Tag Archives: Hakim Ajmal Khan

Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicines and Sciences is a legacy in four walls

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Aligarh, UTTAR PRADESH:

Professor Syed Zillur Rahman, founder,Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicines and Sciences with the author
Professor Syed Zillur Rahman, founder,Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicines and Sciences with the author

Known for its locks, Aligarh, a city in Uttar Pradesh, has also locked a legacy in its reserve – for generations to benefit from it. It houses a rare academy and museum called Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicines and Sciences. 

Located at Tijara House, amid a vibrant market place and residential area, Ibn Sina is hailed as the rarest house of legacies in arts and sciences combined under one roof. Named after the legendary scholar of philosophy and medicine Abu Ali Ibn Sina (980 -1037), this academy was accredited to the Ministry of Ayush in 2004 and promoted to Centre of Excellence in 2008.

The institution was established for encouraging and promoting research and studies in medieval sciences, especially Ibn-Sina’s as well as arts, culture, poetry, and other sciences. 

The bust of Ibn Sina with Charak inside the museum

Of Ibn Sina’s four stories, a major attraction is on its second floor which houses the Fazlur Rahman Museum of Orientalism, Art, and Culture. 

It has four main galleries; the crockery gallery has a large collection of oriental and British Indian utensils, hammami plates, bowls, tea sets that belong to prominent personalities such as Hakim Ajmal Khan, Nawab Sultan Jahan, Nawab Shahjahan Begum of Bhopal, Nawab Yusuf Ali Khan of Rampur and many others.

The textile gallery is ornate with attires, garments with gold and silver calicos studded with precious stones, one of which has entire Quranic surah Yaseen embroiled in gold zardozi on it, turbans worn in battles, among many other oriental attires. The picture gallery has prominent personalities of AMU’s pictures, drawings, photography, prints, etc.

Its miscellaneous gallery has coins, postage stamps, clocks, busts, pens, memes, and relics of prominent personalities. 

“We have over 2 Lakh stamps beginning from ever since the stamps started, from all countries and India. People who were pioneers in the world of arts and culture, education, and freedom fighters on whose names, and stamps were released, we have a collection of the same. shares Dr. Aftab who is a convenor at Ibn Sina.

In addition medical manuscripts, medical philately, medical souvenirs memories of physicians especially those of Nobel laureates are well preserved here.

The wall of fame (Pictorial history of some important Muslim families)

The connecting rooms of the galleries welcome you with a sofa of Raja Jai Kishan, a mirror of the times when they were made of iron sheets. The iron sheets called ‘aaina’ were rubbed so many times that they would become sparkling clear and shining to become a mirror. That’s how the mirror got its name ‘aaina’ Later it got a new name –sheesha – with the change of the material..

The academy is rare for numerous reasons. For avid readers of medicine, science, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, literature, poetry, oriental studies, researchers, students preparing for competitions, and scholars IbnSina is a heaven. It boasts of a rare collection of 32000 books, 17000 magazines, 1100 manuscripts, (makhtootaat), 21 rare Qurans including one pocket size in gold, and much more is in store.

Built by professor Syed Zillur Rahman, a medical academic and passionate Urdu litterateur from Aligarh, Ibn Sina was an extension of his colossal library that he had established in 1960 which soon extended into the world’s rare academy and museum of its kind in the year 2000. 

Collection of stamps 

“Hamare yahn Aurangzeb ke hath ka likha, aur uske bete ke hath ka, likha hua Quran hai,” gleams the professor, sharing the information.

Apart from a separate collection of Muslim women achievers, Ibn Sina boasts of the world’s best collection of Islamic sciences, Islamic medicines, and Islamic philosophy being published across countries such as Iran, Central Asia, Syria, Iraq Turkey, etc. Scholars from across the globe come here to refer to books in this section.

For Ghalib devotees, the academy has a separate section called Ghalib Study Centre. It “Ghalibka collection joh mare paas hai vo duniya mein kisike paas nahi hai,” claims the professor.

Delhi finds a special place here boasting of 7500 books, some as old as 1893, dictionaries as old as 150 years, authentic diwaan on Ameer Khusrau, books on and by the last Mughal Bahadur Shah Zafar, British period –Victorian Era with pictures in Lithographs and much more.

Children using the library

The academy has a library for students especially those preparing for competitive exams. The 100-seater library has the best of books from literature, agriculture, science, math, medicine, etc.

“There is no fee to sit in this library. It opens every day from 10 to 10. This section has over 28000 books including 56 of Professor Rehman on Tibbi and Unnani medicines. there are separate sections for Unani medicine and Sir Syed Movement, biographies,” Dr Aftab Alam, the coordinator of Ghalib Study Centre informed.

There is a reason why the library has most books in Urdu and Persian on Indian history, culture, language, society, education, politics, medicine, etc. “Not much work in English has been done on Muslims. Most work has been done in Urdu and Persian. So this is our helplessness. Our focus is on India – the Hindustan. Indian scholars have done immense work in any domain, philosophy, travelogues, and medicines, especially in Islamic history, the Quran, and hadith that is comparable to anyone in the world, especially the Arabic and Persian world. The problem is we don’t read because we don’t read Urdu,” rues the professor. 

Why Ibn Sina was built has an interesting story. As a young man, Professor Rahman used to watch a bird who had made a nest and would bring food for her newborn, just as the routine was with a cat who had given birth to kittens – at his home. After some months, the birds flew, and the kittens grew and went away with their mothers.

“I thought to myself, ‘Is this the life God has created mankind for? Just be born, eat, sleep, and die like animals? God has created a man to not only take care of his family but also society, language, culture, community, and world.”

Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicines and Sciences

So, he decided to create a legacy that he says would be useful for a generation after 80 years! “We are away from civilization by 80 years. A standard time to develop any civilization is 150 years. So, now people are not able to understand the legacy I have created but the students who read it 80 years later will know what it is. By then we would be a civilization.”

People get worried that the graph of Muslim development is going down. But the Professor feels it is nothing to be worried about. “Every civilization has to go through it. Our graph has risen. We were 10 crores in 1947. After Partition, 7 crore left for Pakistan had 3 crore stayed in India. We were nothing in 1947 but our buzurgs worked very hard to study and became scholars. Now we are making educational institutions, universities, hospitals, media houses, and so on. Most important is that girls are getting higher education and they will change the face of the nation,” he says, satisfied while emphasizing reading Urdu to know a legacy called India and the contribution of Muslims to it.

Rana Siddiqui Zaman is a Delhi-based senior columnist and art reviewer

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Rana Siddiqui Zaman / January 10th, 2024

Of healing and healers

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NEW DELHI :

Hakim Nabina has passed into legend.

Three years older than Hakim Ajmal Khan, one was reminded of him when Ajmal Khan’s great-granddaughter came for admission to Hamdard University last week, accompanied by her father.

While Ajmal Khan’s name lives on beyond his ancestral haveli, Sharif Manzil in Ballimaran, Hakim Nabina had no fixed abode and believed to have been born in the Walled City too, got most of his fame in South Delhi where he was brought by some dealers in Unani medicine.

Born in the same year as Rabindranath Tagore, he was 105 when Dr. S. A. Ali of Hamdard met him in 1965 to seek medication for a digestive problem. The hakim, who had probably been born blind or had lost his vision in childhood, felt the patient’s pulse and diagnosed that his heart and liver were in good trim but not his digestive system. “Did you by any chance eat arbi (yams)?” he enquired. Dr Ali confessed that he had in fact had a piece of the vegetable though he was not fond of it. The hakim told him to have light food in future and prescribed some medicine which cured his ailment.’

Syed Ausaf Ali, himself an octogenarian now, says Nabina lived at Hazrat Pattey Shah’s dargah, behind Humayun’s Tomb. What he prescribed was dispensed by dealers in Unani drugs. When someone complained that the charges were very high, he advised them not to go to the dispensers but take medicine from him directly.

Pattey Shah or the saint amid tree leaves was actually named Shamsuddin Ataullah and died in AD 1300 during the reign of Alauddin Khilji. He got the nickname because whenever Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya visited his khanqah or hospice, he would hide behind bushes and tree leaves, saying he was not worthy of coming face-to-face with the Auliya. This is what has been affirmed in Sadia Dehlvi’s book on the Dargahs of Delhi. It is said that the Shah belonged to the Chishti silsila or order of saints. “During the day he would light a fire and cover himself with its ashes, while at night he slept in a grave-like hollow (something emulated by the eccentric Spanish painter Salvador Dali, who spent his nights in a coffin). When he died Hazrat Nizamuddin led the funeral prayers as per the Shah’s last wish. Hakim Nabina seems to have developed a spiritual rapport with Pattey Shah and lived most of his long life at the latter’s shrine. When he died is not known but it was probably during Indira Gandhi’s first prime ministership, which would mean that he was nearly 110 years old at that time.

The hakim is not to be confused with Hafiz Nabina Doliwale, the blind mendicant who lived under a tree near the southern gate of the Jama Masjid. Nobody knew his real name also, except that he was one who could recite the Quran by heart (Hafiz), was blind (Nabina), wore no clothes and loved to travel free in a doli or palanquin. He and Hakim Nabina were both born in the same year (1860), when Bahadur Shah Zafar was passing his last days in Rangoon. But Hafiz Nabina died at the age of 87 much before the hakim sahib. Everybody in the city knew him and he also finds mention in Ahmed Ali’s “Twilight in Delhi” as he often visited the hero of the book, Mir Nihal. He was regarded as a majzoob (a man possessed), lost in himself and supposed to be in contact with the jinns, without much care for hygiene.

However Hakim Nabina, despite his mystical leanings, never gave the impression that he was a majzoob. His direct communion was with Pattey Shah and he passed his life in the service of those who came to him to be healed. That he could tell a patient what his illness was merely by touching him and pointing out, “Thou ailest here and here,” was a sign of his deep knowledge of human nature and anatomy and the Unani system of medication. Like Hafiz Nabina, he was a recluse but of a different sort who did not discard the ways of the world in matters of dress, behaviour and etiquette. Old-timers remember him as a worthy contemporary of Hakim Ajmal Khan, who had acquired the halo of Massiha (messiah) of the ailing populace!

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> /Down Memory Lane / June 22nd, 2014

English, Urdu books on contribution of Indian Muslims in freedom movement released

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NEW DELHI :

Patna: 

In a glittering ceremony, two books on Muslims’ contribution in India’s Freedom movement were launched here in Patna on 17th December. The function was presided over by Harsh Mandar, former IAS officer and human rights defender in the country.

The books ‘Muslim Freedom Fighters: Contribution of Indian Muslims in the Independence Movement’ and its Urdu version ‘Muslim Mujahideen-e-Azadi aur Tehrik-e-Azadi Mein Unki Khidmat’ have been authored by Delhi based author and journalist Syed Ubaidur Rahman.

The two books try to fight the oft-repeated allegations that Muslims are anti-national and have not contributed for the freedom of the nation. The books nail the lie and prove that Muslims not just participated in the freedom movement, they went on to lead the freedom struggle for a long time. The first war of Independence or Mutiny of 1857 was led by Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi and Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow. The Independence Movement in the first two decades of the twentieth century was led by Mahmud Hasan and ulama of Deoband and they had respect and support of everyone including Hindus and Muslims.

If anyone has any doubt about the Muslim contribution in the freedom movement, the fact that the Indian National Congress had as many as nine Muslims as its president till the year 1947 will remove such doubts.

While speaking on the occasion, Harsh Mandar said that the divisive forces in the country are trying to divide the nation on the basis of religion and faith. He said that the danger from such forces for the national fabric and its unity has become grave.

Harsh Mandar added that the threat to the communal amity in the country was never so high as is today as divisive forces are doing every thing to pit one community against the other and create a fear psychosis among the majority community prompting it to turn it against minorities.

Khursheed Mallick, a Chicago based urologist, philanthropist and director of IMEFNA said that the book is a timely reminder to the nation that Muslims and Hindus both sacrificed for the nation and this fact must be clearly told to our young generation. He said Muslims sacrificed heavily for the cause of the freedom of the nation and efforts must be made to tell the history.

Syed Ubaidur Rahman, the author of the two books, while speaking on the occasion said Muslims have been rather loath to write about the sacrifices they have made for the cause of the Independence and freedom. He said Muslims suffered badly throughout the freedom movement. They were the worst suffers in the wake of the mutiny of 1857 and its aftermath when Muslims were hounded across North India and beyond. Tens of thousands of Muslims lost their lives for the freedom.

Syed added that ulama of Deoband played a stellar role in the freedom movement. Unlike the common perception, they were secular to the core and when they established a government in exile in Kabul in 1915, they appointed Raja Mahendra Pratap as its President and Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali as its Prime Minister.

The book documents the lives of forty renowned Muslim freedom fighters including, Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan, Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Dr Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Ashfaqulla Khan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari, Asaf Ali, Husain Ahmad Madani, Aruna Asaf Ali (Kulsum Zamani), Peer Ali Khan, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Mohammed Abdur Rahiman, Captain Abbas Ali, Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, Prof. Abdul Bari, Moulvi Abdul Rasul, Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur, Rahimtulla Mahomed Sayani, Syed Hasan Imam, Sir Syed Ali Imam, M.C. Chagla, Yusuf Meherally, Justice Fazal Ali, General Shah Nawaz Khan, Allama Fazle Haq Khairabadi, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Syed Mahmud, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Badruddin Tyabji, Col Mehboob Ahmed, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Maulana Shafi Daudi, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri, Batak Mian

The book launch function was organized at Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu and was presided over by Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, chairman of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Bihar.

Name of the Book: Muslim Freedom Fighters: Contribution of Indian Muslims in the Independence Movement
Author: Syed Ubaidur Rahman
ISBN: 81-88869-43-0
Price Rs 225/-
Global Media Publications
E-42, G. Floor, AFE, Jamia nagar, Okhla, New Delhi-110025

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by ummid.com News Network / December 12th, 2017

Hakim Ajmal Khans last resting place: in a forgotten corner of Delhi

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NEW DELHI :

Hakim Ajmal Khan a philanthropist, freedom fighter, famous hakeem and nationalist is a well known personality.

So I was very surprised when I was told that his grave was I one corner of The Hazrat Rasool numa compound in Panchkuian Road of Delhi

Now it’s a slum

In between a whole row of beds tucked away in one forgotten corner sleeps one of the greatest leaders of our Freedom movement. Revered by Muslims and Hindus alike.

Yes it was Hakim Mohammad Ajmal Khan. I checked up his dated on the net to find they were correct.

The lady who lives there then showed me many graves of Hakeems from his family scattered around the beds and chores of daily life.

Amita Paliwal a Delhi historian and keen heritage lover informs me this is probably the famous Doctor’s lane where Bernier apprenticed to learn Unani medicine.

It may have been famous then but it’s forgotten now and I don’t know why his very rich trust( he had gifted most of his income to charity) and rich family doesn’t do something about it.

You can read more about him below I have taken it from

He was the founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. He is the only person to have been elected President of both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, as well as the All India Khilafat Committee.Hakim Ajmal Khan was born in 1863 to the illustrious Sharif Khani family of Delhi, family that traces its lineage to court physicians who served the Mughal emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India.

Khan studied the Qur’an and traditional Islamic knowledge including Arabic and Persian in his childhood, before studying medicine at home, under the tutelage of his relatives. All of whom were well-known physicians.

His grandfather Hakim Sharif Khan sought to promote the practice of Tibb-i-unani or Unani medicine and for this purpose, had setup the Sharif Manzil hospital-cum-college that was known throughout the subcontinent as one of the finest philanthropic Unani hospitals that charged no fees from poor patients.

Once qualified, Hakim Ajmal Khan was appointed chief physician to the Nawab of Rampur in 1892. Soon he met Syed Ahmed Khan and was further appointed a trustee of the Aligarh College, now known as the Aligarh Muslim University.

Hakim Ajmal Khan took much interest in the expansion and development of the indigenous system of medicine, Tibb-i-Yunani, or Unani. Khan’s family established the Tibbiya school in Delhi, in order to expand the research and practice of Unani.

As his family of Hakims served as doctors to the British rulers of India, in his early days Hakim Khan supported the British. He was part of a deputation of Muslims that met the Viceroy of India in Shimla in 1906 and even supported the British during World War I. In fact, the British Government awarded him the titles Haziq-ul-Mulk and Qaiser-e-Hind for his contribution to the expansion of the Unani system of medicine.

But once the British government changed its stance and sought to derecognize the practice of Indian schools of medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani, this turn of events set Hakim Ajmal Khan gathering fellow physicians on one platform to protest against the Raj.

Actually, Hakim Ajmal Khan’s political career commenced with his writing for the Urdu weekly Akmal-ul-Akhbar, which was founded in 1865-70 and run by his family.

Subsequently, when the British clamped down on the freedom movement and arrested many Muslim leaders, Hakim Ajmal Khan solicited Mahatma Gandhi’s assistance and together they joined others to start the Khilafat movement. He was elected the President of the Congress in 1921, and joined other Congress leaders to condemn the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He was imprisoned for many months by police authorities. Hakim Khan’s pursued his political career side-by-side his medicinal and educational endeavours. Often, the interests overlapped.

Hakim Ajmal Khan resigned from his position at the AMU when he realized that its management would not endorse the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by the Indian National Congress. He envisaged a place of learning that would be free of government control. He worked towards this aim with the help of other Muslim luminaries. Together, they laid the foundations of the Jamia Millia Islamia (Islamic National University) in Aligarh in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Indians to boycott government institutions. The JMI subsequently moved to Delhi and slowly grew to be the prestigious university it is today.

Ajmal Khan served as its first Chancellor until his death. He was a key patron of the university, financially bailing it out of sticky situations throughout the rest of his life.

In fact, Hakim Ajmal Khan also established the Tibbia College for higher studies in medicine. Realizing the need for private funding, he simultaneously established a commercial venture the Hindustani Dawakhana to manufacture Unani and Ayurvedic medicines and issued a diktat that doctors practicing in the Sharif Manzil could only recommend medicines from the Dawakhana. The Dawakhana is known to have patented 84 magical herbal formulas.

Tibbia College is presently located Delhi’s Karol Bagh area. As a mark of respect to this man, Karol Bagh’s most popular part is still called Ajmal Khan Road.

Hakim Ajmal Khan died in 1927. In the ensuing years, both the Sharif Manzil and the Dawakhana have languished for want of upkeep and restoration.

Although Hakim Khan renounced his government awards during the freedom movement, Indians who appreciated his work and held him in high esteem conferred upon him the title Masih-ul-Mulk (Healer of the Nation).

Freedom fighter, educationalist and beyond doubt, the greatest contributor to Unani medicine in India in the 20th century: Hakim Ajmal Khan.

Dr. Khan died of heart problems on December 29, 1927. He was succeeded in the position of JMI Chancellor by Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.

Rana Safvi is the author of the book “Where Stones Speak”.

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Articles / by Rana Safvi / May 08th, 2016

Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari: A Committed Nationalist, Founder and 2nd Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia

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Yusufpur- Mohammadabad (Ghazipur) , UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI :

As Jamia celebrates 100 years of its foundation, we extend our gratitude to Dr Mukhtar Ansari for his contribution

Dr M A Ansari’s bust during a photo-exhibition at M.F. Husain Art Gallery, JMI on 24 Dec. 2014. (Photo Courtesy: Aniket Dikshit)

The three most important persons who, undoubtedly, not only played the most significant role in the foundation of Jamia Millia Islamia, but also shifted it from the makeshift arrangement of Aligarh to Delhi’s Karol Bagh on 7 July, 1925, are Hakim Ajmal Khan, Abdul Majeed Khwaja and Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari.

In view of upheavals faced in Aligarh, Jamia was shifted but problems existed. The problems that made many think that Jamia will not survive long. However, the trio’s efforts were no way trivial. They set the future course of Jamia as ‘an institution with a difference.’

Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari’s consistent efforts bore fruits. Not only did Jamia get its first house in Karol Bagh in 1931, it was also shifted to a much bigger plot of land of its own in 1936 in its present location in South Delhi’s Okhla, then a ‘non-descript village’ where now it has a panoramic sprawling campus.

However, the journey was not as simple as it might look to a casual viewer. Within those ten years, much sweat and blood went in to nurse the tender sapling whose seed was sown in Aligarh on 29 October, 1920. Dr Ansari’s contribution through all these years is one of the most unforgettable and astonishingly stout chapters in the history of Jamia Millia Islamia.

Born on 25 December, 1880 in Yusufpur-Mohammadabad, Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, son of Haji Abdur Rahman and Ilahan Bibi, Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, received primary and secondary education at Ghazipur and Allahabad, then studied medicine and graduated from Madras Medical College. He went to England from where he achieved M.D. and M.S. degrees. He earned the Master of Surgery degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1910. Being a top-class student and a pioneering surgeon he worked in some well-known hospitals of England where “he had a successful medical career”.

Dr Ansari had everything – money, fame, fortune, and life that could be lived luxuriously. This brief background is provided to underscore the significance of his passion, devotion and commitment not just for Jamia but for the country’s struggle for freedom as those were the years of heightened activism for independence during which Dr Ansari – through his active involvement in and unwavering support for freedom, emerged as a committed nationalist leader.

From England, Dr Ansari returned to India in 1910 and started medical practice at Delhi. His contact with leaders like Motilal Nehru, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru rekindled in him the desire to take part in the country’s political developments.

Dr M A Ansari Health Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. (Photo: Manzar Imam)

During the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, he led a Medical Mission to Turkey to provide medical aid to the Turkish army. “The mission”, according to Dr. Burak Akçapar, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to India, “not only established two field hospitals, but also did other humanitarian and political work.”

This was among his first political works which won the hearts and minds of the Turkish public and leaders which created a deep bond between Turkey and Jamia. Many Turkish leaders and prominent literary figures visited Jamia. The series of ‘Extension Lectures’ that began was his brainchild. It was on his invitation that famous Turkish scholars Dr Husein Raouf Bey (1933) and Ms Halide Edib (1936) and Dr Behadjet Wahbi of Cairo (1934) then delivered their lectures at Jamia.

His role in the Khilafat Movement was pivotal and his presence both in the Congress and Muslim League was equally felt. His Delhi house ‘Darus-Salam’ was a meeting point for leading Congressmen. For many years he was General Secretary of Congress and remained a member of the Congress Working Committee all through his life.

Dr M A Ansari Auditorium, Jamia Millia Islamia. (Photo: Manzar Imam)

Dr Ansari was the leader of the Khilafat delegation of 1920 which went to meet the Viceroy. He was also a member of the second delegation of Khilafat which went to England and other countries of Europe under the leadership of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar. He was also president of the Delhi Khilafat Committee. During his presidential address at the Nagpur session of Muslim League in 1920 he demanded Swaraj.

When his name was proposed for the Secretary of the Foundation Committee of Jamia during its foundation, he requested not to appoint him for the post as it would require regular visits to Aligarh. Nevertheless, his interest in the activities of Jamia persisted.

Dr Ansari was among the front leaders of the Congress and was made its president in 1927. According to Prof Zafar Ahmad Nizami his name for the president of Congress was proposed at the instance of Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 who believed that “only he could make the efforts of Hindu-Muslim unity successful.”

Although Dr Ansari could not live long to see Jamia blossom into a beautiful university or see India breathing in freedom from the strangulating slavish life under the colonial rule, he had played his gigantic role both as a freedom seeker and as a founder of Jamia. He was a prominent member of the sixteen-member Foundation Committee formed on 29 October, 1920 to establish Jamia which would become a historic institution and the first one to be set up in response to call for boycott of the British Indian government-run, aided and supported academic institutions.

According to The British Medical Journal:

“As leader of the Congress movement, though at first opposed to the teaching of Gandhi on civil disobedience, he actively associated himself later with the various non-cooperative movements, and served at least one term of imprisonment.”

When it comes to Jamia as also to some other movements that were the currency of the 1920’s and 1930’s, it is very difficult to dissociate the trio of Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, the “great Muslim trio of Indian politics”, as they were quite befittingly called so. However, each person has certain unique and individual personality traits and characteristics which separate him from others.

According to Dr Hamida Riaz (1988, p.119), Dr Ansari had a great passion for education. Initially, he highly appreciated Western education and culture and would keep himself completely away from what did not interest him. However, on the call of Mohammad Ali Jauhar, he participated in the medical delegation that went to Turkey and did a tremendous service. In a way, the beginning of international politics in India was made by Dr Ansari’s delegation.

Together with Hakim Ajmal Khan, Motilal Nehru and Maulana Azad, Dr Ansari formed a non-sectarian “Indian National Union.” He had opposed the Rowlatt Bill and participated in Home Rule and Non-Cooperation movements. In 1929, Dr Ansari formed the All India Muslim Nationalist Party. Besides Jamia, he was also associated with the foundation of Kashi Vidyapith, Benaras.

Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia. (Photo: Manzar Imam)

Riaz (p.121) writes that all through his life he [Dr Ansari] “stayed away from sectarian groups” and continued his efforts to forge “Hindu-Muslim unity”. His wife Shamsun Nisa Begum too, was committed to the cause of women uplift.

Dr Ansari actively participated in the Jamia’s establishment, nurtured it, and, following the demise of Hakim Ajmal Khan in December 1927, served as its second Chancellor from 1928 to 1936. The financial needs that Hakim Sahab used to carry had fallen on his shoulder which he discharged diligently.

The “Ajmal Khan Fund”, set up exclusively for the purpose, was a result of his efforts. At a critical juncture when Jamia faced great financial crisis a Board of Trustees was created. Dr Ansari was appointed its chairman. It was at Gandhiji’s indication that industrialist Jamnalal Bajaj (1889-1942) was made its treasurer. Other bodies were also formed in which he was there.

As Chancellor of Jamia, Dr Ansari could not be an employee and Life Member of the ‘Anjuman Talim-e-Milli’. However, he extended all his support to all the bodies and continued to serve Jamia all his life. Remembering the services of Hakim Ajmal Khan and Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari during a lecture in Jamia on 26 August 2014, former VC and renowned historian Prof Mushirul Hasan (d. 10 December 2018), terming the duo as the “real founders” of Jamia, had said, “Ansari raised money for Jamia and Hakim Ajmal Khan provided nobility and support.”

As mentioned earlier, Dr Ansari did not live long after Jamia was shifted to its present place in the national capital. He passed away on 10 May, 1936 and buried in the Jamia graveyard.

A radio speech which Dr Zakir Hussain had prepared for the 1936 Foundation Day of Jamia, which Dr Ansari could not hear as he passed away before it, sheds enough light both on the impact Dr Ansari had on Dr Zakir Husain and on his character and sphere of activity. It read:

[Dr Ansari] set out for a journey from which no one looks back…Dr Sahab’s personality was a fountain of blessings…a mainstay for anyone in times of need. His heart was a refuge where many would seek solace for their heartfelt grief.

As in life, in death too, he did not part ways from Jamia, writes Ghulam Haider, as he became the first among the founders of Jamia, to find his resting abode in Jamia Nagar where he was laid to rest three months before the primary madrasa of Jamia moved in.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, who died near Delhi on May 10th, at the age of 56, had been a member of the British Medical Association since 1909, and had gained distinction in India as a medical practitioner as well as in politics. In view of his services and to keep his memory as a prominent physician, Jamia has named its health centre and a big auditorium after him.

It was his sincerity for the national cause and his passionate commitment for Jamia that whenever Gandhiji would come to Jamia, he would definitely pay a visit to his grave. As Jamia celebrates 100 years of its foundation, we extend our gratitude to its architect for nurturing it with his consistent remedial care, unflinching commitment and great sacrifices!

[Sources: Celebrating India : Reflections on Eminent Indian Muslims 1857-2007, Meher Fatima Hussain (2009, Manak Publications, New Delhi), “Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari”, The British Medical Journal (Vol. 1, No. 3933 (May 23, 1936) p.1082, Mohammad Ali Jauhar, authored and published by Hamida Riaz (1988, Nagpur), Nuqoosh-e-Jamia (Jamia ki Kahani Jamia Walon ki Zabani or the Story of Jamia from Jamiites) by Ghulam Haider (2012, Maktaba Jamia Limited in collaboration with National Council for Promotion of Urdu Langue, New Delhi), www.jmi.ac.in.

Manzar Imam is a Ph.D. Candidate at Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. He can be reached at manzarimam@rediffmail.com. The above article is ummid.com special series titled ‘Founders of Jamia Millia Islamia’. Read the first part here. To read the second article of the series click here. To read the 3rd article of the series, click here.]

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by Manzar Imam, ummid.com / October 28th, 2020

Dr Najma Heptulla inaugurates National Unani Conference

Business & Economy, Green Products, Science & Technology, Useful / HEALTHCARE, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

The National Unani awards were presented on the first day of the two day conference

The National Conference on Unani Medicine kicked off on Monday with much fanfare in the presence of a galaxy of dignitaries.

“Unani Medicine can offer the right solution for many health challenges we are facing due to lack of treatment of many diseases and paucity of resources”, said Dr. Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur, inaugurating the two-day conference organized by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM). It is a part of the 3rd Unani Day celebrations.  Dr. Heptulla urged the Unani fraternity to progress and evolve with the changing times, adapt to new techniques of health research and contribute new approaches to health management. She said that Manipur has the treasure of over 500 medicinal plants and invited scientists to visit the state for research. 

Addressing the conference themed on ‘Unani Medicine for Public Health’, Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik enlightened the audience on concrete steps taken by the Ministry of AYUSH to promote Unani Medicine.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards were conferred on Prof. Naeem Ahmad Khan, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and Prof. M A Jafri, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi for Best Academician and Best Researcher in Unani Medicine respectively

“Our efforts are focused to tap the real potential of AYUSH systems in imparting preventive, promotive and holistic healthcare to the people,” he said. Paying tributes to Hakim Ajmal Khan, whose birth anniversary is celebrated as Unani Day on 11thFebruary every year, he described him as a versatile genius.

Highlighting the strengths of Unani Medicine and other AYUSH systems in his address, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the AYUSH systems are golden key to health and wellbeing. India is the strongest hub of Traditional Medicine which is one of the reasons medical tourism is flourishing in the country. He stressed on Integration of Unani Medicine in Mainstream Healthcare in line with the government policies and initiatives for mainstreaming of AYUSH in national healthcare.

On this occasion, AYUSH Awards for Unani Medicine were conferred on various Unani scientists and experts in recognition of their contributions for research, teaching and practice of Unani Medicine.

The Best Research Paper Awards were presented to Dr. Arshiya Sultana, Associate Professor, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore for Clinical Research and Dr. Noman Anwar, Research Officer (Unani), Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine, Chennai for Drug Research in Unani Medicine. The Young Scientist Awards were conferred on Dr. Jamal Akhtar, Research Officer (Unani) Scientist – III, CCRUM for Clinical Research and Dr. Nasreen Jahan, Associate Professor, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore for Drug Research in Unani Medicine.

The Best Teacher Awards were presented to Prof. Tanzeel Ahmad, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for Clinical Research, Prof. Mohd Aslam, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi for Drug Research and Prof. Khalid Zaman Khan, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for Literary Research in Unani Medicine. The Lifetime Achievement Awards were conferred on Prof. Naeem Ahmad Khan, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and Prof. M A Jafri, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi for Best Academician and Best Researcher in Unani Medicine respectively.

source: http://www.medibulletin.com / MediBulletin / Home> Alt Medicene / by MediBulletin Bureau / February 11th, 2019

DOWN MEMORY LANE – Revisiting the poet’s hearth

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Agra, UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI :

AT HOME Visitors at Ghalib’s Haveli | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
AT HOME Visitors at Ghalib’s Haveli | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

We know Mirza Ghalib as a Dilliwallah, but the bard had a strong emotional connection with Agra as well

Mirza Ghalib’s death anniversary on 15th February did not evoke the same interest as his birth anniversary two months earlier. Of course, there was a literary festival in Connaught Place and another in India International Centre, one can say the 210th birth anniversary drew greater public attention than probably that of any other Urdu (or Hindi) poet. The haveli he lived in and the Town Hall were the main venues of the functions then, along with the Subz Burj Park in Nizamuddin, now named after him. But nobody thought of holding a function at Kala Mahal in Agra, where Mirza Nausha was born on December 27, 1797 and of which he was so nostalgic because of childhood memories. Just goes to show how possessive Delhiwallahs have become of Ghalib and of Mir Taqi Mir, who was not only born in Agra but also had an affair with his cousin in the vicinity of the Taj. An enraged family then shunted off the Mir to Delhi where he attained great heights before moving to Lucknow at the invitation of the Nawabi Court of Awadh, where his outdated attire provoked him to recite his famous introduction: “Dilli jo ek Shahr tha alam mein intikhab…/Jisko falak ne loot ke bezar kar diya/Hum rehne wale hain usi ujre dayar ke” (I’m a resident of the same looted garden, Delhi, devastated by heaven).

Incidentally, it was the Mir Sahib who had predicted that the boy Ghalib (whose early recitals he had heard) would one day become a big shair. But Yours Truly spent a whole afternoon in and around Ghalib’s haveli last week and wondered at the sudden twist of destiny that has brought it into the limelight again. The area of Ballimaran, of which Gali Qasim Jan is a part, got its name (there are other versions too) from the boatmen who once inhabited it. Thereafter, it saw a sea-change with the high and mighty deciding to build their havelis there. It is after Nawab Mir Qasim Jan, an Iranian nobleman, that the gali is named. Qasim Jan at first lived in Lahore, where he was attached to the court of the Governor, Moin-ul-Mulk, in the 1750s. That was the time when Ghalib’s grandfather also migrated to India from Turkey.

Qasim Jan was an influential man and a great friend of the Governor. But when the latter fell fighting Ahmad Shah Abdali, who had invaded Punjab, Qasim Jan helped Moin-ul-Mulk’s widow, Mughlai Begum, to rule the province in the name of her infant son. He seems to have been particularly close to the begum, who admired his sagacity. But the admiration was mutual for Qasim Jan could not have been immune to the charm of the begum who continued to defy Abdali despite losing her husband.

It was during the reign of Shah Alam that Qasim Jan joined the court at Delhi. He was conferred the title of Nawab, and in order to be close to the Red Fort built his haveli in Ballimaran. After the death of Qasim Jan, his son Nawab Faizullah Beg resided in the haveli. Ghalib also lived in Ahata Kale Sahib for some time after his release from debtors’ prison and that is the time he is said to have remarked that after being an inmate in the “Gora” (white man’s) jail he had moved to Kale’s (black man’s) jail.

Ghalib subsequently moved to the haveli in Qasim Jan Street. But during the First War of Independence of 1857, he lived for some time in Sharif Manzil where Hakim Ajmal Khan’s father used to reside. The reason was that Sharif Manzil was a protected place in those days because its owner was the personal physician of the Maharaja of Patiala, who was on good terms with the British. After the upheaval, Ghalib went back to his house, where his wife Umrao Begum held sway and made it into a virtual mosque.

However, there is still a mosque next to Ghalib’s house. An old bearded man, wearing a brand new sherwani and with a stick in hand, was standing next to it. Asked if Ghalib ever visited the masjid, he shook his head and declared, “I don’t think so, unless when he became old. What else can you expect from a man who wrote: ‘Masjid ke zer say ek ghar bana liya hai/Ek banda-e-qamina hamsaye khuda hai” (I have set up abode in the vicinity of a masjid so a wretch is now God’s neighbour). As one walked away after hearing him, the first “degh” of biryani was being opened by the roadside seller and the smell was too appetising to resist the temptation of tasting it. Ghalib too must have eaten like this sometimes or sent his faithful servant Kallu to buy the stuff.

Before settling down in Gali Mir Qasim Jan, Ghalib lived in the house of his in-laws, where several mushairas were held. Why they were discontinued at the haveli is not known but one reason may have been the opposition of his puritanical wife. So the mushairas the poet attended were generally the ones held at the Red Fort and Haveli Sadr Sadur in Matia Mahal. In Agra, of course, he was too young to take part in poetry recitation and instead flew kites with the son of Raja Chet Singh at Kala Mahal, where some claim that his spectre is still seen on moonlit nights. He, no doubt, missed Kala Mahal and the Redstone Horse at Sikandra, Agra, to which he always sent greetings through his friend Mirza Tafta Secundrabadi. The Ballimaran haveli somehow did not evoke the same nostalgia in him, probably because most of his children died in it in infancy. Wonder if he would have approved of the museum set up there! But at Kala Mahal fateha is still offered for his repose.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture> Down Memory Lane / by R.V. Smith / February 26th, 2018

Sharif Manzil’s Hakims

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Freedom Fighters (under research project), Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Hakim02MPOs30dec2017

Not far from Gali Mir Qasim Jan, where Ghalib’s haveli is situated, is Sharif Manzil. Here the descendants of the famous hakim Sharif Khan live in comfort. Among the hakims of Sharif Manzil were such physicians as Mahmud Khan and his sons, of whom Hakim Ajmal Khan (in sketch) became almost a legend in his lifetime. It was he who established the Hindustani Dawakhana nearby and also the Tibbia College in Karol Bagh.

At Sharif Manzil, which had dropped the suffix haveli, came rajas and maharajas and even government officials, besides ordinary people to seek medical advice from Ajmal Khan and his two elder brothers. During the “Mutiny” of 1857, the Manzil was guarded by the troops of the Maharaja of Patiala, who patronised the hakims. Ghalib too escaped arrest and destruction of his haveli because the hakims sent some of the Patiala soldiers to guard it. When Ghalib’s younger brother died and a sort of curfew order was in force in the troubled city it was under the protection of these troopers that the dead body was taken for burial.

Lala Chunna Mal’s haveli in Chandni Chowk is a 120-room building with shops below it. The haveli is partly occupied by his descendants, while the others have locked their rooms and gone to stay in modern bungalows in the posh areas of New Delhi. Chunna Mal, who belonged to the Khatri community, was an influential banker of the Mughals and a friend of the Sharif Manzil hakims, but after the “Mutiny” he came into the good books of the British, who allowed him (on payment) to take control of some Mehrauli palaces and Fatehpuri Masjid, which was given back to the Muslims only in 1877, otherwise it was closed to the namazis.

Skinner’s haveli in Kashmere Gate area is now a ruin of its former self and occupied by transporters. It was at this haveli that Col Skinner used to hold his lavish parties in which the main attraction was his friend and British Resident at the Mughal court, William Frazer. The Christmas, New Year and Easter get-togethers here have passed into legend.

The havelis of Mirza Jahangir and fellow-royal Mirza Babar in Nizamuddin were magnificent buildings during the last days of the Mughals and still retain some of their old grandeur.

source: http://www.thestatesman.com / The Statesman / Home> Features / Statesman News Service  / December 17th, 2017

The amazing Hakim Sahib

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Freedom Fighters (under research project), Leaders, Science & Technology, World Opinion, , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Illustration by Vinay Kumar | Photo Credit: 01dmc rvsmith
Illustration by Vinay Kumar | Photo Credit: 01dmc rvsmith

Providing a healing touch to the sick and the destitute, there are several stories associated with Hakim Ajmal Khan

An Oriental wearing a Western suit and carrying a small box walked down a street in Paris when he saw a man rolling on the ground. Quickly he took out something from the box and, after a few minutes, the man got up, clutched his stomach for a while and then, with a nod of thanks, walked away. The Oriental was Hakim Ajmal Khan who had put away his sherwani and pyjamas to don a suit during his visit to France in 1925. It was widely believed by generations of Delhiites that Ajmal Khan had a magic chest from which he took out medicines to effect near-miraculous cures, like that of a woman in England with an abnormal issue of monthly blood and an epileptic at an Iraqi shrine. He spent nine years as the guest of the Nawab of Rampur, where he revived a dying begum.

Over the years, since his death in 1927, people seem to have forgotten the great hakim whose lasting legacy is the Unani Tibbia College in Karol Bagh. But last week Jamia Millia Islamia held a symposium on the works of Hakim Sahib, who was one of its founders and also the first Chancellor in 1920. It was decided to set up a Hakim Ajmal Khan Institute for Literary and Historical Research in Unani Medicine at Jamia Millia. The proposed institute would translate the classical works on Unani medicine which are hitherto available only in Urdu and Arabic.

Hakim Ajmal Khan was descended from Hakim Sharif Khan. His father Hakim Mahmud Khan was one of the three sons of Sharif Khan and, interestingly enough, also had three sons of whom Ajmal Khan was the youngest. His elder brother, Hakim Abdul Majid died in 1901 and the second brother three years later. Ajmal Khan founded the Tibbia Conference in 1906 to bring hakims together for joint initiatives. His popularity increased with each passing year and he began to be regarded as a man whose views on medicine, politics and religion were widely respected, not only by Hindus and Muslims but also by Europeans like C. F. Andrews and Sir Malcolm Hailey, Chief Commissioner of Delhi. Mahatma Gandhi, six years younger than Ajmal Khan, was the one who opened Tibbia College in 1920 though he regarded Unani and other medicines as “black magic” and believed in natural cures.

It is interesting to note that Ajmal Khan started off by wearing the Mughal angarkhas, then switched over to the Aligarh sherwani and pyjamas and then suits for foreign visits he made in 1911 and 1925, besides the one in between to Shia religious places in the Middle East. When Ahmed Ali wrote his “Twilight in Delhi”, he couldn’t help mentioning the great hakim in it as the one who had attended to the novel’s hero, Mir Nihal after a paralytic attack. The hakim gave him rare medicines and also prescribed the soup of wild pigeons, caught by the Mir’s Man Friday, Ghafoor, whose own wife had died of abdominal ulcers since she was wedded at a young age to a much older. Even the hakim could not cure her as Ghafoor did not exercise restraint. But Mir Nihal surely benefited from his medication, as also the goat being masqueraded as a sick purdah woman and prescribed green grass.

Barbara D. Metcalf, who wrote a learned paper on Ajmal Khan and his family, recalled the words of the poet Hali on the death in 1900 of Hakim Mahmud Khan: “…Mahmud Khan’s strength was an honour to our race/ But he too, left the World. Alas, the fortune of our race/Ajmal Khan filled up the gap with élan. Not only that, he was also a born poet with the pseudonym of Shahid Dihlawi (possessed lover from Delhi) and left behind a dewan of his poetry, which he sometimes recited at mushairas and during debates on who was greater: Daagh or Zauq. Surprisingly enough Ghalib was left hanging in between.”

Being a man of common sense, despite dabbling in romanticism, he refused to entertain fakirs who claimed to have secrets of alchemy. Ahmed Ali writes about Mir Sangi who had wasted his wealth in trying to make gold and of Molvi Dulhan, dressed as “the bride of God in red sari and with bangles and long hair like a woman”.

According to the Moulvi, there is a prescription written on the Southern Gate of the Jama Masjid which no one has been able to unravel. It says (for alchemy is needed) “half a piece of That”! However the vital word describing ‘That’ is missing though a fakir once claimed that it was ‘actually a small, golden flower with red circles and dots on the petals”. When the problem was referred to Ajmal Khan he wrinkled his forehead and remarked “There are other things worth seeking instead of the art of making gold which remains a fantasy”. The writing on the masjid gate is just a brain teaser.”

The hakim sahib is then said to have walked away with a shrug of his shoulders, still what followed him was the belief that the Sharifi family had a special verbal formula (amal-i-taskhir) which never failed to effect a cure. It is not known whether Ajmal Khan divulged it to his successors but those who came for treatment to the Hindustani Dawakhana in Ballimaran probably thought he had, for after all wasn’t he the “Masiha-e-Hind!”.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by R.V. Smith / May 31st, 2015

Sify columnist releases book on Indian Muslim freedom fighters

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Freedom Fighters (under research project), Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

FreedomFightersMPOs22dec2017

Patna:

In a glittering ceremony, two books on the Muslim community’s contribution to the Indian freedom movement were launched in Patna last week. The function was presided over by Harsh Mander, former IAS officer and human rights activist.

The books ‘Muslim Freedom Fighters: Contribution of Indian Muslims in the Independence Movement’ and its Urdu version ‘Muslim Mujahideen-e-Azadi aur Tehrik-e-Azadi Mein Unki Khidmat’ have been authored by well-known Delhi based author and journalist Syed Ubaidur Rahman.

The two books try to fight the oft-repeated allegations that Muslims are anti-national and have not contributed for the freedom of the nation. The books nail the lie and prove that Muslims not just participated in the freedom movement, they went on to lead the freedom struggle for a long time. The first war of Independence or Mutiny of 1857 was led by Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi and Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow.

The Independence Movement in the first two decades of the twentieth century was led by Mahmud Hasan and ulama of Deoband and they had respect and support of everyone including Hindus and Muslims.

If anyone has any doubt about the Muslim contribution in the freedom movement, the fact that the Indian National Congress had as many as nine Muslims as its president till the year 1947 will remove such doubts.

While speaking on the occasion, Harsh Mander said that the divisive forces in the country are trying to divide the nation on the basis of religion and faith. He said that the danger from such forces for the national fabric and its unity has become grave.

Mander added that the threat to the communal amity in the country was never so high as is today as divisive forces are doing every thing to pit one community against the other and create a fear psychosis among the majority community prompting it to turn it against minorities.

Khursheed Mallick, a Chicago based urologist, philanthropist and director of IMEFNA said that the book is a timely reminder to the nation that Muslims and Hindus both sacrificed for the nation and this fact must be clearly told to our young generation. He said Muslims sacrificed heavily for the cause of the freedom of the nation and efforts must be made to tell the history.

Syed Ubaidur Rahman, the author of the two books, while speaking on the occasion said Muslims have been rather loath to write about the sacrifices they have made for the cause of the Independence and freedom. He said Muslims suffered badly throughout the freedom movement. They were the worst suffers in the wake of the mutiny of 1857 and its aftermath when Muslims were hounded across North India and beyond. Tens of thousands of Muslims lost their lives for the freedom.

Syed added that ulama of Deoband played a stellar role in the freedom movement. Unlike the common perception, they were secular to the core and when they established a government in exile in Kabul in 1915, they appointed Raja Mahendra Pratap as its President and Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali as its Prime Minister.

The book documents the lives of forty renowned Muslim freedom fighters including, Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan, Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Dr Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Ashfaqulla Khan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari, Asaf Ali, Husain Ahmad Madani, Aruna Asaf Ali (Kulsum Zamani), Peer Ali Khan, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Mohammed Abdur Rahiman, Captain Abbas Ali, Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, Prof. Abdul Bari, Moulvi Abdul Rasul, Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur, Rahimtulla Mahomed Sayani, Syed Hasan Imam, Sir Syed Ali Imam, M.C. Chagla, Yusuf Meherally, Justice Fazal Ali, General Shah Nawaz Khan, Allama Fazle Haq Khairabadi, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Syed Mahmud, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Badruddin Tyabji, Col Mehboob Ahmed, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Maulana Shafi Daudi, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri, Batak Mian .

The book launch function was organized at Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu and was presided over by Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, chairman of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Bihar.

Syed Ubaidur Rahman is a New Delhi based writer and commentator. He has written several books on Muslims and Islam in India including Understanding Muslim Leadership in India.

source: http://www.sify.com / Sify.com / Home> SifyNews> National / by SIFY.com / Friday – December 22nd, 2017