Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad

Media History

“These two countries [India and Pakistan] will now focus on the military and

society will not develop,” predicted Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad in a well-

known speech in Delhi.

Maulana’s Political Ideology Maulana Azad’s views earned him a

contentious status in both India and Pakistan.

Many Pakistanis consider his ideas of secularism and nationalism to be against Islam.

In India, he is also criticized by many for not doing enough to prevent partition.

Maulana’s Political Ideology Not only did he criticize partition, he went

on to condemn all those who played a role in the historic events of August 1947.

He questioned whether Jinnah could actually be a Muslim leader, citing his westernized lifestyle.

He ridiculed Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence.

Maulana’s Political Ideology He opposed Nehru’s biased attitude

towards Indian Muslims and denounced his relationship with Lady Mountbatten.

His basic argument against partition is that it would be a major loss to Muslims on both sides.

On the Indian side, Muslims would lose their majaority.

Maulana’s Political Ideology On Pakistan’s side, the Muslim population

would not be able to compete with India nor would it be able to solve the issues of Indian Muslims.

He believed that partition would give birth to two states that would always be in confrontation with each other.

Maulana’s Early Life Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born in

Mecca in 1888 and lived there till he was about seven.

His father Khairuddin, a scholar-sufi and pir originally from Calcutta, was persuaded by his disciples to return to that city.

Under his strict father, Azad continued his Islamic studies.

Maulana’s Early Life Though he resented the restrictive and

authoritarian manner in which this syllabus was taught.

Therefore, on his own, Azad furtively cultivated a taste for Urdu and Persian literature and even learnt to play the sitar.

He got an astonishing memory and encyclopedic information.

Maulana’s Early Life He was eager to write biography of Ghazali

when he was only twelve. Two years later, he began to contribute

learned articles to Makhzan, the best-known literary magazine of the day.

When Shams-ul-Ulama Shibli Nomani met him, he was so much impressed by his intellectual skills that he took Azad to Lucknow

Maulana’s Early Life He made him prominent in national circles

by offering him editorship of Al-Nadva. In 1906, he became the editor of a very

popular biweekly, Vakil of Amritsar. By the time he was thirteen, Azad was

disillusioned with his Islamic training due to modernist writings of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

Maulana’s Early Life He fell into a phase of atheism which, according

to him, lasted from the age of 14 to 22. During his later teenage years he came into

close contact with the Hindu revolutionaries of Bengal.

A combination of brief travel to the Middle East and his Arabic reading also exposed him more deeply to the reformist ideas of Sheikh Abduh of Egypt and the uncompromising nationalism and anti-imperialism of Mustafa Kamil Pasha.

Maulana’s Career But his faithlessness in religion came to an end

in 1910 when an emotional/mystical experience renewed his faith in religion.

Azad’s career really began to take-off in 1912 with the appearance of his Urdu journal Al-Hilal. Equipped with literary pursuit, breathtaking language and auxiliary attractions the journal simultaneously meant to preach ‘pure’ Islam and Indian independence.

Maulana’s Career Through his unique style, Azad sought to bring

Indian Muslims onto the platform of the freedom movement and to work in cooperation with Hindus.

Despite his earlier admiration for Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Azad was then a harsh critic of the loyalist politics of Aligarh University.

Though the journal was ambiguous about specific methods of cooperation and post-Independence political arrangements.

Maulana’s Career Maulana had been partial to sentiments of

Hindu-Muslim unity from the very beginning of his life.

His journal was viewed as seditious when suddenly World War I broke out in Europe.

He was expelled from Bengal and interned in Ranchi for three and a half years.

It was during this period that he wrote his well-known commentary on the opening Surah of Al-Quran.

Maulana’s Career A few weeks after his release, for the first time

he met Mr. Gandhi in Delhi and became the first prominent Muslim in India to associate himself with Mr. Gandhi and his plan of non-cooperation.

In 1920 the Indian Muslims were extremely disturbed by the British government’s handling of the Turkish empire and the Khilafat during the War.

Maulana’s Career In consultation with Azad, Gandhi persuaded the

Congress to make the demand for the protection of the Khilafat a part of the national demand for freedom.

In 1921 Azad was again arrested. When he was released in 1923, the country was passing through a strong wave of communal rioting.

He became an active member on the Congress stage. Though he continued his efforts to bring various Muslim organizations in line with Congress.

Maulana’s Career In 1928 serious differences arose between the

Congress and organizations like the Muslim League and the Khilafat Conference over the Nehru report.

Azad was forced to break ties with the latter two organizations.

In 1930, the Congress declared complete independence as the goal of the national movement, and civil disobedience continued in vigor following Gandhi’s famous Salt March

Maulana’s Career Azad was imprisoned twice in a row during this

period, and then released in 1936 along with the other Congress leaders.

It was during these periods of imprisonment that the Maulana was able to complete the first edition of his famous Tarjuman al-Quran, his Urdu translation and commentary on the Quran.

Maulana’s Career Maulana Abul Kalam Azad articulated an Islam

that was hospitable towards other forms of monotheism, especially Hinduism, and which placed emphasis on commonly held rules of righteous conduct.

Though it was a landmark effort to inject a liberal ethos into Islam, the Tarjuman al-Quran was unable to receive the overwhelming impact he hoped it would

Maulana’s Career in 1939 he was elected President of the

Congress. His presidential address at the Ramgarh

session of the Congress in 1940 occurred just a few days before the Muslim League’s historic Pakistan Resolution.

It was negation of the two-nation theory and articulated his oft-repeated ideology of secular nationalism.

Maulana’s Career Azad was severely criticized by influential

Muslim political leaders as well as so many religious and modern educated classes who earlier in his career had adored him and his revivalist ideas.

Azad was imprisoned for a fifth time in 1940, following a limited campaign of civil disobedience, and released a year later.

Maulana’s Career By 1942, and following the more comprehensive

Quit India Movement, he, along with the other Congress leaders, was once again imprisoned.

He was released in 1946 and continued to be the president of the All India National Congress throughout the War years.

During his presidency, he tried to persuade the Congress to make some concessions and come to terms with the Muslim League to avoid division of India

Maulana’s Career The Maulana reluctantly relinquished the Congress

presidency in 1946, hoping that this would open an avenue between the Congress and the League.

He kept out of the coalition government formed that year, but in 1947, at Gandhi’s urging he became Minister of Education.

Though, like Gandhi, he was forced to accept Partition, he could never reconcile himself to it and was rather heartbroken by the event and its bloody aftermath.

Maulana’s Career After partition, he held the post of Minister of

Education of India for ten years. Though he was not a particularly effective

administrator, he did perform some important services such as cultivating technical, adult, and women’s education, and an academy of literature, as well as opposing the ejection of English as a national language.

He was a great literary figure and essentially a thinker and the chief exponent of Wahdat-i-deen or the essential oneness of all religions

Maulana’s Career Among his works Ghubar-i-Khatir is considered

not only his masterpiece but also an illustration of great Urdu literature.

He died in 1958 of a stroke and was buried in a dignified corner near Jamia Masjid in Old Delhi.

Towards Pakistan and her leaders, the attitude of Maulana Azad remained dignified and statesmanlike.

“Now that it has come into existence, everybody’s interest lies in its being strong and stable’.”