Hai Preet Jahan ki reet sada/ main geet wahan ki gaata hoon/ Jise maan chooki saari duniya/ Main baat wahi duhrata hoon/ Bharat ka rahnewala hoon/ Bharat ki baat sunata hoon
I have chosen to start my commentary with the famous lyric of the movie “Upkar”; the song is very meaningful and has clearly defined the whereabouts of our nation… “Hai Preet Jahan ki Reet Sada” a nation where people live with love, happiness and coordination and not hatred; there is no difference between black and white, poor and rich, and Hindus and Muslims (a major community). But nowadays some evil eyes have captured the mind and soul of the citizens and love-sharing people have changed into blood-sucking vampire.
This radical change of mindset has made me repeat the elapsed history where Hindus and Muslims together had struggled for the freedom of my father’s land, Bharat. I specifically used “Bharat, my father’s land” because our country was originally named after its very own King “Bharata” as mentioned in the Vedic scriptures and the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. The followers of evil eyes changed the gender of my nation from “Bharat” to “Bharat Mata”. Leaving it here only, I am coming to my main subject “Role of Muslims in Freedom Struggle”.
Before narrating the freedom struggle’s missing history, I would like to give brief background on our country. How did our country become a multi-religious and multi-lingual nation? What we see nowadays is that many countries are investing in various Indian companies or opening their own companies here for trade and business. In ancient times too, people from all over the world were keen to come to Bharat for trade, education or simply for enjoyment of environment here. Aryans, Persian, Mughals, Portuguese, French, Chinese and many other peoples came and settle down in various princely states. During the regime of Mughals Bharat came under one leadership or one flag. Before Mughals our nation had been divided in too many small princely states and each princely state was busy fighting with each other. Mughals were the people who united our nation and developed it for nearly 800 years. Still we are getting revenue from the monuments constructed during the rule of Mughals.
The British arrived in Bharat in the early 1600s and soon established trading posts in a number of cities under the control of The East India Company. The first sword raised against the British was in 1688-90, a war took place between the Mughals under Aurangzeb and the English East India Company. Aurangzeb had actually defeated the English, seized their trading rights and possessions and almost drove them out of India. But then he changed his mind as the English apologised and negotiated for peace.
Soon after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707 the Mughal dynasty became weak and once again powerful states were parting themselves from the banner of Mughals. This gave invitation to the East India Company to expand their business and bring small princely states under the rule of British colonial system.
SIRAJ UD-DAULAH
Mirza Muhammad Siraj ud-Daulah, commonly known as Siraj ud-Daulah (Nawab of Bengal) was the First Martyr of Bharat. Siraj ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal princely state, was the first Muslim ruler who realised the menace latent in the British expansion and tried to check it in its inception. The additional fortification of Calcutta (now Kolkata) by the British ‘provoked the Nawab’s wrath’. He marched to Calcutta and captured Fort William in 1756. Due to the great betrayal by his unfaithful General Mir Jafar and a group of rich financers under the leadership of Big Banker Jagat Seth, Siraj ud-Daulah was defeated in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. However, he stood in the annals of history as the first Muslim ruler who challenged the expansionist trends of the British and tried to avert the danger to the nation. After the Battle of Plassey, Nawab Mir Qasim fought the British heroically and was defeated at Buxar in 1764. The successes in these battles led the British to capture the states of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
TIPU SULTAN
Sayyid wal Shareef Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, commonly known as Tipu Sultan, (The Tiger of Bharat -Mysore), was the Innovator of the world’s first war rocket.
Tipu Sultan was the first Muslim ruler, who warned the primary rulers (Mughals, Marathas and other princely states) against the British colonial system. A prince with foresight, he enthused the primary rulers to give up their destructive infighting to defend the country from the attack of British imperialists. He continued the struggle initiated by his father Hyder Ali against the British rulers. He addressed letters to the rulers, explaining the true colours of colonial rulers and their well laid out plans to devour the country. If the primary rulers had lent full support to Tipu Sultan, we would not have remained as rulers here, was the statement of a British General Arthur Wellesley, after the martyrdom of Tipu Sultan in the battlefield of the fourth Mysore war. This shows the importance of Tipu Sultan’s resistance and foresight. He died on the battlefield on May 4, 1799. The people of Mysore acclaimed him as the Tiger of Mysore. It was only after the death of Tipu Sultan, that the British Army officer General Harris could declare that, from today Bharat is ours. This shows how Tipu Sultan had proved to be a great obstacle in the way of the British. There was no other hero for the next half a century, who firmly challenged the British after the martyrdom of Tipu Sultan.
FAKIR-SANYASI REVOLT
Muslim Fakirs of Bengal unfurled the first flag of revolt, roughly 100 years before the First War of India’s Independence. The British who were getting some hold over the affairs of primary rulers were conspiring to loot the wealth, and trying to get control all over Bengal. Around 1763 for the first time Muslim fakirs revolted against the East India Company under the able leadership of Majnu Shah Fakir. Sanyasi leaders like Bhawani Pathak supported Fakirs’ revolt against the company and its stooges. The first and foremost combined revolt of Muslim Fakirs and Hindu Sanyasis against the British was called Fakir-Sanyasi Revolt. After the death of Majnu Shah Fakir, leaders like Musa Shah, Chirag Ali, Nurul Muhammad, etc. led these struggles.
FARAIZI MOVEMENT
The Faraizi Movement had disturbed the pace of British plan in the initial stages of its expansion in India. The Faraizi movement of Syed Ahmed Barelvi was the most organised one. He appealed to all Hindus and Muslims to overthrow the British and thus he was killed at Balakot in 1831. Abdul Aziz, Muhammed Mohashin, Inayat Ali, Vilayat Ali, Peer Ali, etc. played a leading role in this glorious movement. The prince of Nizam estate, Mubarijddaulah, the brother of the Nawab, also joined hands in Deccan. In spite of several conspiracy cases, trials and severe punishments, they continued their struggle. Thus Fakirs and Faraizis became the forerunners of people’s struggles against the British for India’s independence. And daring and dashing characters of these struggles left behind an inspiring legacy of a heroic and sustained struggle against the British and also became a model for the formation of a well-knit all-India political organisation
BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR
Mirza Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar was the Leader of 1857 Ghadar, “a Revolt against the British Empire”.
1857 Ghadar, a famous war for independence, was the continuation of the campaign by Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi. Since 1857 Muslims Madrasas and Masjids have been targeted and labelled as terrorist spots after various fatwas for jihad (call for war as religious obligation for Muslims) issued against the British Empire. Still the supporters of British Empire label Madrasas and Masjids as the terrorist spots because of the fear of 1857 Revolt still alive in their minds as they know that if Ulema issue fatwa against injustice, a revolution like 1857 can take place. This was the first united War of Independence under the leadership of last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in which Hindu and Muslim Nawabs and Rajas came together to fight. It is also known as “Sepoy Munity” as many Sepoys in the British Army also joined hands against the colonial raj. In this struggle Muslim Women like Begum Hazrat Mahal, Begum Azizun, Begum Habeeba, Begum Rahima, Begum Asghari and many more women participated. The number of Muslims executed only in Delhi during 1857-58 was 27,000. During this revolt, Asghari Begum (mother of Qazi Abdur Rahim, the revolutionary of Thana Bhawan, Muzaffarnagar) fought against the British and was burnt alive when defeated. It was estimated that about 225 Muslim women sacrificed their lives in the revolt. Thus there is a long list of Muslim Patriots who bravely faced the British Army in 1857; this list includes Lawyers, Editors, Rulers, Ulema, Moulvis, Teachers and many more.
The British rulers were very much afraid of the unity exhibited by Indians against them and felt that it would be a danger for them. Hence, they decided to break this unity in the name of religion and were successful in it. Due to these some princely state rulers like Rajasthani princes, Sikh princes and Maratha rulers, the Scindias withdrew themselves from the revolt and allowed the British to prevail. Lord Canning comments “The princes acted as the breakwaters to the storm which otherwise would have swept us in one great wave.”
The revolt of 1857 was failed against British imperialists. Muslims were made prime targets of British tyranny; approximately 52000 Ulema (moulvis, imams, and muftis) were martyred. Edward Timus confessed that in Delhi alone 500 Ulema were hanged to death. The Muslims were debarred from lucrative government jobs and were ejected from all other gainful occupations; their trade was ruined and endowments, from which their schools were maintained, were confiscated. This attitude towards the Muslims continued to be the keystone of Policy in Bharat for a quite long time and it is still followed. We are still paying the price of these revolts; divide-and-rule policy of the British has shaken the unity in the name of religion. For this purpose British historians and officers like Elliot, Dawson, Malcolm, Briggs, Elphistone were engaged and they were directed to write the books that could set the mind of the people against the each other (Hindu-Muslim).
JUSTICE BADRUDDIN TAYYABJI
The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, led the National Movement. In this historical movement, from the beginning to the end, Muslims played their due role in each and every agitation. Badruddin Tayabji and Rahamtulla Sayani served as presidents of the Indian National Congress. Affluent Muslims like Mir Humayun Kabir donated Five thousand rupees and leaders like Ali Bhimji toured across the country to strengthen the INC. Later eminent leaders like Dr. Ansari and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad became presidents of the Indian National Congress and various personalities like Maulana Shibli Nomani, Maulana Mohammed Ali, Syed Mohammed, Justice Badruddin Taybji, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Syed Hasan Imam, etc. chaired the All India National Congress sessions held at various placers. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the president of INC twice, first in 1923 when he was 35 years old and again in 1940.
LAL RESHMI RUMAL TEHRIK
In 1913, once again Ulema put their efforts to free Bharat from the British Empire. The movement was a plan to mobilise the support of the Khilafat (Muslim government spread in gulf, Europe, Turkey and Afghanistan) to invade Bharat and simultaneously organise a revolt within Bharat to overthrow the British Empire. Obaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Mahmood Hasan were two important leaders of this Movement. In August 1916, some letters written on lal reshmi rumal fell into British hands. Hence term “Lal Reshmi Rumal”. In 1915, Obaidullah Sindhi shifted his activities to Afghanistan and Maulana Mahmood Hasan went to Hejaz (Saudi Arabia). Obaidullah Sindhi established contact with the Ghadar Party leaders and the provisional Government of Azad Hind was proclaimed in Kabul. The seizure of these letters by the British and the repressive measures the British Empire took as a follow-up resulted in a serious setback to the movement. Maulana and other associates were arrested and sent to jail.
Kakori Conspiracy of 1925 was a train assault against the British imperialism that took place between Kakori and Lucknow on 9 August 1925. The robbery was organised by the Hindustan Republican Association. This organisation was established to carry out revolutionary activities against the British Imperialism. Since the organisation needed money for the purchase of the weaponry, the party decided to loot a train. The plan was executed by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Chandrasekhar Azad and team members of the Hindustan Republican Association. They looted that specific train because train was supposed to carry the money-bags belonging to the British Government Treasury in the guard’s cabin; they looted only these bags containing some 8,000 Rupees and escaped to Lucknow. The British administration started an intense manhunt and arrested several of the revolutionaries. Their leader, Ram Prasad Bismil, was arrested at Saharanpur on 26 September 1925, and his lieutenant, Ashfaqullah Khan, was arrested ten months later at Delhi. Following the arrest of Ashfaqullah Khan, the police tried to make him provide evidence against his accomplices but he refused. Another supplementary case was filed against Ashfaqullah Khan in the court of Special Sessions Judge. On 16 September 1927, the final mercy appeal was forwarded to Privy Council at London and to the British King through a famous lawyer of England S.L. Polak but the British Government, who had already decided to hang them, sent their final decision to the India office of Viceroy that all the four (Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqullah Khan) condemned prisoners were to be hanged till death by 19 December 1927 positively.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad leaned towards the revolutionary movement in the early phase of his political life. He founded a revolutionary organisation called Darul Irshad. He made the members of this society to take an oath on the Qur’ān to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Bharat. This oath taking ceremony was organised in the burial ground of Khiddipur. As Maulana was a Muslim, in the beginning Bengal revolutionaries suspected him; but afterwards followed him in extending the revolutionary activities to other areas. He started Al-Hilal, an Urdu weekly, with an object of spreading the revolutionary ideology. Maulana Azad, Jalaluddin Ahmed, the follower of Maulana Azad successfully organised revolutionary activities in Bengal.
Some great Muslim Freedom Fighters are Dr. Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, Maulana Manzur Ahsan Ajazi, Asif Ali, Aruna Asif Ali, Maulana Md. Jauhar Ali, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Bi Amman (Abadi Begum), Inayat Ali, Shaheed Pir Ali, Walayat Ali, Waris Ali, Abdul Qayum Ansari, Dr. Mokhtar Ahmad Ansari, Battakh Mian Ansari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hyder Ali, Ashfaqulla Khan, Shahnawaz Khan, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Fazle Haque Khairabadi, Maulana Imdadullah Mahajir Makki, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Dr. Syed Mahmud, Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi, Hasrat Mohani, Obaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Azad Subhani, Prof. Abdul Bari, Moulvi Mohammed Baqir, Sheikh Bhikari, Col. Mahboob Ahmad, Shafi Daudi, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Maulana Mahmudul Hasan, Ali Imam, Hasan Imam, Allama Iqubal, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Badruddin Tayabji, Tipu Sultan, Mohammad Yunus, Dr. Zakir Husain, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Begum Zeenat Mahal, Allah Bakhsh Soomro, Maulana Hifzur Rahman, Ataullah Shah Bukhari, Abul Mohasin Mohammad Sajjad, Shah Zubair, Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Mohammed Barkatullah, Maulana Mahfoozul Hasan Rahmani, Bibi Azizul Fatima, Maulana Mahfoozurrahman Nami, Razia Sultana, Syed Farhaan, and Maulana Hamid Ali Farooqui.
There were many more Muslim Freedom Fighters of Bharat who participated in the freedom movement. The above list depicts a fraction of Muslim Freedom Fighters who were involved in the Independence Movement.
The role of Indian Muslims in the national movement has not been given adequate coverage. It has either been side-tracked or referred to here and there. Instead of factual historiography it has been communalised. The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writers is not known today. My motto of presenting the lost history to the young generation is to reveal the communalism spread by the British and their followers and to see the strong Bharat once again where the citizens irrespective of their faith and colour could live with honour and dignity.