Harking Back: Tracing the houses where our national poet Iqbal lived

Last month while on a visit to Spain we visited Granada to see the real Alhambra, and then on to Cordoba to see its famous mosque. Belonging to Lahore my interest, naturally, was to see the exact spot where our national poet Allama Iqbal had prayed.

Mind you there is much more to ‘Iqbal Lahori’ than meets the eye. So high have we placed the poet in our national esteem that we forget that he was human, with a few delightful and flowery flaws. In this piece let me follow the places where Iqbal lived while in Lahore, with a few stories connected to those places.

Mention of the ‘praying incident’ at the Cordoba mosque certainly needs recalling. Praying in the mosque area, which now stands as a cathedral, has been banned ever since the Muslim Caliphate was ousted by the Christian forces of Ferdinand the Third, the ruler of Castile and Leon, in 1236 AD after a long siege. The city had been ruled by Muslims for 525 years. Apparently, Iqbal asked the caretaker for permission to pray there. Amazingly he happily allowed him. Once Iqbal had prayed the caretaker sat in shock just why he had given permission. It was as if a strange force had compelled him to do so. This incident is described by many as an alleged gift of the Almighty to Iqbal. Most guide books at Cordoba mention this incident about ‘Iqbal Lahori’.

Iqbal first came to Lahore at the age of 18 in 1895 after passing his intermediate examination as a student of the Scotch Mission High School, Sialkot, in second division. He was admitted to Government College, Lahore, as a BA student and resided in the hostel inside the college premises known as the Quadrangle. It has now been renamed as Iqbal Hostel. The exact room was a mystery, which a GC committee has resolved as being No. 1. This room is now conserved as ‘Iqbal Room’.

Now this room has an interesting story attached to it. Popular in GC folklore, there seems little official evidence of such a happening. The story is that Iqbal used to frequent the Tibbi area of the walled city and had fallen in love with a woman. One night he, allegedly, slipped out of the hostel after the lights were put off, murdered the woman and returned to sleep in his room. The next day the hostel superintendent gave evidence to the police of him being in his room all night.

In 1897, Iqbal passed his BA in second division, and was admitted to the Lahore Law School. He passed his law degree but failed, most interestingly, in Islamic Fiqah. He went on to pass his MA in philosophy and in 1899 shifted out of his GC room to inside Bhati Gate in Koocha Jalootian. Here he stayed for a year and then moved to another nearby flat on the opposite side of the bazaar. The small platform (‘tharra’) where he discussed the issues of the day is now called ‘Tharra Allama Iqbal.’

He joined the Oriental College as an Arabic reader. Along the way he also joined Islamia College as a lecturer of English for six months. He then joined GC as an assistant professor of philosophy. It is sad that the two Bhati Bazaar flats have not caught the attention of the walled city authority, for it could make interesting additions to the numerous historical sites there.

From his Bhati Gate flat in 1905 at the age of 28 years, a young Iqbal left for Cambridge and lived in the first floor flat of a house in a street called Portugal Place. This is almost opposite his college, Trinity College. On the outside wall is a plaque mentioning his stay in Cambridge. Two years ago a few relatives came to Cambridge and wanted to see the house. On being shown they started praying, a rather odd thing to do outside a house where he had lived almost 113 years ago.

On the way out I took them to a nearby pub, where on the wall is written: “The famous poet Muhammad Iqbal used to sit here”. My guests were rather shocked that their national poet sat in a pub. An old lady in the group did a magnificent cover-up: “Where else would he sit when his English friends sat here. That does not mean he used to drink”. Everyone in the group uttered a collective “shukar hai.”

In July 1907, Iqbal went to Germany and researched at Heidelberg and Munich. His PhD on ‘Development of Metaphysics in Persia’ won him a [PhD] degree from Munich University. He returned to London and taught at London University, and on the basis of his doctorate he was called to the Bar. The lawyer Iqbal was ready to return to Lahore in July 1908.

Once in Lahore he stayed for a short time in a house in Urdu Bazaar, only to shift to a house inside Anarkali Bazaar which has since been knocked down. It was located in what is today called New Bazaar, in an opening opposite where Dhani Ram Road meets the main bazaar. For 14 years Allama Iqbal lived in this first floor flat from 1908 to 1922. The building belonged to the bookseller Attar Chand Kapoor. One account tells us of him working as a manuscript editor for the bookseller in his spare time.

This open space has a small opening to St. Francis School and to the mazaar of Shahabuddin Shah Bukhari, also known as ‘Panj Pir.’ Most importantly it is a short-cut to the Oriental College and then on to Government College, Lahore. It was convenient for Iqbal when he walked to the local courts where he practised as a lawyer.

In December 1922, Iqbal moved out to a house on McLeod Road where he stayed for 13 years till May 1935. This house is, in my view, a most important place in the life of the national poet, much more important than the famous Javed Manzil. If you head from The Mall towards Lakshmi Chowk, on the right side comes the KEMC (now a university) hostel known as Broome Hostel. The road rises and twists around the hostel. The name of the road is Ravine Road. It was in this bungalow, located at the right end that the leading lights of India, including Jinnah and Nehru, frequently visited. In this period he wrote prolifically. It was here that the concept of two nations was suggested by Iqbal.

Within two months of him shifting to McLeod Road, the British government knighted him. Sir Muhammad Iqbal had arrived. Amazingly in a newspaper interview he said: “Knighthood does not mean I will not speak the truth.” In May 1929, his name was put forward as a judge of the Punjab High Court. The chief justice opposed the move. His famous remark followed: “It seems the truth is too bitter.”

In May 1935, Iqbal and his family shifted to their new house, the only one he ever owned, on Allama Iqbal Road (then called New Road) and named it Javed Manzil after his son. He fell ill and passed away on the 21st of April, 1938.

So the journey of Pakistan’s national poet in Lahore, starting from GC’s Quadrangle, to Bhati Gate to Cambridge to Urdu Bazaar to Anarkali to McLeod Road and finally to Javed Manzil on Allama Iqbal Road near Mayo Gardens is an aspect not many know about. Even fewer know the lighter side of Iqbal, the man who loved good simple food, good classical music and the company of ‘interesting’ friends. So besides the undeniable great poet, he was a delightful raconteur. But then his masterpiece remarks deserve a separate column.