Iqbal Museum Decorated With Buntings On 75th Independence Day

The Iqbal Museum has been decorated specially with national flag and buntings on the eve of 75th Independence Day of Pakistan to be observed on Saturday

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Aug, 2021 ) :The Iqbal Museum has been decorated specially with national flag and buntings on the eve of 75th Independence Day of Pakistan to be observed on Saturday.

The museum was earlier called Javed Manzil where National Poet, Philosopher and Thinker Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal had breathed his last on April 21,1938.

This scribe talked to renowned expert on Iqbal studies M Ilyas Khokhar on Friday about this museum. He said that this residence was got constructed by Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal by himself and he named it Javed Manzil on his younger son name Javed Iqbal.

He said that Javed Manzil had been turned into Iqbal Museum later where personal belongings and handwritten manuscripts and lot of other daily use articles of Allama Iqbal had been kept.

Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal had shifted in his own home in May 1935, earlier he was living in different rented houses in Lahore, the expert informed.

Ilyas said that Allama Iqbal had bought a piece of 7-kanal land in 1934 in Mauza Garhi Shahu in the name of Javed Iqbal and the house was constructed and completed at a cost of Rs 42,025.

"He shifted to his newly constructed house in May 1935," he stated.

While living in Javed Manzil for couple of years, Dr Iqbal had many illustrious visitors including Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah in 1936 and Hindu leader Pandit Jawahir Lal Nehru who was also a great admirer of the great poet and thinker, the expert informed.

He said that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto constituted a National Committee for Birth Centenary Celebrations to confirm officially the date of birth of Allama Iqbal which had suggested that the Federal government should buy Javed Manzil and turn it into a museum where all personal belongings of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal be preserved and displayed.

Allama Iqbal Museum was formally inaugurated on December 2, 1977 by the then Chief Of Army Staff /President General Muhammad Ziaul Haq.

The possession of Javed Manzil was taken over by the federal government in December 1977 and turned into Iqbal Museum which was renovated by some Japanese engineers who had especially visited Lahore for this purpose at the invitation of the federal government, Ilyas said.

It is pertinent to mention here that all personal belongings, dresses, handwritten manuscripts in urdu, Persian and letters of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal have been displayed in the museum.