Justice (R) Dr. Javid Iqbal (Sr.), Hilal-e-Imtiaz, (b. 1924) (Javed Iqbal or Javaid Iqbal), is an eminent scholar , Former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is the son of the poet-philosopher Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. He was appointed Chairman of the Pakistan Press Council on November 10th 2007 by President Musharraf.
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Education and career
Javid Iqbal received the following educational degrees and distinctions: BA (Hon.) in 1944 from the Government College, Lahore, MA in English, and MA in Philosophy (Gold Medalist) in 1948, Punjab' PhD in Philosophy in 1954 from the University of Cambridge, UK, Barrister-at-Law, Lincoln's Inn, London, in 1956. He has received honorary doctorates from Villanova University, USA, and Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. He began as an advocate in Lahore High Court, and later became a judge and Chief Justice of this court. He was also a judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Elected member, Senate of Pakistan (Upper House of Parliament). He has published papers on Islamic political thought, political ideology in Pakistan and the philosophy of Iqbal which were published in national and international journals. He is also a scholar on the thoughts and works of his father. During 1960-62 and in 1977, he was the delegate of Pakistan to the United Nations General Assembly. He has argued in favour of reforms in the Hudud laws of Pakistan. He is married to Nasira Iqbal, a retired Lahore High Court Judge.
Iqbal on his Son
Iqbal named one of his books, Javid Nama, after his son. Iqbal also wrote many poems on Javed Iqbal, indirectly addressing the Muslim youth. Here is an excerpt from the translation of Bal-i-Jibril (Gabriel's Wing) TO JAVID
(On Receiving His First Letter From London)
Create a place for thyself in the world of love;
Create a new age, new days, and new nights.
If God grant thee an eye for nature’s beauty,
Converse with the silence of flowers; respond to their love.
Do not be beholden to the West’s artisans,
Seek thy sustenance in what thy land affords.
My ghazal is the essence of my life-blood,
Create thy elixir of life out ‘of this essence.
My way of life is poverty, not the pursuit of wealth;
Barter not thy Selfhood; win a name in adversity.[1]
Works
His publications include the following:
- Ideology of Pakistan (1959)
- Stray Reflections: A Note-Book of Iqbal (1961)
- Legacy of Quaid-e-Azam (1968, published in English and Urdu)
- Mai Lala Faam (1968, collection of papers on Iqbal, in Urdu)
- Zinda Rood (1984, biography of Iqbal in three volumes, in Urdu)
- Afkare-Iqbal (1994, interpretation of Iqbal's thought)
- Pakistan and the Islamic Liberal Movement (1994).
- Jahan-I Javed : darame, Afsane, Maqale
- Islam and Pakistan's Identity
- The Concept of State in Islam : A Reassessment
- Apna Greban Chaak, (autobiography)
