The Tomb of Allama Iqbal, or Mazaar-e-Iqbal ( ur, ) is a mausoleum located within the

Hazuri Bagh Hazuri Bagh ( ur, ) is a garden in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, bounded by the Lahore Fort to the east, Badshahi Mosque to the west, the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh to the north, and the Roshnai Gate to the south. The garden was built during the rei ...

, in the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

i city of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, capital of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

province.

Background

Iqbal was one of the major inspirations behind the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

, and is revered in

as ''Muffakir-e-Pakistan'' (The Thinker of Pakistan) or ''Shair-e-Mashriq'' (The Poet of the East). Iqbal died on 21 April 1938 in

at the age of 60. Thousands of visitors come to the mausoleum every day to pay their respects to the poet-philosopher. It is said that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent earth collected from Maulana Rumi's tomb to be sprinkled on this grave

History

Soon after Iqbal's death in April 1938, a committee was formed that was presided over by Chaudhary Mohammed Hussain. A major problem in the realisation of this monument was a lack adequate funds. The committee resolved not to accept any donations from the local governments and state rulers, and so funds were raised through the contributions from Iqbal's friends, admirers and disciples.

Architecture

The architecture has a combination of styles however it reflects mainly the Mughal style. The structure is entirely constructed of red sandstone, which was brought from

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, and building marble from

Makrana Makrana is an urban city located at the centre of Rajasthan in Nagaur district. It also served as a tehsil headquarters, with 136 villages under its jurisdiction thus making it the largest tehsil in the district. The biggest village of Makr ...

, Rajputana. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, construction was affected due to export restrictions of red stone from India. Six

couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

of a ghazal are carved from Iqbal's poetical work ''Zabur-e-Ajam'' (Persian Psalms) on the mausoleum's interior surfaces. Outside, there is a small garden, distributed into small plots. The mausoleum was designed by

Hyderabad Deccan Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...

's then Chief Architect, ''Nawab Zain Yar Jang Bahadur'' and took thirteen years to build at a cost of about one hundred thousand (Rs. 100,000) Pakistani rupees. The major reason for delay was the stoppage of red-stone from Jaipur in post-independence India.Iqbal’s final resting place
Amna Nasir Jamal, 20 April 2002,

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

Grave and cenotaph

The rectangular mausoleum has two gates at the eastern and southern side respectively, inlaid with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, while the cenotaph itself is made of white marble. The tombstone was a gift from the people of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, and is made of lapis lazuli and inscribed with

Quranic verses The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

in calligraphy inscribed in

Conservation

The tomb complex is listed on the Protected Heritage Monuments of the Archaeology Department of Punjab.

Gallery

Image:Allama Iqbals Tomb North wall July 1 2005.jpg, North wall of the mausoleum File:Allama Iqbals Tomb East wall close-up July 1 2005.jpg, South East side of the mausoleum Image:Inside allama iqbals tomb.jpeg, Inside Iqbal's mausoleum, a marble cenotaph File:Armed guard at allama iqbals tomb.jpeg, Guard at the mausoleum, with

Lahore Fort The Lahore Fort ( ur, , lit=Royal Fort, translit=Shāhī Qilā, label= Punjabi and Urdu) is a citadel in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of walled city Lahore, and spreads over an area greater than 20 ...

in background File:Tomb of Allama Iqbal next to Badshahi Mosque main entrance.jpg, Iqbal's mausoleum adjacent to the

Badshahi Mosque The Badshahi Mosque ( Urdu, Punjabi: ; literally ''The Royal Mosque'') is a Mughal-era congregational mosque in Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The mosque is located west of Lahore Fort along the outskirts of the Walled ...

's gateway File:Tomb of Muhammad Iqbal.JPG, Tomb of Muhammad Iqbal

References

External links

Iqbal Databank3D Model of Tomb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad Iqbal Architecture of Lahore Mausoleums in Punjab, Pakistan Memorials to Muhammad Iqbal Indo-Islamic architecture Walled City of Lahore Tourist attractions in Lahore Tombs in Lahore