The Concept of Self – The thought of Allama Iqbal and Abraham Maslow

Abstract

Allama Iqbal's concepts, especially the concept of self, need to be studied in detail in the light of modern scientific research. Allama Iqbal's concept of self is not just a concept but it is the foundation that reaches the level of perfection and a man of faith. In other words, the writings of Allama Iqbal describe self-education and lead to the character of an ideal believer. When there is a gap between the ideal self and the real self, it creates self-distortion. The human personality remains balanced and develops healthily only when there is moderation, balance and transparency between the real self and the ideal self. In this case a person can never be dishonest. He cannot have a duplicitous and hypocritical personality. The more honest and transparent a person is, the more self-actualized he will be and the stronger his self-esteem will be. When Abraham Maslow presented the concept of Hierarchy of needs, he divided human needs into five parts and kept the three needs at the lowest level, which are basically the physical or material needs of the human being. When we create self-esteem in the new generation, prepare our new generation to act on their potential by giving them their sense, recognition and understanding through self-actualization, then they will have the awareness that one cannot achieve great heights and leadership positions in the world without transparency and steadfastly standing by one's core values.