Iqbal's parents as remembered in his works

See also Chapter 44, 'Mother' in The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality

Iqbal’s father was Sheikh Nur Muhammad (c.1837-1930) and mother was Imam Bibi (died 1914). Both have been immortalized through notable mention in the writings of their son.

Sheikh Nur Muhammad did not go to school but was well-versed in Sufism through non-formal education. He also initiated Iqbal into the Qadiriyyah Order. In Secrets and Mysteries, Iqbal narrates an anecdote where Nur Muhammad urged him in an unusual manner to behave kindly to a poor beggar (see Chapter 26 in A Novel of Reality).

He is also quoted anonymously in the seventh lecture, ‘Is Religion Possible?’, in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1930/34), “As in the words of a Muslim Sufi – ‘no understand¬ing of the Holy Book is possible until it is actually re-vealed to the believer just as it was revealed to the Prophet.’”

Imam Bibi died on November 9, 1914. Around this time, Iqbal was busy completing the first installment of Secrets and Mysteries, which was finally sent to the printer in August next year. ‘In the Memory of the Late Mother’ was written soon after that and remains one of the best obituaries in the world literature (see Chapter 44 in A Novel of Reality).