TEHRAN – Iran and Pakistan on 
Saturday paid respect to Allama Muhammad Iqbal, famous for composing poems in Urdu and Farsi, who plays a key role in cementing cultural affinity between the two neighbors.
Born on November 9, 1877, Allama Iqbal was a prominent South Asian poet, recognized for his influential poetry and thought. He passed away on April 21, 1938.
The birth anniversary of the prominent figure this year fell on Saturday. His work is celebrated as some of the finest poetry of the 20th century.
Iqbal Lahori was not only a poet but also a philosopher, a politician, and a scholar.
He played a significant role in advocating for the cultural and spiritual revival of the Muslim community.
Iqbal is the only non-native Persian poet who has captured the attention of Iranians with his Persian poetry.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in 2012 that Iqbal Lahori was from Lahore, but his Farsi poems are more famous than the poems he composed in other languages.
He said Persian poetry is so rich in both form and content that it has even influenced great non-Iranian poets such as the renowned German polymath and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and philosopher and writer Muhammad Iqbal from Pakistan.