart, he spoke of the unity of the Muslim Ummah".
In the next part of the program, a panel of literary scholars, present at the function, reviewed Iqbal's thoughts and works and a new Persian book on Iqbal entitled "va chenin goft Iqbal" ( And So Said Iqbal)authored by Dr. Ghasem Safi was unveiled.