Allama Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877 in Sialkot. He was born on a Friday according to the Islamic calendar of Zi Qad 1294. His father's name was Sufi Noor Muhammad and his mother died in November 1914. Iqbal started writing poetry in the late 1890s. He received his Bar-at-Law degree in 1903 and went to Germany for his PhD. Iqbal returned to Pakistan from Europe in 1908.