This lecture centers poetry as a form of Islamic knowledge in colonial modernity. It will explore how poems were created in ways that connected religious knowledge with literary expression at a critical juncture for Islamic ethics in the late colonial period. Through the example of Urdu and Persian poet Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat argues that Iqbal viewed the Islamic poetic process as essential to shaping a strong intellectual tradition. This talk will also highlight how religious elements, such as scripture, divine presence, etiquette, cosmology and pious attachments, played an important role in the formation of modern intellectual traditions.