WowClub.pk

WordPress users may install and switch between themes. Themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress website or installation without altering the information content or structure of the site. Themes may be installed using the WordPress "Appearance" administration tool or theme folders may be uploaded via FTP. The PHP, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code found in themes can be added to or edited for providing advanced features. Thousands of WordPress themes exist, some free, and some paid for templates. WordPress users may also create and develop their own custom themes if they have the knowledge and skill to do so.
Plugins

WordPress's plugin architecture allows users to extend its features. WordPress has over 30,000 plugins available, each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs. These customizations range from search engine optimization, to client portals used to display private information to logged in users, to content displaying features, such as the addition of widgets and navigation bars.
Mobiles

Native applications exist for WebOS,Android, iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. These applications, designed by Automattic, allow a limited set of options, which include adding new blog posts and pages, commenting, moderating comments, replying to comments in addition to the ability to view the stats.
Other features

WordPress also features integrated link management; a search engine–friendly, clean permalink structure; the ability to assign multiple categories to articles; and support for tagging of posts and articles. Automatic filters are also included, providing standardized formatting and styling of text in articles (for example, converting regular quotes to smart quotes). WordPress also supports the Trackback and Pingback standards for displaying links to other sites that have themselves linked to a post or an article.
Multi-user and multi-blogging

Prior to version 3, WordPress supported one blog per installation, although multiple concurrent copies may be run from different directories if configured to use separate database tables. WordPress Multisites (previously referred to as WordPress Multi-User, WordPress MU, or WPMU) was a fork of WordPress created to allow multiple blogs to exist within one installation but is able to be administered by a centralized maintainer. WordPress MU makes it possible for those with websites to host their own blogging communities, as well as control and moderate all the blogs from a single dashboard. WordPress MS adds eight new data tables for each blog...

As of the release of WordPress 3, WordPress MU has merged with WordPress.
History

b2/cafelog, more commonly known as simply b2 or cafelog, was the precursor to WordPress. b2/cafelog was estimated to have been installed on approximately 2,000 blogs as of May 2003. It was written in PHP for use with MySQL by Michel Valdrighi, who is now a contributing developer to WordPress. Although WordPress is the official successor, another project, b2evolution, is also in active development.

WordPress first appeared in 2003 as a joint effort between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little to create a fork of b2Christine Selleck Tremoulet, a friend of Mullenweg, suggested the name WordPress

In 2004 the licensing terms for the competing Movable Type package were changed by Six Apart and many of its most influential users migrated to WordPress.By October 2009 the 2009 Open Source content management system Market Share Report reached the conclusion that WordPress enjoyed the greatest brand strength of any open-source content-management systems.
Release history

Main releases of WordPress are codenamed after well-known jazz musicians, starting after version 1.0.
Legend:     Old version     Older version, still supported     Current version     Future release
Version     Code name     Release date     Notes
0.7     none     27 May 2003      Used the same file structure as its predecessor, b2/cafelog, and continued the numbering from its last release, 0.6.[30] Only 0.71-gold is available for download in the official WordPress Release Archive page.
1.0     Davis     3 January 2004      Added search engine friendly permalinks, multiple categories, dead simple installation and upgrade, comment moderation, XFN support, Atom support.
1.2     Mingus     22 May 2004     Added support of Plugins; which same identification headers are used unchanged in WordPress releases as of 2011.
1.5     Strayhorn     17 February 2005      Added a range of vital features, such as ability to manage static pages and a template/Theme system. It was also equipped with a new default template (code named Kubrick). designed by Michael Heilemann.
2.0     Duke     31 December 2005      Added rich editing, better administration tools, image uploading, faster posting, improved import system, fully overhauled the back end, and various improvements to Plugin developers.
2.1     Ella     22 January 2007      Corrected security issues, redesigned interface, enhanced editing tools (including integrated spell check and auto save), and improved content management options.
2.2     Getz     16 May 2007      Added widget support for templates, updated Atom feed support, and speed optimizations.
2.3     Dexter     24 September 2007      Added native tagging support, new taxonomy system for categories, and easy notification of updates, fully supports Atom 1.0, with the publishing protocol, and some much needed security fixes.
2.5     Brecker     29 March 2008      Version 2.4 was skipped, so version 2.5 added two releases worth of new code. The administration interface was fully redesigned, and the WordPress website to match the new style.
2.6     Tyner     15 July 2008      Added new features that made WordPress a more powerful CMS: it can now track changes to every post and page and allow easy posting from anywhere on the web.
2.7     Coltrane     11 December 2008      Administration interface redesigned fully, added automatic upgrades and installing Plugins, from within the administration interface.
2.8     Baker     10 June 2009      Added improvements in speed, automatic installing of Themes from within administration interface, introduces the CodePress editor for syntax highlighting and a redesigned widget interface.
2.9     Carmen     19 December 2009      Added global undo, built-in image editor, batch Plugin updating, and many less visible tweaks.
3.0     Thelonious     17 June 2010     Added a new Theme application programming interfaces (API); the merge of WordPress and WordPress MU, creating the new multi-site functionality, a new default Theme called "Twenty Ten" and a refreshed, lighter admin UI.
3.1     Reinhardt     23 February 2011     Added the Admin Bar, which is displayed on all blog pages when an admin is logged in, and Post Format, best explained as a Tumblr like micro-blogging feature. It provides easy access to many critical functions, such as comments and updates. Includes internal linking abilities, a newly streamlined writing interface, and many other changes.
3.2     Gershwin     4 July 2011      Focused on making WordPress faster and lighter. Released only four months after version 3.1, reflecting the growing speed of development in the WordPress community.
3.3     Sonny     12 December 2011      Focused on making WordPress friendlier for beginners and tablet computer users.
3.4     Green     13 June 2012     Focused on improvements to Theme customization, Twitter integration and several minor changes.
3.5     Elvin     11 December 2012      Support for the Retina Display, color picker, new Theme: Twenty Twelve, improved image workflow
3.6     Oscar     1 August 2013      New Theme: Twenty Thirteen ; Admin Enhancements - Post Formats UI Update, Menus UI improvements, Revisions Update, Autosave and Post Locking
3.7     Basie     24 October 2013      Automatically apply maintenance and security updates in the background; Stronger password recommendations; Support for automatically installing the right language files and keeping them up to date
3.8     Parker     12 December 2013      Improved admin interface; Responsive design for mobile devices; New typography using Open Sans; Admin color schemes; Redesigned Theme management interface; Simplified main dashboard; Twenty Fourteen magazine style default Theme; Second release using "Plugin-first development process"
3.9     Smith     16 April 2014      "New features like live widget previews and the new Theme installer are now more ready for prime time, so check 'em out.

UI refinements when editing images and when working with media in the editor. We've also brought back some of the advanced display settings for images."
4.0     Benny     4 September 2014     Improved media management, embeds, writing interface, and plugin discovery.
4.1     Dinah     18 December 2014      "We’ve made a lot of refinements over the last few weeks. RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users anthousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.1 on Tuesday, December 16, but we need your help to get there. If you haven’t tested 4.1 yet, now is the time! (Please though, not on your live site unless you’re adventurous."
Future

Matt Mullenweg has stated that the future of WordPress is in social, mobile, and as an application platform.
Vulnerabilitie
Many security issues have been uncovered in the software, particularly in 2007 and 2008. According to Secunia, WordPress in April 2009 had 7 unpatched security advisories (out of 32 total), with a maximum rating of "Less Critical." Secunia maintains an up-to-date list of WordPress vulnerabilities.

In January 2007, many high profile search engine optimization (SEO) blogs, as well as many low-profile commercial blogs featuring AdSense, were targeted and attacked with a WordPress exploit. A separate vulnerability on one of the project site's web servers allowed an attacker to introduce exploitable code in the form of a back door to some downloads of WordPress 2.1.1. The 2.1.2 release addressed this issue; an advisory released at the time advised all users to upgrade immediately.

In May 2007, a study revealed that 98% of WordPress blogs being run were exploitable because they were running outdated and unsupported versions of the software.[65] In part to mitigate this problem, WordPress made updating the software a much easier, "one click" automated process in version 2.7 (released in December 2008).[66] However, the filesystem security settings required to enable the update process can be an additional risk.[67]

In a June 2007 interview, Stefan Esser, the founder of the PHP Security Response Team, spoke critically of WordPress's security track record, citing problems with the application's architecture that made it unnecessarily difficult to write code that is secure from SQL injection vulnerabilities, as well as some other problems.[68]

In June 2013, it was found that some of the 50 most downloaded WordPress plugins were vulnerable to common Web attacks such as SQL injection and XSS. A separate inspection of the top-10 e-commerce plugins showed that 7 of them were vulnerable.[69]

In an effort to promote better security, and to streamline the update experience overall, automatic background updates were introduced in WordPress 3.7.

Individual installations of WordPress can be protected with security plugins. Users can also protect their WordPress installations by taking steps such as keeping all WordPress installation, themes, and plugins updated, using only trusted themes and plugins,editing the site's .htaccess file to prevent many types of SQL injection attacks and block unauthorized access to sensitive files.

Developers can also use tools to analyze potential vulnerabilities, including Wordpress Auditor or Wordpress Sploit Framework developed by 0pc0deFR. These types of tools research known vulnerabilities, such as a XSS or SQL injection. Some vulnerabilities can not be detected by the tools, so it is advisable to check the code from other developers.
Critiques

Independent analyst firm Real Story Group evaluates WordPress as a Web content management system CMS. In a 2014 analysis, the firm argued that growing enterprise demand for WordPress was part of a broader push for "embracing greater simplicity" in web publishing.
Development and support
Key developers

Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little were cofounders of the project. The core contributing developers include Ryan Boren, Mark Jaquith, Matt Mullenweg, Andrew Ozz, Peter Westwood and Andrew Nacin.

WordPress is also developed by its community, including WP testers, a group of volunteers who test each release. They have early access to nightly builds, beta versions and release candidates. Errors are documented in a special mailing list, or the project's Trac tool.

Though largely developed by the community surrounding it, WordPress is closely associated with Automattic, the company founded by Matt Mullenweg. On September 9, 2010, Automattic handed the WordPress trademark to the newly created WordPress Foundation, which is an umbrella organization supporting WordPress.org (including the software and archives for plugins and themes), bbPress and BuddyPress.
WordCamp developer and user conferences
A WordCamp in Sofia, Bulgaria (2011)

"WordCamp" is the name given to all WordPress-related gatherings, both informal unconferences and more formal conferences.[78] The first such event was WordCamp 2006 in August 2006 in San Francisco, which lasted one day and had over 500 attendees.[79][80] The first WordCamp outside San Francisco was held in Beijing in September 2007.[81] Since then, there have been over 350 WordCamps in over 150 cities in 48 different countries around the world.WordCamp San Francisco, an annual event, remains the official annual conference of WordPress developers and users.
Support

WordPress's primary support website is WordPress.org. This support website hosts both WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress and a living repository for WordPress information and documentation, and WordPress Forums, an active online community of WordPress users.

                                                                        Happy /\/ew Year

"Einstein" redirects here. For other uses, see Albert Einstein (disambiguation) and Einstein (disambiguation).
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Page semi-protected
Albert Einstein
Einstein 1921 by F Schmutzer - restoration.jpg
Albert Einstein in 1921
Born     14 March 1879
Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
Died     18 April 1955 (aged 76)
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Residence     Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, United States
Citizenship    

    Kingdom of Württemberg (1879–1896)
    Stateless (1896–1901)
    Switzerland (1901–1955)
    Austrian of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1911–1912)
    German Empire (1914–1918)
    Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
    United States (1940–1955)

Fields     Physics, Philosophy
Institutions    

    Swiss Patent Office (Bern)
    University of Zurich
    Charles University in Prague
    ETH Zurich
    Caltech
    Prussian Academy of Sciences
    Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
    University of Leiden
    Institute for Advanced Study

Alma mater    

    ETH Zurich
    University of Zurich

Thesis     Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen (1901)
Doctoral advisor     Alfred Kleiner
Other academic advisors     Heinrich Friedrich Weber
Notable students    

    Abdul Jabbar Abdullah
    Ernst G. Straus
    Nathan Rosen
    Leó Szilárd
    Raziuddin Siddiqui

Known for    

    General relativity and special relativity
    Photoelectric effect
    Mass-energy equivalence
    Theory of Brownian Motion
    Einstein field equations
    Bose–Einstein statistics
    Bose–Einstein condensate
    Bose–Einstein correlations
    Unified Field Theory
    EPR paradox

Notable awards    

    Barnard Medal (1920)
    Nobel Prize in Physics (1921)
    Matteucci Medal (1921)
    Copley Medal (1925)[2]
    Max Planck Medal (1929)
    Time Person of the Century (1999)

Spouse     Mileva Marić (1903–1919)
Elsa Löwenthal (1919–1936)
Children     "Lieserl" (1902–1903?)
Hans Albert (1904–1973)
Eduard "Tete" (1910–1965)
Signature

Albert Einstein (/ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: [ˈalbɐrt ˈaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist and philosopher of science.He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). He is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"). He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory.

Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to model the large-scale structure of the universe.

He was visiting the United States when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and, being Jewish, did not go back to Germany, where he had been a professor at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He settled in the U.S., becoming an American citizen in 1940.the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the U.S. begin similar research. This eventually led to what would become the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported defending the Allied forces, but largely denounced the idea of using the newly discovered nuclear fission as a weapon. Later, with the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, Einstein signed the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, which highlighted the danger of nuclear weapons. Einstein was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955.

Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works.On 5 December 2014, universities and archives announced the release of Einstein's papers, comprising more than 30,000 unique documents. Einstein's intellectual achievements and originality have made the word "Einstein" synonymous with genius so that in a sense he may be regarded as the greatest genius who ever lived.

SORRY ERROr........................

"SEO" redirects here. For other uses, see SEO (disambiguation).
Page semi-protected
Part of a series on
Internet marketing

    Search engine optimization Social media marketing Email marketing Referral marketing Content marketing Native advertising
Search engine marketing

    Pay per click
    Cost per impression
    Search analytics
    Web analytics

Display advertising

    Contextual advertising
    Behavioral targeting

Affiliate marketing

    Cost per action
    Revenue sharing

Mobile advertisin
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.

The plural of the abbreviation SEO can also refer to "search engine optimizers", those who provide SEO services.

History

Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.

Site owners started to recognize the value of having their sites highly ranked and visible in search engine results, creating an opportunity for both white hat and black hat SEO practitioners. According to industry analyst Danny Sullivan, the phrase "search engine optimization" probably came into use in 1997.On May 2, 2007, Jason Gambert attempted to trademark the term SEO by convincing the Trademark Office in Arizonathat SEO is a "process" involving manipulation of keywords, and not a "marketing service." The reviewing attorney basically bought his incoherent argument that while "SEO" can't be trademarked when it refers to a generic process of manipulated keywords, it can be a service mark for providing "marketing services...in the field of computers."

Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide a guide to each page's content. Using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster's choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site's actual content. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches.[dubious – discuss] Web content providers also manipulated a number of attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.

By relying so much on factors such as keyword density which were exclusively within a webmaster's control, early search engines suffered from abuse and ranking manipulation. To provide better results to their users, search engines had to adapt to ensure their results pages showed the most relevant search results, rather than unrelated pages stuffed with numerous keywords by unscrupulous webmasters. Since the success and popularity of a search engine is determined by its ability to produce the most relevant results to any given search, poor quality or irrelevant search results could lead users to find other search sources. Search engines responded by developing more complex ranking algorithms, taking into account additional factors that were more difficult for webmasters to manipulate. Graduate students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, developed "Backrub," a search engine that relied on a mathematical algorithm to rate the prominence of web pages. The number calculated by the algorithm, PageRank, is a function of the quantity and strength of inbound links. PageRank estimates the likelihood that a given page will be reached by a web user who randomly surfs the web, and follows links from one page to another. In effect, this means that some links are stronger than others, as a higher PageRank page is more likely to be reached by the random surfer.

Page and Brin founded Google in 1998. Google attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design. Off-page factors (such as PageRank and hyperlink analysis) were considered as well as on-page factors (such as keyword frequency, meta tags, headings, links and site structure) to enable Google to avoid the kind of manipulation seen in search engines that only considered on-page factors for their rankings. Although PageRank was more difficult to game, webmasters had already developed link building tools and schemes to influence the Inktomi search engine, and these methods proved similarly applicable to gaming PageRank. Many sites focused on exchanging, buying, and selling links, often on a massive scale. Some of these schemes, or link farms, involved the creation of thousands of sites for the sole purpose of link spamming.

By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times' Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals.The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines.

In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users. In 2008, Bruce Clay said that "ranking is dead" because of personalized search. He opined that it would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.
In 2007, Google announced a campaign against paid links that transfer PageRank. On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had taken measures to mitigate the effects of PageRank sculpting by use of the nofollow attribute on links. Matt Cutts, a well-known software engineer at Google, announced that Google Bot would no longer treat nofollowed links in the same way, in order to prevent SEO service providers from using nofollow for PageRank sculpting.As a result of this change the usage of nofollow leads to evaporation of pagerank. In order to avoid the above, SEO engineers developed alternative techniques that replace nofollowed tags with obfuscated Javascript and thus permit PageRank sculpting. Additionally several solutions have been suggested that include the usage of iframes, Flash and Javascript.

In December 2009, Google announced it would be using the web search history of all its users in order to populate search results.


On June 8, 2010 a new web indexing system called Google Caffeine was announced. Designed to allow users to find news results, forum posts and other content much sooner after publishing than before, Google caffeine was a change to the way Google updated its index in order to make things show up quicker on Google than before. According to Carrie Grimes, the software engineer who announced Caffeine for Google, "Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index..."
Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2010 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant. Historically site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.
In February 2011, Google announced the Panda update, which penalizes websites containing content duplicated from other websites and sources. Historically websites have copied content from one another and benefited in search engine rankings by engaging in this practice, however Google implemented a new system which punishes sites whose content is not unique.

In April 2012, Google launched the Google Penguin update the goal of which was to penalize websites that used manipulative techniques to improve their rankings on the search engine.
In September 2013, Google released the Google Hummingbird update, an algorithm change designed to improve Google's natural language processing and semantic understanding of web pages.
Relationship with search engines

By 1997, search engine designers recognized that webmasters were making efforts to rank well in their search engines, and that some webmasters were even manipulating their rankings in search results by stuffing pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords. Early search engines, such as Altavista and Infoseek, adjusted their algorithms in an effort to prevent webmasters from manipulating rankings.

In 2005, an annual conference, AIRWeb, Adversarial Information Retrieval on the Web was created to bring together practitioners and researchers concerned with search engine optimisation and related topics.
Companies that employ overly aggressive techniques can get their client websites banned from the search results. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal reported on a company, Traffic Power, which allegedly used high-risk techniques and failed to disclose those risks to its clients. Wired magazine reported that the same company sued blogger and SEO Aaron Wall for writing about the ban.Google's Matt Cutts later confirmed that Google did in fact ban Traffic Power and some of its clients.

Some search engines have also reached out to the SEO industry, and are frequent sponsors and guests at SEO conferences, chats, and seminars. Major search engines provide information and guidelines to help with site optimization.Google has a Sitemaps program to help webmasters learn if Google is having any problems indexing their website and also provides data on Google traffic to the website. Bing Webmaster Tools provides a way for webmasters to submit a sitemap and web feeds, allows users to determine the crawl rate, and track the web pages index status.

For historical accounts of the development of science and technology, see history of science and history of technology.
History of science
Frontispiece of the "Rudolphine Tables" published by Johannes Kepler in 1627
Background[hide]

    Theories and sociology
    Historiography
    Pseudoscience

By era[hide]

    Early cultures
    Classical Antiquity
    Middle Ages
    Renaissance
    Scientific Revolution
    Romanticism

By culture[hide]

    African
    Byzantine
    Chinese
    Indian
    Medieval Islamic

Natural sciences[hide]

    Astronomy
    Biology
    Botany
    Chemistry
    Ecology
    Evolution
    Geology
    Geophysics
    Paleontology
    Physics

Mathematics[hide]

    Algebra
    Calculus
    Combinatorics
    Geometry
    Logic
    Probability
    Statistics
    Trigonometry

Social sciences[hide]

    Anthropology
    Economics
    Geography
    Linguistics
    Political science
    Psychology
    Sociology
    Sustainability

Technology[hide]

    Agricultural science
    Computer science
    Materials science
    Engineering

Medicine[hide]

    Human medicine
    Veterinary medicine
    Anatomy
    Neuroscience
    Neurology
    Nutrition
    Pathology
    Pharmacy

    List-Class article Timelines
    Portal Portal
    Category Category

    v
    t
    e

The history of Science and Technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of the natural world (science) and ability to manipulate it (Technology) have changed over the centuries. This academic discipline also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.

Histories of science were originally written by practicing and retired scientists, starting primarily with William Whewell, as a way to communicate the virtues of science to the public. In the early 1930s, after a famous paper given by the Soviet historian Boris Hessen, was focused into looking at the ways in which scientific practices were allied with the needs and motivations of their context. After World War II, extensive resources were put into teaching and researching the discipline, with the hopes that it would help the public better understand both Science and Technology as they came to play an exceedingly prominent role in the world. In the 1960s, especially in the wake of the work done by Thomas Kuhn, the discipline began to serve a very different function, and began to be used as a way to critically examine the scientific enterprise. At the present time it is often closely aligned with the field of Science studies.[citation needed]

Modern engineering as it is understood today took form during the scientific revolution, though much of the mathematics and science was built on the work of the Greeks, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians and Muslims.[citation needed] See the main articles History of science and History of technology for these respective topics.

Contents

    1 Universities with HST programs
        1.1 Argentina
        1.2 Australia
        1.3 Belgium
        1.4 Canada
        1.5 France
        1.6 Germany
        1.7 Greece
        1.8 India
        1.9 Israel
        1.10 Japan
        1.11 Netherlands
        1.12 Spain
        1.13 Sweden
        1.14 Switzerland
        1.15 United Kingdom
        1.16 United States
    2 Prominent historians of the field
    3 Journals and periodicals
    4 See also
    5 Professional societies
    6 References
    7 Bibliography
    8 External links

Universities with HST programs
Argentina

    Buenos Aires Institute of Technology, Argentina, has been offering courses on History of the Technology and the Science.
    National Technological University, Argentina, has a complete history program on its offered careers.

Australia

    The University of Sydney offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the History and Philosophy of Science, run by the Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science, within the Science Faculty. Undergraduate coursework can be completed as part of either a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Undergraduate study can be furthered by completing an additional Honours year. For postgraduate study, the Unit offers both coursework and research based degrees. The two course-work based postgraduate degrees are the Graduate Certificate in Science (HPS) and the Graduate Diploma in Science (HPS). The two research based postgraduate degrees are a Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Belgium

    University of Liège, has a Department called Centre d'histoire des Sciences et Techniques.

Canada

    Carleton University Ottawa offer courses in Ancient Science and Technology in its Technology, Society and Environment program
    University of Toronto has a program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.
    University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia has a History of Science and Technology Program

France

    Nantes University has a dedicated Department called Centre François Viète.
    Paris Diderot University (Paris 7) has a Department of History and Philosophy of Science.
    A CNRS research center in History and Philosophy of Science SPHERE, affiliated with Paris Diderot University, has a dedicated history of technology section.
    Pantheon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1) has a dedicated Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technics.
    The École Normale Supérieure de Paris has a history of science Department.

Germany

    Technische Universität Berlin, has a program in the History of Science and Technology.

Greece

    The University of Athens has a Department of Philosophy and History of Science.


Japan

    Kyoto University has a program in the Philosophy and History of Science.
    Tokyo Institute of Technology has a program in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Technology.    The University of Tokyo has a program in the History and Philosophy of Science.

Netherlands

    Utrecht University, has two co-operating programs: one in History and Philosophy of Science at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and one in Historical and Comparative Studies of the Sciences and the Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities.

Spain

    University of the Basque Country, offers a master degree and PhD programme in History and Philosophy of Science and runs since 1952 THEORIA. International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science. The university also sponsors the Basque Museum of the History of Medicine and Science, the only open museum of History of Science of Spain, that in the past offered also PhD courses.
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, offers a master degree and PhD programme in HST together with the Universitat de Barcelona.    Universitat de València, offers a master degree and PhD programme in HST together with the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
Sweden

    Linköpings universitet, has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes HST.

Switzerland

    University of Bern, has an undergraduate and a graduate program in the History and Philosophy of Science.

United Kingdom

    University College London's Department of Science and Technology Studies offers undergraduate programme in History and Philosophy of Science, including two BSc single honour degrees (UCAS V550 and UCAS L391), plus both major and minor streams in history, philosophy and social studies of science in UCL's Natural Sciences programme. The department also offers MSc degrees in History and Philosophy of Science and in the study of contemporary Science, Technology, and Society. An MPhil/PhD research degree is offered, too. UCL also contains a Centre for the History of Medicine.This operates a small teaching programme in History of Medicine.
    University of Oxford has a one-year graduate course in 'History of Science: Instruments, Museums, Science, Technology' associated with the Museum of the History of Science.    University of Leeds has both undergraduate and graduate programmes in History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy.    University of Manchester offers undergraduate modules and postgraduate study in History of Science, Technology and Medicine and is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.    University of Bristol has a masters and PhD program in the Philosophy and History of Science.    University of Cambridge has an undergraduate course and a large masters and PhD program in the History and Philosophy of Science (including the History of Medicine).    University of Durham has several undergraduate History of Science modules in the Philosophy department, as well as Masters and PhD programs in the discipline.    London Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology - this Centre closes in 2013. It was formed in 1987 and ran a taught MSc programme, jointly taught by University College London's Department of Science and Technology Studies and Imperial College London. The Masters programme transferred to UCL.

United States

Academic study of the History of Science as an independent discipline was launched by George Sarton at Harvard with his book Introduction to the History of Science (1927) and the Isis journal (founded in 1912). Sarton exemplified the early 20th century view of the history of science as the history of great men and great ideas. He shared with many of his contemporaries a Whiggish belief in history as a record of the advances and delays in the march of progress. The History of Science was not a recognized subfield of American history in this period, and most of the work was carried out by interested Scientists and Physicians rather than professional Historians.[27] With the work of I. Bernard Cohen at Harvard, the history of Science became an established subdiscipline of history after 1945.[28]

    Arizona State University's Center for Biology and Society offers several paths for MS or PhD students who are interested in issues surrounding the history and philosophy of the science, particularly biological sciences. The strength of the Center has much to do with the success of its director Jane Maienschein. With a concentration in Biology and Society one can focus on History and Philosophy of Science, Bioscience Ethics, Policy and Law, or Ecology, Economics, and Ethics of the Environment.[29]
    Brown University has a program in Science and Technology Studies[30] and the History of Mathematics. (This program is in the process of being phased out. There are no longer any full-time faculty, and no new students are being admitted to the program.)
    California Institute of Technology offers courses in the History and Philosophy of Science to fulfill its core humanities requirements.
    Case Western Reserve University has an undergraduate interdisciplinary program in the History and Philosophy of Science[32] and a graduate program in the History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine (STEM).[33]
    Cornell University offers a variety of courses within the Science and Technology course. One notable course is called Science and Technology History, taught currently by Professor Peter Dear, which centers upon the development of Science and Technology History from the Newtonian era up to the Einsteinian revolution. This class is one of the longest running classes at Cornell University and is offered by the College of Arts and Sciences and caters to students who want to learn more about the development of modern science.[34]
    Georgia Institute of Technology has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Technology and Society.[35]
    Harvard has a large undergraduate and graduate program in History of Science, and is one of the largest departments currently in the world.[36]
    Indiana University offers undergraduate courses and a masters and PhD program in the History and Philosophy of Science.[9]
    Johns Hopkins University has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology.[37]
    University of Kings College has a degree program in History of Science and Technology
    Lehigh University offers an undergraduate level STS concentration (founded in 1972) and a graduate program with emphasis on the History of Industrial America.[38]
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes HST.[39]
    Michigan State University offers an undergraduate major and minor in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science through its Lyman Briggs College.
    Princeton University has a program in the History of Science.
    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has a Science and Technology Studies department
    Rutgers has a graduate Program in History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Health.
    Stanford has a History and Philosophy of Science and Technology program.
    Stevens Institute of Technology has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Science.
    University of California, Berkeley offers a graduate degree in HST through its History program, and maintains a separate sub-department for the field.    University of California, Los Angeles has a relatively large group History of Science and Medicine faculty and graduate students within its History department, and also offers an undergraduate minor in the History of Science.    University of California Santa Barbara has an interdisciplinary graduate program emphasis in Technology & Society through the Center for Information Technology & Society. The history department is affiliated with the emphasis.    University of Florida has a Graduate Program in 'History of Science, Technology, and Medicine' at the University of Florida provides undergraduate and graduate degrees.    University of Minnesota has a Ph.D. program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine as well as undergraduate courses in these fields. The Minnesota model "integrates" historians of science, technology, and medicine within the various science departments they study, each holding a joint appointment.    University of Oklahoma has an undergraduate minor and a graduate degree program in History of Science.
    University of Pennsylvania has a program in History and Sociology of Science.
    University of Pittsburgh's Department of History and Philosophy of Science offers graduate and undergraduate courses.    University of Puget Sound has a Science, Technology, and Society program, which includes the history of Science and Technology.    University of Wisconsin–Madison has one of the largest programs in History of Science, Medicine and Technology, with particular strength in Medical History, History of Biology, History of Science and Religion, and Environmental History. This program was the first to exist as an independent academic department. It offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees as well as an undergraduate major.    Wesleyan University has a Science in Society program.
    Yale University has a program in the History of Science and Medicine.
    New Jersey Institute of Technology has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes the History of Science and Technology    Oregon State University offers a Masters and Ph.D. in History of Science through its Department of History.

This article is about the mountain in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. For the mountain in Alberta, see Mount K2. For other uses, see K2 (disambiguation).
Page semi-protected
K2
K2 2006b.jpg
K2, summer 2006
Elevation     8,611 m (28,251 ft)
Ranked 2nd
Prominence     4,017 m (13,179 ft)
Ranked 22nd
Listing     Eight-thousander
Country high point
Seven Second Summits
Ultra
Location
K2 is located in Tibetan Plateau
K2
K2
Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan
Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China
Range     Karakoram
Coordinates     35°52′57″N 76°30′48″ECoordinates: 35°52′57″N 76°30′48″E[1]
Climbing
First ascent     31 July 1954
Achille Compagnoni
Lino Lacedelli
Easiest route     Abruzzi Spur

K2, also known as Chhogori/Qogir, Ketu/Kechu, and Mount Godwin-Austen (Urdu:شاہ گوری), is the second highest mountain in the world at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), after Mount Everest. It is located on the border[2] between Baltistan, in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China.[3] With a peak elevation of 8,611 m (28,251 feet), K2 is the highest point of the Karakoram Range and the highest point in Pakistan.

K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the extreme difficulty of ascent and the second-highest fatality rate among the eight thousanders. One in every four people who have attempted the summit have died trying.[4] It is more difficult and hazardous to reach the peak of K2 from the Chinese side; thus, it is usually climbed from the Pakistani side. Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with the highest fatality-to-summit rate (246 summits, 55 deaths),K2 has never been climbed during wintertime.



Name
Montgomerie's original sketch in which he applied the notation K2

The name K2 is derived from the notation used by the Great Trigonometric Survey. Thomas Montgomerie made the first survey of the Karakoram from Mount Haramukh, some 210 km (130 miles) to the south, and sketched the two most prominent peaks, labeling them K1 and K2.

The policy of the Great Trigonometric Survey was to use local names for mountains wherever possibl and K1 was found to be known locally as Masherbrum. K2, however, appeared not to have acquired a local name, possibly due to its remoteness. The mountain is not visible from Askole, the last village to the south, or from the nearest habitation to the north, and is only fleetingly glimpsed from the end of the Baltoro Glacier, beyond which few local people would have ventured.[8] The name Chogori, derived from two Balti words, chhogo ("big") and ri ("mountain") (شاہگوری) has been suggested as a local name,[9] but evidence for its widespread use is scant. It may have been a compound name invented by Western explorers[10] or simply a bemused reply to the question "What's that called?" It does, however, form the basis for the name Qogir (simplified Chinese: 乔戈里峰; traditional Chinese: 喬戈里峰; pinyin: Qiáogēlǐ Fēng) by which Chinese authorities officially refer to the peak. Other local names have been suggested including Lamba Pahar ("Tall Mountain" in Urdu) and Dapsang, but are not widely used.

Lacking a local name, the name Mount Godwin-Austen was suggested, in honor of Henry Godwin-Austen, an early explorer of the area, and while the name was rejected by the Royal Geographical Society it was used on several maps, and continues to be used occasionally
The surveyor's mark, K2, therefore continues to be the name by which the mountain is commonly known. It is now also used in the Balti language, rendered as Kechu or Ketu (Urdu: کے ٹو‎). The Italian climber Fosco Maraini argued in his account of the ascent of Gasherbrum IV that while the name of K2 owes its origin to chance, its clipped, impersonal nature is highly appropriate for so remote and challenging a mountain. He concluded that it was ...
    ... just the bare bones of a name, all rock and ice and storm and abyss. It makes no attempt to sound human. It is atoms and stars. It has the nakedness of the world before the first man – or of the cindered planet after the last.

Geographical setting
File:K2-Animation 280611 DLR-Logo 320x240.ogvPlay media
Virtual flight around K2

K2 lies in the northwestern Karakoram Range. It is located in the Baltistan region of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China.[a] The Tarim sedimentary basin borders the range on the north and the Lesser Himalayas on the south. Melt waters from vast glaciers, such as those south and east of K2, feed agriculture in the valleys and contribute significantly to the regional fresh-water supply.

K2 is merely ranked 22nd by topographic prominence, a measure of a mountain's independent stature, because it is part of the same extended area of uplift (including the Karakoram, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Himalaya) as Mount Everest, in that it is possible to follow a path from K2 to Everest that goes no lower than 4,594 metres (15,072 ft), at Mustang Lo. Many other peaks, that are far lower than K2, are more independent in this sense.

K2 is notable for its local relief as well as its total height. It stands over 3,000 metres (9,840 ft) above much of the glacial valley bottoms at its base. It is a consistently steep pyramid, dropping quickly in almost all directions. The north side is the steepest: there it rises over 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) above the K2 (Qogir) Glacier in only 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) of horizontal distance. In most directions, it achieves over 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) of vertical relief in less than 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
A 1986 expedition led by George Wallenstein made an inaccurate measurement incorrectly showing that K2 was taller than Mount Everest, and therefore the tallest mountain in the world. A corrected measurement was made in 1987, but by that point the meme that K2 was the tallest mountain in the world had already made it into many news reports and reference works.

Geology

The mountains of K2 and Broad Peak and the area westward to the lower reaches of Sarpo Laggo glacier consist of metamorphic rocks, which are known as the K2 Gneiss and part of the Karakroam Metamorphic Complex.^[17][18] The K2 Gneiss consists of a mixture of orthogneiss and biotite-rich paragneiss. On the south and southeast face of K2, the orthogneiss consists of a mixture of a strongly foliated plagioclase-hornblende gneiss and a biotite-hornblende-K-feldspar orthogneiss, which has been intruded by garnet-mica leucogranitic dikes. In places, the paragneisses include clinopyroxene-hornblende-bearing psammites, garnet (grossular)-diopside marbles, and biotite-graphite phyllites. Near the memorial to the climbers, who have died on K2, above Base camp on the south spur, thin impure marbles with quartzites and mica schists, which is called the Gilkey-Puchoz sequence, are interbanded within the orthogneisses. On the west face of Broad Peak and south spur of K2, lamprophyre dikes, which consist of clinopyroxene and biotite-porphyritic vogesites and minettes, have intruded the K2 gneiss. The K2 Gneiss is separated from the surrounding sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks of the surrounding Karakroam Metamorphic Complex by normal faults. For example, a fault separates the K2 gneiss of the east face of K2 from limestones and slates comprising nearby Skyang Kangri
⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 115 to 120 million years ago obtained from and geochemical analyses of the K2 Gneiss demonstrate that it is a metamorphosed, older, Cretaceous, pre-collisional granite. The granitic precursor (protolith) to the K2 Gneiss originated as the result of the production of large bodies of magma by a northward-dipping subduction zone along what was the continental margin of Asia at that time and their intrusion as batholiths into its lower continental crust. During the initial collision of the Asia and Indian plates, this granitic batholith was buried to depths of about 20 kilometres (12 mi) or more, highly metamorphosed, highly deformed, and partially remelted during the Eocene Period to form gneiss. Later, the K2 Gneiss was then intruded by leucogranite dikes and finally exhumed and uplifted along major breakback thrust faults during post-Miocene time. The K2 Gneiss was exposed as the entire K2-Broad Peak-Gasherbrum range experienced rapid uplift with which erosion rates have been unable to keep pace.

Climbing history

Early attempts

The mountain was first surveyed by a European survey team in 1856. Thomas Montgomerie was the member of the team who designated it "K2" for being the second peak of the Karakoram range. The other peaks were originally named K1, K3, K4 and K5, but were eventually renamed Masherbrum, Gasherbrum IV, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I respectively.In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that reached "Concordia" on the Baltoro Glacier.
The first serious attempt to climb K2 was undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein, Aleister Crowley, Jules Jacot-Guillarmod, Heinrich Pfannl, Victor Wessely and Guy Knowles via the Northeast Ridge. In the early 1900s, modern transportation did not exist: It took "fourteen days just to reach the foot of the mountain".After five serious and costly attempts, the team reached 6,525 metres (21,407 ft)—although considering the difficulty of the challenge, and the lack of modern climbing equipment or weatherproof fabrics, Crowley's statement that "neither man nor beast was injured" highlights the pioneering spirit and bravery of the attempt. The failures were also attributed to sickness (Crowley was suffering the residual effects of malaria), a combination of questionable physical training, personality conflicts, and poor weather conditions—of 68 days spent on K2 (at the time, the record for the longest time spent at such an altitude) only eight provided clear weather.
The next expedition to K2, in 1909, led by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, reached an elevation of around 6,250 metres (20,510 ft) on the South East Spur, now known as the Abruzzi Spur (or Abruzzi Ridge). This would eventually become part of the standard route, but was abandoned at the time due to its steepness and difficulty. After trying and failing to find a feasible alternative route on the West Ridge or the North East Ridge, the Duke declared that K2 would never be climbed, and the team switched its attention to Chogolisa, where the Duke came within 150 metres (490 ft) of the summit before being driven back by a storm.
The next attempt on K2 was not made until 1938, when an American expedition led by Charles Houston made a reconnaissance of the mountain. They concluded that the Abruzzi Spur was the most practical route, and reached a height of around 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) before turning back due to diminishing supplies and the threat of bad weather. The following year an expedition led by Fritz Wiessner came within 200 metres (660 ft) of the summit, but ended in disaster when Dudley Wolfe, Pasang Kikuli, Pasang Kitar and Pintso disappeared high on the mountain.^[29][30]
Charles Houston returned to K2 to lead the 1953 American expedition. The expedition failed due to a storm that pinned the team down for ten days at 7,800 metres (25,590 ft), during which time Art Gilkey became critically ill. A desperate retreat followed, during which Pete Schoening saved almost the entire team during a mass fall, and Gilkey was killed, either in an avalanche or in a deliberate attempt to avoid burdening his companions. In spite of the failure and tragedy, the courage shown by the team has given the expedition iconic status in mountaineering history.

Success and repeats

An Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 via the Abruzzi Spur on 31 July 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, and the two climbers who reached the summit were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah, who had been a part of the 1953 American expedition. Also on the expedition were Walter Bonatti and Pakistani Hunza porter Amir Mehdi, who both proved vital to the expedition's success in that they carried oxygen tanks to 8,100 metres (26,600 ft) for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. The ascent is controversial because Lacedelli and Compagnoni established their camp at higher level than Medhi and Bonatti were originally told, finding out when it was too dark to descend, thus forcing Bonatti and Mehdi overnight without shelter above 8,000 meters before the latter were able to descend while leaving oxygen tanks behind as requested. Bonatti and Mehdi survived, but Mehdi was hospitalized for months and suffered amputations for frostbite. Efforts in the 1950s to suppress these facts to protect Lacedelli and Compagnoni's reputations as Italian national heroes were later brought to light. It was also revealed that the moving of the camp was deliberate, a move apparently made because Campagoni feared being outshine by the younger Bonatti. Bonatti was given the blame for Medhi's hospitalization.
On 9 August 1977, 23 years after the Italian expedition, Ichiro Yoshizawa led the second successful ascent, with Ashraf Aman as the first native Pakistani climber. The Japanese expedition took the Abruzzi Spur, and used more than 1,500 porters.
The third ascent of K2 was in 1978, via a new route, the long and corniced Northeast Ridge. The top of the route traversed left across the East Face to avoid a vertical headwall and joined the uppermost part of the Abruzzi route. This ascent was made by an American team, led by James Whittaker; the summit party was Louis Reichardt, Jim Wickwire, John Roskelley, and Rick Ridgeway. Wickwire endured an overnight bivouac about 150 metres (490 ft) below the summit, one of the highest bivouacs in history. This ascent was emotional for the American team, as they saw themselves as completing a task that had been begun by the 1938 team forty years earlier.
Another notable Japanese ascent was that of the difficult North Ridge on the Chinese side of the peak in 1982. A team from the Mountaineering Association of Japan led by Isao Shinkai and Masatsugo Konishi put three members, Naoe Sakashita, Hiroshi Yoshino, and Yukihiro Yanagisawa, on the summit on 14 August. However Yanagisawa fell and died on the descent. Four other members of the team achieved the summit the next day.
The first climber to reach the summit of K2 twice was Czech climber Josef Rakoncaj. Rakoncaj was a member of the 1983 Italian expedition led by Francesco Santon, which made the second successful ascent of the North Ridge (31 July 1983). Three years later, on 5 July 1986, he reached the summit via the Abruzzi Spur (double with Broad Peak West Face solo) as a member of Agostino da Polenza's international expedition.
The first woman to summit K2 was former Pole Wanda Rutkiewicz on 23 June 1986.
In 1986, two Polish expeditions climbed via two new routes, the Magic Line and the Polish Line. This second has not yet been repeated.
In 2004 the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán became the oldest person ever to summit K2, at the age of 65.
The peak has now been climbed by almost all of its ridges. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is a much more difficult and dangerous climb, due in part to its more inclement weather and comparatively greater height from base to peak. The mountain is believed by many to be the world's most difficult and dangerous climb, hence its nickname "the Savage Mountain". It, and the surrounding peaks, have claimed more lives than any others. As of July 2010, only 302 people have completed the ascent,compared with over 2,700 who have ascended Everest. At least 80 (as of September 2010) people have died attempting the climb. Thirteen climbers from several expeditions died in the 1986 K2 Disaster, August 13, 1995 killed six mountaineers, eleven climbers died in the 2008 K2 disaster.

For other people named Muhammad Iqbal, see Muhammad Iqbal (disambiguation).
Muhammad Iqbal
محمد اقبال
Iqbal.jpg
Born     9 November 1877
Sialkot, Punjab, British India
Died     21 April 1938 (aged 60)
Lahore, Punjab, British India
Other names     Allama Iqbal


Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Urdu: محمد اقبال‎) (9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938), widely known as Allama Iqbal (علامہ اقبال), was a philosopher, poet and politician[1] in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literaturewith literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages.Iqbal is admired as a prominent classical poet by Pakistani, Indian, Iranian, and other international scholars of litera Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, Asrar-e-Khudi, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-i-Mashriq and Zabur-i-Ajam. Amongst these his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim and a part of Armughan-e-Hijaz. [5] In Iran and Afghanistan, he is famous as Iqbāl-e Lāhorī (اقبال لاهوری‎) (Iqbal of Lahore), and his poetry enjoys immense popularity among the masses, as well as strong support from ideologues of the Iranian Revolution.  Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his various Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political disputes over the years.
In 1922, he was knighted by King George V, giving him the title "Sir". While studying law and philosophy in England, Iqbal became a member of the London branch of the All India Muslim League. Later, in one of his most famous speeches, Iqbal pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in Northwest India. This took place in his presidential speech in the League's December 1930 session

In much of Southern Asia and Urdu speaking world, Iqbal is regarded as the Shair-e-Mashriq (شاعر مشرق, "Poet of the East").[10][11][12] He is also called Mufakkir-e-Pakistan (مفکر پاکستان, "The Thinker of Pakistan") and Hakeem-ul-Ummat (حکیم الامت, "The Sage of the Ummah"). The Pakistan government officially named him a "national poet".[4] His birthday Yōm-e Welādat-e Muḥammad Iqbāl (یوم ولادت محمد اقبال) or (Iqbal Day) is a public holiday in Pakistan.[13] In India he is also remembered as the author of the popular song Saare Jahaan Se Achcha.

Background

Iqbal was born in Sialkot on 9 November 1877 within the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan). His grandparents were Kashmiri Pandits, the Brahmins of the Sapru clan from Kashmir who converted to Islam.[11][15] In the 19th century, when Sikhs were taking over rule of Kashmir, his grandfather's family migrated to Punjab. Iqbal often mentioned and commemorated about his Kashmiri Pandit Brahmin lineage in his writings.[11]
Allama Iqbal with his son Javed Iqbal in 1930
Mother of Allama Muhammad Iqbal who died on 9 November 1914. Iqbal expressed his feeling of pathos in a poetic form on death

Iqbal's father, Sheikh Noor Muhammad, was a tailor, not formally educated but a religious man.[7][16] Iqbal's mother Imam Bibi was a polite and humble woman who helped the poor and solved the problems of neighbours. She died on 9 November 1914 in Sialkot.[8][15] Iqbal loved his mother, and on her death he expressed his feelings of pathos in a poetic form elegy.[7]

    Who would wait for me anxiously in my native place?

    Who would display restlessness if my letter fails to arrive?
    I will visit thy grave with this complaint:
    Who will now think of me in midnight prayers?
    All thy life thy love served me with devotion—
    When I became fit to serve thee, thou hast departed.qbal was four years old when he was admitted to the mosque for learning the Qur'an, he learned the Arabic language from his teacher Syed Mir Hassan, the head of the madrassa and professor of Arabic language at Scotch Mission College in Sialkot, where Iqbal completed matriculation in 1893. He received Intermediate with the Faculty of Arts diploma from Murray College Sialkot in 1895.[8][11][17] The same year he enrolled Government College Lahore where he qualified for Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, English literature and Arabic as his subjects from Government College Lahore in 1897, and won the Khan Bahadurddin F.S. Jalaluddin medal as he took higher numbers in Arabic class.[8] In 1899, he received Masters of Arts degree from the same college and had the first place in Punjab University, Lahore.[8][11][17]

Iqbal had married three times, in 1895 while studying Bachelor of Arts he had his first marriage with Karim Bibi, the daughter of a Gujarati physician Khan Bahadur Ata Muhammad Khan, through an arranged marriage. They had daughter Miraj Begum and son Aftab Iqbal. Later Iqbal's second marriage was with Sardar Begum mother of Javid Iqbal and third marriage with Mukhtar Begum in December 1914.[8][10]
Iqbal in Spain, 1933
Higher education in Europe

Iqbal was influenced by the teachings of Sir Thomas Arnold, his philosophy teacher at Government college Lahore, Arnold's teachings determined Iqbal to pursue higher education in the West. In 1905, he travelled to England for his higher education. Iqbal qualified for a scholarship from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and obtained Bachelor of Arts in 1906, and in the same year he was called to the bar as a barrister from Lincoln's Inn. In 1907, Iqbal moved to Germany to study doctorate and earned Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich in 1908. Working under the guidance of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published his doctoral thesis in 1908 entitled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia.[11][18][19][20]

During Iqbal's stay in Heidelberg, Germany in 1907 his German teacher Emma Wegenast taught him about Goethe's Faust, Heine and Nietzsche.[21] During his study in Europe, Iqbal began to write poetry in Persian. He prioritized it because he believed he had found an easy way to express his thoughts. He would write continuously in Persian throughout his life.[11]
Academic
Allama Iqbal as Youth in 1899

Iqbal, after completing his Master of Arts degree in 1899, initiated his career as a reader of Arabic at Oriental College and shortly was selected as a junior professor of philosophy at Government College Lahore, where he had also been a student, and worked there until he left for England in 1905. In 1908, Iqbal returned from England and joined the same college again as a professor of philosophy and English literature.[22] At the same period Iqbal began practicing law at Chief Court Lahore, but soon Iqbal quit law practice, and devoted himself in literary works and became an active member of Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam.[8] In 1919, he became the general secretary of the same organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focus on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centered around experiences from his travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson and Goethe.[7][21]

The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal began intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilization and its political future, while embracing Rumi as "his guide".[7] Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of guide in many of his poems. Iqbal's works focus on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilization, and delivering the message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for sociopolitical liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the global Muslim community or the Ummah.[7][23]

Iqbal's poetry has been translated into many European languages, at the time when his work was famous during the early part of the 20th century.[4] Iqbal's Asrar-i-Khudi and Javed Nama were translated into English by R. A. Nicholson and A. J. Arberry respectively.[4][12]
Final years and death
The tomb of Muhammad Iqbal at the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.

In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal had suffered from a mysterious throat illness.[24] He spent his final years helping Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan to establish the Dar ul Islam Trust Institute at Jamalpur estate near Pathankot,[25][26] where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science were plan to be subsidised, and Iqbal also advocated the demand for an independent Muslim state.
Iqbal as a Barrister-at-Law.

Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. In his final years he frequently visited the Dargah of famous Sufi Hazrat Ali Hujwiri in Lahore for spiritual guidance. After suffering for months from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21 April 1938.[5][11] His tomb is located in Hazuri Bagh, the enclosed garden between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort, and official guards are provided by the Government of Pakistan.
A night view of the tomb.

Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the ideological founder of the state. His Tarana-e-Hind is a song that is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony. His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day, a national holiday. Iqbal is the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal Campus Punjab University in Lahore, the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Lahore, Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Open University in Pakistan, the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, the Allama Iqbal hall in Nishtar Medical College in Multan and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi and Allama Iqbal Hall at AMU, India.

The government and public organizations have sponsored the establishment of educational institutions, colleges and schools dedicated to Iqbal, and have established the Iqbal Academy Pakistan to research, teach and preserve the works, literature and philosophy of Iqbal. Allama Iqbal Stamps Society established for the promotion of Iqbaliyat in philately and in other hobbies. His son Javid Iqbal has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Javaid Manzil was the last residence of Allama Iqbal.[27]
Efforts and influences
Political
Further information: Pakistan Movement

While dividing his time between law practice and poetry, Iqbal had remained active in the Muslim League. He did not support Indian involvement in World War I and remained in close touch with Muslim political leaders such as Mohammad Ali Jouhar and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress, which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the centrist group led by Jinnah.[28][unreliable source?][citation needed]
Iqbal with Muslim politicians.
(L to R): M. Iqbal (third), Syed Zafarul Hasan (sixth) at Aligarh Muslim University.

In November 1926, with the encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of 3,177 votes.[29] He supported the constitutional proposals presented by Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights and influence in a coalition with the Congress, and worked with the Aga Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and achieve unity in the Muslim League.[28][unreliable source?][citation needed] While in Lahore he was a friend of Abdul Sattar Ranjoor.[30]
Iqbal, Jinnah and concept of Pakistan

Ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal had also been disillusioned with the politicians of the Muslim League owing to the factional conflict that plagued the League in the 1920s. Discontent with factional leaders like Sir Muhammad Shafi and Sir Fazl-ur-Rahman, Iqbal came to believe that only Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a political leader capable of preserving this unity and fulfilling the League's objectives on Muslim political empowerment. Building a strong, personal correspondence with Jinnah, Iqbal was an influential force in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London, return to India and take charge of the League. Iqbal firmly believed that Jinnah was the only leader capable of drawing Indian Muslims to the League and maintaining party unity before the British and the Congress:

    "I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of India."[31]

While Iqbal espoused the idea of Muslim-majority provinces in 1930, Jinnah would continue to hold talks with the Congress through the decade and only officially embraced the goal of Pakistan in 1940. Some historians postulate that Jinnah always remained hopeful for an agreement with the Congress and never fully desired the partition of India.[32] Iqbal's close correspondence with Jinnah is speculated by some historians as having been responsible for Jinnah's embrace of the idea of Pakistan. Iqbal elucidated to Jinnah his vision of a separate Muslim state in a letter sent on 21 June 1937:
Allama Iqbal in Allahabad with other Muslim leaders

    "A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are."[29]

Iqbal, serving as president of the Punjab Muslim League, criticised Jinnah's political actions, including a political agreement with Punjabi leader Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, whom Iqbal saw as a representative of feudal classes and not committed to Islam as the core political philosophy. Nevertheless, Iqbal worked constantly to encourage Muslim leaders and masses to support Jinnah and the League. Speaking about the political future of Muslims in India, Iqbal said:

    "There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it, our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defense of our national existence.... The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims."[31]

Revival of Islamic polity
Iqbal with Choudhary Rahmat Ali and other Muslim leaders

Iqbal's six English lectures were published first from Lahore in 1930 and then by Oxford University press in 1934 in a book titled The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Which were read at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh.[23] These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a religion as well as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age.[23] In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the political attitudes and conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally misguided, attached to power and without any standing with Muslim masses.

Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence. In his travels to Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, he promoted ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for the shedding of nationalist differences.[7] He also speculated on different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political power; in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British government and with no central Indian government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim provinces in India. Under one Indian union he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims.[29]

Sir Muhammad Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session in Allahabad, in the United Provinces as well as for the session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on 29 December 1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India:[5]

    "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India.[5]

In his speech, Iqbal emphasised that unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the construction of a policy on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim."[33] Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities, but the undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles.

He thus became the first politician to articulate what would become known as the Two-nation theory—that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe a theocracy, even as he rejected secularism and nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League, and he reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during the Third round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces.

He would serve as president of the Punjab Muslim League, and would deliver speeches and publish articles in an attempt to rally Muslims across India as a single political entity. Iqbal consistently criticised feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim politicians averse to the League. Many unnoticed account of Iqbal's frustration toward Congress leadership were also pivotal of visioning the two nation theory.
Copy of the first journal of Tolu-e-Islam.
Patron of The Journal Tolu-e-Islam

Iqbal was the first patron of the historical, political, religious, cultural journal of Muslims of British India. This journal played an important part in the Pakistan movement. The name of this journal is The Journal Tolu-e-Islam. In 1935, according to his instructions, Syed Nazeer Niazi initiated and edited, a journal Tolu-e-Islam[34] named after the famous poem of Iqbal, Tulu'i Islam. He also dedicated the first edition of this journal to Iqbal. For a long time Iqbal wanted a journal to propagate his ideas and the aims and objective of Muslim league. It was Syed Nazeer Niazi, a close friend of his and a regular visitor to him during his last two years, who started this journal.[28]

Later on, this journal was continued[35] by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, who had already contributed many articles in the early editions of this journal.
Literary work
Persian

Iqbal's poetic works are written primarily in Persian rather than Urdu. Among his 12,000 verses of poetry, about 7,000 verses are in Persian. In 1915, he published his first collection of poetry, the Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) in Persian. The poems emphasise the spirit and self from a religious, spiritual perspective. Many critics have called this Iqbal's finest poetic work[36] In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal explains his philosophy of "Khudi," or "Self."[5][7] Iqbal's use of the term "Khudi" is synonymous with the word "Rooh" mentioned in the Quran. "Rooh" is that divine spark which is present in every human being, and was present in Adam, for which God ordered all of the angels to prostrate in front of Adam. One has to make a great journey of transformation to realise that divine spark which Iqbal calls "Khudi".[5]

The same concept was used by Farid ud Din Attar in his "Mantaq-ul-Tair". He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the "Self." Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him, the aim of life is self-realization and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become a vice-regent of God.[23]

In his Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Iqbal seeks to prove the Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact, but once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" outside of society. Also in Persian and published in 1917, this group of poems has as its main themes the ideal community,[23] Islamic ethical and social principles, and the relationship between the individual and society. Although he is true throughout to Islam, Iqbal also recognises the positive analogous aspects of other religions. The Rumuz-e-Bekhudi complements the emphasis on the self in the Asrar-e-Khudi and the two collections are often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-e-Rumuz (Hinting Secrets). It is addressed to the world's Muslims.[23]

Iqbal's 1924 publication, the Payam-e-Mashriq (The Message of the East) is closely connected to the West-östlicher Diwan by the famous German poet Goethe. Goethe bemoans the West having become too materialistic in outlook, and expects the East will provide a message of hope to resuscitate spiritual values. Iqbal styles his work as a reminder to the West of the importance of morality, religion and civilisation by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardour and dynamism. He explains that an individual can never aspire to higher dimensions unless he learns of the nature of spirituality.[23] In his first visit to Afghanistan, he presented his book "Payam-e Mashreq" to King Amanullah Khan in which he admired the liberal movements of Afghanistan against the British Empire. In 1933, he was officially invited to Afghanistan to join the meetings regarding the establishment of Kabul University.[21]

The Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms), published in 1927, includes the poems Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed (Garden of New Secrets) and Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery). In Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed, Iqbal first poses questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern insight, showing how it affects and concerns the world of action. Bandagi Nama denounces slavery by attempting to explain the spirit behind the fine arts of enslaved societies. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future, while emphasising love, enthusiasm and energy to fulfill the ideal life.[23]

Iqbal's 1932 work, the Javed Nama (Book of Javed) is named after and in a manner addressed to his son, who is featured in the poems. It follows the examples of the works of Ibn Arabi and Dante's The Divine Comedy, through mystical and exaggerated depictions across time. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud ("A stream full of life") guided by Rumi, "the master," through various heavens and spheres, and has the honour of approaching divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations. In a passage re-living a historical period, Iqbal condemns the Muslim who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British colonists, and thus delivering their country to the shackles of slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large, and provides guidance to the "new generation."[23]

His love of the Persian language is evident in his works and poetry. He says in one of his poems:[37]

    گرچہ ہندی در عذوبت شکر است[38]

    garche Hindi dar uzūbat shekkar ast

    طرز گفتار دري شيرين تر است

    tarz-e goftar-e Dari shirin tar ast

Translation: Even though in sweetness Hindi* is sugar – (but) speech method in Dari (Persian) is sweeter *
Urdu

Iqbal's Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell), the first collection of Urdu poetry, was published in 1924. It was written in three distinct phases of his life.[23] The poems he wrote up to 1905—(the year Iqbal left for England) reflects patriotism and imagery of nature, that includes the Tarana-e-Hind (The song of India),[21] and another poem Tarana-e-Milli (The song of the Community). The second set of poems from 1905—1908; when Iqbal studied in Europe and dwell upon the nature of European society about whom he emphasised had lost spiritual and religious values, these inspired Iqbal to write poems on the historical and cultural heritage of Islam and Muslim community, with the global perspective. Iqbal urges the entire Muslim community, addressed as the Ummah to define personal, social and political existence by the values and teachings of Islam.[23]

Iqbal work mainly in Persian for a predominant period of his career and after 1930, his works were mainly in Urdu. The works of this period were often specifically directed at the Muslim masses of India, with an even stronger emphasis on Islam and Muslim spiritual and political reawakening. Published in 1935, the Bal-e-Jibril (Wings of Gabriel) is considered by many critics as the finest of Iqbal's Urdu poetry, and was inspired by his visit to Spain, where he visited the monuments and legacy of the kingdom of the Moors. It consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and carries a strong sense of religious passion.[23]

The Pas Cheh Bayed Kard ai Aqwam-e-Sharq (What are we to do, O Nations of the East?) includes the poem Musafir (Traveler). Again, Iqbal depicts Rumi as a character and an exposition of the mysteries of Islamic laws and Sufi perceptions is given. Iqbal laments the dissension and disunity among the Indian Muslims as well as Muslim nations. Musafir is an account of one of Iqbal's journeys to Afghanistan, in which the Pashtun people are counselled to learn the "secret of Islam" and to "build up the self" within themselves.[23] Iqbal's final work was the Armughan-e-Hijaz (The Gift of Hijaz), published posthumously in 1938. The first part contains quatrains in Persian, and the second part contains some poems and epigrams in Urdu. The Persian quatrains convey the impression as though the poet is travelling through the Hijaz in his imagination. Profundity of ideas and intensity of passion are the salient features of these short poems.[23]
Iqbal wearing a bow tie.

Iqbal's vision of mystical experience is clear in one of his Urdu ghazals which was written in London during his days of studying there. Some verses of that ghazal are:[23]

    At last the silent tongue of Hijaz has

    announced to the ardent ear the tiding
    That the covenant which had been given to the
    desert-dwelles is going to be renewed
    vigorously:
    The lion who had emerged from the desert and
    had toppled the Roman Empire is
    As I am told by the angels, about to get up
    again (from his slumbers.)
    You the dwelles of the West, should know that
    the world of God is not a shop (of yours).
    Your imagined pure gold is about to lose it
    standard value (as fixed by you).
    Your civilization will commit suicide with its own daggers.
    For a house built on a fragile bark of wood is not longlasting [23]

English

Iqbal also wrote two books on the topic of The Development of Metaphysics in Persia and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam[23] and many letters in English language, besides his Urdu and Persian literary works. In which, he revealed his thoughts regarding Persian ideology and Islamic Sufism – in particular, his beliefs that Islamic Sufism activates the searching soul to a superior perception of life. He also discussed philosophy, God and the meaning of prayer, human spirit and Muslim culture, as well as other political, social and religious problems.[23]

Iqbal was invited to Cambridge to participate in the conference in 1931, where he expressed his views to students and other audience.[23]

    "I would like to offer a few pieces of advice to the youngmen who are at present studying at Cambridge. ... I advise you to guard against atheism and materialism. The biggest blunder made by Europe was the separation of Church and State. This deprived their culture of moral soul and diverted it to the atheistic materialism. I had twenty-five years ago seen through the drawbacks of this civilization and therefore had made some prophecies. They had been delivered by my tongue although I did not quite understand them. This happened in 1907. ... After six or seven years, my prophecies came true, word by word. The European war of 1914 was an outcome of the aforesaid mistakes made by the European nations in the separation of the Church and the State".

Iqbal known in subcontinent
As Poet of the East
Allama Iqbal(In the Doctorate of Literature) after the conferment of this Degree by the University of the Punjab in 1933

Iqbal has been recognised and quoted as "Poet of the East" by academics and institutions and media.

The Vice Chancellor, Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr. Masoom Yasinzai described in a seminar as chief guest addressing to distinguished gathering of educationists and intellectuals,that Iqbal is not a poet of the East only, actually he is a universal poet. Moreover, Iqbal is not restricted to any specific segment of the world community but he is for the entire humanity.    "Yet it should also be born in mind that whilst dedicating his Eastern Divan to Goethe, the cultural icon par excellence, Iqbal's Payam-i-Mashriq constituted both a reply as well as a corrective to the Western Divan of Goethe. For by stylising himself as the representative of the East, Iqbal's endeavour was to talk on equal terms to Goethe as the representative of West."
Iqbal's revolutionary works through his poetry awakened the Muslims of the subcontinent. Iqbal was confident that the Muslims had long been suppressed by the colonial enlargement and growth of the West. In this concept Iqbal is recognised as the "Poet of the East".

    So to conclude, let me cite Annemarie Schimmel in Gabriel's Wing who lauds Iqbal's 'unique way of weaving a grand tapestry of thought from eastern and western yarns' (p. xv), a creative activity which, to cite my own volume Revisioning Iqbal, endows Muhammad Iqbal with the stature of a "universalist poet" and thinker whose principal aim was to explore mitigating alternative discourses with a view to constructing a bridge between the 'East' and the 'West' .
Urdu world is very familiar Iqbal as the "Poet of the East".[48] Iqbal is also called Muffakir-e-Pakistan (مفکر پاکستان, "The Thinker of Pakistan") and Hakeem-ul-Ummat (حکیم الامت, "The Sage of the Ummah"). The Pakistan government officially named him a "national poet".[4]
International influence
Iqbal in Iran

Iqbal’s “Asrare-i-Khudi” and famous “Bal-i-Jibreel” enjoy mass popularity in Iran and are taken as a way of life, while many scholars in Iran have recognized the importance of Iqbal's poetry in inspiring and sustaining the Iranian Revolution of 1979.[49] During the early phases of the revolutionary movement, it was a common thing to see people gathering in a park or corner to listen to someone reciting Iqbal’s blood-warming Persian poetry, that is why people of all ages in Iran today are familiar with at least some of his poetry, notably "Az-zabur-e-Ajam". [50]

Key Iranian thinkers and leaders who were influenced by Iqbal's poetry during the rise of the Iranian revolution include Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shariati, and Abdolkarim Soroush; although much of the revolutionary guard was intimately familiar with numerous verses of Iqbal's body of poetry. [51] In fact, at the inauguration of the First Iqbal Summit in Tehran (1986), The Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that in its 'conviction that the Quran and Islam are to be made the basis of all revolutions and movements', Iran was 'exactly following the path that was shown to us by Iqbal'. Ali Shariati, who has been described as a core ideologue for the Iranian Revolution, described Iqbal as a figure who brought a message of "rejuvination", "awakening" and "power" to the Muslim World.Iqbal and the West
Name plate of a street Iqbal-Ufer, Heidelberg, Germany, honoured in the name of Iqbal.
The Iqbal Plaque was inaugurated by Naela Chohan in the Plaza de Pakistan, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2012)

Iqbal's views on the Western world were applauded by men including United States Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas, who said that Iqbal's beliefs had "universal appeal". In his Soviet biography N. P. Anikoy wrote:

    [Iqbal is] great for his passionate condemnation of weak will and passiveness, his angry protest against inequality, discrimination and oppression in all forms i.e., economic, social, political, national, racial, religious, etc., his preaching of optimism, an active attitude towards life and man's high purpose in the world, in a word, he is great for his assertion of the noble ideals and principles of humanism, democracy, peace and friendship among peoples.

Others, including Wilfred Cantwell Smith, stated that with Iqbal's anti-capitalist holdings he was 'anti-intellect', because "capitalism fosters intellect". Professor Freeland Abbot objected to Iqbal's views saying that Iqbal's view of the West was based on the role of imperialism and Iqbal was not immersed enough in Western culture to learn about the various benefits of the modern democracies, economic practices and science.[54] Critics of Abbot's viewpoint note that Iqbal was raised and educated in European way of life, and spent enough time there to grasp the general concepts of Western civilisation.