A Muslim cannot remain slave
A human being, by nature is bound to follow someone. He may follow Almighty Allah or someone besides Him. Submitting oneself to Allah is Islam and submitting to someone besides Allah is slavery. Both the things are antithesis to each other and therefore cannot go together.
It for this reason that the followers of Islam cannot remain slaves of human beings and if some how they become slaves, they cannot be contended. On the contrary, they will shed the last drop of their blood to get rid of slavery and achieve freedom. Without freedom they cannot follow the religion in its entirety.
Indian freedom movement
During the final phase of Mughal empire, when Muslim rulers developed various weaknesses and a foreign community (British men) gradually started subjugating the Indians, then the conscientious and enlightened section of the Ummah could sense the trouble and made efforts not only to save themselves but also others. Therefore, Shah Waliyullah RH was the first to warn the (Muslim) rulers about this danger and paid special attention to the educational preparedness and public reform. Later, his son Shah Abdul Aziz RH took this mission forward on the same lines.
Thus the famous Fatwa was published in 1802 AD whereby India was declared as Darul Harb because civil rights were taken away, respect for religions was made irrelevant and all the legislative rights were transferred to Christians; it was declared that it was the duty of every patriot to wage war against the foreign power until foreigners are ousted from the country. This Fatwa ignited the fire among the Indian masses for freedom.
Establishment of first Islamic Government
Shah Abdul Aziz RH formed a group under the leadership of Syed Ahmad Shaheed. Maulana Abdul Haiy and Maulana Ismail Shaheed were appointed his special advisors and they were entrusted the task of touring the country and to spread the spirit of resolution, mobilize volunteers, give them military training, provide funds, establish relations with other countries and then take further steps.
For this purpose a caravan of 25 people left Delhi in the year 1818 to tour the entire country; and they achieved unexpected success. As a result of continuous struggle Shah Abdul Aziz RH established an interim independent Government in the year 1820 in Peshawar. It was the first Islamic Government of India but in the very beginning. Durrani Sardar Yar Muhammad Khan RH in collusion with the Sikhs dodged this group of Mujahideen. Thus victory of the Mujahideen movement turned into defeat.
Freedom movement and Muslim rulers
On the one hand these efforts were on and on the other the rulers themselves were fighting to defend their rule but in the face of their own incompetence and weakness, enemies wickedness and conspiracies of their own people, they could not succeed.
First of all, in the battle of Plassey of 1757, Nawab Sirājdudaula was martyred and his area was captured. Again in 1764, at the time of the Battle of Buxar, the united army of Shah Alam (Sultanul Hind), Sujāuddaula (Nawab of Avadh) and Meer Qasim (Nawab of Bengal) was defeated and the enemy established their rule.
They feared Sher-e-Mysore Tipu Sultan Shaheed RH, the most because he had declared in plain words,
"One day of life as a lion is better than the Jackal's life of hundred days."
Therefore, the British first deprived Tipu Sultan of the help of Marathas and the Nizam of Deccan and in 1799 got him killed through a traitor like Meer Sadiq and declared "Today India belongs to us."
Mutiny of 1857
The failure of the Mujahideen on one hand and the defeatist nature of Muslim rulers on the other, had frustrated the Indian masses but then a Muslim never gets disappointed. Therefore, they continued their struggle. Maulvi Ahmad Shah Madrasi, Maulana Fazl Haq Khairābādi, Maulana Rahmatullah, Azimullah Khan RH and others traveled through the country's remotest places and spread the message of revolution and with the unanimous opinion of all the leaders, 31st May 1857 was fixed for the struggle.
But on 10th May 1857 itself, Mangal Pandey an Indian soldier at Mecrut cantonment was forced to remove the cartridge whose opening was made of the fat of cow or pig. When he refused, he was court marshaled and was humiliated. At this, there was a rebellions by Indian soldiers of that cantonment. They captured Meerut region and attacked Delhi and also captured it. Due to this, there was chain of rebellion all over the country and this Freedom Movement was wrongly called Ghadar (Mutiny) by the British rulers.
General Bakht Khan came forward to lead this mutiny but the Mughal princes did not support him. The British were so annoyed that they went on a rampage indiscriminately, murdered people and indulged in looting to such an extent that one of them, Edward Thompson said: The documents pertaining to Ghadar clearly speak about the atrocities.
Reshmi Rumal Movement
In spite of all these atrocities and excesses, the enlightened section of the Muslims did not keep quite: they started working in different ways. In 1857, Maulana Qasim Nânautavi RH established Darul Uloom Deoband. It was not established only to impart education but also to prepare such individuals who would regain the lost dignity of the nation and the community with liberal thinking.
Therefore, the first son of this Madrasa, Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan organized a convocation ceremony in the year 1909, to give this movement a mass base and after consultations, formed Jamiatul Ansar and appointed Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi RH a student as its Secretary. Under his leadership, this movement planned to overthrow the British government. It spread awareness among the people, planned to get aid from foreign powers and secretly formed a group that was not hesitate to lay down their lives for the revolution.
Therefore, this movement finally came to be known as 'Reshmi Rumal Movement'. Curse be upon those disguised enemies who, when all the preparations were ready. Amir Habibulla Khan gave all the details and information about the movement to the British Government. Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, Maulana Aziz Gul, Hakeem Nusrat Husain and others were arrested and imprisoned in Malta, as a result thereof, all plans failed and there was disappointment all over the country.
Role of Hasrat Mohani RH
The British rulers were also not unaware of the unrest among the people. So, they called a conference of national strategists and workers at the national level to seek the support of Indian masses. It was held on 28th December 1885 under the chairmanship of British Officer A. O. Hume, in the huge hall of Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College. It was here that Indian National Congress was born. Its aim was to liaise between the rulers and the ruled.
This continued for a while but there was discontentment because this was an attempt to please the ruler. This could not be acceptable. So, finally in the year 1920, Gandhiji put forward the concept of Sawraj at the Nagpur Session of Indian National Congress. However, it was not the voice for total freedom.
Therefore, in 1921 at the Ahmadabad session of Indian National Congress, Maulana Hasrat Mohani RH put forth the idea of total freedom for the first time. When this proposal was put forth, Gandhiji said while addressing the conference: Hasrat säheb wants to take us to waters whose depth cannot even be fathomed. But when the situation further deteriorated, then in 1929 in the Lahore session, the Congress had to adopt 'Purna Sawraj' (total freedom) resolution through legitimate and peaceful means.
Thus the independence movement gained momentum. In the meantime, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad RH launched 'Al-Hilal', Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar RH launched 'Comrade' and 'Hamdard' and Maulana Zafar Ali Khan RH launched 'Zamindar' and started shaping up the minds of the masses and breathed spirit of revolution in them.
Sacrifices all the way
With the call of non-cooperation movement, thousands of Muslims left their jobs, gave up agencies of big companies. Even students of Muslim University Aligarh gave up their studies. Yusuf Mehr Ali RH explained the meaning of slogan "Do or Die". With Hindstan Chhodo Andolan, the entire nation rose against the English regime. Upon this, the rulers made some conciliatory moves and gave some concessions to appease the masses. Several round table conferences were held but Muslim leaders defeated these moves.
In this context, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jawhar RH spoke these famous words at a round table conference in England: I am not well and I have come here from my sick bed to get independence for my country. If Britain does not give us freedom, it will have to give me a piece of land for my grave because, I do not wish to be buried in a slave country. His words turned prophetic; he died during the round table conference and was buried in Palestine.
Meanwhile, many efforts were underway at different levels. Mopla Muslims of Malabar Kerala rebelled against the British Government and about ten thousand Muslims were martyred and fifty six thousand were arrested. In December, 1919 Jami'atul Ulama was established in Delhi with Maulana Kifayatullah RH as its President. Its purpose was also freedom besides religious and political guidance.
Ulama made valuable sacrifices on various occasions. In 1929, with the advice of Maulana Azād, Maulana Habibur Rahman, Maulana Fazlul Haq, Maulana Attaullah Shah Bukhari and others formed Majlis Ahrar which reigned in the congress and made movements towards freedom struggle. The congress started civil disobedience movement and ninety thousand people were arrested out of which 44,500 were Muslims.
Sarhadi Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khän led the movement for non-payment of taxes. On 31st March 1931, Gandhiji made an appeal to collect one crore rupees for Congress Fund but people did not pay heed to it. On this occasion, Umar Subhani RH (Cotton King) gave three lakh rupees and arranged forty lakh rupees through his friends. He also donated a huge mansion known as Subhāni Manzil.
Subhash Chandra Bose founded 'Azad Hind Army' and he had many Muslim officers viz. General Shahnawaz Khan, Col. Habibur Rahman, Col. Mahboob. Col. Shaukat Malik, Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmad. Major Abid Husain Safrani etc. When he appealed for donations in Burma, a Muslim businessman Abdul Habib Markhani was the first to donate one crore thirty-four lakhs. His wife handed over all the jewellery and ornaments. Netāji thanked this gesture in these words: These are true Sevak (volunteers) of India who have made Indian Muslims proud.
Who are the Patriots?
It is clear from the above mentioned text that the Muslims started the freedom movement and that they never remained aloof during the movement. They always made sacrifices, and the concept of total freedom was put forth first by the Muslims; the Muslims never agreed to partial freedom and compromise.
In spite of this, it is propagated that the Muslims had no role in independence struggle. It is absolutely false and historical dishonesty. Such propaganda is a great injustice to the community.
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Allah and his messenger knows best