Intellectual Similarities of Iqbal and Seamus Heaney

اقبال اور شیمس ہینی کی فکری مماثلتیں

Abstract

This comparative study explores the intellectual and poetic parallels between Allama Iqbal, a seminal philosopher poet of the Muslim world, and Seamus Heaney, a Nobel laureate poet from Ireland. Though emerging from distinct linguistic, cultural, and historical backgrounds. Iqbal from colonial British India and Heaney from a politically divided, postcolonial Ireland both poets present a profound engagement with themes of identity, resistance, spirituality, and cultural memory. The research investigates how both poets respond to colonial oppression through a poetic reclamation of selfhood: Iqbal through his concept of khudi (selfhood) and Islamic revivalism, and Heaney through his evocation of Irish rural life, language, and history. Their poetry articulates a collective consciousness rooted in historical suffering, but striving towards liberation, human dignity, and cultural resilience. Both poets deploy language not merely as a vehicle of expression but as a tool of intellectual and political empowerment. Their works reflect a moral imagination that critiques sectarianism, social injustice, and intellectual stagnation. Through intertextual analysis of selected poems, the article highlights how Iqbal and Heaney converge in advocating ethical action, spiritual awakening, and universal values of justice, freedom, and brotherhood. This study thus positions Iqbal and Heaney as voices of conscience and poetic resistance within the broader landscape of postcolonial literature.