Maulana Azad - An Indian and Musalman

  • Aditya Krishna

One of India’s phenomenal freedom fighters and the first Education Minister of independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was extremely proud of his two identities: one a Musalman and the other Indian. In the age where Narendra Modi’s government is trying to separate Muslim identity from the Indian identity, Azad’s words ring loud and true. ‘Meri tasveerke ye naqshzara gaur se dekh/Is meineikdaurkitariknazaraayegi (Look intently at the tracings on my picture/ You will see etchings of a bygone year)’.

Azad’s father, Maulana Khairuddin, believed in old ways of life. He was wary of western education and critical of madrasas in Calcutta; hence, the Arabic scholar decided to teach Quran to his son at home. Later, he appointed eminent teachers for different subjects. From thereon, Azad developed an interest in Quran, which became an integral part of his intellectual cogitation, even though his range of study extended well beyond theology’.

Professor Muhammad Mujib (former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia) stated, ‘The Quran inspired all his thinking’.

Azad’s universalist and humanitarian approach to life came from his interpretation of Islam. Hence, in 1913, in an edition in his journal ‘Al Hillal’, he wrote, ‘Islam does not command narrow mindedness and racial and religious prejudice. It does not make the recognition of merit and virtue, of human benevolence, mercy and love dependent upon and subject to distinctions of religion and race. It teaches us to respect every man who is good, whatever his religion’.

How perfect a scholar and interpreter of Islam he was is described by noted Western scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who mentions that ‘Azad is a thoroughly profound scholar of Islam, his scholarship being liberal in best sense... His Islam is Humanitarian’...

If Islam gave him an impetus for values of universalism, acceptance and humanitarianism, the life of Prophet Muhammad taught him Hindu–Muslim unity. In 1921, citing the example of the Prophet, he asked Muslims to build partnership with Hindus. ‘When the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina, he prepared a covenant between the Muslims and the Jew of Medina. In the covenant it was mentioned that ultimately the Muslims and the Non-Muslims would become one nation (Ummah Vahidah). ‘Ummah’ means quam or nation, ‘vahidah’ means one. Thus, if I say that the Muslims of India cannot perform their duty unless they are united with the Hindus, it is in accordance with the tradition of the Prophet who himself wanted to make a nation of Muslims and Non-Muslims’.

However, the patriot Azad was wary of Muslim politics. He wanted them to fight against the imperialism, but after suppressing Muslims in 1857, a Hindu intelligentsia rose in the country. This led the British toward using Muslims against Hindus by giving them concession. Azad mentions in ‘India Wins Freedom’ that Banfield Fuller (Lieutenant Governor) saw ‘Muslim community as his favourite wife’. Therefore, Azad warned Muslims that ‘a day will come when... the bonds of slavery would have been slashed by the winds of freedom. At that time do you realize what would be written about the Muslims? It would be inscribed that there was an ill-fated community that served.....for the pleasure of the foreigners’.

He asked Muslims to not be afraid of Hindus and embrace them as neighbours.

The new phase of Azad’s life began after his release from internment in Ranchi in 1920. He was externed under the Defence of India Regulations in 1916. Earlier, his journals were also banned.

After his release from the prison, he met Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi. The Hindu–Muslim partnership of Gandhi appealed to him and nonviolent protests reminded him of Leo Tolstoy.

Soon, Azad began enchanting the crowds with his oration during the Non-Cooperation Movement. Though the face of the movement was Maulana Mohammad Ali, Azad also gained prominence. Azad understood the importance of religion, but he was also aware of its downside. In a conversation with Mahadev Desai, he opined, ‘The power of religion is limitless. ...If the power of religion is not handled by the right persons, there will be tremendous harm’.

During the Non-Cooperation Movement, he was imprisoned, and Azad didn’t defend himself, but he submitted a statement which he called Qaul-e-faisal or The Final Verdict. Azad’s statement reflected courage and conviction. He said, “Certainly I said that the present government is a tyrant. What else could I say? If I am convinced that this government is evil, I cannot pray for its long life.” Mahatma Gandhi called the statement ‘the most forceful and truthful statement offered by a Satyagrahi’. Azad, after coming out of the jail, became the bridge between the no-changers and pro-changers and prevented a split in the Congress. Due to his mediation, both sides agreed for his presidentship. He was the youngest in the Congress’ history to be rendered with this honour. The session was held in Delhi and as President, he indicated his secular values in with following enthralling words: ‘If an angel descends from the heavens today and proclaims from the QutbMinar that India can attain Swaraj within 24 hours provided I relinquish my demand for Hindu-Muslim unity, I shall retort to it: ‘No my friend, I shall give up Swaraj, but not Hindu-Muslim unity, for if Swaraj is delayed, it will be a loss for India, but if Hindu-Muslim unity is lost, it will be a loss for the whole of mankind’. India, post-1924, saw series of riots. Azad supported Gandhi’s bid to bring peace among Hindus and Muslims. Azad by now was very critical of narrow sectarian views of the Muslim league. He emphasized the ‘Broad-minded patriotism’ and opposed the ‘Communalism’ of the League.

When Mahatma Gandhi called for Civil-Disobedience, Azad participated in it wholeheartedly. He was arrested in the movement and was imprisoned in Meerut. He was again incarcerated in Delhi after the fall of Gandhi’s talk in London. With the death of Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Azad’s role in Congress increased immensely. In the meantime, Azad also completed Tarjuman, which was a translation and commentary on 18 of the 30 chapters of Quran. The battle between Indianness and Muslimness sparked with the rise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1937. Jinnah in 1940 advocated for the ‘Two-Nation Theory,’ as he believed that Muslims had no future in India. Azad was one of the first to counter it. With this, he became the victim of some of the most brazen abuses from the League, case in point being Jinnah calling him the ‘Muslim Showboy of the Congress’.

With the growth of the League, Congress looked at Azad. He became the Congress President at a very critical juncture. Speaking at Ramgarh few days before the League’s official demand for Pakistan, Azad delivered one of his greatest speeches. He talked of Indianness and Muslimness because he saw no difference in them. ‘I am a Musalman and proud of the fact. Islam’s splendid traditions of thirteen hundred years are my inheritance. I am unwilling to lose even the smallest part of this inheritance. In addition, I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality. I am indispensable to this noble edifice. Without me this splendid structure of India is incomplete. I am an essential element which has gone to build India. I can never surrender this claim.

It was India’s historic destiny that many human races and cultures and religions should flow to her, and that many a caravan should find rest here. . . . One of the last of these caravans was that of the followers of Islam. This came here and settled here for good. We brought our treasures with us, and India too was full of the riches of her own precious heritage. We gave her what she needed most, the most precious of gifts from Islam’s treasury, the message of human equality. Full eleven centuries have passed by since then. Islam has now as great a claim on the soil of India as Hinduism.

Everything bears the stamp of our joint endeavour. Our languages were different, but we grew to use a common language. Our manners and customs were dissimilar, but they produced a new synthesis. Our old dress may be seen only in ancient pictures . . . No fantasy or artificial scheming to separate and divide can break this unity’.

Soon, the golden boy of the Freedom Struggle was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement. During this time, the League under Jinnah made strong inroads, but Azad never surrendered the claim that Muslims are not an indispensable part of India.

Partition traumatized Azad. He could never overcome the grief. He asked Muslims to stay back and gave a rousing speech at Jama Masjid. ‘Behold the minarets of this mosque bend down to ask you where you have mislaid the pages of your history! It was but yesterday that your caravan alighted on the banks of the Jamuna. . . .

How is it that you feel afraid of living here today in this Delhi, which has been nurtured by your blood?’

Freedom also brought responsibility, and the task of building Independent India was huge. Six months after the Independence, the country faced another blow with the death of Mahatma Gandhi. Azad, with Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, Chakravarty Rajgopalachari, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and others, played a very important role in the crucial years of Independence and the formation of the Constitution.

He held the portfolio of Education for more than a decade. Azad’s presence in the Cabinet gave lots of security to the Muslims, who lost a lot after the riots. To whole of India, Azad gave India’s premier institutions like Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Indian Institute of Technology, University Grants Commission, Sahitya Akademi, Sangeet NatakAkademi and Lalit Kala Kendra, to name a few. Though less of a politician and more of a scholar, he successfully defied the opposition against English education. He, along with Jawaharlal Nehru, strongly advocated for women’s education. He died on 22 February, 1958, at the age of 70. Jawaharlal Nehru, his ‘friend and comrade’, announced rightly, “Aajhamara Mir-e-Karavanchalagaya (today we have lost the leader of our caravan)’.