Muhammad Iqbal (contd-1)

Inspite of dividing his time betweeen law and poetry, he engaged himself in Politics during WWI and supported Indian involvement in the war. He also supported Khilafat movement which Jinnah did not. He had close contact with Muslim political leaders like Maulana muhammad Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah but was critical about the mainstream Indian National Congress , which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the League when in 1920s it was devided into two factions one prop-British led by Muhammad Sufi and the other centrist led by Jinnah.In Nov 26, he contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim District Lahore but was defeated . He supported  Jinnah's constitutional proposal for safegurding the interest of the Muslims. Iqbal's second book in English , the reconstruction of Religious thought in Islam , was published in 1930. He was elected President of the Muslim League in its session in Allahabad in 1930. In  his Presidential address on 29 Dec, 1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in the north-western India.
But this was a unique departure from the aims and objectives of All Idia Muslim League when it was formed in 1906.He reiterated that; 
  " I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province , Sindh and Balochistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim stateappears to me to be the final destiny of the muslims, at least of North-West India."   
In his speech, Iqbal emphasised that unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance", with its "religious ideals", considered as inseparable from social order.  Iqbal, thus, stressed not only the need for a separate state  for the political unity of Muslim Communities, but the undesirability off blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles . He thus became the first politician to articulate what would become as the Two -nation Theory. h4e would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League, and he stressd his proposal for Independence.
But the feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim politicians did not approve his ideas.

Muhammad Iqbal

Iqbal stands alone in the post of classical period of Islamic philosophy as a reviver of the disciline within the Muslim world. He is the only Islamic philosopher to make a serious attempt at grabbling with the problems with the problems of modern western philosophy  within an Islamic concept. His thought has been extremely influential throughout the Islamic world today. Born on 9 Nov, 1877 at Sialkot, Punjab, British India. He was the eldest son, amongst seven, of his parents. His father was a prosperous, well known tailor who who brought up his children with deep religious grounding. Iqbal's grndfather Sahaj Ram Sapru came to Sialkot after conversion to Islam. Iqbal was educated within and outside India. He was married by his family at the age of 15 and had two children a son and a daughter. But his marriage not happy and they were divorced in 1916, though Iqbal rendered economic help to his wife after divorce for maintenance of her and her chlidren.
Iqbal was a very talented student and got a gold medal in Philosophy at the Graduate level. He could write in three languages, Urdu, Farsi and English. He was famous for his works in three languages and for his patriotic songs, such as- Saare Jahan Se Achcha.
Iqbal's  poetic works are written mostly in Persian. Among his 12,000 poems, 7,000 are in Persian. iqbal seeks to prove that Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability.A man cannot realize "self" out of society. He sees the individual and his community as reflections of each other. The individual needs to be strengthened before he can be integrated into the community, whose development in turn depends on the preservation of the communal ego.  It is through contacts with others that an ego learns to accept the limitations of its own freedom and the meaning of love.        

Idea of Pakistan

The idea of Pakistan gradually converged to a focal point in 1940 by a resolution adopted in Lahore at the conference of AIML. The concept of Pakistan was developed through three schools of thought led by 1. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, 2. Choudhury Rahmat Ali, and 3, M.A. Jinnah. The movement was initiated by Iqbal in his presidential address in the Conference of AIML on 1930.

History of Islam In India (contd-9)

Jinnah was a member of Indian National Congress since 1896 and worked constitionally for the self-government of India until 1920. He became a member  in All India Muslim League in 1913 and retained dual membership. He broke away from the Congress when under M.K.Gandhi Congress launched the non-cooperation movement against the British rule. 
Until 1930 he worked for Hindu Muslim Unity since he believed that Hindu-Muslim Unity is a pre-condition for Indian Independence.Dr, Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher, was  a strong proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity and an undivided India until the end of 1920s.
In the late 1920s, recognizing the different perspectives of the Indian National Congress and that of the All India Muslim League, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal presented the concepy of a separate Muslim homeland in India in the 1930s. Consequently, the All India Muslim League raised the demand for a separate Muslim homeland. The demand was raised in Lahore in 1940 (known as the Pakistan resolution).        

History of Islam in India, Titu Mir (contd-8)

                                     The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writiers is documented in India's struggle against the British. Titu Mir raised a revolt

against British. Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Abul kalam Azad, and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai areMuslims  

who engaged in this purpose.Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan of Sahjehanpur conspired to loot the British treasury at Kakori, Lucknow . Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (popularly known as Frontier Gandhi) was a great nationalist who spent 45 years in jail in his 95 years of living, Barakatullah of Bhopal was one of the founders of Ghadar Party which created a net work of anti-British organisations, Syed Rahmat Shah of the Ghadar Party worked as an underground Revolutionary in France and was hanged for his part in the unsuccessful Ghadar (mutiny) uprising in 1915, Ali Ahmad Sidiqui of Faizabad (UP) planned the Indian Mutiny in Malay and Burma along with Syed Mujtaba Hussain of Jaunpur and was hanged in 1917, Vakkam Abdul Khadir of Kerala participated in the Quit India movement  struggle in 1942 and was hanged, Umar Subhani, an industrialist and millionaire of Bombay provided Gandhi with Congress expenses and ultimately died for the cause of Independence. Among Muslim women, Hazrat Mahal, Asghari Begum, Bi Amma contributed in the struggle for freedom against British.    

The first ever indian rebellion against the British saw itself in the Vellore of 10th July, 1806 which left around 200 British officers and troops dead or Injured. But it was subdued by the British and the mutineers and the family of Tipu Sultan who were incarcerated in the Vellore Fort at that time had to pay a heavy price. At the Sepoy mutiny of 1857, the upper class muslims were targeted by the britishers. Thousands of kith and kins were shot or hanged near the gate of Red fort, Delhi, which is now known as "KHOONI Darwaza." The renowned urdu poet Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) has given a vivid description of such massacre in his letters , published by Oxford University press Ghalib ,his life and letters, compiled and trnslated by Rulph Russel and Khurshidul Islam (1994).

At the period of decaying of Mughal empire the Ulama Firangi Mahal led and teered the Muslims of India . The maulanas and moulavis of darul-Uloom, Deoband (UP) also played signicant role in freedom struggle of India declaring subjugation of an unjust rule against Islam tenets.   

History of Islam In India (contd-7)

Struggle against British rule in India was started by Muslims. The period starting from 1498 saw the rise of the naval and traiding power of the European countries, as they increasingly projected their naval power and expanded their trading interests over the Indian subcontinent. Subsequently with the solvent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and Europe, the European powers gained a significant technical and commercial advantage over the decaying Mughal Empire. They gradually began increasing  their influence on the subcontinent.

In Bengal Nawab Siraj ud Daulah  faced the expansionist aims of the British East India Company and fought the British. However, he lost the battle of Plassey in 1757.
Siraj's father, Zain Uddin,  was the ruler of Bihar and since Alivardi had no son, Siraj was brought up by Alivardy to avoid controversy of successesor of  his throne of Mushidabad, Bengal.Young Siraj got his education and training for a future nawab. Young Siraj also accompanied Ali Vardi in his military ventures against the Marathas in 1746.Ali vardi officially declared in 1752, his grand son Siraj as Crown Prince and successor to the throne which he succeeded in 1756.

Hyder Ali, and later his son Tipu Sultan,  King of Mysore, faught with the British making an alliance with the French.

History of Islam In India (contd-6)

Mahmud Ghaznavi :
Contrary to the general belief that Mahmud Ghaznavi was a in 1034 AD -426 AH Hindu-killeror destroyer of Hindu religious places, he was extremely liberal towards them. His army consisted of a large number of Hindus and some of the commanders of his army were Hindus. Sonday Rai was the commander of Mahmud's crack regiment and took part in several important campaigns with him. The coins struck during during Mahmud's reign bore his on the one side and the figure of a Hindu god on the other.
Not only Mahmud Ghaznavi but his successors also were great patrons of Hindus.In fact some of the historians of the early period feel that the main cause of the fall of the Ghaznavi Empire was their excessive reliance on Hindus and the appointment of Hindus to positions of great responsibility .