The first person who had the idea of a separate state was not Allama Iqbal as is reckoned generally. He only forwarded the theory onwards in his speech in 1930. It was a prevailing idea that has its origins in United Provinces of Indian. People like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and others had thought about a separate state there much earlier. From 1901 onwards, many other Muslim scholars had also been proposing the idea of a separate Muslim state within the subcontinent.Choudhary Rahmat Ali later proposed the name Pakistan in his Pakistan Declaration in 1933. People like Muhammad Ali Jinnah maintained their belief in religious unity. Religious hostilities between Hindus and Muslims gave the movement a stronger backing.