The Allahabad Address (Urdu: خطبہ الہ آباد) was a speech by scholar, Sir Muhammad Iqbal, one of the best-known in Pakistani history. It was delivered by Iqbal during the 21st annual session of the All-India Muslim League, on the afternoon of Monday, 29 December 1930, at Allahabad in United Provinces (U. P.). In this address Iqbal outlined a vision of independent states for the great Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India, thus becoming the first politician to articulate what would become known as the Two-nation theory—that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India.

Allama Iqbal defined the Muslims of India as a nation and suggested that there could be no possibility of peace in the country unless and until they were recognised as a nation and under a federal system, the Muslim majority units were given the same privileges which were to be given to the Hindu majority units. It was the only way in which both the Muslims and the Hindus could prosper in accordance with their respective cultural values. In his speech, he emphasised that unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the construction of a policy on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim."

Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities but the undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe a theocracy, even as he rejected secularism and nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League, and he reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during the Third Round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces.

The Hindu-Muslim question had great importance and stood crucial to British Indian history after 1857, especially in the 20th century. But the key issue for Muslims remained "separate identity." On several occasions and addresses, the issue gets highlighted that the Muslims are a separate nation with different culture and civilisation, interests and rights. The Two-Nation Theory was not accepted by the Muslims, Hindus and the British peoples because they believed in "territorial nationalism". The Congress' perspective of the Hindu-Muslim relationship was that any perceived rift was the product of British divide and rule policy. For Muslims it was the core issue as it related to their culture, civilisation, heritage and the type of arrangement that were to be ratified in the future political and constitutional arrangements of India.

The idea of a separate homeland was based on many issues, the first of which being a perceived decline and degeneration of Muslims. Most of the Muslim world became the colonies of European states, thus rendering the Industrial Revolution and development of science and technology a preserve of the European nations. More specific to the Muslims of South Asia was that that of being in a minority, thus lending greater impetus to the need for cultural preservation.

The first phase pertains to the pre-1905 period, before delivering the address Iqbal addresses the factors for the decline of the Muslims and he tries to focus on Indian nationality, nationhood or Indian unity. Iqbal explained about resolving differences in his book Bang-i-Dara and writes Tarānah-i-Hindī and Naya Shawala to reunite Muslims with Hindus.

The second phase pertains the period from 1905 to 1908. Iqbal spent these years in Europe, during his higher education and in Germany at Munich University for PhD. His stay in England helps to crystallise his ideas. Iqbal appreciated certain things in the West, for example, the quest for knowledge, their efforts for innovation and change. Iqbal was critical of materialism, capitalism and competition an unrestricted and unlimited competition that was undermining the society and it is during this period that he began to think philosophically and scientifically about the Muslims and he emphasised on the importance of spiritualism in one's life.

The third phase occurs when Iqbal comes back to India after his education. Here, his exclusive attention and focus were on the Muslim. He talked about the centrality of Islam, the question of submission to God, Oneness of God, He emphasised in his writings prose as well as poetry, and he discussed the Prophet Muhammad's role as the ideal leader as the leader that the Muslims should strive to follow. However, his focus was primarily on Muslims of the subcontinent when he dealt with the political or the constitutional issues of India. Iqbal was given the title of "Sir" in 1922 in recognition of his intellectual work. In 1927 Iqbal was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council, and thus served in the council for the next little over two years (from 1927 to 1930).