ALLAHBAD ADDRESS

Invited Talk [Abridged version published in a periodical], 2023

In all the biographical accounts of Maulana Azad, following four issues still remain largely un-addressed: 1. In the 1930s, when the Shariat Act was being drafted and legislated, what roles did Azad play? Why Jinnah was seen in the driver’s seat on this count? Why did the League become more successful politically, under Jinnah, rather than the nationalists under Azad? 2. In the Constituent Assembly Debates, what did Azad do? He remained mostly silent, and/or, got out of the debate when voting took place on some of the crucial issues. This aspect has been brought out in detail by Pratinav Anil, in his latest book, Another India: Making of the World’s Largest Muslim Minority, 1947-1977. Anil is rather very harsh against Azad. In fact, his provocative rhetoric and polemics are not sparing anyone. 3. Post-independence, why couldn’t the interventions of nationalist Muslims against the Two Nation Theory be popularised? More so, when India’s Muslims, as a collective, were made to suffer from guilt and circumspection! The critiques were from Husain Ahmad Madani (1887-1957), Abul Mohasin Sajjad (1880-1940), Hifzur Rahman Seohaarvi (1901-1962), Tufail Ahmad Manglori (1868-1946), Abdul Qaiyum Ansari (1905-1974), etc. Their Urdu language critique of the two-nation theory is elaborated in my 2014 book, Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours; Venkat Dhulipala’s 2015 book, Creating New Medina deals with these in greater detail. 4. Did Maulana Azad engage with the likes of Qaiyum Ansari and B R Ambedkar on the question of caste and social justice for the historically subordinated Muslim communities? What did Azad do on the question of gender justice among the Muslims, when Nehru was pushing the reforms in Hindu Personal Law in the 1950s?

Religious Extremism and the Transformation of Social Fabric of Pakistani Society: A Case study of Policies of Zia’s Regime, Analysis of its Causes and Impact, 2022

The contradictions of great historical figures sometimes seem very disturbing, for example the personality of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. On one hand, he is respected in religious circles as a learned scholar, who was well versed in Islamic theology. But on the other hand, in the political, social and collective spheres, he had a heavy commitment to Indian National Congress and its politics so much so that he was ready to go to any extent for this and proved it by his words and actions. Maulana Azad was deeply committed to secularism at the educational, socio-political level. This paper seeks to analyze the thought of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and his differences with the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhamamd Ali Jinnah, on various issues. The main topic of discussion is his political thought, which is both liked and disliked by Muslims of the subcontinent. In India, he became the first Education Minister and respected as a freedom fighter and in Pakistan he is disliked by Muslims, who thinks he misguided a large section of Indian Muslims of the Pakistan movement and separate nationalism based on religious identity.

Islamic Caliphate: The Missing Chapters, 2019

Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities , 2017

Since the creation of Pakistan the foundation of the Idea of Pakistan has been a matter of academic and political debate. There is a difference between the two spheres. The academic debate allows a room to discuss popular and unpopular ideas and respect the contrary views. The ideology of Pakistan, political system of Pakistan and the constitution of Pakistan have always been discussed and debated amongst scholars. The purpose of this research is to explore the famous presidential address of Allama Iqbal at the annual session of Muslim League in 1930. There are many perceptions about the address delivered by Iqbal, such as he demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of India or not. This research will explore the facts of Iqbal's speech of Allahabad and will attempt to do justice to his words which have been misinterpreted by some spheres.

This talk examines Jinnah’s speech at the 1940 All-India Muslim League Conference at Lahore as a culmination of Iqbal’s argument regarding the national distinctness of Muslims in India in terms of its use of Islamic discourse. My analysis draws from neoclassical rhetorical theory, arguing that foundational religious concepts becomes recontexualized into a political and anticolonial domain in the speech. The discourse of Muslim India, as a strategy against the minoritization of a population “70 millions in number,” represents one specific instance of national expression of self-determination that was also part of a global struggle against imperialism. It was successful because it drew on native concerns and a priori discourses, using them strategically in ways that can greatly inform our understanding of rhetoric in non-western contexts.

Abu'l Kalam Azad . He was born in Mecca (holiest city of Muslims is now a city of Saudi Arabia) that his family was an Indian muslim immigrant family, lives in this city that that days' a small Ottoman city. After completed primary education in Mecca, Azad went to Egypt. He followed Islamic courses in the famous Azhar University and also learned the other non-religious subjects.After graduated from Azhar, azad returned to their native lands India and settled the famous Indian city Calcutta. Calcutta was the biggest city in population in the northern India and capital-city of Bengal State. First of all, he investigated the general position of India, and did researches in every subject about his native land. After examining the Indian history, he saw 'yesterday's India' and understood the painful position of an old great empire and civilization. The cruel behaviours of British imperialist powers in India influenced Azad very much. Azad began to guide Muslims with his preaches. He thought that he should warn millions, he should prepare them a powerful struggle to imperialism. He found two brave brothers Ali Brothers, Muhammad Ali and Shawkat Ali. They both intelligent Muslims, and were publishing two newspapers: Comrade in English and Hamdard in Urdu language. Islamic matters and political attacks were the main topics of these newspapers.

Pakistan Perspective, 2005

On the afternoon of the 28th of December 1887, at exactly the same time when the third annual session of the recently founded Indian National Congress was being held in Madras under the presidentship of Badruddin Tyabji, a Sulaimani Bohra Muslim from Bombay, the soon to be knighted, the Honourable, Syed Ahmad Khan Bahadur, KCSI, began to give a lecture in Lucknow. Syed Ahmad Khan, who had held numerous titles and positions in his life, at that time was the Secretary of the Mohomedan Educational Congress, which was holding its session in Lucknow on the 27 th and 28 th of December. This lecture by him, because of its nature and theme, was not part of the proceedings of the Mohomedan Educational Congress. Syed Ahmad Khan had already become 'probably the most prominent public man in northern India', had been a public figure for more than four decades of his life, and was to live yet another decade very publicly. The title of the subsequently published and widely disseminated lecture was: 'Syed Ahmad Khan's Lecture on the Indian National Congress Madras: What action should our qaum take with regard to the political affairs of the state?' 1 This lecture was to become, along with his lecture at Meerut on 16 March 1888, (incidentally with exactly the same title: 'What action should our qaum take with regard to the political affairs of the state?'), one of the most quoted of Syed Ahmad Khan's lectures, and resulted in numerous writers and public figures, referring to it and quoting from it. Syed Ahmad Khan began the Lucknow lecture as follows: 'I am not in the habit of giving 1 Indian National Congress pur Syed Ahmad Khan ka Lecture: Hamari qaum ko nisbat political amoor saltanat kay kya tariqa ikhtiar karna chahiyay?, published as a pamphlet in numerous places, including Kanpur (not dated), Amritsar 30 April 1888, in the Amritsar Press Gazette, etc. The lecture was also translated into English and published in the Pioneer from Allahabad, and also published as a separate pamphlet by the Pioneer Press. As Rafiuddin Ahmed argues: 'if there were two religious 'nations' in India, there were many more cultural and linguistic 'nations'. Certainly what was true of the UP Muslims was not so of their co-religionists in eastern India, notwithstanding that they both professed the same faith.' See Rafiuddin Ahmed,

This paper offers a study of the impact of leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the Bengali Separatist Movement in its preliminary stage during the first year of the life of Pakistan when Quaid-i-Azam served as its first governor general. It would be examined whether the lingual, constitutional, economic and governmental issues, which later became a source of discontent that caused the Bengali Separatist Movement grow, were addressed by the Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah in a proper way and he did not found those mistakes which his successors in the leadership of Pakistan committed. It would also be observed that visionary leader of Quaid-i-Azam's rank could understand the danger to the integrity of Pakistan posed by the feelings of provincialism, communism and Hindu influence in the eastern wing of Pakistan that was remote from its western part through a distance of one thousand miles. The paper will also provide a critical analysis of the steps of Quaid-i-Azam which he took for the purpose of the solidarity of newly born state of Pakistan but which steps were allegedly used as a negative propaganda against the founder of Pakistan in order to give air to the ideas of separatism in the Bengalis. In this context the Quaid's decision for the selection of Karachi as the capital of Pakistan and his use of powers as the governor general of Pakistan would be analyzed. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is undoubtedly, one of the greatest politicians in the istoryh of the world. Undaunted by the huge odds presented by his political adversaries, he achieved such success that few politicians can boast of. (Siddiqui, 2009, xix) Hodson (1969, 37-38) credits him with the whole process of the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan by observing: " Of all the personalities in the last act of the great drama of India's rebirth to independence, Mohammad Ali Jinnah is at once the most enigmatic and the most important. " Pethick-Lawrance, who as Secretary of State for India had turned down the demand for Pakistan, acknowledged: 'He had, of course, immense powers of intellect and also of persuasive eloquence which he used with such effect that the idea [of Pakistan], which was at firs as idea only, became in the end a reality.' (Burke, 2009, l xiii) As a politician he attained world stature and won a permanent place in history. He did not only win independence from colonial rule for an existing country, but performed the extraordinary feat of bringing an altogether new independent country into existence against seemingly impossible odds. (Burke, 2009, xix) It was the dangerous situation at the time of emergence of Pakistan that Nehru told General Sir Frank

Since the creation of Pakistan the foundation of the Idea of Pakistan has been a matter of academic and political debate. There is a difference between the two spheres. The academic debate allows a room to discuss popular and unpopular ideas and respect the contrary views. The ideology of Pakistan, political system of Pakistan and the constitution of Pakistan have always been discussed and debated amongst scholars. The purpose of this research is to explore the famous presidential address of Allama Iqbal at the annual session of Muslim League in 1930. There are many perceptions about the address delivered by Iqbal, such as he demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of India or not. This research will explore the facts of Iqbal's speech of Allahabad and will attempt to do justice to his words which have been misinterpreted by some spheres.