Dr. Allama Iqbal’s Allabad address laid foundation of Pakistan: Dr. Yunus Khan

PESHAWAR, Aug 08 (APP): Chairman, Pakistan Studies Department at Islamia College Peshawar, Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus Khan said that Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s historic address at Allabad in 1930 has laid the foundation of Pakistan.
“The Muslims in Indian subcontinent faced severe marginalization under British colonial rule following unsuccessful uprising of 1857 and found themselves increasingly sidelined as the colonial administration began favoring the Hindu majority,” he told APP here Friday.
Amidst these challenging times, he said visionary leaders such as Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Shah Waliullah, Mujaddid Alif Sani and later Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah rose to awaken the Muslim political consciousness.
He said the formation of the All-India Muslim League (AIML) on December 30, 1906, in Dhaka marked the beginning of organized political struggle by Muslims for their rights. “The entry of Quaid-e-Azam into the League in 1913, followed by his famous Fourteen Points in 1929 in response to the Nehru Report, played a crucial role in safeguarding Muslim political rights and representation in British India,” he said.
However, it was the historic address of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Allahabad on December 29, 1930, that marked a turning point in the ideological struggle for a separate Muslim homeland in subcontinent.
Speaking at the 25th session of the All-India Muslim League, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the philosopher-poet and political thinker, presented a clear and visionary concept of a separate state for Muslims in northwestern India.
“Muslims are a nation,” Dr Iqbal declared, “by every right to be called a nation according to any definition of a nation.”
“Dr Iqbal emphasized that Muslims were not merely a religious group, but a separate nation with their own cultural, religious, and historical identity. He proposed the creation of a separate Muslim state in northwestern India, encompassing Punjab, Sindh, the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and Balochistan,” he explained.
Dr. Younas added that Dr Iqbal feared that under a Hindu-majority rule, Muslims would be politically, culturally, and religiously oppressed. He called for Muslim autonomy not merely for political purposes but to preserve Islamic values, civilization and achieve freedom.
Inspired by Dr Iqbal’s vision, the All India Muslim League intensified its political movement under Quaid-e-Azam’s leadership. A decade later, this vision materialized into a concrete political demand in the form of the Pakistan Resolution, passed at the historic session of the Muslim League at Iqbal Park, Lahore, on March 23, 1940.
The resolution declared that no constitutional arrangement would be acceptable unless Muslim-majority areas were grouped into independent states with full autonomy and sovereignty.
It laid the foundation for the future map of Pakistan, encompassing the northwestern provinces Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and NWFP—as well as Bengal and Assam in the northeast.
The resolution was seconded and supported by key leaders from across Muslim-majority provinces, including Maulana Zafar Ali Khan (Punjab), Sardar Aurangzeb (NWFP), Sir Abdullah Haroon (Sindh), and Qazi Isa (Balochistan).
The Pakistan Movement gained further momentum after Chaudhary Rehmat Ali coined the term “Pakistan” in 1933 during a meeting in Cambridge, giving the movement a name and identity.
Despite the Congress-led civil disobedience and Quit India movements in the 1940s, the All-India Muslim League, under Quaid-e-Azam’s steadfast leadership, continued its political campaign across Muslim-majority regions.
Quaid-e-Azam reorganized the League on modern lines and toured extensively to mobilize support. The 1945–46 elections proved a decisive moment, as the Muslim League swept all Muslim seats in the central legislature and dominated the provincial assemblies, reflecting the overwhelming support for the idea of Pakistan.
After decades of political struggle, sacrifices, and negotiations, the dream envisioned in Allahabad became a reality on August 14, 1947, with the creation of Pakistan.
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the country’s first Governor General, leading the nation born from the vision articulated by Allama Iqbal 17 years earlier.
Dr. Younas concluded that while Iqbal’s Allahabad Address was not a political demand in the conventional sense, it was a visionary declaration that changed the course of South Asian history. It laid the intellectual and ideological foundations upon which the edifice of Pakistan was eventually built.
Today, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal is rightfully honored as the spiritual father of Pakistan, and his Allahabad Address remains a cornerstone of the nation’s ideological and political journey.