Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: One of India's Tallest Figures of Religious Unity Humiliated
By
Syeda Hameed
28/JUL/2020
Today has
been a day like no other. But let me begin with yesterday.
Yesterday I
spoke on a series called Paigham e Azadi launched by School for Democracy (SFD)
to celebrate August 15. Azadi begins with Azad since he began his freedom
struggle in 1912 when none of the other stalwarts were around. So SFD invited
me, as his biographer, to talk about Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Maulana Azad on a 1988 stamp of India. Photo: India Post, Government of
India/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
-----
This
morning I woke up to a different reality when I read the front page of the
Indian Express. M. Nageswara Rao, former director of CBI, declared in his
tweets that Azad was a communalist, one who “whitewashed” Islamic rule to the
detriment of Hinduism.
In my books
on Maulana Azad, there are one thousand arguments to nail this lie. Azad’s
speeches and writings, his translation and explication of the Quran, his
epistolary collections, all show the tweeter’s considered plan to distort the
truth and feed venom to the innocent, susceptible and credulous public.
I have a few
simple questions to ask. Has he read a single word of Maulana’s writings? Urdu
may not be his forte, but Azad’s translations are available in Hindi and
English. Students are still working on his corpus in many Indian languages
because there is so much to learn and imbibe from him.
In 1912, as
a 24-year-old Azad began his literary career, his primary objective was to
inspire Muslims to join the Hindus in the independence struggle. He joined
hands with the guerrilla movement Jugantar and Anushilan led by youth leaders
like Shyam Sundar Chakravorty and Barin Ghosh.
He was
known across the country as the apostle of Hindu Muslim Unity. In 1923, as the
youngest Congress president, he said, “If an angel descends from heaven and
offers me Swaraj in 24 hours on condition that I give up Hindu Muslim Unity, I
will refuse. Swaraj we will get sooner or later; its delay will be a loss for
India, but loss of Hindu Muslim unity will be a loss for human kind”. This
remained his consistent stand throughout his life.
From all
platforms, he spoke of the composite culture that is the bedrock of India. He
berated Muslims and Hindus equally for propagating false dreams that they will
one day bring back bygone ancient cultures. He said nature has moulded this
composite culture on her anvil for centuries and placed her seal upon it. This,
he said, is the logic and fact of history. Let us begin fashioning our common
future destiny.
(L to R sitting) B.R. Ambedkar, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Sardar Baldev Singh,
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, John
Mathai, Jagjivan Ram, Amrit Kaur and Syama Prasad Mukherjee. (L to R standing)
Khurshed Lal, R.R. Diwakar, Mohanlal Saksena, N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, N.V.
Gadgil, K. C. Neogy, Jairamdas Daulatram, K. Santhanam, Satya Narayan Sinha and
B. V. Keskar. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
-----
He spoke
without an iota of doubt about how debacle of Indian Muslims has been the
result of the colossal mistakes committed by Muslim League’s misguided
leadership. He exhorted Muslims to make common cause with their Hindu, Sikh,
Christian fellow countrymen because this is what their Quran urged them to do.
In his translation and explication of the Quran, he wrote about all revealed,
spiritual and religious texts of the world, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the
Bible and the Torah.
He reminded
his readers that the Quran speaks of 1,24,000 prophets who were sent, from time
to time, for the guidance of humanity. Therefore, it is incumbent upon a Muslim
to respect and revere all religions. From 1912 until the end of his life he
quoted verses from the Quran to guide Muslims to make common cause with all
Indians.
His vision
was not restricted to the Indian subcontinent. The world was his canvas. In one
of his speeches as the Minister of Education, he spoke of the irrelevance of
borders and boundaries: “let the world be painted in one colour because we are
one human race”.
To decry
Azad for “side-lining pro Hindu nationalist scholars” is a pure travesty. Who
set up the most important educational institutions in the country? The IITs,
the Academies of Science, the University Grants Commission, Lalit Kala, Sangeet
Natak, and Sahitya Akademi? Whose brainchild was the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations? Who commissioned the translation of Mahabharata and
Ramayana in Persian so the Islamic world would become aware of India’s glorious
heritage?
It is
indeed a sad day when a person from the establishment or a public servant
labels India’s first batch of education ministers as communal, for only one reason;
because they are Muslims. He referred to three successors of Maulana Azad in
the same false tongue: Dr Humayun Kabir, Justice M. C. Chagla, professor Nurul
Hasan. What confidence can Indians repose in a public servant who bandies false
language on social media for the sole purpose of targeting Muslims?
Speak up we
must, whatever the consequence. The tallest figures of the freedom movement,
Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel exhorted the Muslims
to live as equal citizens. That we will do with dignity and without fear. In
the words of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which Azad himself would have condoned:
“Ya Khauf Se Darguzren Ya Jaan Se Guzar Jaaein
Marna Hai Ya Jeena Hai Ek Baat Theher Jay
(Either we reject fear or reject life itself
Let us decide once for all
Whether to live or to die).”
Syeda
Hameed is Writer Founder Chair of the Muslim Women’s Forum.
Original
Headline: A Sad Day When a Public Servant Smears One of India's Tallest Figures
of Religious Unity
Source: The Wire
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/maulana-abul-kalam-azad-one/d/122547