Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Muhammad Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal edit

Hi All - I know that there may be some copyediting needed, but I request your support in making this an FA. I request that you point out any problems so we may fix them asap. Rama's Arrow 01:02, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Strong support. This is an amazingly informative and well written article about a subject which, unfortunately, I did not previously know enough about.--Alabamaboy 01:13, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support I've read the article end to end and feel that it's a well-sourced article with good prose. -- Sundar ^{\talk \contribs} 06:50, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Tentative Support -- Haven't read it fully yet, but have skimmed through it, and at least there are no stylistic issues. I can see myself supporting it more strongly once I finish reading it. I have a question right now: The box at the bottom reads: "Muhammad Iqbal - The poet-philosopher of Islam". Is there a notable person who gave him this title? deeptrivia (talk) 18:56, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, no notable person, but perhaps it is officially recognized in Pakistan, where Iqbal has many titles. Rama's Arrow 18:57, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It can be improved by reducing links to solitary years. In this case there is only one: '1926'. A monobook tool allows this to be done with one click on a 'dates' tab in edit mode. You can then accept or reject the changes offered and/or do more editing before pressing 'Save'. Simply copy the entire contents of User:Bobblewik/monobook.js to your own monobook. Then follow the instructions in your monobook to clear the cache (i.e. press Ctrl-Shift-R in Firefox, or Ctrl-F5 in IE) before it will work. Hope that helps. bobblewik 19:50, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: Copy editing needed. Here are some from the first section alone:

"It is believed that Iqbal's family were originally Hindu Brahmins, but became Muslim following his ancestor Sahaj Ram Sapru's conversion to Islam, but this explanation is disputed by some scholars." -- not really cool to have two "but"s in the same sentence.
"One of five children, Iqbal's father Shaikh Nur Muhammad was a prosperous tailor, well-known for his devotion to Islam." -- Is Iqbal one of five or is his father?
"His potential as a poet and writer was recognized by one of his tutors Sayyid Mir Hassan, and Iqbal would continue to study under him at the Scotch Mission College, Sialkot" -- Is this last word a location? Then it needs to be expanded upon. Something like "Scotch Mission College, located in Sialkot"
"Iqbal travelled to Germany to pursue a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich in 1907, under the supervision of Friedrich Hommel, with a thesis titled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia" -- This time, it's pretty obvious who the thesis belongs to, but there probably is an easier way to get the point across

More referencing would probably also serve this article well. Sample statements that I believe need it, again from the first section:

"Despite having a large family, Iqbal and his wife were unhappy in their marriage."
"He was appointed to a readership in Arabic at the Oriental College in Lahore, and over the next few years became well known as a poet, as well as writing his first book in Urdu, The Knowledge of Economics (1903)." -- How do we know he was well known?
"Although it is not believed that there was an affair, Iqbal was very fond of her and grew to love her."

Overall, it is a good article, and I don't think there's far to go before it meets my interpretation of FA status. I'll withhold a vote for now. Themillofkeytone 19:59, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Your points have been addressed accordingly. Rama's Arrow 23:13, 28 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Support However there are some issues. Some of the smaller bits I've fixed myself.

The introductory sentence is very waffly and long. Also, the bit "...who is one of the most prominent and highly-regarded for his poetic..." doesn't make sense. One of the most prominent what?
Article is not consistent when it comes to using 'ise' or 'ize' and American or British spellings! This article should use Indian spelling conventions.
Some of the references are not properly formatted and some of the web links aren't using cite templates. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 00:47, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think I've addressed all your points. Rama's Arrow 00:58, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Strong Support Wow, what a beautiful written article on Iqbal! Amazing Job. FAO 04:52 29 June 2006 (UTC)
Support Can't see any problems, really. I have some slight reservations about the number of references taken from the Government of Pakistan's website, but since the article seems in no way POV and there are plenty of other refernces this really isn't an issue. A great example of how Wikipedia teaches you about stuff you never knew about. Sabine's Sunbird talk 05:32, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Just a quick couple of comments:

The title of the infobox at the bottom of the page is Muhammad Iqbal - The poet-philosopher of Islam. The intro offers a few similar nicknames, but I don't see rationale for this title. Did I miss something, or is the title perhaps a little POV?
The criticism section starts off praising Muhammad Iqbal before any criticism is offered. Again, this is coming off as a little POV to me. Same problems with the second paragraph of the same section. Cheers --darkliight^[πalk] 11:40, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Weak Support I've noticed that there is inconsistant referencing... some references used the "a b c d" format, while others are repeated several times. Please pick one style and stick to it. Themillofkeytone 15:06, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed the reference issues as well as tweaked the criticism section. Rama's Arrow 19:56, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment The translation of the person's name overlaps the date of his birth. Harryboyles 00:06, 30 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Support. A well-balanced article satisfying all FA criteria. — Ambuj Saxena (talk) 09:51, 30 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Object. The article is poorly written. It is difficult to pin down Iqbal as either progressive or regressive. Paragraphs citing his quotations and conclusions should be realigned chronologically to put them in context. I think it is fair to assume that he was secular before WW1 (evident from Saara Jahan Se Acha) but after the breakup of Ottoman Empire, he began to move decisively towards mainataining status quo under Anglo administration. Also please mind the typos (like dissention, law practise).

Contradicting statements like these have to be avoided: Historians also suggest that Iqbal was also indirectly asserting that secularism as a guiding principle for government and communal relations was a mistake and must be abandoned by the Muslim polity. Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence. Anwar 14:33, 30 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Your points have been addressed. Rama's Arrow 23:49, 30 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Object. Per Above- User: Arniep

Support. --Spasage 06:08, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support, looks good. Always wanted to know abt Iqbal's relation with Jinnah - this throws great light on the issue. One minor concern is that the "Indian" in the very second line of the article should not go to a disambig page - it should probly lead to India. --Gurubrahma 09:33, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support - The Indian word has been reverted, re reverted many times... Infact the only reason I had refrained from supporting till now is that the article seemed to be going through many disagreements since its FAC. Guess they've all been sorted by now. Overall a very informative article -- Lost 09:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support---Dwaipayan (talk) 10:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Samir धर्म 02:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]