Iqbal's Youth: Man of Khudi

The concept of the khudi (the self, individual ego or human personality) is the bedrock of Iqbal’s philosophy, and his “main contribution to the thought of his times.” In fact, it is one of the two concepts that is fundamental enough that he devotes a separate chapter to it in his seminal prose work, The Reconstruction of religious thought in Islam; (the other concept is the existence of God, and is also treated separately in its own chapter).

In Iqbal’s view, strengthening the individual ego is the ultimate aim of life; if the human personality is rationally directed action, to live is to act, to be passive is to die. Such an understanding of the human personality implies a standard of good and evil: all that strengthens the directive purpose, leading to and controlling actions, is good; all that weakens it is evil. However, this preceding statement—that all that strengthens the self is good; all that weakens it is evil—in itself implies some interaction between this ‘all’ and the ‘self’; moreover it implies that this interaction affects the self in decisive ways.

“Iqbal’s philosophy began with the individual and ended with it”—not just one individual in one community, but all individuals in all communities.

Here are some of his Verses about "Self" i.e "Khudi" supporting nojwan:

“You behold the world but you do not behold your own self. How long will you remain sitting (wrapped) in ignorance.”
“You should enlighten the night with divine light in you. You are the hand of Moses but hidden in the sleeve.”
“You should set your foot out of the boundaries of the circling world. You are older than it, you are greater than it.”
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----------urdu-------------

“If you say that “I” is mere illusion – an
appearance among appearances. Then tell me who
is the subject of this illusion?”
Look within and discover
The world is visible.
Not even the intellect of an angel can
comprehend it;

The “I” is invisible and needs no proof. Think
awhile and see thine own secret.
The “I” is truth, it is no illusion.
Do not think self to be a field
without yield.
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“Far, far from every other, go, with the one friend
upon the road,
Seek thou of God, thyself to know
And seek in selfhood for thy God”.
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“Self comes to be on account of the Supreme Being. Self’s manifestation depends on His manifestation. I do not know how could this glittering jewel have emerged without the Sea”.
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The man of strong character who is master of himself
will find fortune complaisant.
....
He will dig up the foundations of the universe
and cast its atoms into a new mould.
He will subvert the course of Time
And wreck the azure firmament.
By his own strength he will produce
A new world which will do his pleasure.
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----------urdu-----------
“To name body and soul separately is the requirement of speech. But to see (know) body and soul as separate entities is hereby.”
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A drop of dew on the tip of a rose branch
Was shining like the tear in a nightingale’s eye
Distressed by the heat a bird arrived under the rose branch
The dewdrop trickled into its mouth
As the bird, as if fainting with thirst
It sustained its life by taking some one else’s life
Do not neglect preservation of your Khudâ even for a moment
Become a crystal of diamond and not a drop of dew