Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Biography - Maulana Azad Indian Freedom Fighter - Information On Maulana Azad - History of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad PDF
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Biography - Maulana Azad Indian Freedom Fighter - Information On Maulana Azad - History of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad PDF
MaulanaAbulKalamAzadBiographyMaulanaAzadIndianFreedomFighterInformationonMaulanaAzadHistoryofMaulanaAbulKalamAzad
Born:November11,1888
Died:February22,1958
Achievements:StartedaweeklyjournalAlHilaltoincreasetherevolutionaryrecruitsamongsttheMuslimselectedas
CongressPresidentin1923and1940becameindependentIndia'sfirsteducationminister.
MaulanaAbulKalamAzad'srealnamewasAbulKalamGhulamMuhiyuddin.HewaspopularlyknownasMaulanaAzad.
MaulanaAbulKalamAzadwasoneoftheforemostleadersofIndianfreedomstruggle.Hewasalsoarenownedscholar,
and poet. MaulanaAzad was well versed in many languages viz.Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali.
MaulanaAzadwasabrilliantdebater,asindicatedbyhisname,AbulKalam,whichliterallymeans"lordofdialogue".He
adoptedthepenname'Azad'asamarkofhismentalemancipationfromanarrowviewofreligionandlife.MaulanaAzad
becameindependentIndia'sfirsteducationminister.Forhisinvaluablecontributiontothenation,MaulanaAbulKalam
AzadwasposthumouslyawardedIndia'shighestcivilianhonour,BharatRatnain1992.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888 in Mecca. His forefather's came from Herat (a city in
Afghanistan)inBabar'sdays.AzadwasadescendentofalineageoflearnedMuslimscholars,ormaulanas.Hismother
was anArab and the daughter of Sheikh Mohammad Zaher Watri and his father, Maulana Khairuddin, was a Bengali
MuslimofAfghanorigins.KhairuddinleftIndiaduringtheSepoyMutinyandproceededtoMeccaandsettledthere.He
camebacktoCalcuttawithhisfamilyin1890.
BecauseofhisorthodoxfamilybackgroundAzadhadtopursuetraditionalIslamiceducation.Hewastaughtathome,first
by his father and later by appointed teachers who were eminent in their respective fields. Azad learned Arabic and
Persianfirstandthenphilosophy,geometry,mathematicsandalgebra.HealsolearntEnglish,worldhistory,andpolitics
throughselfstudy.
Azad was trained and educated to become a clergyman. He wrote many works, reinterpreting the Holy Quran. His
erudition led him to repudiateTaqliq or the tradition of conformity and accept the principle ofTajdid or innovation. He
developedinterestinthepanIslamicdoctrinesofJamaluddinAfghaniandtheAligarhthoughtofSirSyedAhmedKhan.
Imbued with the panIslamic spirit, he visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. In Iraq he met the exiled
revolutionarieswhowerefightingtoestablishaconstitutionalgovernmentinIran.InEgypthemetShaikhMuhammad
AbduhandSaeedPashaandotherrevolutionaryactivistsoftheArabworld.Hehadafirsthandknowledgeoftheideals
andspiritoftheYoungTurksinConstantinople.Allthesecontactsmetamorphosedhimintoanationalistrevolutionary.
Onhisreturnfromabroad,AzadmettwoleadingrevolutionariesofBengalAurobindoGhoshandSriShyamShundar
Chakravarty,andjoinedtherevolutionarymovementagainstBritishrule.Azadfoundthattherevolutionaryactivitieswere
restrictedtoBengalandBihar.Withintwoyears,MaulanaAbulKalamAzad,helpedsetupsecretrevolutionarycentersall
over north India and Bombay. During that time most of his revolutionaries were antiMuslim because they felt that the
BritishGovernmentwasusingtheMuslimcommunityagainstIndia'sfreedomstruggle.MaulanaAbulKalamAzadtriedto
convincehiscolleaguestoshedtheirhostilitytowardsMuslims.
In1912,MaulanaAbulKalamAzadstartedaweeklyjournalinUrducalledAlHilaltoincreasetherevolutionaryrecruits
amongsttheMuslims.AlHilalplayedanimportantroleinforgingHinduMuslimunityafterthebadbloodcreatedbetween
the two communities in the aftermath of MorleyMinto reforms.Al Hilal became a revolutionary mouthpiece ventilating
extremistviews.ThegovernmentregardedAlHilalaspropogatorofsecessionistviewsandbanneditin1914.Maulana
Azad then started another weekly called AlBalagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism and
revolutionaryideasbasedonHinduMuslimunity.In1916,thegovernmentbannedthispapertooandexpelledMaulana
AbulKalamAzadfromCalcuttaandinternedhimatRanchifromwherehewasreleasedaftertheFirstWorldWarin1920.
Afterhisrelease,AzadrousedtheMuslimcommunitythroughtheKhilafatMovement.Theaimofthemovementwastore
instatetheKhalifaastheheadofBritishcapturedTurkey.MaulanaAzadsupportedNonCooperationMovementstarted
byGandhijiandenteredIndianNationalCongressin1920.Hewaselectedasthepresidentofthespecialsessionofthe
CongressinDelhi(1923).MaulanaAzadwasagainarrestedin1930forviolationofthesaltlawsaspartofGandhiji'sSalt
Satyagraha.HewasputinMeerutjailforayearandahalf.MaulanaAzadbecamethepresidentofCongressin1940
(Ramgarh)andremainedintheposttill1946.Hewasastaunchopponentofpartitionandsupportedaconfederationof
autonomous provinces with their own constitutions but common defence and economy. Partition hurt him greatly and
shatteredhisdreamofanunifiednationwhereHindusandMuslimscancoexistandprospertogether.
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MaulanaAbulKalamAzadBiographyMaulanaAzadIndianFreedomFighterInformationonMaulanaAzadHistoryofMaulanaAbulKalamAzad
MaulanaAbulKalamAzadservedastheMinisterofEducationinPanditJawaharlalNehru'scabinetfrom1947to1958.
HediedofastrokeonFebruary22,1958.
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