Book promotions of "Message from the East" and "Gabriel's Wing" was held on Tuesday in Bosniak Institute Sarajevo on the occasion of the 75th year of the demise of prominent scholar Muhammad Iqbal.
Promoters were professors in University of Sarajevo - Zehra Alispahic, Ismet Busatlic, Enes Karic, Dzemaludin Latic and Hilmo Neimarlija.
Bosnian professors said that he was a "thinker who have researched East and West civilizations in depth".
Ismet Busatlic, from Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Sarajevo, said that faculty runs the department for Muhammad Iqbal studies.
He stressed that Iqbal was a very respected thinker and scholar whose works were studied in many European universities.
"Main message of his thoughts is that Muslims should renew their tradition in accordance with the time they live in," he said, adding that Iqbal always wanted to see Muslims making more influence in all fields of life.
Enes Karic reminded that Iqbal was fascinated by science, knowledge and philosophy of western civilizations.
"As classical Muslim scholars studied Greeks and their science, Iqbal studied Europe of his time and its thinkers and philosophers. It is evident in his work where he clearly shows citations from European philosophers of his time," said Karic adding that Iqbal tried to link western thinking with eastern spirit.
Professor Latic said that Iqbal was compared to European thinkers - Dante and Goethe.
Muhammad Iqbal (1877- 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal, was a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages.
His vision of independent country for Muslims in India under the British administration inspired leaders of Muslim League and his people to establish Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1947.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
