Syed Sadiq Husain

Almost nothing of Syed Sadiq Husain's life survives in the open record, and we will not invent what is not there. He is remembered for one thing, and it is enough to earn him a place here: he is credited as the true author of 'tundi-e-baad-e-mukhalif se na ghabra ai uqab' — the soaring couplet to the eagle that is quoted, in textbooks and speeches and across the internet, as Allama Iqbal's.

It is not Iqbal's. The misattribution is so settled that correcting it can feel almost rude — which is exactly why this shelf exists. Keeping Sadiq Husain's name attached to his own line is a small act of justice for a poet the world has otherwise forgotten while loving his work.