Daily Times

LAHORE: Iran and Pakistan are bound together by a common cultural heritage spanning over hundreds of years, said Khana-e-Farhang Iran Cultural Attaché and Director General Dr Majeed Sadaat.

He was addressing the participants of a ceremony held to mark the 140th birth anniversary of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Govt Commerce College, Sabzazar, the other day.

Qari Khalid Mehmood, Imam of Jabal-e-Uhud Mosque Madina, MNA Mehar Ishtiaq, Lahore Division Colleges Director Zafar Inayat Anjum, eminent scholar Prof Dr Moeen Nizami, Nazria-e-Pakistan Trust Secretary Shahid Rasheed and college principal Prof Muhammad Ahmed Awan also spoke on the occasion.

Sadaat said that one had to first understand Persian as well as Urdu in order to fully appreciate Iqbal and his philosophy. “This soil has produced a number of eminent of Sufi poets and scholars. Several of them wrote in Persian language as well,” he said. He said that Iran was willing to cooperate with Pakistani education authorities to organise Persian language courses in colleges and universities.

MNA Mehar Ishtiaq said that Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s poetry was not confined to Pakistan alone. “People of Iran and Turkey also strongly revere him,” he said.

Published in Daily Times, November 19^th 2017.