Iqbal (1877–1938) enjoys a pivotal position in Urdu literature. While utilizing the classical tradition of Urdu poetry, Iqbal inverts it to lay the foundation of a new philosophy and a world system. Iqbal also enjoys wide popularity in the Urdu-speaking world. Claims to his inheritance have been laid by varied sections, from left-leaning progressives to right-wing ultra-nationalists. At the same time, Iqbal’s legacy is equally contested as to what his ideas represent. The Progressive Writer’s Movement threw an array of literary critics into the Urdu fold. However, despite the apparent agreement on the social purposiveness of literature, these critics differed greatly as to what this maxim meant, how it was to be fleshed out, and how works of literature were to be judged through it. Since Iqbal remained such an important figure in the Urdu literary world, progressive critics engaged widely with his work. A high degree of difference was also to be seen in their approach to reading Iqbal. In the current paper, I wish to study this divergent approach through the writings of three early progressive critics—Akhtar Hussain Raipuri (1912–1992), Aziz Ahmad (1913–1978), and Ali Sardar Jafari (1913–2000)—which captures the broad progressive spectrum in reading Iqbal. The paper attempts to take a critical view of the diverse criticism and arrive at a theoretical conclusion concerning the expansive nature of Iqbal’s provocative aesthetics as a ground bearer for the latter-day progressives.