Maulana Abul Kalam Azad - His Passion For Freedom and Communal Harmony By Asghar Ali Engineer November

16-30, 2011) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a unique Islamic personality of great Islamic schola rship, patriotism and passion for communal harmony. However, it is highly regret table that his services to the country have almost been forgotten. From new gene ration school or even college going students I doubt even one percent would know him and his achievements. I, therefore, heartily welcomed when in a recent meet ing of General body of Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla whose chairman is cu rrently Prof. Mungekar, also a Rajya Sabha member, suggested that like Ambedkar a summer school be held for Maulana Azad also for college teachers so that they may be acquainted with Maulanas personality and achievements. In fact such summer schools for leaders like Maulana Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and others are o verdue, particularly about Maulana Azad whose sacrifices for the country and its freedom are second to none. Eleventh November 2011 was the Maulanas birthday and this year Government of Indi a also remembered him and schools were asked to celebrate Maulanas birthday as it is also education day. However, due to Diwali vacations students had not return ed from their native places and hence response was rather poor. Maulana was son of Maulana Khairuddin of Calcutta (now Kolkata) who was highly r espected Aalim and had thousands of disciples. He had married an Arab woman from Mecca and Maulana was born there during Maulana Khairuddins stay there. Thus in a way Arabic was his mother tongue and Maulana had great command over it. He wa s brought up in orthodox Islamic tradition and his father wanted him to succeed him. If he had accepted this offer he also would have had large number of discip les and would have been highly influential like his father. But the Maulana came under the influence of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and read his wri tings avidly. However, he was highly independent minded and soon distanced himse lf from Sir Syeds emphasis on loyalty to the British Empire though he accepted hi s views on modernity and modern education. Maulana was passionately committed to Indias freedom and tried to join the underground movement in Bengal but unfortun ately those underground leaders thought a Muslim is not fit for joining it. For Maulana patriotism was an Islamic duty as the Prophet (PBUH) is reported have said that love of ones country is part of ones faith (iman). And this country demanded its freedom from foreign slavery and thus he considered it duty to free his country from British slavery. Thus he plunged into freedom ement from very young age. He became Congress President at a very young age, haps he was the youngest president of the Congress party. to love of his mov per

He, like Gandhi Ji, knew Hindu-Muslim unity was very necessary for freedom of In dia. Thus when he became President of the Congress in Ramgarh session of the Con gress, he, in his presidential address concluded his speech by saying that even i f an angle descends from heaven with a gift of freedom for India from Allah I wo uld not accept it until there is Hindu-Muslim unity as loss of Indias freedom is loss of India but loss of Hindu-Muslim unity is loss of entire humanity. These are very profound words and for Maulana this was not mere rhetoric but was his deep commitment on the basis of his understanding of the Quran. Maulanas taf sir (commentary) of the Quran which he wrote in early twenties during his Ranchi incarceration and is considered as great contribution to tafsir literature from Indian subcontinent.

He has devoted the first volume of his tafsir (he could not complete it due to h is highly busy political schedule and he had to write it all over again as the B ritish police destroyed his earlier manuscript) to what he calls Wahdat-e-din i. e. unity of religion. Maulana had deep conviction, as we find from his tafsir ab out unity of all religions and he has shown achievements of his scholarship on e xpanding this concept in his tafsir and that is why his pronouncement about Hind u-Muslim unity was not mere political rhetoric, much less opportunism, but a dee p religious conviction. Maulana was a great statesman and though he was great supporter of the Khilafat movement he was first to discard it when Kamal Pasha staged a coup in Turkey and removed the Khalifas from power and declared the institution of Khilafat as an outdated one. He also welcomed modern reforms of Ata Turk and advised Muslims to give up efforts for protecting institution of Khilafat which Turkish leaders th emselves had disowned. Maulana also opposed Jinnahs demand for one-third representation for Muslims in p arliament in when the Nehru Committee Report came for discussion before the Cong ress Session of 1928. He argued that in democracy no community can be given over representation and as for minority rights, Constitution can take care of them t hrough special provisions as the Indian Constitution did by providing for Articl es 25 to 30. Maulana always took long term vision and never fell for cheap popul arity. Azad did not agree with Jawaharlal Nehru on denying two cabinet seats to Muslim League in 1937 in U.P. as Muslim League lost in that election very badly. Maulan a Azad advised Nehru to take two ministers nominated by Muslim League as refusal to take them will have long term adverse fall out and the Maulana proved right. Jinnah became furious and began to denounce the Congress government as the Hindu Government which will never give justice to Muslims. If Nehru had accepted Maulanas advice perhaps country could have been saved from partition though Nehru had his own reasons to deny two cabinet seats to Muslim L eague as he wanted to give Congress Muslims more representation. But Maulana tho ught otherwise on the basis of practical politics. Maulana always thought of fut ure implications and not mere immediate consequences. Nehru and Azad were not merely good friends but had deep respect for each other. Nehru has paid glorious tributes to Maulana for his scholarship and mastery ove r several languages. Maulanas knowledge of other religions was also very deep and profound. His commitment to womens rights was as if he lived today. It is well k nown that Muslim theologians generally do not support gender equality and want w omen to be confined to home. Maulana was one of the exceptions. He translated the book published in Arabic in Egypt Al-Mirat al-Muslimah i.e. The Muslim Woman which stands for gender equality and summarises the debate which w as taking place in Egypt on womens rights and Azad chose to translate this book a s he was in favour of gender equality. It is important to note that he commented on the verse 2:228 that this is revolutionary declaration of gender equality mor e than 1300 years ago (Maulana was writing in 1920s). The only two other noted theologians who stood for gender equality from Indian s ub-continent were Maulvi Mumtaz Ali Khan who was colleague of Sir Syed Ahmed Kha n and Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani who died recently in Karachi. Both were eminent theologians and were uncompromising in upholding gender equality. Maulvi Mumtaz Ali Khan wrote a book Huquq al-Niswan (Rights of women) and Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani wrote Fiqh al-Quran (Quranic Jurisprudence) in 8 volumes elaborately arguin g for gender equality in Quran.

Maulana also had clearly predicted what is happening today in Pakistan. First, i t is important to note that like his conviction about Hindu-Muslim unity, it was also Maulanas strong conviction that it would be wrong to divide India on religi ous ground. One who loves ones country can never divide it. Also, he knew that wh en democracy begins functional it has to take care of rights of minorities and M uslims were no mean minority. They were more than 25% before partition and today , if the country would not have been divided, they would have been more than 33% . Maulana had predicted that today if Muslims think Hindus are their enemy tomorro w when Pakistan comes into existence, and there will be no Hindus they would fig ht among themselves along regional, ethnic and sectarian lines. He had clearly t old this to some members of Muslim League who came to meet him before leaving fo r Pakistan. This is what is happening today in Pakistan. Not only sectarianism has grown religious extremism is at its apex. Killing has become common and everyday affair. When religion is associated with politics, hi story of all religions show, power becomes far more important than religion and religious values. Power becomes goal and religion a mere instrument. Maulana kne w this very well and that is why he was far more inclined towards a secular demo cratic polity than religious one. However, Maulana could not prevail and save country from partition as powerful v ested interests like feudal lords from U.P. and Bihar and Muslim middle classes (afraid that they may not get services or quick promotions) on one hand, and, th e British imperial interests, on the other, were bent upon dividing the country. Source: Centre for Study of Society and Secularism URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicPersonalities_1.aspx?ArticleID=593 0

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COMMENTS 11/17/2011 8:22:09 PM Aiman Reyaz Truly a great man Maulana Azad was. Some of his ideas stand the test of time and can and should be used in the contemporary world. At one point of the Indian Fr eedom Movement, he was considered a kafir because he did not join the Muslim Lea gue, the so-called Muslims Pary. He was constantly referred as a pawn of the Con gress(Hindu) Party. We should congratulate this man for his firm detremination a nd conviction in trying to build Hindu-Muslim unity.

11/17/2011 1:15:04 PM Raihan Nezami Maulana Abul Kalam Mohiyuddin Ahmed (Urdu: ) was an Indi the Indian independence movement, who lived from 11 November 1888 22 February 19 58. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unit y, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. But he grew disillusioned with Islamic teachings and was inspired by the modern views of Muslim educationa list Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who had promoted rationalism. Increasingly doubtful of religious dogma, Azad entered a period of self-described "atheism" and "sinfuln ess" that lasted for almost a decade. His family descended from a line of eminent Ulema or scholars of Islam. His moth er was of Arab descent, the daughter of Shaikh Muhammad Zahir Watri, and his fat

her, Maulana Khairuddin lived with his family in the Bengal region until he left India during the First Indian War of Independence and settled in Mecca, the hol iest city in Islam, where he met his wife. He mastered several languages, includ ing Pashtu Urdu, Arabic, Hindko, [[Persian and English language Persian]], Bangl a and Hindi. He was also trained in Hanafifiqh, Sharia, mathematics, philosophy, world history and science by reputed tutors hired by his family. He was one of the main organizers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in1931, and emerged as one of th e most important national leaders of the time, prominently leading the causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as espousing secularism and socialism. He had grown increasingly hostile to Jinnah, who had described him as the Muslim Lord Haw-Haw" and a "Congress Show boy."Despite being a learned scholar of Islam and a Maulana, he had been assailed by Muslim religious leaders for his commitm ent to nationalism and secularism which were deemed un-Islamic. Muslim League po liticians accused Azad of allowing Muslims to be culturally and politically domi nated by Hindu community. Amidst communal turmoil during the partition of India, he worked for religious harmony and continued to proclaim his faith in Hindu-Mu slim unity. "I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is India n nationality. I am indispensable to this noble edifice and without me this sple ndid structure is incomplete. I am an essential element, which has gone to build India. I can never surrender this claim." Following India s independence, he became first Minister of Education in the Ind ian government. He is also known for having predicted the future military rule a nd partition of Pakistan before its independence. He was posthumously awarded In dias highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad; he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing the education foundation of India is recognized by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.