Maulana Jauhar: an eloquent case pleader

DURING the first World War Indian Muslims helped the British a great deal, thinking that their rights would be safeguarded and no dishonour would be done to the Islamic countries and the holy places. But when the war ended their hopes were dashed. The resentment mounting over the unfair deal meted out to Turkey and also the enactment of the Rowlatt Bill in March 1919 caused tremendous bitterness. The Government of India’s repressive measures resulted in the Jalianwala Bagh tragedy on April 13, 1919, kindling a mass conflagration that enveloped the entire subcontinent.

The Muslims gave vent to their feelings concerning the safety of the holy places and the happenings in Turkey, but not in a planned and concerted manner. To create unity among the Muslims of British India, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Dr M.A. Ansari called a conference at Delhi on November 22, and 23, 1919, which was presided over by A.K. Fazlul Haq. This conference unanimously decided to form the All India Khilafat Committee. M.K. Gandhi was also invited to attend the conference. He presented his own outline of the programme of non-cooperation and passive resistance for compelling the British government to change its policy towards Turkey.

The Khilafat Committee held its meeting under the presidentship of Maulana Shaukat Ali. In the meeting Maulana Mohammad Ali laid great emphasis on the issues of Khilafat and protection of the holy places of Islam. He vigorously condemned the British government for its anti-Islamic policies and advocated non-cooperation and boycott. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who also attended this meeting, recommended sending a delegation under the leadership of Maulana Mohammad Ali to Europe for soliciting the support of European states for a fair deal to Turkey.

In order to express the sentiments and aspirations of the Muslims, Maulana Mohammad Ali issued a manifesto in 1920: “We expect to hear from His Excellency in a day or two when he would be pleased to receive the Khilafat Conference delegation and arrangements are in train for the delegation to proceed to England, Persia, America and Turkey, through the kind assistance of His Excellency. We trust they will be enabled to start at the latest by the end of this month. Our case is so strong and based so firmly on religion and reason that we should have very little doubt of the success of our mission. No effort will be spared to conciliate Europeans and Americans and to convince them of the genuineness of our deepest concern for the Caliphate, Jazirat-ul-Arab, the holy places and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and extreme reasonableness of our demands in relation to these...”

The Viceroy assured the delegation of his sympathy and promised to do all that was in his power. However nothing concrete and positive came out. Maulana Mohammad Ali organised the All India Khilafat delegation and went to England at its head in 1920.

There he met top leaders and statesmen. He organised public meetings, delivered speeches to muster support for the movement. In order to carry on his campaign he launched “The Muslim Outlook” from England and “Echo de Islam” from Paris. But all his efforts ended in vain.

During his stay in France, he pleaded his case with clarity and vehemence. His eloquence awed and melted the French. The energy and pathos of the great orator is displayed in his speech which he delivered in Paris. He told his French audience:

“I am a man of peace; world wants peace. Islam means peace. But if the Greeks will have war, then they will have war. It is now no good surely to cheer here or in England.

“Yes, if the Greeks are victorious it is all very well, but when they are beaten to their knees as I hope they will be before long, not because they are Greeks but because they are unjust then they will appeal to you, to France and to England in the name of Christianity which they themselves have trampled under their feet. I am not a Turk. I belong to a people who fought for you and England and I think we did a little to save both you and England. Now it is not a Turk who is speaking to you. I have come here because my religion compelled me to come here and my compatriots of other faiths have carefully examined and found that it is part of my faith and that I cannot compromise on this and they have pledged their word to me that they will not compromise either. But is there any shameless Turk in this assembly or at Versailles or in Constantinople or even in the camp of Mustafa Kamal who is prepared to sign this treaty, then tell him as we have told Lloyd George and the Viceroy of India — we at least will not accept this treaty.

“If you look at this question from our religious point of view this treaty is unacceptable to us, and remember there are more than 300 million Musalmans in the world, in India, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Asia Minor, Egypt and Central Asia, whose religious obligations are being disregarded in this treaty. Again there are distinct pledges which had been given to us and which have got to be respected by you and by England. If they are disregarded today remember you who are a banking nation...that a dishonoured cheque is not accepted twice. We ask for no gratitude for anything that we may have done for France or England but I say this to you that if the Indian soldiers knew that after their defence of France and of England and after victories of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Palestine, not British victories but Indian victories, if they had known that this would be the kind of treaty that would result from their victories, they would not have come to your aid in those dark hours of October 1914.”

The Khilafat delegation did not succeed in its mission, therefore, Maulana Abdul Bari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and others made extensive tour of the subcontinent delivering speeches and exhorting the Muslims to be fully prepared to fight it out with the British.

The Muslims began mass agitation on an unprecedented scale against the British government. This went parallel with the Non-cooperation Movement launched by the Indian National Congress.

It is most significant that the Khilafat Movement, under the dynamic and inspiring leadership of Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, became a movement of the Muslim masses. During this movement Muslims learned how to give sacrifices for independence. They learned to fight for truth and justice. They were stimulated to contribute their quota of service for the emancipation of the subcontinent and the Muslim nation.

The campaign included relinquishment of titles, honours and honorary offices. It also included boycott of government schools and colleges, law courts and the reform councils. The movement went on smoothly. Then came the Karachi Khilafat Conference in 1921 at which this resolution was adopted. “It is haram for true Muslims to serve the enemies of India.”

In the historic trial at Khaliqdina Hall, Karachi, Maulana Mohammad Ali raised the question for the first time in the history of British rule: whether a British subject could be punished for obeying God’s law when the King’s law came into conflict with it. The Maulana declared: “We do not recognise the king any longer as our king. We do not owe any loyalty to any man who denies our right to be loyal to God.”

He pleaded the case very ably and vehemently but the court sentenced him to two years rigorous imprisonment.

There has been controversy over the launching of the Khilafat Movement. Was Mohammad Ali merely thinking of Turkey or Khilafat? What was his strategy? What did he hope to achieve? The copies of two letters of Maulana Mohammad Ali found in the India Office Library answer these questions. These letters were written to Mrs Asad Faud Bey, wife of a Turkish friend, in Rome.

The letters throw light on this movement.

“Our movement is the only live movement, of the last two generations, at least, for it has moved the masses in their millions. But our movement is chiefly to be measured by the amount of fear that it has succeeded in removing. It was fear that had made 320 million people slave of a hundred thousand Englishmen. That fear, thank God, is fast disappearing. India’s freedom is sure to come after that. This is the truest measure of our success.

“A fearful nation could do nothing. A fearless nation can do everything, and without bloodshed, if it is like us, a nation of 320 million souls.”

On February 6, 1922, Gandhi decided to suspend the non-cooperation movement without consulting the Khilafat leaders. This betrayed the Muslims and exposed the hollowness of Ahimsa tactics. They understood the selfish nature of the Gandhian school who wanted to gain at the cost of the Muslims. They pressed Gandhi to go on with the Movement till the British government was compelled to grant independence to India, but he did not comply.

The secret policy of the Congress to sap the foundation of the Muslim edifice had its venomous effect on Muslim politics. The magic wand of Gandhi (who became an ally of the British with the secret pact with Lord Reading to work against the Muslims and their movement) was fully exposed now. The Muslims of India were now convinced that only a separate state for the Muslims could save them. This realisation prepared the ground for what came to be known as Pakistan Movement.

Today is the 72nd death anniversary of Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar

Hafeez Jullundri remembered

THE death anniversary of Hafeez Jullundri fell last month and it is well that both the Pakistan Writers’ Guild and the Pakistan Academy of Letters thought of commemorating it in a befitting manner.

Whereas the Writers’ Guild made it a point to arrange a function on the exact date of his death, December 21, the academy came up with one a week later. It was nice to see that people had not forgotten that great poet and turned up in sizable numbers to pay tribute to his memory. A delegation of Writers’ Guild also laid a floral wreath at the grave of the creator of the Shahnama-i-Islam and our national anthem.

The function held in the offices of the Writers’ Guild was presided over by the prominent poet, Dr Kanwal Feroz, while the editor of the monthly Tehreerein, Zahida Siddiqi, was the chief guest.

Raja Rasalu, who conducted the proceedings, opened his talk by speaking about the national anthem written by Hafeez Jullundri. He said that the poet took the assignment given to him with all seriousness and confined himself to a room for a full three months to produce a masterpiece.

Speakers on the occasion included Shahid Bukhari of the Pakistan’s Islamic Esperanto Association, M R Shahid, convener of the Markaz-i-Ilm-o-Fan, Dr Rafiq, Zubaida Haider Zebi and Salma Ra’ana. They threw light on various aspects of Hafeez Sahib’s poetry. They said that he remained active till the end of his life and proved what he had said in his poem, Abhi toa mein javan hoon.

In his presidential remarks, Dr Kanwal Feroz said that the literary stature of Hafeez Jullundri demanded that his death anniversary be commemorated at the official level.

The function arranged by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in its Allama Iqbal Town offices was presided over by Dr Ajmal Niazi with Begum Khursheed Hafeez Jullundri as the chief guest.

Speakers on the occasion included Agha Yameen, Akhtar Shumar, Mehshar Zaidi and Nawaz Zaidi of the FC College, who has worked on a thesis for a doctorate on Hafeez Jullundri. They pointed out that Hafeez was the only poet after Allama Iqbal who devoted himself to the renaissance of Muslims of the sub-continent and espoused their cause. His magnum opus, the Shahnama-i-Islam, was a historical, religious, national and literary document. Nawaz Zaidi added that it was no less a person than Dr Syed Abdullah who had declared Hafeez Jullundri to be a national poet. Moreover, his singular contribution to the ghazal and geet could never be forgotten, he added.

It is unfortunate that those who consider Urdu to be their handmaiden look down upon those whose mother tongue is different. Hafeez also suffered from this bias but he boldly faced his detractors. In the end he proved his superiority in the field of Urdu poetry and said with pride:

Hafeez alh-e-zaban kab mantey thay

Baray zoron sey manvaya gaya hoon

I REALLY do not know how many literary awards we are going to end up with. There used to be only the innocent Adamjee and Dawood awards in the good old days but now they are proliferating like our population. Every other day, we hear that another award has been announced for the best book of the year or something like that and a committee consisting of A B C D.... has been constituted to choose the winner. The whole thing has become a farce.

Anyway, Farhat Parveen is the latest to come up with an Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi Award. A short story writer, Farhat is settled in the United States where her husband has a thriving business. He has created a trust in the name of his father, Faiz Muhammad, and the award has been initiated by it.

Farhat is a discovery of Qasmi Sahib. I attended the launching of the first collection of her short stories, Munjamid, in 1997. It was Qasmi Sahib who presided over that function at which Dr Salim Akhtar, Afzal Tawseef and Dr Khwaja Zakariya commended on the work of the author. A second collection of Farhat’s short stories has also been published.

At a function held in a local hotel and presided over by Qasmi Sahib himself, the first Qasmi Award was given to authors comprising Fateh Muhammad Malik of Islamabad, Mushfiq Khwaja from Karachi and Dr Salim Akhtar from Lahore. Somehow, both the awardees happened to be women. It was Bano Qudsia who got the award for her book, Kuch Aur Nahin and Yasmin Hameed for her collection of poetry, Fana Bhi Aik Sarab.

Amjad Islam Amjad and Masud Ashar paid tributes to both the winners and spoke eloquently about their literary capabilities.—ASHFAQUE NAQVI

The poet who perfected art of epic and elegy in Urdu

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: This is how the well-known scholar and critic of Urdu literature, Prof Ehtisham Husain places Mir Babar Ali Anees, the great Urdu poet who perfected the art of elegy and epic and place it on the highest pinnacle of Urdu poetry, nay, of world literature. So when poets Zia Jullundhuri and Iftikhar Arif spoke of the place of the great “bard” on the firmament of Urdu literature at a seminar held at the Academy of Letters by literary organizations ‘Rasai Adab’ from Karachi (whose members incidentally couldn’t come), and the Islamabad organization, ‘Imkan’, to remember the great poet on his two hundredth birth anniversary, the importance of the mastercraftsman of the events of Karbala, of the powerful narrator of the struggle of good against evil was more than clear to the large audience who had come to listen to a number of scholars on the subject.

“It requires a lifetime to understand a poet of real significance,” said Zia Jullundhuri, who presided over the function, lamenting the fact that Anees was not given the proper place as a poet that he deserved. Zia Jullundhuri spoke of the times that Anees was writing, the time when Muslims in the sub- continent had lost their power, the time of the war of independence, and the way he narrated the great events of Karbala, in his own, inimitable style to become a messenger of hope; and not despondency. Hali, later brought the sadness of the experience of the downfall through the Mussadas but Iqbal, like Anees, gave it a new hope through his khudi. “In the poetry of Anis, you can discern the message of hope”, he said. He also spoke of the way he enriched the Urdu language.

Iftikhar Arif, (who quoted from Ehtisham Hussain as written earlier) spoke of the “freedom of choice” exercised by Imam Husain in the way of Allah which has been so effectively brought about by the poet. He also spoke of the family relationships that have been highlighted by him, and which are part of our values. “A karbala had started in the sub-continent, and the great poet wanted to subsume it in the great tragedy of Karbala. Dr Aliya Imam, in her usual effective, flowery style spoke of the story of 1857 that was written with blood and the way the great poet felt that the need of showing the way of hope. She spoke of the commitment of Jihad that led Imam Husain to sacrifice his near and dear ones. She asked for popularizing the message of Anees through symposia and translating his poetry into other languages Dr Siddiq Shibli of the Allama Iqbal Open University said that we have not been able to pay the great debt that we owe to Mir Anees by not improving on our research by Shibli Naumani (his namesake!) and Maulana Altaf Husain Hali. He also lamented the fact that house and places in the West are named after great poets like Shakespeare and Goethe, but we do not seem to honour a poet like Mir Anees.

Dr Syed Shabhiul Hasan Rizvi spoke of the traditional heights of Greek tragedy which he thought were surpassed by Mir Anees in his portrayal of the tragic, heroic events of Karbala. He also read in tahtul lafz (traditional rendering of Marsia with emphasis on intonation to draw, as it were, scenes from Karbala through words) selections from various marsias (elegies) of Mir Anees. Akhtar Usman read out his own powerful marsia and dedicated it to Mir Anees. Prof Sajjad Husain spoke of the andaaz-i-bayan (the style) of the writing of the great poet but also spoke of the subject that the great poet makes the theme of his poetry. “In the days of Mir Taqi Mir Sauda and Khawja Mir Dard, in the days of Ghalib, Momin, Zauq, Sheefta and Zafar and in the days of Iqbal, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Khushi Mohammad Nazir were no less poets in terms of artistic technique but what was that thing that distinguished Mir in the eighteenth, Ghalib in the nineteenth and Iqbal in the twentieth century?”, he asked. Nikhat Zaidi also spoke on the occasion. Anjum Khaliq, secretary of Imkan, who also acted as the stage secretary, also read out various ashars (couplets) and bands from the marsia of Mir Anees in between the speeches.—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad