Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
143. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad - 2
By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
The Khilafat Movement attracted scholars, politicians, mullahs and the common folk. Maulana Azad worked with Maulana Muhammed Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan and others to rally the Muslim community and exert pressure on the British government to back off from its attempts to eliminate the Khilafat. It was during this period that the Maulana met Gandhi and was attracted by his non-cooperation methods. Gandhi saw in the Khilafat movement a golden opportunity to weld Hindus and Muslims into a grand coalition for the independence of India and was accordingly chosen by the Khilafat committee as its leader. Maulana Azad wrote:
“As far as its relationship (the relationship of the Khilafat movement) with a national issue is concerned, it can be said that its movers were certain well-wishers. I take the name of Mahatma Gandhi who was the first and most honorable well-wisher who supported this movement.”
The Maulana remained loyal to Gandhi throughout his life, even when he disagreed with him. The Khilafat movement fizzled out when Gandhi pulled the plug on it after the violence at Chauri Chaura. It died when the Turkish parliament abandoned the Khilafat in 1924. Azad defended Gandhi’s decision to call off the Khilafat Movement:
“Gentlemen! In every national struggle, where there are many memorable moments, there is also a mention of some error. These errors are as if they are a natural part of the process. I am convinced that the decision about Barawali was one such error in our struggle….”
It must be stated in passing that Jinnah opposed the Khilafat movement on the grounds that the injection of religion into politics would open a Pandora’s box of religious sentiments that would be hard to control and would allow the regressive, conservative elements to hijack the independence struggle. History proved Jinnah was right. The Khilafat movement provided the genesis of partition. It is a paradox of history that Jinnah, a secular nationalist and a champion of communal harmony, finally ended up as the architect of a separate state of Pakistan while those who championed Muslim rights during the Khilafat movement eventually ended up opposing it.
Maulana Azad dedicated his journalistic skills to the welfare of his country and his community; never did he attempt to profit from it. In the first edition of Al Hilal he wrote:
“We have entered this arena not to gain profit but to look for hardship and loss. We do not ask for praise and tribute; we are seekers of dislike and criticism. We do not seek flowers of comfort and opulence but the thorns of pangs and disequilibrium…”
His was a clarion call to his countrymen and his community to wake up, throw off the foreign yoke and work together for the common good. He wrote in Al Hilal:
“I wish I could get the breath of the Judgment Day, which I would take to the mountain tops, and with one single clarion call wake up those who are caught up in the shadows of stupor and asleep in ignominy, and would have shouted out aloud: Wake up! You have slept too long! Wake up because your Creator wants to wake you up and bestow upon you life in place of death, progress in place of decay, honor in place of dishonor.”
The Maulana was a man of vision. When disputes about Hindi-Urdu arose in the pre-partition era, he recommended with the sagacity of a wise sage that Hindustani be written in the Roman script, as is modern Turkish, so that a contentious issue would become a source of cohesion, not discord. No one listened. Today, when you see Hindi and Urdu billboards in Lahore, Mumbai and Bangalore written in the Roman script, you appreciate how far sighted the Maulana was. It was the same far sightedness that shows up when he started the IITs as education minister in the Nehru cabinet, a decision that paved the way for the transformation of India into a technological powerhouse in the 21 st century.
The Maulana’s vision was not limited to the borders of his own country or the confines of his own community. It embraced all of humanity. Mohammed Hamid Ali Khan quotes Asif Ali: “Tolerance to him did not mean religious tolerance. He believed in the absolute right of individual to differ and hold whatever opinion he believed to be correct”
He believed not just in the unity of Hindus and Muslims but in the brotherhood of man. In this he had his firm anchor in his religious beliefs:
“The greatest tragedy for humankind and a confirmation of its rejection of its divine nature is that it forgot the universal relationship of its creation but instead established its relationships on the basis of plots of land and divisions of lineage. The earth that was made for love and mutual support was made a stage for mutual differences and quarrels. But Islam is the first voice in the world which sent an invitation for universal brotherhood and unity not on the basis of divisions erected by humankind but on the basis of the Unity of God who is to be worshiped and served.”
The eloquence of this testimony and the conviction of the soul behind it are unmatched in Urdu literature, or for that matter, in any literature. The greatest tribute to this towering personality is the consistency of his character and his unswerving loyalty to the cause of communal harmony and to Gandhi. He was a giant in the shadows of other giants but whereas others winced at times of trial, the Maulana was unswerving in his vision. History is a witness that Gandhi blinked when making his fateful decision about partition and even campaigned for it during the final vote of the Congress Working Committee on the issue in 1946; Nehru flipped under the persuasion of lady Mountbatten; Jinnah changed from a secular nationalist to an ardent champion of Pakistan.
Not Maulana Azad! His unshakeable belief in the brotherhood of man, his conviction in the unity of all of his countrymen-Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis- his loyalty to Gandhi and Nehru even when they made an about-face about partition, his generosity to his erstwhile detractors, his selfless service to his nation –stand out in stark contrast to the opportunism that so often characterized men of his turbulent times. It is this steadfastness borne out of conviction and faith that endows his writings and his person with a universal, timeless character.
References
Khutububat e Azad , Malik Ram, Sahitya Academy, Delhi, 1967.
India Wins Freedom , Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Longmans, Green and Company, London, New York, Toronto, 1960
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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