Daily Times

LAHORE: Allama Iqbal’s grandson Dr Muneeb Iqbal is livid, and rightly so. It all started from an audio recording of Allama Iqbal’s legendary poem ‘Shikwa’ in what was claimed to be the Poet of the East’s own voice. As it turned out, the voice was of Jamal Nasir, who lives in Chicago and often recites Iqbal’s poetry and uploads his videos on the internet. It was one such video that was lifted by some unknown person and then went viral on the social media as no one bothered to verify its authenticity.

In a video message on Facebook, Dr Muneeb Iqbal was quite visibly irritated over the fake audio clip and shunned those sharing it without verification. “I’m being asked for the last three days about the audio recording of Allama Iqbal and receiving messages from all across the world. There is no such audio clip at all”, said Muneeb.

Seasoned lawyer, and Muneeb Iqbal’s mother, Dr Nasira Javed Iqbal also confirmed that there was no audio recording of Dr Allama Iqbal available anywhere. “It just couldn’t be his voice. There are many audio recordings of Quaid-e-Azam [Muhammad Ali Jinnah] available but we are not aware of any audio recording of Allama Iqbal anywhere”, she said in the video.

“This is certainly not Allama Iqbal’s voice. Avoid spreading such things. Previously, you people used to share fake photos and couplets in his name, now you’re spreading fake audio clips. What next? Will you be coming up with a new living Iqbal the next time, claiming him to be the real one and the one buried near Badshahi Mosque as a faker”, Muneeb Iqbal said in the video.

Instead of running after fake audio clips, fake photos and fake couplets of Allama Iqbal, you people should now start following his teachings now, he added.

Here is the video message of Allama Iqbal’s grandson:

Jamal Nasir also responded to the claims in a v-log on Youtube, where he clarified that he has been uploading poetry on his Youtube channel for several years now and has recited Iqbal’s poetry on various occasions but this time someone lifted the clip and created ‘an elaborate lie’ to float the audio claiming it to be Iqbal’s own voice and ‘it got wings’.

He said that he did not want to come out like this on a video to clarify this but was forced to do so after watching Muneeb Iqbal’s video and realising that Allama Iqbal’s own family was frustrated by the fake audio recording in his name.

Watch Jamal Nasir’s video message