Great Muslim Freedom Fighters of India The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writers is documented in Indias struggle against the British. Titu Mir raised a revolt against British.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai are Muslims who engaged in this purpose. Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan ofShahjehanpur conspired to loot the British treasury at Kakori (Lucknow). Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (popularly known as Frontier Gandhi), was a great nationalist who spent 45 of his 95 years of life in jail; Barakatullah of Bhopal was one of the founders of the Ghadar party which created a network of anti-British organizations; Syed Rahmat Shah of the Ghadar party worked as an underground revolutionary in France and was hanged for his part in the unsuccessful Ghadar (mutiny) uprising in 1915; Ali Ahmad Siddiqui of Faizabad (UP) planned the Indian Mutiny in Malaya and Burma along with Syed Mujtaba Hussain of Jaunpur and was hanged in 1917; Vakkom Abdul Khadir of Kerala participated in the Quit India struggle in 1942 and was hanged; Umar Subhani, an industrialist and millionaire of Bombay provided Gandhi with congress expenses and ultimately died for the cause of independence. Among Muslim women,Hazrat Mahal, Asghari Begum, Bi Amma contributed in the struggle of freedom from the British. The period starting from 1498 saw the rise of the naval and trading power of the European countries, as they increasingly projected their naval power and expanded their trading interests over the Indian subcontinent. Subsequently with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and in Europe, the European powers gained a significant technological and commercial advantage over the decaying Mughal Empire. They gradually began increasing their influence on the subcontinent. Hyder Ali, and later his son Sultan Tipu were early to understand the threat of the British East India Company and resisted it. However, Tipu Sultan was finally defeated at Srirangapatnam in 1799. In Bengal, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah faced the expansionist aims of the British East India Company and fought the British. However, he lost at the battle of Plassey in 1757. The first ever Indian rebellion against the British saw itself in the Vellore Mutiny of 10 th July, 1806 which left around 200 British Officers and troops dead or injured. But it was subdued by the British and the mutineers and the family of Tippu Sultan who were incarcerated in theVellore Fort at that time had to pay a heavy price. It predates the First war of Independence, which is British imperialists called the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. And as a result of the Sepoy Mutiny, mostly the upper class Muslims were targeted by the Britishers, as under their leadership the war was mostly fought in and around Delhi. Thousands of kith and kins were shot or hanged near the gate of Red Fort, Delhi, which is now known as Khooni Darwaza(the bloody gate). The renowned Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib(1797–1869) has given a vivid description of such massacre in his letters now published by the Oxford University Press Ghalib his life and letterscompiled and translated by Ralph Russel and Khurshidul Islam(1994). As the Muslim power waned with the gradual demise of the Mughal Empire, the Muslims of India faced a new challenge -that of protecting their culture and interests, yet interacting with the alien, technologically advantaged power. In this period, the Ulama of Firangi Mahal, based first at Sehali in District Barabanki, and since 1690s based in Lucknow, educated and guided the Muslims. The Firangi Mahal led and steered the Muslims of India. The moulanas and moulvis (religious teachers) of Darul-uloom, Deoband (UP) also played significant role in freedom struggle of India declaring subjugation of an unjust rule is against Islamic tenets. Other famous Muslims who fought for freedom against the British rule: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mehmud Hasan of Darul Uloom Deoband who was implicated in the famousSilk Letter Conspiracy to overthrow the British through an armed struggle, Husain Ahmed Madani, former Shaikhul Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Hakeem Ajmal Khan, Hasrat Mohani, Dr. Syed Mahmud, Professor Maulavi Barkatullah, Dr. Zakir Husain , Saifuddin Kichlu, Allama Shibli Nomani, Vakkom Abdul Khadir, Dr. Manzoor Abdul Wahab, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Hakeem Nusrat Husain, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Colonel Shahnawaz, Dr. M.A.Ansari, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, Ansar Harwani, Tak Sherwani, Nawab Viqarul Mulk, Nawab Mohsinul Mulk, Mustsafa Husain, VM Ubaidullah, SR Rahim, Badaruddin Taiyabji, and Moulvi Abdul Hamid. Until the 1930s Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a member of the Indian National Congress and was part of the freedom struggle. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher, was a strong proponent of Hindu - Muslim unity and an undivdided India until the 1920s.Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was also active in Indian National Congress in Bengal during his early political career. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali struggled for the emancipation of the Muslims in the overall Indian context, and struggled for freedom alongside Mahatama Gandhiand Maulana Abdul Bari of Firangi Mahal. Until the 1930s, the Muslims of India broadly conducted their politics alongside their countrymen, in the overall context of an undivided India. In the late 1920s, recognizing the different perspectives of the Indian National Congress and that of the All India Muslim League, Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal presented the concept of a separate Muslim homeland in India in the 1930s. Consequently, the All India Muslim Leagueraised the demand for a separate Muslim homeland. This demand was raised in Lahore in 1940. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal had died by then, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah,Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, and many others led the Pakistan Movement. Initially, the demand for separate Muslim homeland(s) was within a framework of a large, independent, undivided India with autonomous regions governed by the Muslims. A number of other options to give the Muslim minority in India adequate protection and political representation in a free, undivided India, were also debated. May Allah reward them and Be proud to be Muslims
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 12:53:20 +0000
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