Iqbal

This book is compilation of some of the letters and poems written by the foremost poet and intellectual Mohammad Iqbal to Atiya Fyzee Rahamin, and the author’s impressions of Iqbal during his scholastic career in Europe during the early 1900s. The author recounts her first meeting with Iqbal in London and subsequent interaction with him in Germany where Iqbal was conducting philosophical research work. She mentions, from personal experience and observation, her appreciation of Iqbal’s mysticism, superior intellect, and genius. Atiya Begum and Iqbal, subsequently, developed a close friendship and continued their discourse through letters and meetings. Some of the letters and poems from Iqbal to Atiya Begum that were in her personal possession are published in this book in their original form along with their composed version.

Author Description

Atiya Fyzee is renowned as a litterateur and artiste. She was the daughter of Hasan Ali Effendi and Shareefun Nisa Tayabali; and was born in Constantinople (Istanbul) on 1 August 1877. After Independence, she moved to Pakistan and lived in Karachi until her death in 1967.

Atiya was educated in England and Germany. She was a liberal-minded individual and an advocate of progress—well-educated and well-travelled. In 1912, she married the renowned artist Samuel Fyzee Rahamin.

Aatiya’s relationship with the two great Islamist thinkers, scholars, and poets, Shibli Nomani and Allama Mohammad Iqbal, helped in moulding her own intellectual training.