Book Name: Biographical Encyclopedia of Indian Muslim Freedom Fighters
Author: Syed Ubaidur Rahman
Publisher: Global Media, Rs 1,195
Indian Muslims' role in the freedom movement hasn't come to light the way it should have. They played prominent role in the country's freedom movements and gave significant sacrifices for the cause, writes H Anjum
Indian Muslims’ role in the freedom movement hasn’t come to light the way it should have. They played prominent role in different phases of the country’s freedom movements and gave significant sacrifices for the cause. From the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to nawabs, princes, landlords of all sizes, clergy and ulema and the common people, they all stood for the cause, took on huge challenges and sacrificed almost everything for it. Thousands of ulema were slaughtered in the wake of 1857 uprising, entire Delhi was emptied of Muslims and they were not allowed to return back to their homes and reclaim their properties that they had built after a lifetime of hard work and struggle.
It was due to the significant role of the Muslim community that that the British officials accused them for the 1857 Ghadar. To be true, both British officials and historians have named Muslims as the most important rebels and termed the Mutiny as a sinister plot by Muslim ulema and mujahideen to reclaim their lost powerhouse in India.
Long before the 1857 Mutiny, Muslim ulema and sufis had been predicting the imminent doom of the British rule in the country. And the role of mujahideen cannot be simply underestimated in the 1857 Ghadar. When the Mutiny was on its height, hundreds of thousands of ghazis (Muslim mujahideen), converged to all the hotspots of revolt including Delhi, Lucknow, Bareilly, Agra and Thana Bhawan, besides Kanpur and Shahjahanpur, and fought till the end. It is no secret that in Delhi when the rebels almost gave up, these were the ghazis who, despite going hungry for days due to lack of supplies, gave the stiffest fight and highest number of sacrifices against the marauding British armies when they eventually defeated the rebels.
In many places Muslim ulema and sufis gave the call for Jihad long before the actual outbreak of Ghadar in 1857. Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah was preaching jihad in Agra long before the Mutiny. He was arrested for this very reason in Faizabad a couple of years before 1857 and was released only when the fighting started and his supporters broke open the Fizabad prison. Similar was the case of Maulavi Liaqat Ali, who took control of Allahabad during the Mutiny and was proclaimed the governor of Allahabad by none other than the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah and Maulavi Liaqat Ali were not the only ulema who played prominent role during the 1857 Mutiny. Moulvi Sarfaraz Ali is one leader whose role has remained shrouded in mystery. It is said that Maulavi Sarfaraz Ali was the spiritual mentor of Bakht Khan who rose to become the commander in-chief of armies fighting the British Army in Delhi and its surrounding places. Sarfaraz Ali has been called the imam of the mujahideen (leader of the rebels) by many people. He was a known face in Delhi and enjoyed trust of the Mughal Court. He had taught in a madrasa in Delhi and had a huge fan following across north India. It is said that it was he who persuaded Bakht Khan to march to Delhi and take on the British armies engaged in fighting against the ragtag mutineers in Delhi. After coming to Delhi, it was Bakht Khan who brought some iota of discipline in the ranks of the rebel armies and made them fighting fit.
Azimullah Khan, the Divan and later Prime Minister of Nana Saheb is one of the most famous heroes of 1857 War of Independence. He has attracted praise from historians of all hues due to his grit, determination, ideas and sacrifice for the cause of the freedom of the nation.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar while writing in his The Indian War of Independence of 1857 mentions Azimullah Khan in glowing words:
“Of the important characters in the Revolutionary War of 1857, the name of Azimullah Khan is one of the most memorable. Among the keen intellects and minds that first conceived the idea of the War of Independence, Azimullah must be given a prominent place. And among the many plans by which the various phases of the Revolution were developed, the plans of Azimullah deserve special notice… Azimullah was poor by birth. He rose gradually on the strength of his own merits, and at last became the trusted adviser of Nana Sahib. His early poverty was such that he served as a waiter in the household of an Englishman. Even while in such a low state, the fire of ambition was always burning in his heart. He took advantage of his profession as a Baberchi in order to learn foreign languages, and in a short time he had learned to speak English and French with fluency. After acquiring knowledge of both these languages, Azimullah left the service of the Feringhis and began to study in a school at Cawnpore. By his extraordinary ability, he soon became a teacher at the same school. While still serving as a teacher in the Government school at Cawnpore, his reputation as an able scholar reached the ears of Nana Sahib, and he was introduced at the Brahmavarta Durbar”.
“Once, at the Durbar, his wise counsels were appreciated and valued by Nana Sahib, who would take no important step without first consulting Azimullah. In 1854, he was made the chief representative of Nana Sahib and sent to England. His face was noble, his speech sweet and silvery. Knowing very well the customs and manners of contemporary English life, he soon became very popular among Londoners. Attracted by his pleasant and silvery voice, his spirited mien and Oriental magnificence, several young English women fell in love with Azimullah. There used to be a crowd, in those days, in the parks of London and on the beach at Brighton, to see this jewelled Indian “Raja”, writes Savarkar.
He played a very important role during the Siege of Cawnpore, when revolutionaries took control of the entire area.
The reviewer is a freelance writer