Maulana Azad: Proud Indian, proud Muslim

Maulana Azad: A Life

Author: S Irfan Habib

Publisher: Aleph

Pages: 318

Price: Rs 899

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has fallen through the trapdoor of Indian historical scholarship, even of the nationalist variety. He remains in the shadows of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. Yet as this meticulously researched biography by S Irfan Habib clearly shows he was a unique figure in the Indian national movement and in the making of modern India. He worked very closely with the three individuals mentioned above and earned their enduring respect. But for some unexplained reasons, historians and biographers have neglected his life and achievements. Dr Habib’s book renders a signal service by removing this veil of indifference.

This could not have been an easy book to write because Azad’s life had many facets. He was, of course, one of the foremost leaders of the Indian national movement and a dedicated Congressman. He was also a formidable scholar in Islamic theology and religious philosophy; he was a prolific writer; and in the last phase of his life, an exemplary and conscientious minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. Above everything else — and this needs to be emphasised as indeed Dr Habib does — he was a proud Indian and a proud Muslim, and he found no contradiction between these two identities. His life embodied the message that Muslims who lived in India were an integral part of India — its civilisation, culture and tradition. This integration was a part of Azad’s integrity.

Azad was born in Mecca in 1888 but he grew up in Calcutta from 1895. His first teacher was his father who was a man of immense learning. Azad was a child prodigy — he began working on a Persian dictionary when he was only ten years old. He made himself erudite as he never had any formal education. While he was still in his twenties, Azad began to travel in West Asia and this experience added a new dimension to his consciousness. He became aware of the realities of colonial oppression and territorial nationalism. That he would soon join the struggle to free India from British rule was a step foretold.

Azad first met Gandhi on January 18, 1920 and according to Dr Habib the meeting “seemed to have had a profound impact on both men”.  Within a month Azad was presenting the programme of non-co-operation to the All India Khilafat Committee as its president. Dr Habib writes — and this will surprise many — “In a way, Azad was responsible, along with Mahatma Gandhi, for the adoption of the non co-operation programme, even though the latter became the sole exponent and practitioner of the idea.” This is a contentious claim so it would have been more convincing if Dr Habib had fleshed out the phrase “in a way”.

Azad, according to Dr Habib, was not comfortable in the presence of a crowd. He sought the solitude that is conducive to scholarship. Through his writings and his interaction with Muslims, ordinary individuals and leaders, he tried to convince Muslims that they belonged to India and that the Indian National Congress was not a party of Hindus. He was convinced that the Muslims in India did not represent an exclusive interest group. Thus, he was steadfastly opposed to the two-nation theory jeremiad by the Muslim League. He was only partially successful since India was partitioned in August 1947 and, tragically, Azad was part of the Congress Working Committee that endorsed the Partition resolution. Dr Habib does not delve into the profound sense of disillusionment that Partition must have brought to Azad. Why did he accept it? Why didn’t he, like Gandhi, withdraw instead of sacrificing one of his fundamental beliefs? Was his loyalty to the Congress a factor in this compromise? Further, was his immersion in nation-building post 1947 an attempt to transcend the tragedy of Partition?

Dr Habib tells us that the book India Wins Freedom was not actually written by Azad but was dictated by him to Humayun Kabir, who later became minister for education. Why this decision not to write it himself, when Azad was such a prolific writer? Dr Habib offers no answers. Moreover, there was a part of the manuscript that Azad wanted published some decades after his death. When that part was published it turned out to be a damp squib as those pages revealed nothing that was not known. Again, Dr Habib throws no light on this matter.

Enigmas hover over Habib’s accountof Azad’s life.

Dr Habib has written a sympathetic and perceptive book. The research is substantive; the writing lucid; and the writer’s commitment to an inclusive India unmistakable. Dr Habib is a notable torch bearer of the values and the tradition that Azad strove to establish.

The reviewer is chancellor and professor of History, Ashoka University