ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged Pakistanis to follow the teachings and thoughts of Allama Muhammad Iqbal to make Pakistan a country delivering social and economic justice to all its citizens.

In a message on the occasion of the death anniversary of Allama Iqbal on April 21, President said, “Today we are observing the death anniversary of Poet of the East and Thinker of Pakistan Allama Muhammad Iqbal.”

“Today we pay tribute to his political and intellectual contributions,” he added.

He said, “The thoughts, philosophy, and poetry of Allama Iqbal are a beacon of light for us, and we need to follow the message of Iqbal in our individual capacity and national life.”

Allama Iqbal was not only a poet but also a thinker and reformer who felt the anguish of the downfall of the Islamic Ummah and used his thoughts and verses as a medium to awaken the Ummah, he continued.

He said Iqbal’s poetry revolved around the concepts of selfhood, reformation, divine love, freedom of thought, and renaissance of the Ummah.

According to Iqbal, the salvation of the Muslim Ummah not only lay in political freedom but was also attainable through intellectual and spiritual awakening, he added.

The President said the role of Allama Iqbal was not only confined to his thoughts and poetry, but also played a critical role in setting the political direction of Muslims in the sub-continent.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif called upon the nation to embrace the principles of Allama Muhammad Iqbal in individual and collective lives to build Pakistan as a strong, sovereign and developed country.

In a message on the death anniversary of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal observed on April 21, he said, “Today, on his death anniversary, we pay tribute to Pakistan’s ideological builder, great thinker and Poet of the East Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal.”

Iqbal was not only a poet, but was a farsighted leader who presented the concept of a separate country for the Muslims of the sub-continent, he added.

Shehbaz Sharif said Iqbal’s philosophy of selfhood and his poetry not only provided an ideological basis for the movement of Pakistan but also breathed a new spirit in the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent.

The prime minister said today when Pakistan was encountering the social divide and global challenges, the teachings of Allama Iqbal were a beacon of light.