Name :Maulana Muhammad Ali , Poetical Name: Jouhar
One of the co founder of Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920.
Period :1878 - 1931
Biographical detail :
Politician and journalist. His brilliant, stormy and sad life commenced in the principality of Rampur, where he was born, which lay 150 miles to the east of Delhi. He founded Jamia Millia Islamia, �a flowering institution with its own individuality and usefulness.� He launched The Comrade, a weekly in English, from Calcutta, and outlined in the opening number of January 14, 1911 �the frank recognition of yawning differences that divide� Hindus and Muslims. Written and edited by one man and produced on expensive paper, The Comrade quickly gained circulation and influence. After twenty months the paper moved to Delhi, the Raj�s new capital. It acquired a sister, an Urdu-language daily Hamdard, in 1913. He played very important role during non co-operation and Khilafat movement. He was chosen President of Indian National Congress (1923 � 24). Speaking increasingly of Muslim fears and Muslim rights, Muhammad Ali felt that Hindu communalism was gaining ground in Congress. He, therefore, shared the dominant Muslim feeling that Swaraj (independence) would be a Hindu prize and Muslims would need to battle for their rightful share of the spoils of self-government. He declared at the first Round Table Conference in London (1930), that he would not return to India alive unless the country was set free. �I would prefer to die in a foreign country so long as it is a free country,� he addressed to the British, and went on, �and if you do not give us freedom in India you will have to give me a grave here.� He further went on. �The Hindu-Muslim problem is your creation. But not altogether. It is the old maxim of �divide and rule�. But there is a division of labour. We divide and you rule.� His words in London about the position of an Indian Muslim have gone into history. �I belong to two circles of equal size, but which are not concentric. One is India, and the other is the Muslim world�We as Indian Muslims belong to these two circles, each of more than 300 millions, and we can leave neither.� Muhammad Ali a great orator and a poet, Jauhar was his poetical name, died of a stroke in London and the grave in which he rests is neither in Britain nor in India. Muhammad Ali was buried in Jerusalem, the place from where the Prophet (PBU) ascended to heaven. The inscription written on his grave near the Dome of the Rock says: �Here lies al-Sayyid Muhammad Ali al-Hindi.�
Khilafat and Political Activities
Mohammed Ali had attended the founding meeting of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906, and served as its president in 1918. He remained active in the League till 1928.
Ali represented the Muslim delegation that travelled to England in 1919 in order to convince the British government to influence the Turkish nationalist Mustafa Kemal not to depose the Sultan of Turkey, who was the Caliph of Islam. British rejection of their demands resulted in the formation of the Khilafat committee which directed Muslims all over India to protest and boycott the government.
Now accorded the respectful title of Maulana, Ali formed in 1921, a broad coalition with Muslim nationalists like Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari and Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi, who enlisted the support of the Indian National Congress and many thousands of Hindus, who joined the Muslims in a demonstration of unity. Ali also wholeheartedly supported Gandhi's call for a national civil resistance movement, and inspired many hundreds of protests and strikes all over India. He was arrested by British authorities and imprisoned for two years.
Mohammed Ali had attended the founding meeting of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906, and served as its president in 1918. He remained active in the League till 1928.
Ali represented the Muslim delegation that travelled to England in 1919 in order to convince the British government to influence the Turkish nationalist Mustafa Kemal not to depose the Sultan of Turkey, who was the Caliph of Islam. British rejection of their demands resulted in the formation of the Khilafat committee which directed Muslims all over India to protest and boycott the government.
Now accorded the respectful title of Maulana, Ali formed in 1921, a broad coalition with Muslim nationalists like Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari and Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi, who enlisted the support of the Indian National Congress and many thousands of Hindus, who joined the Muslims in a demonstration of unity. Ali also wholeheartedly supported Gandhi's call for a national civil resistance movement, and inspired many hundreds of protests and strikes all over India. He was arrested by British authorities and imprisoned for two years.
Muslim separatism
Maulana Mohammad Ali was however, disillusioned by the failure of the Khilafat movement and Gandhi's suspension of civil disobedience in 1922, owing to the Chauri Chaura incident.
He re-started his weekly Hamdard, and left the Congress Party. He opposed the Nehru Report, which was a document proposing constitutional reforms and a dominion status of an independent nation within the British Empire, written by a committee of Hindu and Muslim members of the Congress Party headed by President Motilal Nehru. It was a major protest against the Simon Commission which had arrived in India to propose reforms but containing no Indian nor making any effort to listen to Indian voices.
Mohammad Ali opposed the Nehru Report's rejection of separate electorates for Muslims, and supported the Fourteen Points of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the League. He became a critic of Gandhi, breaking with fellow Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, who continued to support Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Ali attended the Round Table Conference to show that only the Muslim League spoke for India's Muslims. He died soon after the conference in London, on January 4, 1931 and was buried in Jerusalem according to his own wish.
Maulana Mohammad Ali was however, disillusioned by the failure of the Khilafat movement and Gandhi's suspension of civil disobedience in 1922, owing to the Chauri Chaura incident.
He re-started his weekly Hamdard, and left the Congress Party. He opposed the Nehru Report, which was a document proposing constitutional reforms and a dominion status of an independent nation within the British Empire, written by a committee of Hindu and Muslim members of the Congress Party headed by President Motilal Nehru. It was a major protest against the Simon Commission which had arrived in India to propose reforms but containing no Indian nor making any effort to listen to Indian voices.
Mohammad Ali opposed the Nehru Report's rejection of separate electorates for Muslims, and supported the Fourteen Points of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the League. He became a critic of Gandhi, breaking with fellow Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, who continued to support Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Ali attended the Round Table Conference to show that only the Muslim League spoke for India's Muslims. He died soon after the conference in London, on January 4, 1931 and was buried in Jerusalem according to his own wish.
