Iqbal's first book of poetry in Urdu, Bang-i-Dara (1924), was followed by Bal-i-Jibril in 1935 and Zarb-i-Kalim in 1936.

It consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and advises the nurturing of the vision and intellect necessary to foster sincerity and firm belief in the heart of the ummah and turn its members into true believers.

[1] Some of the verses had been written when Iqbal visited Britain, Italy, Palestine, France, Spain and Afghanistan, including one of Iqbal's best known poems The Mosque of Cordoba.

[citation needed] The work contains 15 ghazals addressed to God and 61 ghazals and 22 quatrains dealing with ego, faith, love, knowledge, the intellect and freedom.

Iqbal recalls the past glory of Muslims as he deals with contemporary political problems.