December 30, 2006

Among the luminaries who led the Muslim community of the British India out of sheer grief and shock of humiliation caused by the failed attempt to revive their control at the reigns of power in 1857, stands the name of Syed Mehdi Ali, popularly known as Mohsin-ul-mulk, meaning benefactor of the people/country. The title was given in some other context but it suited his overall contribution and is an ample tribute to his life and services he rendered to the cause of bringing confidence and restoring the ‘broken pride’ of the nation. The psychological advantages of a ruling race – as mentioned by Ishtiaque Hussain Qureshi – namely the prestige, the respect, the confidence and the pride, all had fallen low, leaving Muslims in a state of frustration. It was the state from which the Muslims were emancipated by men of wisdom like Mohsin-ul-Mulk.

Born in 1837, educated in a traditional way, Syed Mehdi Ali wrote his first pamphlet namely Milad Sharif in1860. This writing was mere a piece of taqlid (doctrinal conformity) and no critical thinking was reflected. In the 1860s, he wrote Aayat-i-Bayyanaat, on the Shia-Sunni conflict, and this reflected the first signs of him coming out of taqlid fold. His early involvement with religion was mainly ritualistic, and his religious writings, too, were merely brief pieces, translated or extracted from the original sources with some degree of aberration. His rigid and conservative position brought him in an encounter with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan on latter’s publication of Tabayin-ul-Kalam. Syed Mehdi was among those who dismissed it and wrote to Sir Syed a fuming critical letter declaring him to be almost an ‘infidel’. This was the first introduction with each other of the two future colleagues. When the two met, soft response of Sir Syed mollified the resistance, and very soon their discussion on national and religious issues convinced Mehdi of what Sir Syed believed. Thus began the commitment which Mehdi fulfilled till his last breath. But one should remember that like Abu-‘l-Kalam Azad and Shibli Nomani, who were not in complete harmony with what Aligarh was offering, Mohsin-ul-Mulk was also not a blind follower of Sir Syed, and this was evident in his timely and valid criticism of Sir Syed’s points of view.

When Sir Syed Ahmed Khan issued Tahdhib-ul-Akhlaq, and both Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Waqar-ul-Mulk started writing articles in it favoring Sir Syed’s views, they ,too, became the target of the extreme orthodox elements who had earlier called Sir Syed an ‘infidel’. They labeled the two brothers with the same, and this was the time when Sir Syed mentioned in Tahdhib-ul-Akhlaq that Maulvi Mehdi Ali’s scholarly competence, his personal traits, his charming words, his honesty, and his eloquent speech deserved great pride in his name, if the community has got the eyes that could see. This tribute was enriched when Altaf Hussain Hali commented in Hayat-e-Javed that Mohsin-ul-Mulk had taken the pressure of half of the fatwas (verdict) of Kufr (infidelity) on himself. Sir Syed’s writings had the pinching and pricking effect, and those of Mohsin-ul-Mulk had the remedial touch. This cushioning effect was provided by a twenty years younger stalwart, who devoted his literary and intellectual skills to the cause Sir Syed kept so dear to him – the advancement of the Muslim community.

Mohsin-ul-Mulk started his career in the East India Company at ten rupees per month. His talent in the job, clarity of mind, and devotion to work got him quick promotions, till tehsildar in 1861 and deputy collector in 1868. In 1874, Sir Syed sent him to the Nawab Salar Jang of Hyderabd, Deccan, the state he served for twenty-two years in many important positions. Starting from an initial salary of rupees eight hundred per month, due to his meritorious services, he got many honours and titles and came to be known as a Nawab. When he was appointed revenue secretary of the state of Asifiya, he disclosed some corruption of the British officers and proved it, hence was awarded the title of Mohsin-ud-dola Mohsin-ul-Mulk by the state of Hyderabad. He retired from this state in 1893 and came to Aligarh for good. His association as member with the Scientific Society was as old as 1864. He had worked earnestly to bring the brightest minds of the day to Aligarh, to supercede the resistance to Aligarh reforms and politics and to keep differential points of view work together at this seat of learning. Mohsin-ul-Mulk served Aligarh as secretary of the college and forefront leader of the movement it embodied, for many years after Sir Syed’s departure.

Mohsin-ul-Mulk set up Urdu Defence Association when the Urdu-Hindi conflict started, as he thought it essential for safeguarding the integrity and identity of the Muslim community. The activities of the Association enraged the governor of United Province, who had declared Hindi as the official language of the Province of Bihar; thus started a conflict. Mohsin-ul-Mulk had to resign from the post of secretary of the College due to this political activity, and after sometime he resumed this on the request of some colleagues. The Urdu Defense Association continued its activities under his brother Waqar-ul-Mulk, while Anjuman Taraqui-e-Urdu was established soon as an adjunct of the Muhammadan Educational Conference, to carry on the mission. The battle for separate identity had started head-on.

Around 1906, it had become evident to the politically conscious leaders of India that representation to the Indian Legislative Councils were going to be liberalized. In the existing system among the Hindu majority areas, Muslims could not get representation commensurate to their actual strength, while there were no reserved seats for Muslims. The far-sighted leader had envisioned the implications of being idle at that moment of history. Struggle for separate representation for the Muslims had become inevitable.

Mohsin-ul-Mulk contributed to the Simla Deputation first by initiating the idea, sensing the need to see the viceroy and to apprise him of the feelings of the Muslims. Mohsin-ul-Mulk contacted the viceroy through Archibold, who was the principal of the Aligarh College. The viceroy ultimately agreed to see a Muslim deputation in Simla. Mohsin-ul-Mulk co-authored the draft of the memorandum for the meeting and made it a perfect document on the issue. He motivated and made arrangement for 35 Muslim delegates – politicians and leaders of high ranks – to join the deputation from all over India and managed for its cost as well. The confidence gained by the success in Simla boosted Muslim morale and they were all the more ready to launch a political party of their own, Muslim League, one year after. This was not an accidental birth: minds like Sir Aga Khan, Mohsin-ul-mulk and Waqar-ul-mulk had been working on the idea for over six years. Again this could happen as a result of prolonged communications and discussions between the two great brothers and Sir Aga Khan who lived in the U.K.

The spadework for the manifesto of the All India Muslim League was also accomplished by Mohsin-ul-mulk. Before the League could hold its first session to adopt it, Mohsin-ul-Mulk left this world on 16 October, 1907 in Simla, where he had gone despite his bad health, to stay near the seat of government as far-reaching changes were in the offing in those days with respect to the future constitution of India. He could not afford staying away from the developments having far-reaching impact on the future of Muslims in India. He met the viceroy and other high government officials and clarified the Muslim point of view. All this was too much for his precarious health. Despite his will to be buried in his birth place, Etawah (UP), his brother decided to bury him next to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in Aligarh, thus the association found its everlasting consolation and recognition.

Though his political activities after Sir Syed’s departure are more prominent and historical in nature, his contribution to the world of knowledge, was no less important. He was the second largest contributor to the Tehdhib-ul-Akhlaq, writing on religious, social and cultural issues, and dismantling the inertia Muslims had caught in. His religious writings are quite worth-mentioning, and could be divided into three major categories: first, where he advocates research and Ijtihad by forsaking taqlid; second, about conformity between reason and naql (copying) and the need for a new theology (Ilm-ul-Kalam); and third, discussion on modern ideas and issues with reference to the new theology. Apart from this, he wrote on educational and political issues too.

Regarding religious writings, Mohsin-ul-Mulk believed in the dynamic spirit of the religion, and the need for research and new understanding, new interpretation, an enlightened view of the world, and the relevance of the divine message to guide it. He criticized taqlid in jurisprudence, customs and prejudicial attitudes. He thought that customary practices had overpowered the genuine spirit of Islam. He used the Quran and the Sunnah as authentic sources and described other sources being in need of validation. After Quran, he sought guidance from the period of the first two noble caliphs, for Ijtihad and research to find new solutions in the context of changing times. He had also gone through the Muslim history of later periods and this alludes to progressive evolution of his thinking. He had command over the history of Greece, of the Christian Europe, and he also kept in view the reformation process in the modern Turkey. He was well versed about the positions of the conservative sections of his time – the arena where he was to fight his actual battle. His greatest guide was Shah Wali-ul-Allah. He tried to keep himself away with any particular school of jurisprudence, an essential quality of a researcher. He believed that a new interpretation of the Quran can unleash the forces who can build a new society. Ibn Khaldun’s criticism on traditional history and emphasis upon a rational and naturalistic paradigm of history had also shown him light. Whatever source he found suitable to guide the contemporary Muslim community, he utilized it. He declared reason and Shariah as same in essence, as the reason guides the Sahriah for good or bad. In short, for him, inertia was the killer, Ijtihad was the solution/way out.

His main difference with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was in regarding the subjects of the nature and natural laws. Mohsin-ul-Mulk did not disagree with Sir Syed on the conformity of religion or about the natural laws not being immutable, but Mohsin-ul-Mulk included some more items in the natural laws, which Sir Syed had excluded. Mohsin-ul-Mulk wrote many letters and articles regarding this contention, and defended his own point of view. Generally he was a great defender of the position Sir Syed had taken, but in no way he was a borrower of Sir Syed’s. About every issue, he had his own scholarly conviction, well-founded in his knowledge. He never opposed Sir Syed aimlessly, and never walked on his footprints. This was the integrity of the scholar, turned a reformer, and political activist. He showed remarkable sincerity and commitment to the mission, and dauntless efforts to erect the foundation of national progress right from the base – religion, as he thought religion as the base, the root, the ethos, and the enduring guide.

Given the above facts, and seeing in the context of philosophy of the Aligarh and the exigencies and constraints of the time, it becomes evident that the waywardness could only be corrected by intellectual guidance, slumber could only be broken by some eternal light, and inroads to the political arena could only be made through the live conviction of self-worth, competence, and organizational skills. Mohsin-ul-Mulk guided the nation on all these dimensions. He was the visionary, like other fellows of the Aligarh constellation, who dawned upon the nation the day of its emancipation through selfless efforts and he got recognition, too.

— The author is Lecturer in the Department of Islamic History, University of Karachi.

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