Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1873-1938) was not only amongst the leading political figures of his time, but regarded by many as the spiritual father of Pakistan and a great champion of the reform movement of modern Islam. He was also a poet, in both Urdu and Persian. The recurrent theme of his poems is the infinite potentiality of man, as partner with God in shaping the destiny of the universe. As an ardent Muslim, Iqbal saw the realization of mankindâe(tm)s future in a union of Islamic peoples, unfettered by the bonds of separate nationhood, fully liberated from the chains of imperial domination. The Javid-nama, commonly acknowledged as his greatest work, develops this theme within the frame-work of the âe~Ascensionâe(tm) story. In imitation of the Prophet of Islam, the poet soars through the spheres, encountering on his heavenly journey many great figures of history with whom he converses. The resemblance to Danteâe(tm)s Divine Comedy is obvious.

Excellent bibliographical work about Allama Muhammad Iqbal in the Arabic scripts (Urdu, Persian, Arabic and so on) has been published by the Iqbal Academy, Lahore. Our publication covers only what appeared in the Roman script: English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Czech, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Turkish, and Russian. Many books have some kind of bibliographical list, and we have tried to include all that material in the present publication. With the generous support of the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan, the Iqbal Foundation Europe at the KULeuven, Belgium, has endeavoured to combine meticulous and patient work in libraries with the most modern search on internet. The result is an impressive tribute to Iqbal and to the research about him: 2500 entries, the latest entry dated 1998 (A. Schimmel). Even if many superfluous or repetitive articles may have been published, a researcher should look at even small contributions: they may contain valuable information and rare insights. The databank we compiled at the university of Leuven is composed of material taken from published works and from the on-line services of the major university libraries. From this it appeared that hundreds of scholars and authors have contributed to the immense databank about Iqbal. The highest number of contributions is by Annemarie Schimmel, S.A. Vahid and B.A. Dar, followed by A. Bausani, K.A. Waheed, A.J. Arberry and so many others.

Zinda Rud, a questioner, is led by the master Rumi through the heavens, "Meeting those who cannot be seen, and those who are long gone. The worlds of spirit and matter combine, leading the poet into the presence of the Divine..." -- Cover, p. [4]